Personally I have read it hundreds of times.
It is one of Japans favourite facts to use during ATTACKS upon anti-whalers
The serious suggestion that Japanese whaling played no contribution in the near-extinction of whale populations is a bit of rewritten history that I find VERY offensive.
Well lets have a look at it then shall we?
As a first source I would like to call to the stand....
Toennessen and Johnsen's
"The History of Modern Whaling"
Yep thats a link to the dam book.
Its a respected source, and a good book. Buy it!
If you feel the need to argue the great whales should die you should at least look at the mistakes of the past to ensure you are not encouraging a repeat of them!!
'None of the other whaling nations was in any doubt that the real reason for declining stocks was the ruthless catching undertaken by the Japanese, starting as they did four to five weeks before the others, ignoring the ban on the catching of humpbacks or minimum size limits. Germany, Britain and Norway despatched notes to this on Japan at the same time' (p 469).
Now key points of interest
1) Japanese whaling expeditions were working in the Antarctic prior to the outbreak of World War II.
2) Whaling nations were making efforts to instigate international controls on whaling prior to the IWC coming into being post-WWII. These efforts were frustrated in several ways, one being Japanese intransigence.
3) There was a perception amongst whaling nations in the latter part of the 1930s that ongoing declines of Antarctic populations were being driven by the approach that the Japanese were taking to whaling - killing species that other nations had agreed shouldn't be being hunted, killing lactating blue whales, starting their season earlier that what others had agreed to, things like that. Given what we now know of the population biology of baleen whales, the perception that the Japanese were solely responsible for ongoing declines was probably wrong. That they were primarily responsible for the ongoing declines in the latter 1930s may well be right.
4) The actions of Japanese Antarctic expeditions was considered so bad that three whaling nations (the UK, Norway and Germany) worked together, using diplomatic channels, to object to the Japanese actions. This is despite the diplomatic tensions existing between the UK and Germany - World War II broke out a couple of months later. Clearly folks engaged in international negotiations on whaling management back them thought something was going wrong.
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Yes many other nations whaled.
Heck heres a website on the dam yanks
But at least they are honest about their history.
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Major whaling nations
Germany quits whaling in 1939**********************
U.S. quits whaling in 1940
Argentin quits whaling in 1960
U.K. quits whaling in 1963
Holland quits whaling in 1964
New Zealandquits whaling in 1964
Norway withdraws from the Antarctic Ocean in 1972
Canada quits whaling in 1973
South Africa quits whaling in 1975
Australia quits whaling in 1978
Brazil quits whaling in 1980
Chile quits whaling in 1983
Peru quits whaling in 1984
Spain quits whaling in 1985
U.S.S.R quits whaling in 1987
Norway reopens whaling in its surrounding ocean area in 1993
Japan tests whaling operation in the Antarctic Ocean in 1934
Demmark/Panama/Republic of Korea/Portugal/Iceland/
France/Mexico/Somail/Philippines/Bahamas/
Tonga/St.Vinsent
The Japan Whaling Assoc offers this time line
| 9th Century | Whaling starts in Norway, France, and Spain |
| 12th Century | Hand-harpoon whaling starts in Japan |
| 1606 | Hand-harpooning whaling by organized groups starts in Taiji, Japan |
| 1612 | Hand-harpooning of Baird's beaked whales starts in Chiba Prefecture, Japan (near Wadaura) |
| 1675 | Whaling using nets begins in Taiji, and spreads to Shikoku and Kyushu, contributing to rapid expansion of whaling |
| 1712 | Sperm whaling starts in the U.S. (US-style whaling) |
| 1838 | Organized whaling using nets starts in Ayukawa, Japan |
| 1864 | Modern whaling is developed in Norway |
| 1868 | With harpoon guns completed in Norway, Norwegian-style whaling starts |
| 1879 | A storm claims the lives of 111 whalers from Taiji. This incident prompts transition from net whaling to modern whaling |
| 1899 | Japan starts Norwegian-style whaling |
| 1903 | The world's first whaling factory ship (Netherlands) sails out to Spitsbergen sea |
| 1904 | Norway sets up a whaling station in South Georgia Island; Whaling begins in Antarctic Ocean |
| 1905 | First whaling factory ship sails to Antarctic Ocean |
| 1906 | Full-scale modern whaling starts in Japan with construction of modern whaling station in Ayukawa |
| 1925 | A mother ship equipped with a slipway goes on whaling for the first time |
| 1931 | First International Whaling Convention is signed |
| 1932 | Claws (tail fin pinchers) appears |
| 1934 | Japan enters mother ship-type whaling in Antarctic Ocean |
| 1940 | U.S. quits whaling |
| 1941 | Japan suspends mother ship-type whaling upon the outbreak of World War II |
| 1946 | International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling is signedJapan resumes whaling in Antarctic Ocean |
| 1948 | International Whaling Commission (IWC) is established |
| 1949 | 1st IWC meetings are held |
| 1951 | Japan joins IWC |
| 1959 | Olympic system is abolished; Self-declared whaling starts |
| 1962 | Country quota system starts |
| 1963 | Hunting of humpback whales in Antarctic Ocean is bannedUK quits whaling |
| 1964 | Hunting of blue whales in Antarctic Ocean is banned |
| 1972 | Resolution calling for 10-year moratorium on commercial whaling is adopted at United Nations Conference on Human Environment Blue Whale Unit system is abolished; Catch quota by whale type system startsNorway withdraws from whaling in the Antarctic OceanJapan starts minke whaling |
| 1975 | New Management Procedure (NMP) is adopted |
| 1976 | Hunting of fin whales in Antarctic Ocean is banned |
| 1978 | Hunting of sei whales in Antarctic Ocean is banned |
| 1979 | IWC adopts an Indian Ocean whale sanctuary |
| 1982 | IWC adopts a commercial whaling moratorium |
| 1985 | Japan withdraws objection to IWC moratorium |
| 1987 | Japan withdraws from Antarctic whaling and starts research whaling (JARPA) |
| 1988 | Japan suspends coastal catching of minke and sperm whales |
| 1990 | IWC estimates population of minke whales in Antarctic Ocean as 760,000 |
| 1992 | Iceland withdraws IWC; North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission (NAMMCO) is established IWC completes development of Revised Management Procedure (RMP) |
| 1993 | Norway resumes commercial whaling |
| 1994 | IWC adopts southern ocean whale sanctuary |
| 1994 | Japan starts research whaling in northwest Pacific (JARPN) |
| 2000 | Japan starts research whaling (JARPNII) for feeding study |
| 2002 | 54th IWC meeting is held in Shimonoseki |
| 2003 | IWC adopts Berlin initiative |
| 2005 | Japan starts research whaling (JARPAII) |
| 2006 | IWC adopts St. Kitts and Nevis Declaration |
| 2007 | Confrence for the Normalization of the IWC in Tokyo |
Another whaling organisation luna offers these body counts for species of interest to whalers today taken in ANTARCTICA.
Minke, Humpback, Finwhale
And to a lesser extent Spermwhales, Sei, and Blue whales.
I dare anyone to do the maths on those species and then claim the Japanese whaling played no part in the near extinction of the species involved! Of course there is also much secret whaling and almost all nations have helped out.
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Whaling is cruel and obselete it must be ended.
Whaling destroys social and family bonds within a whale pod. Whale products are superfluous or can be replaced by substitutes
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