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Comment by bigbubba | Hacker News Reader

Two points: 1) Japan does not presently hunt blue whales and hasn't for some years. 2) For the past few years Norwegians have killed more whales than the Japanese, yet the Japanese receive the lion's share of criticism for it.

https://iwc.int/total-catches

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That Norwegians (and Inuit) hunt whales doesn’t make it any less awful that Japan hunts whales.

In all cases, were talking about killing animals that are known to be highly intelligent and social. Nobody should be killing them.

Cows are highly intelligent and social ... What's the difference?

> In all cases, were talking about killing animals that are known to be highly intelligent and social.

I mean, that applies to plenty of the animals that people breed/hunt for food without outrage.

I'm fond of whales (and rorquals in particular), but my opinion has always been go big or go home. Bar the question of sustainability/conservation, whale hunting isn't inherently any worse than rearing livestock or other regular forms of obtaining meat - personally I think the only rational stances are to oppose all or oppose none.

The table there introduced me to the notion of stinky whales:

https://phys.org/news/2016-10-stinky-whale-whiff-wafts-whali...

Thats terrifying and probably out fault. Who knows how many chemicals are dumped into the ocean that we unknowingly consume because they don’t smell bad.

I have never heard of Norwegians conducting whaling. Why aren't they being reamed for it too?

A significant difference is Norway was only hunting minke whales which are still in the least concern category. Japan however was hunting actually threatened Sperm whales and Fin Whales.

Further, they where doing it under the auspices of research far from Japan vs Norway which was more brazen, but also more local.

PS: Alaskan whale hunting by Inuit also largely gets a free pass.

Per that chart, Japan predominantly hunts minke whales, and last took a single sperm whale in 2013. Indonesia kills approximately 20 sperm whales every year.

Inuits taking a few whales a year as a traditional food source is in no way comparable to the commercial endeavors operated by the Japanese.

Who is it giving the Inuit a pass? Why do they have a say in it? Someone shows up thousands of years after the fact and starts telling the Inuit what they can and can't eat? I don't see that as a defensible position to hold. The Inuit should be able to eat their own whales if they want to.

The Japanese are indigenous to Japan and have been hunting whales for a thousand years and maybe over ten thousand[1] so I guess we don’t get to tell them what they can and can’t eat either.

[1] https://japanwhaling.weebly.com/history.html

Aside from the difference in population between the Japanese and the Inuit, the Japanese are also increasingly disinterested in eating whale meat [1][2]. It appears to be an aspect of their culture which is on the wane (in effect they're telling themselves what to eat), so international pressure on them to stop doesn't strike me as outrageously insensitive.

1: https://www.wired.com/2015/12/japanese-barely-eat-whale-whal...

2: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/01/11/business/future...

And its actually very high in mercury and cannot be eaten often by young people and women of childbearing age, like other high mercury fish.

Of course, the Ainu are indigenous to Hokkaido https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ainu_people

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