Japanese Whale Killers Leave Late for Season - Is Sea Shepherd Working?

Image via WikipediaBy Matt Heeb

Today the Japanese whaling fleet set out for their annual whale hunt. The Japanese whaler's set sail for their traditional fishing grounds in the Antarctic later than usual this year because of higher back stocks and lower demand for whale meat. Although these ships aren't considered commercial fishing ships but rather scientific research ships that harvest whales through a loop hole in the 1986 international moratorium banning whaling.

The loop hole allows for the ships to catch and sell the whale meat. With many organizations like Sea Shepherd and the television show Whale Wars trying to stop the Japanese whale fishing the industry has come under great scrutiny. Sea Shepherd is an international organization that tries to end the destruction of habitat and slaughter of wildlife in the world's oceans in order to conserve and protect ecosystems and species.

I'm glad to see that the Japanese whaling fleet has set sail late this year. It looks as to me that the efforts of the Sea Shepherd organization is starting to work. With the increased stockpiles of whale meat available this means that less whales will need to be caught this year and this should help population numbers rebound.

Although I highly doubt that the efforts of organizations like Sea Shepherd can completely eliminate the Japanese whale industry at least they are making a difference in the number of whales being killed. As the demand for whale meat continues to decrease, as a result of negative publicity from a majority of the world, I predict that we will continue to see a lower number of whales killed each year.

Some people argue that whale fishing is part of Japanese culture and that is why they continue to fish the animals. While I will not get to deep into the cultural or tradition surrounding Japanese whaling I will say that as generations become more westernized and populations increase in smaller coastal towns the tradition of whaling might, over the course of time, decrease. As long as these organizations keep up there efforts even after numbers decrease drastically I feel that this could be the first sign of victory.

Whalers are saying stating that the levels of whales has rebounded since the 1986 moratorium and that they should be allowed to continue to fish the whales as a population control measure. I agree that at some point whales might need some kind of population control but that is for scientist to decide not people with a vested economic interest on the matter. Once scientists agree that the whale population is in need of control then and only then can a whale hunt of any kind can be tolerated. Until that point I think that all whale fishing, hunting, or killing however you say it should be stopped.

What do you think is this a sign of early victory for organizations like Sea Shepherd or just some tactical move by the Japanese whaling industry?

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