Japan wins key vote to reintroduce commercial whaling

[Reenk Roink]

I hope we can change your opinion.

With your polite and intelligent discussion, there certainly is a possibility.

Generally I'd agree, but when an species is close to extintion, I say no. There's something wrong with that. Besides as someone said above the food is rotting in the storage.

First, my apologies for my lack of elaboration. The Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup ( the Red Wings Curse) shortly after my post...

I understand that many species of whale are endangered. This is why my first stipulation was "regulate". Also, I do believe that hunting can coexist with efforts to repopulate the whales.

Sadly, both regulation and repopulation are likely not to occur on the initiative of the whalers themselves (human nature), which is why the government must step in. Once again, this sadly is not the case.

Still, it is a more palatable, and more realistic proposal for the other side to allow for regulated whaling then to just flat out ban it.

As for the waste, what can I say? This is just another characteristic of our modern selves...

Because that's really possible at the moment. Please come back when you wake up to the reality of how whaling occurs.

In the 1860s, a Norwegian, Svend Foyn, invented a cannon-fired harpoon with an explosive head. His harpoon gun was improved upon until, by the 1870s, it had reached its present form: a cylindrical steel device shot from a cannon-type gun and trailing a heavy rope. The force of the shot carried the harpoon great distances and penetrated deep into the whale's body. A charge on the tip exploded, and movable barbs opened out to fasten the weapon snugly inside the whale. Most whales sink when they die (the sperm whale is the sole exception), so dead whales were pumped full of air to keep them afloat.

Also, I am well aware that the the anti-whaling group Whalewatch, in it's report Troubled Waters had figures that 20% of Norwegian killed whales and 60% of Japanese killed whales fail to die immediately after being harpooned. While these are not satisfactory at all, the numbers most certainly can be improved. And it is most certainly possible that a whale can be killed instantaneously and painlessly. Besides, the cruel killing concern goes much beyond just whales...