f13.net

Dolphins are cute, therefore exempt from feeding us.  Whales are their aquatic cousins and exempt by association. Only evil and backwards bastards enjoy eating the cute animals.  

I like how the world community is compelled to tell the Japanese to stop eating whale and yet be totally happy to fish tuna into near extinction to sell to the Japanese.

But then I'm totally uninformed on either issue.

Rabbit is delicious.

And plentiful!

Rabbit is delicious.

Along with Norway, Peru and the USSR, Japan lodged an objection to the whaling moratorium, which any IWC member was entitled to do, exempting themselves from the decision. It is on that basis that Norwegian whaling continues today

...

The Packwood-Magnuson Amendment allowed Washington to cut the fishing quotas in US waters of any country which it felt was undermining an international conservation agreement; under the Pelly Amendment, it could impose trade sanctions on any offending nation. Fishing quotas were hugely important to Japan. Its boats were catching more than a million tonnes of fish per year in US waters, mainly off the Alaskan coast. The New York Times of 1983 priced the catch at $425m annually, well beyond the value of Japan's whaling. At the end of 1984, a coalition of environmental groups initiated a lawsuit aimed at forcing Ronald Reagan's administration to invoke Packwood-Magnuson and Pelly against Japan. But in bilateral discussions, the two governments reached an agreement. Japan would cease whaling in 1988, two years beyond the moratorium date, and withdraw its objection; in return, Ronald Reagan's administration agreed not to take action under Packwood-Magnuson or Pelly. Again, it seemed that an end to Japanese whaling was in sight. However, the court action continued, the NGOs claiming the administration had no right to make a deal with Japan. Eventually, in June 1986, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the administration. The deal, apparently, was sealed; in return for keeping its fishing nets full, Japan would hang up its harpoons for good. The next month, Japan formally withdrew its objection to the whaling moratorium.

...

In a bid to develop their own industry, US fishermen were pushing for the removal of foreign access to US waters. They were aided by a coalition of 14 NGOs led by Greenpeace who went to court against Japan, claiming its fishing methods harmed porpoises, seals and birds. The Japanese quota plummeted. From 900,000 tonnes in 1985, it halved in 1986, then fell to 104,000 tonnes the following year. In 1988, the quota was zero; an estimated 130 Japanese fishing boats had nothing to catch.

BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6659401.stm)

When they kill that last whale, it'll be a global tragedy for a year, then life will go on and we'll find something new to fish into extinction, or start breeding whales in captivity, like cattle, because there's money to be made on selling their meat and products.

I agree, don't throw smelly things at the whalers, use torpedos to sink them. Yes, people will die. But its not like humans are an endangered species.

I like how the world community is compelled to tell the Japanese to stop eating whale and yet be totally happy to fish tuna into near extinction to sell to the Japanese.

But then I'm totally uninformed on either issue.

They could stop doing this and almost nobody in Japan would notice.  They don't make any profit from it.  They appear to just want to kill the whales to show they can, since everybody is telling them not to.  National pride and all that.

Eradicating a whole species, especially one as fucking awesome as a whale, is totally retarded.

If whales are so smart, why don't they grow gills?

Thank god no one gives a damn about Octopuses.

He's too big a fat pussy to put himself in any jeopardy whatsoever.

Dude, he did RAM A FUCKING WHALER AT SEA. Okay, he probably just fails at navigation but still....that takes some cojones. As well as plowing through ice in a non-reinforced ship. Maybe he's just stupid.

He's a douchebag, but I wouldn't go with big fat pussy.

Maybe he's just stupid.

Teleku mentioned the part I don't really understand. No one actually likes whale meat, it's pretty much disgusting in every regard. No one wants to actually eat it.

Meanwhile, the Sierra had been repaired and was ready to return to sea. It never did so: on February 6, 1980, my crew blew the bottom out of her and permanently ended her career. We traded a ship for a ship, but it was a great trade because we also traded our ship for the lives of hundreds of whales.

http://www.animalsfirstfoundation.org/pic_files/Satya%20March%2004_%20Interview%20with%20Paul%20Watson.pdf

... cleaned out the rich eastern African fishing fields bankrupting the traditional Somali fishermen in that area.
And when I say cleaned out I mean they literally took away all maritime life. They are not farming the sea, they are taking everything home, leaving only algae and processed waste behind.

