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  OssanULTRA at 09:18 PM JST - 13th August

  Ha!! So the Japanese whalers were right all along? "Low risk of extinction" is pretty far away from on the verge of extinction. So does this mean that the global outcry was based on the lie that they are going extinct when in reality the motivation was merely emotionalism and the need to protect the whale watching industry?

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  browny1 at 10:24 PM JST - 13th August

  Whalers right all along???? - that's a good one. The ONE and ONLY reason the numbers are back is because of the moratorium imposed on the likes who would take anything if they had the chance.

  Elephants are not anywhere near extinction levels and have been traditionally hunted for possibly 1,000's of years, but are not now.

  Why???

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  OssanULTRA at 12:57 AM JST - 14th August

  "Elephants are not anywhere near extinction levels and have been traditionally hunted for possibly 1,000's of years, but are not now. Why???"

  In South Africa some elephahts are culled (read: shot & killed) as part of a population management program, which encompasses the entire habitat, other species and available food supplies. Blue Whales and Fin Whales are endangered, with perhaps a couple thousand left on this planet. They compete with the abundant minke whales (500,000) and the humpbacks (low risk of extinction) for available food supplies. All large baileen whales compete for the same food. Culling the abundant species actually is a conservation method which can increase the population of the endangered ones. So a very good argument can be made for controlled whaling with a view to conservation of all the various species.

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  studebaker at 11:35 AM JST - 14th August

  Perhaps the problem is not that the minke whales and the humpback whales are competing for the same food sources; perhaps the problem is that humans have impacted the balance of the food supply through other activities. (And I know that they eat krill and not fish)

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  browny1 at 01:58 PM JST - 14th August

  Ossan - the key point in my comment re elephants was "traditional hunting" the oft same repeated words used by whaling proponents.

  Scientific Culling is another realm altogether and as you stated can be an advantageous technique in ensuring species survival.

  But times change and the days of traditional hunting of Big Game are certainly numbered, if not already finished. From Elephants to Bison to Lions to Bears to Hippos to Whales to.....?

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