Whalers threaten to take activists to Japan

Not strictly related to climate change, in fact not related at all, but just a quick comment on an international news piece floating around at the moment centering on both Australia and Japan: the “hostage” situation with the Japanese whaling fleet and the Australian & British anti-whaling activists.

First off, no, I am not a hippy, greeny, vegan, anti-fur, anti-xxx type environmentalist.

Second, yes, I am a science graduate with a degree in environmental management, specifically majoring in ecology.

Third, no, I don’t like the idea of whaling. But, not liking the idea of whaling is different from not liking the hideous pollution put out by cars, which I am fond of driving, or not liking the fact that the world’s fish populations are in drastic decline due to overfishing. Those are based on sound reasoning (ie severe pollution and ecological disaster), the whaling thing is largely based on the fact that whales are more intelligent than your average guppy, and seem people-like.

Fourth, no, just because cows are also cute, and seem relatively intelligent when you’re up close, that doesn’t stop me from munching on a steak when I can get my hands on one.

Fifth, yes, because of that fact, I do think it is hypocritical of meat-eaters and fish-eaters to get up in arms when the Japanese want to harvest whales WITH CERTAIN CAVEATS. Those being that the whales being harvested are clearly not in population decline, and that the populations of those whales are not the foundation of other industries, particularly eco-tourism such as whale-watching.

Admittedly, this is still hypocritical because tuna populations are in rapid decline, and form the basis of the tourist game-fishing industry, but tuna-fishing is not being protested about noisily. However, whales are already mostly protected so it’s better to keep protection for at least some species on this rapidly dying planet than lose all of them.

Now, this brings us to the next point, which is that this whole whaling episode is bloody silly, especially on the part of Japan for whom it is generating tons of negative publicity.

If they want to hunt whales, they should stick to the non-famous ones with large populations like Minke whales. Then, if they can show careful harvesting hasn’t dramatically affected the population, they might have a case for reintroducing commercial whaling on a limited basis.

But, hunting popular whales, with low population regeneration rates is a bad idea.

So is keeping anti-whaling activists captive for days.

My suggestion, release the anti-whalers, and quit for the year.

Try again next year with a serious scientific agenda, involving representatives from international ecological monitoring bodies.