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I read this article and it seems like activists from cultures without a long history of whaling are inconsistent in their criticism of Japan for its whaling.

Many cultural cuisines like rabbits, cows, trout, pigs, chicken, reindeer or walruses are consumed without international criticism. Why does the international community strongly condemn whaling and not other forms of fishing and hunting? I'm looking for the stated reasons from environmental groups and governments that have signed the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling.

P.S

See also the statement from the Japanese Fishery Department.

Mentalist
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    An interesting question, but I don't see it as being a question of political processes. – James K Jul 02 '19 at 21:48
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    @JamesK considering the amount of political capital spent on urging Japan to stop whaling, it seems a political question to me. – Jontia Jul 02 '19 at 21:59
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    There are certainly politics involved, but the question as phrased invites biological answers: Whales are special because /endangered/intelligent/long lived/undomesticated/top predetors/. The question doesn't invite political answers – James K Jul 02 '19 at 22:30
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    @JamesK So, for example, Norway is the second largest country that catches ( I am sorry I have not investigated so much ) next to Japan. They catch and "kill" 594 species every year which is the half of the number of Japan. Why does the peace boat always attack japan? –  Jul 02 '19 at 22:36
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    Is the premise of this question that the farming of say, chickens, and the hunting of whales are similar in some way? What way is it? That chickens and whales are both animals? Is that the only metric being considered? – Leebo Jul 03 '19 at 06:28
  • @Leebo yeah I think it would be more apt to compare it to other commercial fishing, maybe tuna? – katatahito Jul 03 '19 at 06:48
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    Comments deleted. Please note that Politics Stack Exchange is not a discussion forum. Comments on questions should not be used to debate the subject matter of the question. For more information on what comments should and should not be used for, please read the help article on the commenting privilege. – Philipp Jul 04 '19 at 12:29
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    @KentaroTomono Perhaps reddit.com/r/changemyview or reddit.com/r/unpopularopinion would be a better platform for your purposes. – LVDV Jul 05 '19 at 06:35
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    Are your new edits not significantly changing the nature of your question (from whale vs other animals to Japanese whale hunting vs other countries' whale hunting)? – JJJ Jul 06 '19 at 04:05
  • @JJJ How much do you mean by "significant"? I just added the additional information announced in English considering the number of people who are watching this thread. Because, there are many people who are not satisfied with my decision.. All the answers I look art besides which I picked are fairly quite opinion based to me. No data or presentation added. Did my "adjustment" differ so much from the previous one? –  Jul 06 '19 at 04:12
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    Since you are a moderator, if you are not satisfies with my adjustment, please roll it back. It's your privilege. I just changed the whole since it seems to me, sorry, the wacthers are attacking my or my decision by a nasty way, which is downvoting heavily the picked answer not mine. –  Jul 06 '19 at 04:20
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    Well, I'm not a moderator but I can roll it back if you want. I think you can ask the country-specific question (seeing that you have put in research and it's still on-topic) as a new question but you'd need to make sure that you keep the question itself neutral. Obviously, you can include your research, but emphasise the neutral question (preferably at the start), otherwise people will try to close it. – JJJ Jul 06 '19 at 04:59

  • otherwise people will try to close it. That's watchers' choice. I think I am satisfied I said what I I wanted to say. Thanks.

     –  Jul 06 '19 at 05:17
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    This needs to go back to Edit 25/28. All the update information could go in an answer, but it just makes the question a rant. If the question can't be left alone then it needs to close. I leave it up to the Questioner to decide. – Jontia Jul 08 '19 at 08:26
  • @Jontia I don't understand why it made the question a rant. Thus I just posted the announcement from the Japanese Fishery Administration. –  Jul 09 '19 at 00:31
  • It is more that you need to ask a clear and concise question, that can be answered similarly and in general is based on current political positions. Historical comparisons are not what we do. – Jontia Jul 09 '19 at 05:20
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    And keeping changing the question, especially after answers are posted is coming of a faux pas. – Jontia Jul 09 '19 at 05:21
  • @kentaroTomono your original edit where you added in the announcement from the JFA removed the original question and was seen as a rant because it was stating facts that should have gone in an answer. Philipp's most recent edit is a much cleaner way to have added in new sources and still have an easy to read question that can be answered.

