Whale hunting to resume in Iceland's waters

reply to post by stumason


Firstly let me just state that I find the idea of blasting an elk's brains out with a rifle to be also very distasteful but at least in that instance the poor elk would have an instantaneous death whereas whales on the other hand are made to suffer indescribable torture and suffering before they succumb to their injuries. The explosive harpoons used are meant to cause immediate death but it has been known for whales to live for well over an hour after the grenade has exploded in their bodies. Some whalers even resort to riddling the whale with bullets to try and finish them off. The whale feels pain from each wound and may not die for some time, suffering in agony and fear until death occurs.

The cruelty of whaling is also not limited to the period after when the whale is struck. In order to get within shooting distance, whaling ships first chase the animal to exhaustion. Eyewitnesses report that a pursuit time of 30 minutes is regular, and up to 90 minutes is not uncommon.

It is also very true that whales and dolphins are very sentient mammals with very large brains that are capable of feeling great distress when a member of their pod falls ill or dies, whales and dolphins have often been observed holding dying members of their pod up to the surface to try and help them when they are dying and when a calf dies the mother will sometimes carry its body for weeks. Imagine then the grief and fear these creatures must feel when being chased by the whalers and witnessing the slaughter of family members.

In this day and age with so many other alternative food sources available there is absolutely no justification for the slaughter of whales and dolphins when it is known without any doubt the suffering they endure in order to end up on the dinner plate of some very selfish human beings. But even that fact is now being disputed and puts into question exactly why these hunts are still taking place - Japan currently has a stockpile of 5,000 tonnes of whale meat it simply cannot sell and a recent survey undertaken by IFAW found that 89% of Japanese people said they had not purchased whale meat in the past 12 months. Yet Japan still insists on spending vast amounts of money to continue whaling, the Japanese government even used £15 million which it took from the Tsunami relief fund to subsidise the whaling fleet. The company that operates the Icelandic whaling fleet said that most of the meat from its whale hunt would be exported to Japan, which beggars belief when Japan already has such huge stockpiles of whale meat already. It certainly seems that a huge proportion of these amazing and beautiful creatures are being slaughtered in the most inhumane manner possible for absolutely no reason whatsoever!

Let the sea take them
I hereby curse all whale hunters
May they suffer a slow and painful death, like they give their prey

imprecatio defixio

Whats the big deal? Human has no claws. Has no teeth. Human has brain. Human hunts wolf because wolf hunts human. Human befriends wolf. Human and wolf continue to conquer it's territory. Whale is stupid. Whale swims does nothing else. Human is smart and hunts whale for own personal gain.

Tell me, how is this any different from wolf hunting man?

Originally posted by vox2442

Originally posted by Timely
it is said that whale meat is not sold commercially. Please explain ?

what, seriously?

Here's the international regs on that. Read at your leisure.

iwc.int...

This report mentions 'minke' whales.
Nothing about 'humpbacks' or 'southern right" whales.

These are sold or given as "special gifts" illegally in Japan.

You are obviously part of the problem.

Reading throught the posts about the whaling here and not surprisingly thee are two "teams" the with and against, however being from Iceland and having as a teenager and young man worked on many fishing boats (never whaling) and having insight into the public discourse here in iceland i tought i would maybe politely point out at few things from my personal feelings on the matter. Here goes. (PS. this is my first ATS post, long time lurker but signed up to respond tonight)

Firstly i would like to point out that in Iceland it looks like majority of people are against the whaling, however not for the same "moral" reasons as some earlyer writers on this post. (mostly they seem to be Americans that hold this sanctity over the whales life) however they see them as portraying iceland negatively to the world, and fear the possible embargoes, and think it might affect tourism and other foreign trades.

That being said i can´t hel but feel that those reasons are lacking in a way, Icelanders have for 1000 years gotten theyr food from the ocean in harsh weather and conditions, and when famine was looming story´s of a beached whale saving an entire region are common, (there is TONNES of meat on one beast).
i am not saying that this alone is reason enough to mindlessly kill, but isn´t it a little bit "Colonializtic" point of veiw when Big America comes swooping in enforcing theyr moral code on what animal is suitable for hunting and what animal is not,

Japan wants to buy whale we have enough and sell them, no one is forced to buy whale, i am pretty sure that worse things are being done right now in your great country in the name of free enterprise, (your share of the wolds output of CO2 is not helping the whales or us all to be honest). (on the note of free enterprise)

cows are smart animals too, however theyr kept in something you call a feedlot, for burgers.

Icelanders kill whales for economic and food reasons, other nations kill HUMANS! in WARS! or EXECUTE human prisoners. that is also something to ethically think about on your soap boxes.

