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And good on them! I like whales and I think nations should coordinate to ensure that they stick around, but this doesn't have to mean that we ban whaling foreve

by jaspax 6y ago

And good on them! I like whales and I think nations should coordinate to ensure that they stick around, but this doesn't have to mean that we ban whaling forever. As with most natural resources, managed harvest is a better long-term policy than an absolute ban.

ficklepickle 6y ago
Um, no. Whales are sentient creatures. We should not be slaughtering commercial quantities of whales. I'm fine with the northern aboriginal people killing their 7 whales, but I'm not down with Japan killing thousands because the meat is a delicacy, oh I mean "research". I'm willing to make a compromise though. If we can hunt human children, your children, then I think that would be fair. Either we can kill any sentient animal for money/sport or none of them. I'll see myself out.
- naniwaduni 6y ago
  > I'm fine with the northern aboriginal people killing their 7 whales I think you're grossly understating the extent of aboriginal whaling. Reading numbers off the table at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whaling#Whaling_catches_by_location https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whaling#Whaling_catches_by_loc... and cross-checking with the "by country" writeups below: Canada kills a thousand whales per year, about 2:1 narwhals to belugas, with "subsistence" amounts of bowheads. Greenland contributes about equal numbers of belugas and narwhals, and half as many minkes. Alaska contributes almost as many beluga kills, but also about a hundred bowheads a year. Faroese pilot whale kills number another ~800 per year. Any two of these four outstrip the scale of all commercial whaling. Let's dispense, too, with the delusion that these aboriginal peoples "don't take more than they need and they use the entire animal": > Hunters in Hudson's Bay rarely eat beluga meat. They give a little to dogs, and leave the rest for wild animals.[15] Other areas may dry the meat for later consumption by humans. An average of one or two vertebrae and one or two teeth per beluga or narwhal are carved and sold.[15] Aboriginal whaling is no less reprehensible than the commercial variety. Hell, at least commercial whaling is mostly constrained to operating at profit.

by jaspax 6y ago

ficklepickle 6y ago

Um, no. Whales are sentient creatures. We should not be slaughtering commercial quantities of whales. I'm fine with the northern aboriginal people killing their 7 whales, but I'm not down with Japan killing thousands because the meat is a delicacy, oh I mean "research". I'm willing to make a compromise though. If we can hunt human children, your children, then I think that would be fair. Either we can kill any sentient animal for money/sport or none of them. I'll see myself out.

naniwaduni 6y ago
> I'm fine with the northern aboriginal people killing their 7 whales I think you're grossly understating the extent of aboriginal whaling. Reading numbers off the table at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whaling#Whaling_catches_by_location https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whaling#Whaling_catches_by_loc... and cross-checking with the "by country" writeups below: Canada kills a thousand whales per year, about 2:1 narwhals to belugas, with "subsistence" amounts of bowheads. Greenland contributes about equal numbers of belugas and narwhals, and half as many minkes. Alaska contributes almost as many beluga kills, but also about a hundred bowheads a year. Faroese pilot whale kills number another ~800 per year. Any two of these four outstrip the scale of all commercial whaling. Let's dispense, too, with the delusion that these aboriginal peoples "don't take more than they need and they use the entire animal": > Hunters in Hudson's Bay rarely eat beluga meat. They give a little to dogs, and leave the rest for wild animals.[15] Other areas may dry the meat for later consumption by humans. An average of one or two vertebrae and one or two teeth per beluga or narwhal are carved and sold.[15] Aboriginal whaling is no less reprehensible than the commercial variety. Hell, at least commercial whaling is mostly constrained to operating at profit.