text: I don't understand it, Japan has said that they have stock piles of whale meat as it is, why do they need to kill more.  Whaling brought most whale populations to the brink of extinction and anything that puts any extra pressure on the slowly recovering populations should be prevented.  At the moment Japan claims its only killing the whales as part of "scientific research" but this is absolute c ra p, they are trying to start commercial whaling again and may even ignore international law in their pursuit of this. I think penalties should be very severe if they try to.\nArguements that say whaling is part of japanese heritage and culture are pathetic, Whales are part of the Earths natural heritage and Japan have no right to finish of the last remaining animals.