Imerialism, Colonialism and Hypocricy are the words that most come to mind, and i was so perfectly calm when i decided to write this and hope for a rational discussion, i hope i havent killed any change of that and flame away at my post as much as you want, i hope tought that the people who say they come from nations of tolerance and freedom have the grace to tolerate other people around the world who for 1000 years have had theyr way of life and freedom to stay that way.

i forgot to mention, almost ALL our economic dependance is on fish, we sell it, loads of it,

we dont really need the money from whaling to survive, but an argument othn overlooked is that ever since whaling was banned the fishing stocks of our resources have been dwindeling, 1 whale is estimated to be eating maybe 2 TONNES of fish evry day. the ban on whaling has greatly upset the balance of the eco system. therefor to kee things in balance some "trimming" is necisssary. that is stone cold economic survival of the entire nation.

one might even say.... A MATTER OF NATIONAL SECURITY. i bet some ppl wouldnt hesitate to kill a 154 people in a foregin land would these powerful words be fed to them.

and we are talking about 154 whales of a spicies that is NOT under threat of extinction, far from it.
we are not barbarians, we are merely protecting our way of life. (and most people here dont want to, becouse they fear the response from the world).

and again i respect all your toughts, and i hope you will also see where this post is comming from, it comes from a good place of hoping to enlighten the discourse, not as an attempt to hurt or diminish anyones opinion

reply to post by mongomob



Well, you better find a new way to survive. World fisheries are in collapse. Many environmental studies have concluded most of the world's fish are either fully exploited, recovering from exploitation or on their way to extinction. With climate change ramping up (man made or not), it's not a line of work i'd want to depend on for my living

As for your cow argument, I don't eat them either. I get what you are saying though believe me. I know it's easy for me to judge when I'm so over privileged college-educated lady living in the suburbs. If it wasn't for cheetos I'd be a vegan, so yea, i'm a stereotype at this point in life.

And no, I wouldn't kill 154 people just because someone screamed "National Security". You have to prove your case with something more than those words.

reply to post by Swills


A whale is not the same as a whale! There is no need to hype this up as a attack on endangered species because there is more than enough of these whales around!

Its out and out murder. They are as intelligent or even more, than we are and should be given equal rights to humans.

its that Mankind should know by now better ways to SHARE the food of the land dwellers as to prevent the need to attack these CREATOR Creations...

NAMASTE*******

Norway has this blight on it as well, it seriously lowers the frequency of that country and should be outlawed. Norway is one of the most progressed and equal countries on earth, and has higher level souls pretty much, and yet they, the elite, keep chipping away at that country.

The problem is the Inuit nations, and Laplands, and the need for high quality fat to survive historically.

But the past must be upgraded to what is known. It is known that they are very intelligent beings, and so you can't kill them for any reason, save self defence, and good luck with that one.

reply to post by Waldy


This post make no sense.

Just wanted to point that out.

It's really amazing how many people are okay with hunting endangered species.

reply to post by Swills


The Minke whale population is over 1.000.000 animals, Thats not endangered species and nobody is going to notice if 154 of those end up as food for people with good taste!

reply to post by Waldy


Are Fin & Minke whales one in the same?

Originally posted by stumason
I'm not sure I really see what the problem is...154 is less than 0.001% of the global population of Fin Whales... It's hardly going to make much of a difference.

It's also somewhat hypocritical of us, especially those countries who still have people hunting land mammals (looking at you, America...it's your constitutional right to own guns and kill animals for sport, apparently..), to criticise the Icelandic's or Japanese..

I couldn't care less if the animals are "sentient" - whose to say Deer, Elk, Bears, Cows, Chickens etc don't possess intelligence or language?

So what country are you from? What is .001% of your population? Sell them for money to be hunted, it will hardly make a difference.

Originally posted by stumason
reply to post by muse7

 

Hunting animals for food is totally different from beating children....

Try again, this time pick a better analogy...

How is this any different from hunting Deer, or Elk or any other mammal? Is it merely sentiment because Whales are perceived to be a higher form of life? I am sure all mammals possess a certain amount of intelligence, we're all cut from the same cloth so to speak, so explain to me why it is so evil to hunt a whale but perfectly ok to blast an Elks brains out with a .50 hunting rifle?

If elks become endangered do you think it's still ok to kill them?

Originally posted by Intermediator313
Whale beef is very tasty... yummy...

Do you guys just pretend to be ignorant, or are you just very lazy?

There are in fact SEVERAL different species of whale!!!!!!

The whale that is hunted, is the one that there are plenty of!!! Go hug a tree.

Do you pretend to be ignorant, or are you just lazy?

They hunt ...
Fin Whales - ENDANGERED
Minke Whales - ENDANGERED

Get off your lazy ass and do some reading.

Originally posted by mongomob

Imerialism, Colonialism and Hypocricy are the words that most come to mind, and i was so perfectly calm when i decided to write this and hope for a rational discussion, i hope i havent killed any change of that and flame away at my post as much as you want, i hope tought that the people who say they come from nations of tolerance and freedom have the grace to tolerate other people around the world who for 1000 years have had theyr way of life and freedom to stay that way.

1000 years ago Icelanders killed the whale to eat. It sustained them. There were plenty of whales.

Now, they kill them to sell. It sustains their wallets. Whales are endangered.

Your entire argument is rendered moot.

Originally posted by Waldy
reply to post by Swills

 

The Minke whale population is over 1.000.000 animals, Thats not endangered species and nobody is going to notice if 154 of those end up as food for people with good taste!

No, it's not. Yes it is. And how many dead whales do we have when EVERY nation kills 150? You are lacking in facts.

reply to post by OccamsRazor04


And you are lacking in common sense!