Today's Japanese hunt whales the way their ancestors did, in giant metal boats and with harpoons tipped with explosives
During the Bush administration, the United Stated (known to some as “America”) was not in the habit of expressing open opposition to Japan’s controversial “scientific” whaling program. But that’s starting to change now that Obama’s in charge.
In a recent statement to congress, the White House and the NOAA said that the longstanding International Whaling Commission moratorium on commercial whaling was still a necessary conservation measure. They went on to add that, “The Administration also strongly opposes lethal scientific whaling and considers it unnecessary in modern whale conservation and management.”
Additionally, the Bush appointee currently heading the IWC, William Hogarth, was recently grilled by congressional Democrats who accuse him of doing too little to stop Japanese whaling. In 2007, Japan agreed only not to expand it’s yearly “scientific” hunt in the Southern Ocean, and has since said it would only do that if granted commercial whaling rights in its coastal waters.
Opponents interpret these attempts at compromise as ultimately giving Japan what it really wants - a license to kill whales and to sell whale meat.
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