    Also, you had a comment stating: [...] I think I am satisfied I said what I I wanted to say. Thanks

    This affirms you wanted to state an opinion rather than ask a question. Unfortunately, this devolved on all sides. Question had promise originally

     – Red Mage Jul 09 '19 at 21:03
  • @Red Mage It was me who rolledbacked. By the way I changed the question because I have come to know more facts thanks to Sjoerd, who criticized originally my choice that I did not know even Japan resumed whaling within its own territorial zone and EEZ. After I read the statement from the Japanese Fishery Department, the catch limits was set to under 1.0% of the estimated target whales' population, which would take 100 years to exterminate them on the premise that they never mate. This would be a joke. But still comments such as by Davor in Sjoerd's had 36 up allows, which has no data at all, –  Jul 09 '19 at 22:59
  • just saying "literally everyone who I talked with on this issue says whales are endangered" so on and on. Why is Japan more focused on on this issue even though now Norway is the highest catcher of Minke Whale and Iceland is second? Is that a kind of a racial discrimination? –  Jul 09 '19 at 23:01
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    @kentarotomono apologies, I just went off the last edit I saw, I'll blame time zone difference. As for the new questions, I personally do not have an answer and think thats a fine question. However, the way the site works you would need to post that in a NEW question rather than reconstructing your original. JJJ mentioned this earlier and Jontia was helpful enough to do this already here https://politics.stackexchange.com/questions/42798/is-opposition-to-whaling-biased-against-japan?noredirect=1&lq=1 – Red Mage Jul 10 '19 at 12:10
  • @RedMage Probably my own "mental health" environment is more important than whales that could be killed ( chances are just 1 % or under ) within our country's vicinity, –  Jul 10 '19 at 15:22
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    The author of the question reverted it to a version which is nothing but a rant against "non Japanese". If the author considers this the version they want, then it must be closed as "promote or discredit a specific political cause, group or politician". I reverted it to the last version which was acceptable. I am now locking this question. We are forced to babysit this question for 20 days now, and it is becoming an unacceptable strain on the resources of the volunteer moderation team. – Philipp Jul 23 '19 at 13:05
  • This is still not a political question and should be closed – James K Feb 21 '23 at 06:26

11 Answers11

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I think there are two main reasons. Ethics (which does apply to dogs in many parts of the world) and the fact that there aren't that many whales (as opposed to dogs).

Ethics

It's seen as immoral. This argument also applies to dogs (note, pictures may be disturbing). As such, you see a lot of outrage about dog consumption as well.

For example, these quotes from a BBC article on dog consumption in Vietnam illustrate this point:

The Hanoi People's Committee said the practice could tarnish the city's image as a "civilised and modern capital".

[...]

A growing number of people in Vietnam disapprove of eating dog meat but it still remains "very much a deep-rooted habit", according to Linh Nguyen, a journalist with the BBC's Vietnamese service.

Threatened species

The second argument doesn't apply to dogs: there aren't that many left. This raises conservationist issues as many people and countries don't think it's worth making (some species of) whales extinct just for some delicatessen.

Specifically, some species of whale are endangered (per the WWF info), meaning (from Wikipedia):

a species which has been categorized as very likely to become extinct in the near future. Endangered (EN), as categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, is the second most severe conservation status for wild populations in the IUCN's schema after Critically Endangered (CR).

The WWF provides some info on why whales are important for ocean life:

Whales are at the top of the food chain and have an important role in the overall health of the marine environment. Unfortunately their large size and mythical aura does not protect them; six out of the 13 great whale species are classified as endangered, even after decades of protection.

