Hunting whales is irrelevant to feeding Japan’s population, draws global condemnation and is certainly not economic. So why does Japan still do it? The answer from the Japanese government is that whaling is an ancient part of Japanese culture, that fishermen have caught whales for centuries, and that Japan will never allow foreigners to tell […]
Tag: whaling
Icelanders Don’t Like Whale Meat – So Why the Hunts?
When it comes to commercial whaling, Japan is in the limelight. The country has been widely accused of using a scientific research program as a guise for hunting hundreds of whales a year and selling their meat. Last year, an international court agreed that the program isn’t scientific and ordered Japan to shut it down—to […]
POLL: Should Australia’s customs ship monitor Japanese whaling?
Australians overwhelmingly support calls for the federal government to send a customs ship to monitor Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean, a poll commissioned by the anti-whaling activist group Sea Shepherd indicates. The Coalition has previously been accused of backing away from a pre-election commitment to tackle whaling in the Southern Ocean, after refusing to […]
In Iceland You Can Watch Rare Whales by Day and Eat Whales (Rare) by Night
The harpoon had clearly done its job: All around its tip the fin whale’s flesh and organs were shredded, turned into a bloody pulp. “It was a good shot,” says Kristjan Loftsson, pointing to the gaping cavity. The grenade-tipped weapon was embedded deep inside the 60-foot mammal. The violence of the impact meant that – […]
POLL: Should the Faroe Islands’ whale slaughter be banned?
Faroese villagers have slaughtered about 250 pilot whales in the past 24 hours according to Sea Shepherd activists monitoring the traditional summer hunts in the north Atlantic islands. The whale pods, which migrate past the islands in July and August, were herded by flotillas of small boats on to two beaches where villagers waded into […]
POLL: Should whale hunting in Alaska be banned?
For the Inupiat villagers who have made their homes on this finger of land in the Chukchi Sea for generations, nothing is more important than the bowhead whale. The calendar revolves around seasons for hunting, fishing and gathering. It’s a lifestyle Alaskans call “subsistence”, which is as much cultural tradition as economic necessity in one […]
POLL: Should whaling by Iceland and Norway be banned?
Icelandic whaling boats have left port to begin the 2015 whaling season, authorities said on Monday as more than 700,000 people signed a petition calling for an end to the hunt. Two whaling boats, Hvalur 8 and Hvalur 9, left on Sunday, Gunnlaugur Gunnlaugsson, the manager of the Hvalfjordur whaling station, told AFP. No whales […]
Iceland sends shipment of 1,700 tonnes of whale meat to Japan
A ship carrying 1,700 tonnes of whale meat left Iceland on Thursday bound for Japan, said a leading animal welfare group that is protesting against the controversial delivery. The website Marinetraffic.com also showed the vessel, known as Winter Bay, leaving the port of Hafnarfjordur in western Iceland just after 10.30 GMT. “Winter Bay has left […]