I am not one to avoid red meat from farmed sources if it is on offer, but I have little sympathy for the Japanese who are in direct defiance of international whaling bans under the excuse of "scientific research." and are resuming the killing of humpback whales with barbaric exploding harpoons after a forty year moratorium that has brought about a modest recovery in some species, but populations are still precarious, and will be made more so with the resumption of whaling. I can understand the cultural arguments of the Japanese apologists like Hideki Moronuki, of the whaling section in the Far Seas Fishery Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries who says that, "If someone eats a cow, why should one object to a dolphin and whales being eaten; they're all mammals." He added, "If Australians want to eat kangaroos, we don't care. . . . Please do not care what Japanese do. . . . Eating dolphins and whales is part of Japanese food culture." Apparently the Japanese are eating less whale meat, but nevertheless, it is still a huge industry.
My own disgust at this matched by many people who believe as I do that the great whales are all still in great danger of extinction, are intelligent and worth protecting for future generation to marvel at rather than have the remaining few turn up on Japanese dining tables.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1686486,00.html