JJJ
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    It might be worth noting that many such activists are vegetarian or vegan, and as such likely don't approve of people ratings cows or rats or whatnot. – Obie 2.0 Jul 02 '19 at 21:31
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    @Obie2.0 I think many governments express concern over whaling, it's not some fringe stance I think. I also think it's not sustainable and one way or the other it will stop (either because they stop whaling or because they die out, not just because of whaling, but it's not helping). – JJJ Jul 02 '19 at 21:46
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    Whale populations are increasing for years now. The numbers for some species are large enough to sustain small scale hunting. As your quote shows, 7 out of 13 great whale species are not classified as endangered. – Sjoerd Jul 02 '19 at 22:30
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    Comments deleted. Please note that the purpose of comments on answers is to suggest improvements to the answer. They are not for political debates. For more information on what comments should and should not be used for, please review the help article about the commenting privilege. – Philipp Jul 03 '19 at 12:19
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    "the whale is an endangered species" Whales are not a single species. – David Richerby Jul 03 '19 at 12:21
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    The primary species hunted are minke whales, belugas, narwhals, and pilot whales (source wikipedia: Whaling). Other than one population of belugas in the Cook Inlet of Alaska, none of these are listed as endangered. Please provide a source for your statement about hunted whales being endangered. – Keeta - reinstate Monica Jul 03 '19 at 12:44
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    Whales are also important for ocean life because a dead whale that sinks to the ground in deep water becomes a complex ecosystem for years. – Volker Siegel Jul 03 '19 at 14:24
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    An additional point on ethics: explosive harpoons are probably a very painful way for a whale to die. People who eat meat can still ethically object to forms of slaughter which cause excessive suffering. – Paul Johnson Jul 03 '19 at 14:53
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    @PaulJohnson Religious slaughter (halal and jiddish) is more cruel than required as well. But those are allowed for some reason... – Sjoerd Jul 03 '19 at 19:18
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    @PaulJohnson Exploding harpoons are actually the humane alternative to other methods, as it kills relatively quickly. The problem is however the "relative" part - a whale is just too big to effectively and quickly kill by any method. – Baard Kopperud Jul 03 '19 at 20:44
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    @Sjoerd Halal and Kosher - Kosher-slaughter is described in the Old Testament. – Baard Kopperud Jul 03 '19 at 20:45
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    @Sjoerd Most Halal meat in the UK is stunned before slaughter. https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/what-is-halal-meat-the-big-questions-about-religious-slaughter-answered-9331519.html. – Paul Johnson Jul 04 '19 at 06:46
  • @Sjoerd Religious slaughter is exactly as cruel as required, for followers of those religions. – sgf Jul 04 '19 at 10:34
  • Dogs which are intended to be eaten are raised in suitable environments with this in mind. If people could farm whales as they do salmon would there be a problem? (Obviously there is a size problem with this.) – RedSonja Jul 04 '19 at 11:22
  • @Sjoerd I was just pointing out that the ritual slaughtering in Judaism isn't called "Jiddish" - Yiddish is a language used by some Jews in Eastern and Central Europe, originally a German dialect with Hebrew words mixed in. And where do I claim it's "not cruel"? – Baard Kopperud Jul 04 '19 at 20:17
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    I can see that the death of a whale might be more cruel than that of a cow, but I fail to see why there would be ethical similarity between killing whales and killing dogs that doesn't also extend to killing cows. Why would the death of a dog be more cruel than the death of a cow? – UTF-8 Jul 04 '19 at 20:51
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    @UTF-8 because ethics is what society makes of it. It's unethical to walk naked around Times Square while it's accepted in some tribal cultures. Indeed, ethical values vary culturally and that's why in many places whaling and dogs aren't acceptable food while pigs and cows are. Of course there are also cultures where those aren't accepted, which is due to different ethical values. – JJJ Jul 04 '19 at 22:17
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    @JJJ Yes. And that is the "culture". –  Jul 04 '19 at 22:38
  • @KentaroTomono ethics is determined, in part, by culture. From the BBC Ethics guide: "At its simplest, ethics is a system of moral principles. They affect how people make decisions and lead their lives." and (emphasis mine) "Our concepts of ethics have been derived from religions, philosophies and cultures. They infuse debates on topics like abortion, human rights and professional conduct." – JJJ Jul 04 '19 at 22:43
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    I want to add that although I am not a professional philosopher, as I understand cultural relativism is at best contentious in ethics today. By nature, ethics is supposed to be highly universal. I do strongly doubt that "thou shalt not whale" is a universally accepted moral principle, but explaining ethical arguments with cultural relativism is indeed a dangerous stance. Culture can play a role in ethical discussions, but it should not play the main role. Or rather, lots of people are conflating "cultural and social norms" with morals and ethics. – xuq01 Jul 05 '19 at 07:48
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    "It's seen as immoral." by whom? Certain Asian cultures see no problem with eating dogs. – Pharap Jul 06 '19 at 00:42
  • @Pharap Ricky Gervais and Simon Cowell, very gruesome if you look at how they're skinned alive. – JJJ Jul 06 '19 at 00:51
  • The ethics and endangered points are true, but there is no political angle to this answer. – James K Feb 27 '23 at 06:58
67

