Japan to resume commercial Whaling again

weird species

 

Japan has been taking whales for scientific research for decades but seemingly has not published much on the subject.

Dropping out of IWC and going big in their 200-mile economic exclusion zone will have results hard to foresee. Fleet costs should go down because previously they were going all over the place. May or may not be able to sell meat at high prices; it is not like domestic consumers are clamoring for more whale.

Easy to anticipate anti-Japan boycotts over this. Possibly related to geopolitics in northwestern Pacific.

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After Megalodons winked out 2.6 million years ago, whales had a pretty good run. Only giant squid on the trouble list until human whalers developed technology. Military noisemaking at sea may or may not be a major whale irritant. Scientific whaling has not addressed that question

 

Permitting rhino horns and tiger bones for medical uses by a large Asian country is very sad. There is not a shred of evidence for efficacy. Very few of these critters remain. While they are probably doomed anyway because of habitat loss, profiteering on the last ones is not a good look.