Deep fears drive Japanese whaling Japanese factory whaling ship
the Nisshin Maru, right, hauls a newly caught minke whale up its
slipway while harpoon ship the Yushin Maru No. 2 sails close
behind. A Sea Shepherd helicopter flies overhead. Picture: Adam
Lau / Sea Shepherd Japan's claim that it kills whales in the
name of science is one of those "we know that they know that we
know" exercises that serves no real purpose other than to allow
members of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to save
diplomatic face. Japan's Institute for Cetacean Research is yet
to produce a single peer-reviewed scientific paper. Nor does
Japan, a highly developed First World nation, have any need to
supplement its supplies of protein with whale meat as it did in
the dark days that followed the Second World War. Environmental
groups such as Sea Shepherd point out that Japan now holds
thousands of tonnes of whale in cold storage. Cultural change
must begin with international understanding of what it is that
underpins Japan's w