There is an ethical argument that hasn't been mentioned yet.

Many people find whale hunting unethical (see JJJs excellent answer), despite supporting deer hunting and chicken farming, because we think whales are smart. There is a correlation between how intelligent an animal is (or we think it is), and how likely people are to oppose its hunt and consumption. The change in public opinion on whale hunting in the past 200 years falls in the same trend as the change in public opinion on dolphin or monkey shows and wild animals in circuses, both of which are banned in increasingly many countries, something few people may have understood if you proposed it 200 years ago.

The smarter the animal, the more we can relate, sympathise, or even empathise their fate, and the more we will be opposed to its mistreatment (see corporals answer on inhumane killing). The news about a whale carrying a dead baby for 16 days went around the world last year.

There are some outliers here (many people eat pig but not dog), but in general people are more likely to loudly oppose the mistreatment of whales than of chicken (there certainly is a criticism of mistreatment of chicken, but it probably happens in most of the world if not all of it).

Please also read the other answers; they contain excellent points that I don't intend to (all) repeat here. My answer is intended to be complementary to the other answers.

gerrit
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One undiscussed reason that Japanese whaling is so specifically opposed by certain nations (specifically New Zealand & Australia) is that much of the Japanese whaling happens in the Southern Ocean, near these countries but very far away from Japan. Part of the national self-image of these countries is that of custodians of the environment; New Zealand's Department of Conservation has an annual budget of $600 million NZD (0.3% of the GDP) and administers almost 30% of the total land area of the country.

This feeling of protection or custodianship extends to the oceans, and there is a perception that Japanese whalers are intruding in a place which they have much weaker ties to and thus less reason to care if they irreparably damage the environment. This feeling is not entirely unique to whaling, news stories in NZ about foreign fishing boats in NZ waters exceeding quotas and overfishing are also somewhat common and result in similarly negative reactions from the public. The main difference in that case is that they tend to be individual commercial entities from a range of countries, not a program directly sponsored by the government of one particular country.

