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Despite the global moratorium on commercial whaling that began in 1986, Japan continues to kill thousands of whales under the guise of “research.”
“Japan claims it’s necessary research, important for the management of whaling,” says Phillip Clapham of NOAA’s National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle. “Many of us believe it is simply a convenient way around the moratorium.”
“There's very little the Japanese are doing that is of direct relevance to the management of whales,” Clapham argues. “Even if it is, nowadays there are many non-lethal techniques that are as good, or in many cases better, than killing a whale to study it.”
Since 1987, Japan has killed more than 14,000 whales under a program run by the Tokyo-based Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR). “The ICR is funded by government subsidies and by the sale of the meat in Japanese markets,” Clapham says, “So there is a very strong incentive to continue whaling — because, essentially, if whaling stops, then that institution goes out of business.”
Read more here. (PRI)
“Japan claims it’s necessary research, important for the management of whaling,” says Phillip Clapham of NOAA’s National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle. “Many of us believe it is simply a convenient way around the moratorium.”
“There's very little the Japanese are doing that is of direct relevance to the management of whales,” Clapham argues. “Even if it is, nowadays there are many non-lethal techniques that are as good, or in many cases better, than killing a whale to study it.”
Since 1987, Japan has killed more than 14,000 whales under a program run by the Tokyo-based Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR). “The ICR is funded by government subsidies and by the sale of the meat in Japanese markets,” Clapham says, “So there is a very strong incentive to continue whaling — because, essentially, if whaling stops, then that institution goes out of business.”
Read more here. (PRI)