Barbarous act - Defying the world on whales

The practice of whaling is thousands of years old but it is only in recent decades that the slaughter of these beautiful and intelligent creatures has been conducted on an industrial scale.

A Japanese whaling fleet set sail for the Antarctic yesterday after a one-year pause, despite worldwide opposition. In doing so, it joins Norway and Iceland in defying a moratorium on commercial whaling into effect by the International Whaling Commission as long ago as 1986. Whalers from all three countries are continuing this brutal and bloody business using the guise of scientific research, even though the reality is that it is simply a money-making operation to supply whale meat to food markets and restaurants. Money talks louder than whales.

No research findings have been published in serious scientific journals that could not have been deduced from non-lethal methods like tagging or DNA profiling. Until the international community applies economic sanctions against those whaling nations, this barbarous activity will continue.