llama
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    I might choose yours since yours is completely unique and comprehensible. –  Jul 03 '19 at 20:15
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    @KentaroTomono I personally think that some of the other answers are more worthy as they cover a wider range of reasoning, I just wanted to include this perspective – llama Jul 03 '19 at 20:47
  • It should be easy to check this answer against reality: Japan announced to start commercial whaling recently, but limit this to its own territorial waters. According to the reasoning in this answer, NZ and Australia would welcome this decision... – Sjoerd Jul 03 '19 at 23:13
  • @Sjoerd Darn! I will reconsider –  Jul 04 '19 at 01:44
  • @llama I am sorry let me reconsider. –  Jul 04 '19 at 01:44
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    @llama just to add, the other issue is that where Japan chooses to whale (in the Southern Ocean) is called the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary and in order to work around the provisions Japan calls their activities scientific research. – Aaron Jul 04 '19 at 07:46
  • @Sjoerd I'm ashamed I did not know Japan resumed whaling within its territorial sea and EEZ. And why should Japan be criticized for it even though the consequence of the action could damage Japan's own territorial environment??? –  Jul 04 '19 at 08:28
  • @KentaroTomono To tackle the question of why a country could be criticized for something they do in their territory, one approach is to see if it has enviromental impact outside. So, I searched, and found this: The Impact of Whaling on the Ocean Carbon Cycle: Why Bigger Was Better. – Theraot Jul 04 '19 at 17:29
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    It could also be noted that New Zealand was for a long period an active whaling nation itself, ending in 1964 and only making it illegal in 1978. Hence it is decrying practices that have themselves become unacceptable within the nation itself over time. It isn't simply attacking the cultural practices of other countries that it has no historical traditions of or understanding. So New Zealand and other members of the IWC have some moral standing on these issues. The IWC was after all founded as a collection of whaling states, initially to make the practice sustainable. – Michael MacAskill Jul 05 '19 at 00:20
  • @MichaelMacAskill Good point. I would like to survey the "history" of IWC. Thank you for your comment. –  Jul 05 '19 at 07:10
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I would disagree with your initial statement "Many cultural cuisines like rabbits, cows, trout, pigs, chicken, reindeer or walruses are consumed without international criticism", at least in spirit.

There are protests, within and across national boarders, about the hunting or eating of certain groups of animals, including those in your list. Cows are farmed, not hunted, but several groups protest against this (such as PETA). There are also multiple reports of people being killed by lynch mobs in India on suspicion of harming or slaughtering cows, for example.

There are also protests and laws protect various endangered animals from hunting, including seals(which several populations claim hunting of as part of their cultural heritage), trout(highly regulated where I am from), and rabbits, such as the Amami rabbit (Pentalagus furnessi) of Kagoshima Prefecture of Japan.

Instead, I would say that whale hunting is the "loudest" protest against hunting, especially on the international stage for a couple of reasons:

1) Whales are endangered, and are actively hunted. I think, although the resources collected are different, a good comparison might be the hunting of ivory of elephants and rhinos, which garners a large amount of international press and condemnation, at least where I am.

2) Whales are "photogenic", and thus garner more public support: better adjectives might include cool, majestic, exotic or cute. This is a general trend: we hear more about efforts to save, e.g. endangered Pandas, turtles, elephants and gorillas, then we do about efforts to save equally or more endangered species of mice, ferrets, crustaceans, spiders(kill them with fire!), or flies.

3) Whales live in/travel through international waters. As such, lobbies for their protection need to be international in nature to be effective. Lobbying for the protection of animals that have smaller geographical footprints tends to be more effective if targeted to a specific nation or nations. For example, monarch butterflies migrate between the US and Mexico, and so there has been a lot of successful lobbying to grant them protections on both sides of the border.

sharur
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    +1 for addressing the flawed premise that other types of hunting do not go "without international criticism." While point (1) has been mentioned in other answers, points (2) and (3) are important contributors too. – WaterMolecule Jul 05 '19 at 17:35
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    The term you are looking for in point 2) is "charismatic megafauna" – arp Jul 05 '19 at 20:05
  • #3, international waters and (Monarch) migration, +1. OP names no other animal that travels halfway around the world to procreate. Start killing them at either location and they all die. – Mazura Jul 06 '19 at 02:49
  • @Mazura Look at my update. If there is an opposition to me, show me the data that could say Japan is the only country that cruelly kill and exterminate all the whales. –  Jul 06 '19 at 03:50
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    @KentaroTomono - TIL Google says, "Norway is now hunting a higher proportion of breeding females which could put the long-term survival of minke whales in the North Atlantic in severe danger." - can we expect them to be under the same scrutiny? Probably not. Protesting in the North Atlantic sucks; it's cold. That would be why imo "fanatics" are so focused on Japan, historically for good reason, but now because if you get sprayed with the water cannon, you'd freeze to death if you haven't already anyway. – Mazura Jul 06 '19 at 14:26
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    "Why does the peace boat always attack japan?" - see above (literally ;). Bullet point #4 - The North Sea is cold AF. – Mazura Jul 06 '19 at 14:37
  • @Mazura >"Norway is now hunting a higher proportion of breeding females which could put the long-term survival of minke whales in the North Atlantic in severe danger." - can we expect them to be under the same scrutiny? Probably not. Protesting in the North Atlantic sucks; it's cold. That would be why imo "fanatics" are so focused on Japan, historically for good reason, Okay, I understand, please let sea shepherd people or whatsoever, because the "scientific research", even officially as a country, would not apply to them. There is nothing I can say anymore. Thank you for your comment. –  Jul 06 '19 at 16:47
  • @Mazura I meant, "Okay, let seasheaphered people or whatsoever, do anything" Sorry for my poor English^^. –  Jul 06 '19 at 16:57
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There is no reliably humane way to kill whales according to the New Zealand government.

