The South Pacific island nation of Palau has ended its support of Japanese "scientific" whaling (yay!) in favor if the catch quota proposal currently being considered by the IWC (boo!).
Well, I guess it's a step in the right direction. Japan's "scientific" whaling - which actually does supply commercial markets - would be ended and quotas would be put in place, which could potentially halve the amount of whales they are killing. Should everything go according to plan (it never does...), this actually might be a good thing. The best thing? Definitely not. I still don't see the point in legalizing the illegal to make it go away. Honestly, why can't more nations just hop on board with Australia and New Zealand, who have "called the proposed whale cull quota system unacceptable and demanded an end to Japan’s hunt in Antarctic waters?"
Anyway, when asked about Japan/Palau relationships, Palau's president Johnson Toribiong told the Associated Press "I assume Japan is a mature, responsible country and has the capacity to accept our position in light of the world’s view on whaling."
Good for you.
There was one thing that particularly irked me in this article:
"Last week, a Japanese whaling expert visited Palau to seek its continued support at the whaling commission meeting in Morocco. The envoy, Kenro Iino, told Palauan officials current levels of hunting would not deplete any whale species. He also said whales consume much more fish than humans do, so an overabundance of whales could threaten global fish stocks."
What?
This is just simply not true. The targeted species for whaling don't even eat fish, they eat krill and other plankton. According to studies, human overfishing and other fish consume the greatest numbers of fish stocks.
People will say anything for a dollar, sheesh.
Full article here (Times Live)
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