Whale hunting worse than previously thought! (1 Viewer)

[Max Leung]

Genetic Study Shows Extent of Whale Slaughter

The study, published in Friday's issue of the journal Science, suggests the worldwide humpback population could have been as high as 1.5 million -- more than 10 times the IWC's estimate of 100,000.

Joe Roman, a Harvard graduate student who worked with Palumbi on the study, said they used comparative genetics to estimate the genetic diversity of the whale population.

I'm betting that the huge reduction in whale population is the reason why we are seeing an order of magnitude increase in giant squid corpses washed ashore or caught in nets. Less whales = more food for the dark ones.

 

[Ron-P]

Just wait until the probe arrives.


Peace Out~

 

[Max Leung]

Yeah...it'll be PISSED!

Then again, the squiddy probe will be really happy.

Maybe the two can have a showdown in outer space!

 

[John Watson]

Personally, I always cheer for Moby Dick :frowning:

 

[Julian Reville]

I can't understand why any kind of whale hunting has been allowed since it was supposedly outlawed. Yet it still happens, under the guise of "research".

Go Greenpeace.

 

[brentl]

Go Greenpeace.


AGREED!!

Brent

 

[Frederick]

Call me out of touch, but I was unaware that whale hunting was STILL going on. I thought it was outlawed? Also, with all the synthetic's floating around, what could we get from a whale that couldn't be grown, made, or engineered?


Freddy C.

 

[Julian Reville]

Oh yeah, hunting for "food" and "research" still goes on. Have you ever heard of any law that didn't have a loophole?

http://whales.greenpeace.org/

If I ever won the lottery, I would probably spend most of my time
working with Greenpeace and Defenders of Wildlife. As things are, the best I can do is send them a few bucks every month.

 

[Frederick]

If I ever won the lottery, I would probably spend most of my time working with Greenpeace and Defenders or Wildlife.

I was thinking more along the lines of getting a submarine and a few torpedoes. That's insane. Does the words "Endangered Species" mean anything to these people? What happens when there aren't anymore whales? Then what will they hunt for "food" and "research"?


Freddy C.

 

[Julian Reville]

I was thinking more along the lines of getting a submarine and a few torpedoes

Don't give Greenpeace any ideas They still have a score to settle with France over the Rainbow Warrior .

Hmmm, on second thought.......France, settle a few scores, Greenpeace, save some whales, balance the budget, excess 688 class submarines.......how to combine all of these into one nice, tidy package..............

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Whatever happened to the "Yellow Submarine"? IIRC about 10 years ago Greenpeace bought an old diesel-electric boat off the Russians. They renamed it Yellow Submarine and threatened to go pirate on whalers. Does anyone else recall this story?

 

[Max Leung]

Here is the story from Scientific American:

Genetic Analysis Revises Tally of Past Whale Populations

...he and Palumbi checked their results with specialists in ecological computer modeling at the University of British Columbia. Those models suggest that even in 1950, the first year when data is available, the oceans had sufficient resources to support these vast numbers of whales. "There’s food enough," says Villy Christensen, one of the scientists who conducted that study.

This would explain why giant squids are far more common now than they used to be. Although, fisheries are struggling now, and supposedly fish stocks are extremely low. Do giant squid eat the same fish as we do?

 

[Julian Reville]

National Public Radio ran a story about this analysis yesterday; I didn't catch all of it, but apparently Japan and Norway are still murdering whales, and there are some other countries that also want to join in the fun.

As Clint Eastwood said in White Hunter, Black Heart :
"Killing an elephant isn't just a crime, it's a sin."

IMHO, killing a whale is even worse. At least with elephants, you can see them, and have some kind of idea of how the population is doing, with whales it all seems to be guesswork.

[rant]As long as Japan keeps whaling, I have just bought my last piece of Japanese a/v equipment and my last Japanese car. I have no idea of anything I can boycot that's made in Norway.[/rant]

Anyone care to join me?

 

[Max Leung]

Unfortunately, boycotting based on country is virtually useless nowdays. If you buy an American car, there is a high chance it contains parts made in Japan (and some cars are actually of Japanese make and design, like the Dodge Colt, Ford Escort, etc. etc.). If you buy a computer, there is a high chance that some of the memory chips, resisters, capacitors, video chips, etc. were made in Japan.

If you buy a book, there is a good chance that the ink was made in Japan. If you buy a printer, same thing.

The DVD standard was developed in part by many Japanese companies. You want to boycott DVDs too? Oh...and CDs! Boycott them! Toshiba designed the Toslink cable and connector...so fiber optic to your A/V receiver is just right out.

That RCA TV you just bought...probably outsourced to Japan.

You might as well never upgrade your computer, ever. And when HD-DVD comes out, skip it...the standard will be based on a Japanese company's design, and the most products will have a Japanese HD-DVD transport in it. No more HT for you!

I'd love to see someone boycott Chinese products...they'll be starving to death with no clothes on their back after a month!

No, boycotting is useless against a country with such deep economic ties. It'll be a lot easier to boycott some poor country that has few global markets instead. It should be easy to bully...and you had better be prepared to live with the consequences.

Peer-reviewed scientific evidence such as this is worth an infinite amount of failed boycotts. Because now you have completely disarmed your opponent, who is open to all kinds of political measures, such as sanctions and worldwide opinions and public furor. Remember, a boycott would not have exposed China's attempt to cover up SARS. An international community of scientists and doctors did.

 

[Julian Reville]

No, boycotting is useless against a country with such deep economic ties

Plan B: Keep checking eBay for attack submarine.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Or at least make your feelings known to those who have some means of doing something about this ongoing atrocity.

 

[Eric_L]

Does this mean we still can't nuke them?

 

[Steve Schaffer]

Nuke who? The French or the Whales? We've already nuked the Japanese.

There's still an old urban legend running around that automatic transmission fluid is made from Whale oil.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

I thought the only thing whale meat was good for anymore was pet food. Does anyone know what they really sell from a whale carcass?

 

[John Watson]

Don't know for a fact, but wouldn't be surprised if a certain part of the animal was a prized culinary delicacy, or an aphrodisiac.

Let's hope they don't discover a better Viagra in Panda nuts :frowning: