So long and thanks for all the fish

Curzon over at ComingAnarchy.com has this to say on Japan’s scientific whaling program, which incidentally will double the number of minke whales caught this year:

Be against whaling if you like, it’s all a distraction from the vast overfishing of fish, not whales, that is the real environmental issue of the day. And as for the ban on hunting whales, nothing makes people want to eat this relatively untasty meat than being told they can’t eat it by a bunch of self-righteous outsiders.

I’ve never been all that opposed to, or all that bothered by Japan’s whaling policies, so I don’t see much point in beating a close ally over the head about this. And Curzon’s right that there’s no better way to really make whale meat a part of Japan’s culture then to tell the Japanese that it isn’t.

So, I don’t have much to add to that.

However, with regards to the program’s function as a distraction, I think Japan should be glad that environmentalists were too busy gearing up for this fight to pay much attention to the Taiji Dolphin Slaughter. (Japan might also be glad that one of their nickname for the whales, 海のゴキブリ or “cockroach of the sea” hasn’t been widely translated in to English. Why in God’s name anyone would want to eat a cockroach, I’ve not the slightest idea.)

The Taiji Dolphin Slaughter, you say?

Surely you remember last month’s massive Worldwide Day of Protest against the Japanese Dolphin Slaughter?

No?

Actually, I almost didn’t hear about it either. In fact, the only reason I even knew about it was a full page advert in the NYT announcing it. And then I forgot all about it until I read Curzon’s post earlier today.

Anyway, go check out some video and what happens when an environmentalist with a computer has way too much time on his hands here.

Sure, this is some pretty greusome stuff. But I’m not sure it’s all that different from the still moving fish, with its belly meat lined up on a bed of grated daikon, one pays damned good money to be served on a plate at a nice sushi restaurant.

Besides, Japan fought to save the dugong. Don’t they deserve some credit for that?