This past weekend hundreds of Japanese family members gathered around the docks of the port of Shimonoseki. Flags were being waved, a band played the theme from Popeye the Sailor Man, and glasses were raised in honor of the coming “scientific expedition”. According to some, what Japan is writing off as nothing more than research to determine reproductive habits of humpback whales is nothing more than a blatant attempt to hunt the endangered whales and sale them on the black market. International law states that humpback whales can be killed in the name of science, but Japans plan of slaughtering 50 humpback and over 1000 other whales (mostly minke whales) is anything but scientific. “I don’t think firing a harpoon at a whale and then dragging it next to the ship is ethical. You question the necessity of that. It’s not research.” Says one South African Biologist.
With over 40,000 humpbacked whales believed to be in existence, the Japanese argue that since they are no longer as extinct as they once were hunting is ok. Furthermore the IWC(International Whaling Commission) should do away with the law and allow villages to return to their hundred year old heritage of whale hunting.
In related news Greenpeace has dispatched a ship of their own in attempt to track and disturb the Japanese fishing crews. “ the whaling fleet must be recalled now. If it is not, we will take direct, non-violent action to stop the hunt” said the captain of the Greenpeace ship known as the Esperanza.
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