The article starts with the statement: "Experience has shown that it is very difficult to kill a whale at sea humanely; that is, by causing minimum pain or instantaneous death."

Glorfindel
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corporal
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    I am imagining other commercial fishing, where small fish are caught in huge nets and raised out of the water ... I am not aware of a similar stance for humane fish slaughter : "However, most fish harvesting continues to use methods like suffocation in air, carbon-dioxide stunning, or ice chilling that may not optimise fish welfare in some instances." Your answer doesn't seem to wholly explain the discrepancy between the outcry for whales vs. other marine life - it also involves the determining of which species "should" be killed humanely – katatahito Jul 03 '19 at 06:39
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    @katatahito Whales are mammals. Usually, mammals are given more rights than non-mammals like fish, because they are more closely related to humans and probably feel more pain. Where I live you would not be allowed to suffocate or otherwise slowly kill mammals so it makes sense to extend that protection to whales. – Nobody Jul 03 '19 at 07:48
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    Exactly, that should be added to the answer - that these countries consider it more pressing to end suffering for mammals over non-mammals. This may be a discrepancy in culture that is then ultimately the root cause. – katatahito Jul 03 '19 at 07:59
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    This, coupled with the fact that many species of whale are threatened pretty much sums it up, imo. – Time4Tea Jul 03 '19 at 18:38
  • +1. This plus red-listing is why I won't eat whale meat. Otherwise I'd consider it more ethical than other meats, since one whale can spare hundreds of cows. – Fax Jul 04 '19 at 11:28
  • I don't feel this answers the question. It's a very good point but there's nothing in the answer to tie it to the main question and explain why this is important/relevant. – Pharap Jul 06 '19 at 00:46
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    @Nobody "and probably feel more pain" (citation needed). – Pharap Jul 06 '19 at 00:47
  • This answer does not make any connection to politics. – James K Feb 27 '23 at 06:56
13

Modern day commercial whaling did not exist until the industrial revolution. Due to the technological advancement, the economic production scale of food, lubricant and energy, whaling is no longer economically viable. Today, the whaling industry in Japan is heavily subsidised.

The main argument of the subsidies is said to be cultural, but it is a blatant excuse. In many places, the scale of today's whaling is nothing compared to things that happened in history. In addition, human culture continues to change to adapt to the world around us. Something that is the norm in history (imagines history, cannibalism) is no longer accepted by global society.

The main reason for countries that subsidise and maintain whaling are none other than geopolitical reasons: maintaining the sea powers.

Even today, humanity seems to enter the post-colonisation era, sea power is still the doctrine of many national policies.

Some people may argue how a few whaling boats can help a country acquire arbitrary sea power. A good political hint is looking International Whaling Commission member countries composition. You will see the non-whaling country countries with shores like Cambodia, China, India, Oman; Land-locking countries like Hungary, Laos, Mali, Slovia republic, Switzerland, etc. Such political driven activity is no different than China building concrete Island across the dispute region, the existence of the whaling boat is a metaphor of the sea power.

If OP insists answer to the question: "What is the fundamental difference between catching whales and hunting other animals?", here is the summary :

  • Whaling is carbon intensive, it is not economical.
  • Traditional cuisine has little to do with cultural, but mostly survival. Whale meat is an acquired taste.
  • Due to a whale long lifespan, whale meat accumulate all sort of contaminants.
  • Those notorious whaling countries that claim to "preserved tradition" failed to deal with invasive species in their countries. You never heard their government ask them to "eat all invasive species to preserve ecology".
  • Whale feces is important to ocean ecology. A school of whale have a strong ecology impact that spans thousands of kilometers.
  • The highly valued whale ambergris active content can be synthesis cheaply. The perfume industries have not reasons to use them except for marketing purpose.
mootmoot
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I'm only going to try to cover things that haven't been mentioned in other answers and try to preempt any begging of the question that might come.

There are environmental and practical concerns to eating certain animals that don't apply to the same degree as other animals.

For example, pretty much all meat provided by domesticated animals come from prey animals, this means that less energy is lost as they are grown since they're lower on the trophic level. Meat that is "harvested" from the wild tends to be relegated to commercial fishing, where the large majority of fish is again, not placed at the top of the food chain. From this perspective, eating chicken is superior to eating beef, and eating anchovies is superior to eating swordfish.

Whales are either apex predators or filter feeders that have no natural predators. They are as a group the physically largest animals that exist on Earth. Eating them is highly inefficient from the perspective of obtaining cheap efficient calories (you basically can't get worse than eating whale). Allowing only market forces to regulate this (I expect whale meat would be quite expensive), is not enough since the externalities involved in losing large amounts of whales would not be calculated into their sale.

Since there is already an answer stating that only cultural differences apply when choosing among a variety of meat animals, I will point out another problem (though it doesn't really apply very well to whales in particular). The consumption of certain animals are more dangerous when it comes to public health, generally this applies to animals more closely related to the predator, which is why you see things like Ebola breakouts in Africa, where people are still in contact with various large primates (and occasionally eats them). Following the logic that all meat is equal would mean that something like the ritualized cannibalism of dead relatives is equivalent to eating pork (cannibalism might even be morally superior under various ethical frameworks assuming you didn't kill your relative and did kill the pig). However human flesh is statistically much deadlier than pork and it's probably a bad idea to engage in cannibalism when you have safer sources of food around. To relate this Japan it would be better to look at the sale of the Japanese Pufferfish, which is either banned or highly regulated across the world because its body is full of neurotoxins. The fact that there is still private demand for something that can be considered a "cultural cuisine", doesn't preempt government regulation or mean that the regulation is attempt to impose foreign values on native cultures.

Teleka
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    The consumption of certain animals are more dangerous when it comes to public health, generally this applies to animals more closely related to the predator, which is why you see things like Ebola breakouts in Africa, where people are still in contact with various large primates (and occasionally eats them). Are you sure that eating whales is damaging to our human being's health? Please look at this site [ http://luna.pos.to/whale/jwa_v8_suzu.html ], it says,

     –  Jul 03 '19 at 03:03

  • Protein is composed of 20 different amino acids. Protein ingested as food is broken down into amino acids inside the body. These amino acids are then synthesized back into protein, producing elements such as muscles, internal organs, blood, skin, and hair. There are eight amino acids that the human body cannot produce, and these are termed essential amino acids. Whale meat is excellent in the quantity and balance of essential amino acids that determine the nutritional value of proteins, and in this respect it is as good as, if not better than, other animal meats.

