Do you guys REALLY want to get into this discussion here?
Remember, I'm in Japan, and this is a VERY hot topic here, the vast majority of Japanese people have NEVER tasted whale, and in fact even here in Tokyo you have to go out of your way to find it on a menu.
The whalers are a very small group of people who have friends in high places, heck they even got the education ministry to put whale on the menu for school kids once a year, lots of families protested by NOT sending their kids to school that day.
All that being said, the type of whale they are hunting, the Minke whale has considerable stock, estimated to be over 100,000 whales, Japan takes around 800 a year, Norway also hunts this whale, taking usually slightly less than 500 a year. Also some of the native tribes in Alaska and I think Washington State hunt the Bowhead whale, they take about 50-70 whales a year, but that is from a much smaller population of only and estimated 10,000 whales.
I think that the Sea Shepard thugs go after the Japanese fleet because they find them a soft target, if you want to read about the thuggish behavior.......
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Sea Shepard's Violent History <<
Do we need to hunt whales, even from a sustainable population?
I do not know, I know I do not need any whale meat, but the same people who will commit violent acts to stop this hunt of whales, are usually aligned with the same group of people who have no problem at all with aborting babies.
Mods, if you see fit, remove my comments, I really do not care