Text 5294, 58 rader
Skriven 2010-02-26 09:34:00 av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
   Kommentar till text 5264 av David Drummond (3:640/305)
Ärende: Whaling (was: The Dubai Connection)
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David Drummond wrote to Ward Dossche on Thursday February 25 2010 at 17:58:

WD>> The Japanese are whaling with a legitimate license.

WD>> Whether we like that is another matter, but it's as legal as can be
WD>> under IWC-rules (International Whaling Commission).

DD> Not according to the Australian Government who are threatening to take
DD> them (the whalers) to court.

You know, this whole "Save Willy" business started up in the last century after
whalers supplying the demand for oil used in lighting and cosmetics butcherd
quite a lot of the species, taking the blubber and leaving the rest to rot.

Doubtless that was an example of reckless commercialism, and damned stupid to
boot, worse by far than the overfishing you see in some areas nowadays.

So there was eventually a huge outcry and the whales were put on the endangered
species list and whaling as a profession effectivelly died out.

However, it would have died out anyway, since about the same time as all the
hue and cry and regulation got into full swing, the switch from whale oil to
petroleum started up - and since pertoleum is much cheaper than whale oil, and
was even then, the market for whale oil dried up. No demand, no whalers. The
end of whaling would have come even without any regulation, although perhaps
some whale oil would still have been used in cosmetics.

So in the meantime, we have quite a stretch of time during which there has been
effectively no whaling, and the species that were not totally eliminated have
recovered nicely. Limited whaling would not endanger the species, and might
even be beneficial for the environment, as it would prevent excessive
populations that might be problematical to other species. The example of
elephants, another protected species, comes to mind.

So why not permit limited whaling (and limited elephant hunting, for that
matter)? The fact is that they're so damned _cute_. And every kid since "Save
Willy" knows that whales are endangered by profit-hungry, greedy corporations
with profit-hungry, greedy whalers whose only desire is to exterminate the
species altogether... and anyway, they're so _cute_ ...

The upshot is that everyone who wants to catch a few whales, be it for research
or even to eat the meat (We kill cows, don't we? And they have such cute
eyes...) - not for blubber nowadays, as it just doesn't pay anymore - gets
lambasted as a criminal, and not only a criminal, but almost a "crimes against
nature" criminal, which is nowadays even worse than murder.

I only wonder when the populations (of whales and elephants) will get so large
that at least a few people will start thinking again and realize that unchecked
population grown of even _cute_ animals is not necessarily a desirable thing.

You know, cats are cute too, but look what they've done to the Australian
fauna. Their tough luck that they have no lobby. Maybe Greenpeace would be
interested in "saving the cats" in Australia, what d'ye think?

Cheers, Bob

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