     –  Jul 03 '19 at 03:05
  • Whale meat is red, which indicates there is a large quantity of myoglobin contained in its muscle fibers. Myoglobin, like the blood pigment hemoglobin, is a combination of a chemical component heme, which contains iron, and globin, a >simple protein. Iron plays an important role in carrying oxygen to the body tissues and organs. In so far as iron deficiency can cause anemia, it is necessary to ingest sufficient iron through food intake. Whale meat is thus an excellent source of iron. –  Jul 03 '19 at 03:07
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    @KentaroTomono I said that it didn't apply to whale at the start of that paragraph, it was a response to the false equivalency of all meat products being the same. – Teleka Jul 03 '19 at 03:08
  • So I think rather eating whale is good for our bodies than eating fat saturated burgers or pork steaks etc, wound't you think? Wouldn't you like to solve the now prevalent problem, that is, most Americans are not slim enough? –  Jul 03 '19 at 03:10
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    What does the size of Americans have to do with whether whale hunting should be regulated? – Leebo Jul 03 '19 at 06:31
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    @Leebo Sorry I was just making a joke. I actually don't understand what Teleka is trying to say as a whole. –  Jul 03 '19 at 07:28
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    I thoroughly approve of your mention of externalities. – M i ech Jul 03 '19 at 08:24
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    So much wrong here. Minke whales are no more of a 'trophic level' concern than eating tuna or salmon. They are also prey for both Orcas and sharks. From an efficiency standpoint, they are a lot of calories for a single kill - there is little evidence that they cannot be cost-effective (there does exists commercial hunting). I cannot find any evidence that they constitute an exceptional health hazard. Ebola has nothing to do with this whatsoever (of which bats are a big viral reservoir by the way - not significantly caused by apes). This answer is a gish-gallop of unsupported nonsense. – pluckedkiwi Jul 03 '19 at 14:31
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    @pluckedkiwi I specifically mentioned the part about diseases was only in response to whataboutism, nothing to do with whaling. I also mentioned Ebola instead of HIV because it's more topical and HIV probably wasn't spread by direct consumption (the preparation of ape meat maybe). Also placement on the food chain is more of a general guide to caloric efficiency, it depends more on mass and generation time, which you can see from the farming and fishing examples I gave. Minke whales take 6 to 8 years to reach maturity and weigh 4 to 5 tons, they are highly inefficient to harvest for food. – Teleka Jul 04 '19 at 01:43
  • This answer makes no reference to politics. So I've downvoted. – James K Feb 27 '23 at 06:55
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One of the main things that makes whale hunting an international issue, rather than a domestic issue (which also results in it also receiving greater news coverage worldwide), is that whales predominantly live in "international waters" which aren't subject to the jurisdiction of any one country.

Even when whales are in a country's national waters, they are usually there only temporarily.

Whale hunting is therefore a matter in which essentially all countries that aren't landlocked can claim an interest, which can only be regulated through international law and diplomacy.

In contrast, the hunting of terrestrial animals and animals that live in most fresh water lakes and rivers can be handled with domestic law. Even oceanic animals like sea lions, are often much more coastal and have much more narrow geographic ranges than whales.

Migratory bird hunting, like whale hunting, is also inherently multinational and is subject to international treaty regulation (one such treaty dates to 1918) and involves international action.

ohwilleke
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I think no one mentioned the actual kill of whales compared to how other animals are killed/slaughtered: killing a whale is usually a quite time consuming activity while a good shot at a e.g. a seal or a moose kills the animal before it even notices what happened (there is also protests against unnecessary cruel ways of killing/hunting other animals, e.g. boiling them alive, using a bow rather than a gun, letting the animal bleed to death in ritual slaughter and so on). Personally, this is my main objective against whaling. If there was a method to kill whales that was instantaneous it would feel much better for me).

JJJ
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d-b
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Whaling is more controversial simply because it's more typical to slaughter other animals.

You probably eats pig, cows, and chickens. You may know some deer hunter. But... almost nobody eats whale meat. Therefore, due to lack of cognitive dissonance, pictures of whaling are more impactful than pictures of pig slaughter.

very big cat
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I am adding this comment as these were not brought up in other answers.

  • Tyranny of the Majority as well as Dominance/racism.
  • Property Rights.

Majority of rabbits and dogs are raised as livestock with definitive property rights. Whales are only hunted and migrate through international waters. Even rabbits that are hunted are hunted with state approval through licensing with all rules that said licensing entails.

Different dominant cultures have imposed their views on other cultures throughout history. The majority of those in the west abhor dog and horse used as livestock and have made laws in their countries outlawing such practices. Now they want to push their views worldwide.

paulj
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