whaling in 1986 -- are the Japanese going to finally stop their slaughter?

Hey gang, Trace here for DNews. Whaling has been practiced by humanity in some form for

centuries. Ancient man hunted whales to ensure our species survival -- whale oil, meat, blubber,

bones and skin. In ancient times, every part of the massive mammals was used, but today,

whaling is a very profitable enterprise coming at the expense of these gentle giants. Many

species have seen their numbers drop to near-extinction levels.

After four years in court, this week, the United Nations International Court of Justice

issued a ruling on March 31 ordering Japan to stop its annual whale hunting around Antarctica.

Their ruling states that Japan was killing whales illegally, and not for scientific research,

as the country has claimed.

In 1986, the International Whaling Commission banned whaling for profit, though allowed

for some whaling for scientific research. Under this ban, countries are allowed to catch

enough whales to determine if whaling could be allowed in the future... but the court

found that Japan was taking advantage of that loophole; catching as many whales as they

wanted and then writing scientific research to match how many they killed. The country's

own scientific witness said he didn't know how the Japanese researchers calculated their

sample sized, and admitted their catching of fin and humpback whales was useless, scientifically

speaking.

The Japanese continued to hunt whales after the ban, they say, because of tradition. Whaling

has gone on for many generations. One thousand years ago, the Basques began the first commercial

whaling company. As technology advanced, the number of whales killed annually grew. By

1863, the ships were steam-powered and by 1868 the harpoon cannon was invented to shoot

explosives into a whales body. By 1925, the British had built factory ships which could

catch, kill, and process a whale without bringing it to port. In the sixty years that followed,

2 MILLION whales were slaughtered for profit.

Slowly, the public perception of whales has changed. By the 20th century, humans no longer

NEEDED to whale for meat, oil, blubber, bone or skin -- they'd all been replaced by newer,

more reliable technologies like modern farming, kerosene, gasoline, synthetic fabrics and

so on. As the public tide began to turn, countries around the world appealed to the League of

Nations -- the predecessor to the United Nations -- to do something about it. Regulations were

put in place in 1931 to stop whales from becoming extinct, but they weren't binding.

Bringing us back to the present day, companies in Japan, Norway and Iceland now have fleets

of ships accused of whaling for profit and flaunting the ban. The Japanese claim their

catches are for research, but since 2005, there have only been TWO scientific papers

published on only seven whales. Not to mention the whale meat from this research ends up

in commercial markets anyway. Activists like the Sea Shepherd follow and taunt Japanese

ships on the open sea in an attempt to make whaling more trouble than it's worth. Full

disclosure, a show about the Sea Shepherd airs on Animal Planet, one of Discovery's

networks.

In the end, Japan has publicly agreed to stop whaling. This doesn't mean they'll never whale

again, but if they do so they'll have to justify it with some actual science, and justify KILLING

and not non-lethal methods like tagging or sedation.

What do you think? Is this tradition? Are people making too much of whaling? Or is it

a horrendous practice? We've got comment boxes for a reason, or we're on twitter at DNews

or I'm at trace501 -- let's wrap about it. Please subscribe for more DNews and thanks

for watching!