h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

no cheese is super intelligent

That's absolutely right. No cheese is super intelligent, otherwise it wouldn't sit there waiting to be eaten.

As for whales? As long as they're not too efficient about it, to the point of killing them all off, I see no massive inherent problem with a little whale hunting.

neither do i

Traveller in Time on his head
"I think that is the problem indeed.

'as long as they are not too efficient'

When they want to make a living out of it they _have_ to catch one each day. And wen the population drops they still _have_ to catch one a day, just to stay economical in business.
Whales are 'slow breeders', less then one calf every two years. They can live upto sixty years, if they survive their first years.
Guesses range their breeding to be as slow as one young for every five adults each year. With two caught each day the population should be over 10000 adults just only to survive.

In other words: the whales will go extinct in less then ten years. "

>>
I see no problem with killing for food, even quite intelligent animals. However... Whales are a little more endangered. The article states quite clearly that the moratorium hasn't been lifted, so I'm not busy worrying. As long as the whale population is reasonably stable (which I don't know about)
<<

I couldn't access that article. But part of the problem is that Japan (and other pro whaling countries) are bribing small countries to get their vote in favour of lifting the ban. There is the potential for them to win.

Japan etc still hunt and kill whales albeit in limited numbers, via the 'for science' clause in the agreement.

I know its stupid *in silly voice* were using them for science

Morning all,

Let's see. have I got this right so far?

1 The whaling nations don't catch whales for food - except dog food

2 The "scientific research" excuse is utter claptrap

3 Whale breed at such a slow rate that they could be caught into
extinction in around 10 yrs

4 Whales are sentient mammals who eat krill - alledgedly 'starving' fish

5 The same whaling nations 'hoover' fish stocks from deep sea beds
with frightening efficiency.

If I AM right so far ,can someone who is 'pro' whaling explain why they
are, and what logic do they use.

Novo

I did read that humpback whale stocks have actually gone up significantly since the ban, despite the 'scientific whaling' and part of Japan/Norway/Iceland's argument is that they can hunt those in particular sustainably.

Still, what a stupid term. What is it, four or five whale carcasses a day? I'd like to know exactly what research they're doing with all these, cause with all that they ought to be able to at least clone us some new whales by now. I eagerly await a paper entitled "how many whales could a whale hunter catch..."

The other matter is that of whether the meat is actually fit for human consumption. I don't know much about the mercury poisoning of seafood issue, but I do know that the mercury accumulates and becomes most concentrated in the creatures at the top of the food chain, which would mean whales and dolphins, except when it means us.

Where can we find some pro-whalers to have a proper argument with?

Apart from the Japanese, Norwegians and Icelanders there are none. Oh unless you are a third world country in receipt of millions of development yen slipped into Swiss bank accounts. For Bob's sake you don't even need a coast to become pro-whaling.

We should boycott Japanese cars and AV goods but we wont and it will come down to Greenpiece as per ususal.

Morning Novo

I'll re-iterate my pro-whaling stance. Hunting more and more species towards extinction will speed up some sort of global ecological apocalypse. I'm smart and physically fit, so when the apocalypse arrives, I have good odds of becoming a barbarian overlord/chieftain - which would be a significant enhancement of my current social standing. So it's in my interest that unrestricted hunting of all species be allowed - whales, dolphins, and sea turtles.

Arnie the Barbarian

Bah, no-one'll follow you ya big nerd . You'll be all mutated and stupid, and the super-intelligent radioactive pigmy sky dolphins will be after you.

"Don't drink glowing water".

It just seemed appropriate for The Forum .

well Bouncy, that's just it. We're going to need to organize to fight off/survive the attacks of the sky dolphins. And although the mutation may disfigure me, it will give me telepathic powers. So Maybe I'll be more of a shaman/warlock, and someone else will be the actual chieftain, but either way it's a big step up. And if you sign up now, you can join my inner cabal.

Arnie the Barbarian/Warlock

Well what a surprise. Another species illegally fished out of existence. And when there's no more tuna. Why, find another species of course. After all there's plenty of fish in the sea.

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article1095845.ece

That is evil.

And I'm one species closer to my crown. Better start sharpening my axe.

Traveller in Time looking at the Forum
"It looks like the pro whale hunting participants should create their own Role playing Forum ."