Whaling; Japans shame

Research. It is a simple word. Merriam- Webster’s online dictionary defines it as;
· Careful or diligent search,
· Studious inquiry or examination; especially : investigation or experimentation aimed at the discovery and interpretation of facts, revision of accepted theories or laws in the light of new facts, or practical application of such new or revised theories or laws,
· The collecting of information about a particular subject.

No one could claim that the Japanese have not been diligent in their efforts to research Whales in the Antarctic Ocean. Each year around November 9th, they have sent their fleet of vessels into the Antarctic Ocean to conduct their research. Unfortunately, that research ends up with hundreds of whales a year perishing, because the Japanese have elected to utilize a loophole within the International Whaling Commissions Convention rules, which provides special permits to nations which wish to continue whaling despite a pause in whaling as maintained by the International Whaling Commission.

They are certainly quite studious in their endeavor, looking for new facts in the carcass of each whale they kill. However, oddly enough, in my research for this article, I have not been able to discern any new findings or research based on these yearly efforts by the Japanese. They have managed merely to rehash data, which has already been published, studied, and filed for later use, or data which is of little to no importance, and surely does not merit the death of one whale, much less thousands.

Oddly, none of the research noted on the Institute for Cetacean Researches website mentioned studies concerning mercury, or heavy metal poisoning from the consumption of whale meat. Yet later in their research, they studied whether whale meat from the Antarctic Ocean had concentrations of mercury. However, with all of this research they have conducted, there is simply no new interpretation of facts based on new information gleaned through their research efforts. The information they gather is either transmitted to the International Whaling Commission solely, in an effort to support their claims that whaling is sustainable, or they do not publish it. Some information gleaned from their research is data that can be obtained without the death of the animals, or their maltreatment. As proven by other cetacean biologists and researchers have submitted white papers, peer reviewed articles and papers. Whereas the peers reviewing the Institute for Cetacean Research are at best questionable, and their motivations is unknown. This is not to mention that other researchers and biologists manage to research these massive creatures without causing undue harm or death to them, allowing for continued growth of the whale community, and repopulation of the oceans, and their research is not biased towards re-opening whaling internationally. Meanwhile, that’s the sole purpose of the ICR’s research. When a person takes into account the titles of some of their research you have to question both the validity of the research, it’s importance, and even it true purpose;
· “Ishikawa, H. and Shigemune, H. 2008. Comparative Experiment of Whaling Grenades in the Japanese Whale Research Program under Special Permit (JARPA and JARPN). Jpn. J. Zoo Wildl. Med. 13(1): 21-28.” Yes, we certainly need to know how whales would react to explosives.
· “Bannister, J.L., Pastene, L.A. and Burnell, S.R. 1999. First record of movement of a southern right whale (Eubalaena australis) between warm water breeding grounds and the Antarctic ocean, South of 60°S. Marine Mammal Science 15(4): 1337-1342.” And quite certainly that whales last migration, thanks to the research.
· “Honda, K., Aoki, M. and Fujise, Y. 2006. Ecochemical Approach Using Mercury Accumulation of Antarctic Minke Whale, Balaenoptera bonaerensis, as Tracer of Historical Change of Antarctic Marine Ecosystem During 1980-1999. Bull. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 76: 140-147.” This research shows they know there is the risk of mercury within whale meat. They cannot deny it to the Japanese people, ever.
· “Wei, H., and Fukui, Y. 2000. Fertilizability of ovine, bovine or minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) spermatozoa intracytoplasmically injected into bovine oocytes. Zygote 8(3): 267-274.” I’m beginning to think they make these experiments up as they go along now.

So unfortunately, it would appear that the Japanese have failed in their quest to expand mans knowledge concerning cetaceans with an altruistic scientific purpose. If the Japanese still lived in an era where traditional Samurai failure meant they had to submit to seppuku, the traditional and ritualistic suicide often mistakenly called Hari Kiri. Traditionally, A samurai had to submit to this if he failed or if he had committed something dishonorable. Where is the dishonor the casual reader may wonder; The dishonor is in having mislead the Japanese people, and others by even trying to pretend that their killing of whales is based on academic merit, and not financial gain. They have gone to great lengths to further the fiction of their research, from setting up the ICRwhale.org website, to smearing conservation organizations, providing disinformation, claiming racism when questioned on their methods, research, their sincerity, or simply anything having to do with whaling. They have allegedly bribed some poorer nations from Africa and the Bahamas in an effort to further their whaling agenda, and control votes within voting bodies that control whaling. Such things to the majority of the world are not best practices, but are considered deceitful, dishonorable, and self-serving dirty dealings. Certainly these are a cause for shame.