Just a " Big Fish " !

Australia and much of the rest of the world is aghast at Japan's decision to resume commercial whaling.   Japan has announced that it will withdraw from the International Whaling Commission which has the dual function of overseeing the commercial killing of whales and protecting these sea animals.

The good news is that Japan will not hunt whales in the southern hemisphere and that will specifically include the whale sanctuary in Antarctic waters.   Whaling will begin in July 2019 and be restricted to Japan's territorial and economic waters.  Japan still hides behind the fiction that the hunt for whales is a form of scientific research rather than a commercial operation.

Just a few years ago it seemed likely that whales numbers were in such decline that extinction beckoned.  Restrictions on whaling so improved the herd that each year we see ever increasing numbers moving up and down our coast and this has created a huge whale watching industry geared to tourism.

We are simply fascinated by whales and they seem to belong to two worlds.  Fish breathe underwater, but whales need to surface to get air, just like land animals.   We pour onto the water in boats to watch these leviathans " breach " and that is a truly amazing spectacle.  Our fascination with whales has become a love affair.

Perhaps a time to be realistic.   We plunder the oceans for fish because they are a critical food source in an increasingly hungry world.  Whales are simply the biggest type of fish in the oceans and just as fishing quotas are needed to protect fish stocks, the extent of Japan's whale hunt in their coastal waters will not threaten the survival of the species.

Japan does have a point when they remind us that they are a race of people in great numbers, living on a very small land area of islands with limited agricultural space.  Strangely, whale meat was once a food staple in Japan but now has little appeal for many Japanese.  Japan seems to be saying that whaling is being maintained as a survival technique to counter an expected coming world food shortage.

We are horrified at the killing method used in whaling.  When a whale surfaces for air a whaling ship fires an explosive tipped harpoon into its body and the whale thrashes in agony while its blood stains the surrounding sea.  The carcass is dragged aboard and dismembered, but then all forms of fishing seem a form of cruelty.   Baiting fish with a hook and forcing them to fight for life would not be a pleasant experience.

Whale numbers have recovered to the point where limited harvesting is ecologically possible and Japan has restricted the taking of whales to its own territorial waters.  Now a lot depends whether outfits like Greenpeace will accept that decision and cease their attacks on Japan's whaling fleet.
It also depends on whether the rest of the world will accept that whales are just another big fish in the seas and shut their eyes to the catching method used ?

Distasteful as it may be, perhaps whales are relatively safe if they swim in international waters.  But if they wander into the territorial waters of some countries they could end up on a dinner plate  !