Leading some Somali fishermen to more lucrative ventures, say pirating. The real shit this time, action bred out of necessity not out of misdirected idealism. Nothing suitable for TV, of course, never quite as entertaining as boats full of over privileged cunts trying to save the world.

Teleku mentioned the part I don't really understand. No one actually likes whale meat, it's pretty much disgusting in every regard. No one wants to actually eat it.

Bullshit. I'm having a minke whale steak for dinner Sunday night. The key is that you slice it thin, and then soak it in milk overnight to get rid of the salty ocean flavor. Once you prepare it properly, minke whale is goddamned amazing - it's like someone compressed an entire cow's worth of beefness into a wee 8 ounce lump.

I have whale a few times a year; it's a bitch to prepare at home, but I know a few good restaurants here in Iceland that serve great whale steaks.

I'd sooner eat a dog or a cat.

Hey, what's wrong with eating dog or cat?

Sure, it's all hugs and kisses until the Octopuses learn how to use their coconut shells as weapons against humanity.

Teleku mentioned the part I don't really understand. No one actually likes whale meat, it's pretty much disgusting in every regard. No one wants to actually eat it.

1) They cleaned out the east African fisheries legally; Somalia does not administer an EEZ currently. Also, those fisheries are recovering now, partially due to the piracy threat.
2) The piracy MAY have started with the misguided intention of "taxing" foreign fishing vessels...but now, it's simply kidnapping for ransom, and fishing vessels are not even terribly lucrative targets. It's a purely criminal enterprise.

1) Legally or not, they still cleaned them out after chugging halfway across the globe to do it in someone else's yard. Also, just because Somalia doesn't have an EEZ doesn't mean that the Somali's didn't depend on it, or that it was one of the only ways to feed themselves. The entire country is a coastal strip of nomadic grazing because the whole country has 300 square yards able to grow crops. I don't technically own the devilstrip in front of my house, but that doesn'e mean some guy from New York can drive out here and take the grass and topsoil in it.

2)Oh, well if it started out as the only way to bring in any money, they needed to stop after after the first couple of times because everyone knows you only need to eat once a year and that's plenty of time for an entire ecosystem stripped bare by fishing fleets from a country on the other side of the globe to repair itself to the point were a country of subsistence fishermen can feed itself.

Somalia has been about endlessly fucked by the First World in a lot of ways and has simply been ignored when they object. Frankly, if I were them I'd be mining as much uranium as I could and selling it to whoever had the money, regardless of what anyone had to say. I bet their concerns would get some attention then.

As far as the rights and wrongs of whaling go then I find it very hard to pick through the lies and hyperbole coming from both sides of the debate. Illegal whaling of endangered species, bad, yeah no question. But I honestly have no idea how common that is and find it hard to trust the figures that come out of the animal rights movements.

But the vitriol that a lot of people direct at the anti-whalers seems equally misplaced to me. In this thread people are expressing a desire for this particular person to get harpooned? Really? What's wrong with you? Can you not see that those are abhorrent things to say?

That gives me an idea, I wonder if whale meat is halal and/or kosher.

I hate the SeaShepherd people because they siphon millions of good dollars away from good people and flush it down the drink with their incompetence (absolute worst group of seamen I've ever seen portrayed).

That gives me an idea, I wonder if whale meat is halal and/or kosher.

Thank god no one gives a damn about Octopuses.

I do! They're totally on my Too Smart to Eat list.

How could you eat something so adorable?

I would think they are a dark or red meat, so red wine.

A very dark red meat, kind of a brackish crimson.

I'll just leave this here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Geu7saVr7CU&).

How much crap are you supposed to eat it with?  (assuming that's the normal way to prep. it)
Noticed it's covered in goo, comes with a dip AND a chutney.  Is there any meat taste left when it hits your mouth?