Japan's threats - who are they aimed at?
Japan has threatened to build even more whaling vessels. Iwata Tsuyoshi - deputy director of the whaling division of Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, was quoted as saying that whaling would continue indefinately and that Japan was looking to replace the ageing industrial factory whaling ship the Nissin Maru with a bigger such factory ship that could last another 40 years.
So here we go again. Some countries think that we should compromise with Japan and give them some form of legitimised whaling - which, and I may be repeating myself, but 'isn't that just what Japan wants?' Some people think that Japan is willing to trade its so-called scientific Antarctic whaling for some form of endorsed 'coastal whaling'. I hate to tell you but there not much difference between the two so-called types (its all commercial whaling anyway) and actually one whale dying by harpoon in Antarctica is like another whale dying by harpoon off coastal Japan. Well actually not quite true, as a huge fin whale being killed by the same armament that is used to kill a much smaller minke whale is a major concern.
But what I mean is, politically it's the same to Japan. Any legitimised whaling is a victory and opens the door to more whaling in the future.
Japan recently used the threat of whaling on humpbacks to try and get some compromises and a few countries seem to have fallen for this deception. Now it seems its willing to threaten the building of more vessels. So what is to happen? Will countries fall for this? Or can they see that Japan does not mean to honour any such agreements, just as it has never honoured the moratroium. If Japan was ever willing to deal and give up high seas whaling (thats the deal some people are willing to force on us) why would it want to build such a factory ship, and if it never intended to deal honourably (gosh, shock, horror) then why is it using such heavy handed tactics? See if you are smarter at working this out than some countries.
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