Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
The Japanese whaling industry is dying, but the government is still spending millions to keep it alive. It’s getting a renewed financial boost now. Where is the money coming from? Taxpayer dollars and funds earmarked for tsunami disaster relief. Despite a decline in the demand for whale meat, nearly 30 years of a moratorium on commercial whaling, a Japanese public ambivalent to keeping the industry afloat, and international pressure to abandon the program, conservatives in government continue to shovel money into its gaping mouth. The Guardian reports on it, as there’s been increased concern about the government subsidy as the Japanese economy works to recover from the financial crisis topped with the fallout from March 2011. In an interview with Australian media, Masayuki Komatsu – the man who engineered the “research” program that kept the Japanese whaling fleet in business after the 1986 moratorium on commercial catches – says it’s time for an end to the subsidy. C’mon Japanese people, get mad and put an end to it.
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In a poll of 1200 people: “nearly 90 percent said they had not bought whale meat in the last year. Five percent had done so once, and only 2 percent had done so more than twice.” Most don’t even support it although too many just don’t care. (Discovery – Whale Meat)
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Like Japan, S. Korea may resume whaling for “scientific reasons”. Perhaps that answer questions such as, “How well does whale meat sell?” Korea once hunted 100 whales, and they apparently haven’t since 1986. (CNN – Korean Whaling)
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Whaling continues, but now they’re using earthquake funds at the sum of $29 million. Sure some of the whalers were affected, and we suppose they deserve to have some compensation, but there are plenty of folks who probably haven’t received a cent yet, and whaling comes first? The stories just continue. (USA Today – Whaling)
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We can almost give this a “ho hum” since it was definitely coming. Much to the chagrin of many, Japanese whaling continues for the purpose of “research.” There’s no excuse. The food ends up on menus and school lunches and the activists will definitely be back at it. They actually make a difference, but they shouldn’t ever have them on a TV show. (Guardian UK – Whaling)
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