In this blog we have tracked the behaviour of whaling activities and the political maneuverings of the pro-whaling countries (primarily Norway Iceland and Japan) and the huge amount of money spent on lobbying landlocked countries for support (see sidebar).
In every case the economic argument for the resumption of whaling is incredibly weak. The damage that adverse publicity has on the country in question, this time Japan, tends to far outweigh any cultural or economic benefits. It would be far cheaper for the Japanese government to pay the whalers vast amounts NOT to catch whales than to allow it to go ahead. The loss in profits by any public boycott of Japanese cars for example (which will surely happen) will more than outweigh any benefits.
Japan fleet sets off to hunt humpbacks [Yahoo news]
Save the whale. Again [Independent]
Japanese whalers hunt humpbacks [BBC]
.
No comments:
Post a Comment