“Under the IWC draft proposal, Japan would be allowed to catch 120 whales a year in its coastal waters.”
-from ABC News, Australia
“Under the IWC draft proposal, Japan, Iceland and Norway would reduce their whale kills over the next decade, subject to tight monitoring, with Japan eventually cutting its Antarctic whale culls by three-quarters. ”
-from the Straits Times, Singapore
It doesn’t look like the IWC is opening the floodgates on no-holds-barred whaling.
That said, I still think that we take the oceans for granted, and that our combined activities in the oceans are probably having a net negative effect, with negative feedback loops. I think my argument to ‘save the whales’ is not because they are majestic, or smart, these are our own anthropomorphic values – but that the ocean ecosystem is in danger from many pressures, and that preserving that ecosystem is integral to maintaining our own quality of life.
