Real research or sham science? A review of Japan’s scientific whaling
Centuries of unregulated hunting lead to the decimation of whale populations globally. A moratorium on whaling allowed some stocks to start recovering, but others are not as promising. The Japanese lethal research on whales is permitted under the International Whaling Commission’s regulations allowi...
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ftunivalbertaojs:oai:ejournals.library.ualberta.ca:article/7630 2023-05-15T14:01:13+02:00 Real research or sham science? A review of Japan’s scientific whaling Robertson, Patrick J 2010-02-24 application/pdf http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/eureka/article/view/7630 eng eng Eureka http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/eureka/article/view/7630/6482 Eureka; Vol 1, No 1 (2010); 43-46 1923-1520 1923-1512 Marine Biology Whaling; Sham info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2010 ftunivalbertaojs 2016-05-08T20:36:46Z Centuries of unregulated hunting lead to the decimation of whale populations globally. A moratorium on whaling allowed some stocks to start recovering, but others are not as promising. The Japanese lethal research on whales is permitted under the International Whaling Commission’s regulations allowing for scientific sampling of cetaceans, despite the 1982 moratorium on whaling. However, many in the scientific community suggest that the Japanese research is really a front for commercial whaling. The research programs in both the Antarctic and North Pacific (JARPA and JARPN) are not meeting their objectives and non-lethal techniques would be more effective. The Japanese government’s agenda at the IWC is to restart commercial whaling and appears to be actively promoting the consumption of whale meat from the research vessels. Japans internal market is not properly regulated and meat packaged for consumption has been found with pathogens and extremely high levels of toxins and heavy metals. Genetic analysis has indicated whale meat in markets contains internationally protected species, as well as non-whale tissues. Due to the extreme deficiency in our knowledge of global cetacean populations and the lack of infrastructure to monitor and enforce quotas, whale conservation should take priority over premature harvesting or unscientific research. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic University of Alberta: Journal Hosting Antarctic Pacific The Antarctic |
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Open Polar |
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University of Alberta: Journal Hosting |
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ftunivalbertaojs |
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English |
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Marine Biology Whaling; Sham |
spellingShingle |
Marine Biology Whaling; Sham Robertson, Patrick J Real research or sham science? A review of Japan’s scientific whaling |
topic_facet |
Marine Biology Whaling; Sham |
description |
Centuries of unregulated hunting lead to the decimation of whale populations globally. A moratorium on whaling allowed some stocks to start recovering, but others are not as promising. The Japanese lethal research on whales is permitted under the International Whaling Commission’s regulations allowing for scientific sampling of cetaceans, despite the 1982 moratorium on whaling. However, many in the scientific community suggest that the Japanese research is really a front for commercial whaling. The research programs in both the Antarctic and North Pacific (JARPA and JARPN) are not meeting their objectives and non-lethal techniques would be more effective. The Japanese government’s agenda at the IWC is to restart commercial whaling and appears to be actively promoting the consumption of whale meat from the research vessels. Japans internal market is not properly regulated and meat packaged for consumption has been found with pathogens and extremely high levels of toxins and heavy metals. Genetic analysis has indicated whale meat in markets contains internationally protected species, as well as non-whale tissues. Due to the extreme deficiency in our knowledge of global cetacean populations and the lack of infrastructure to monitor and enforce quotas, whale conservation should take priority over premature harvesting or unscientific research. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Robertson, Patrick J |
author_facet |
Robertson, Patrick J |
author_sort |
Robertson, Patrick J |
title |
Real research or sham science? A review of Japan’s scientific whaling |
title_short |
Real research or sham science? A review of Japan’s scientific whaling |
title_full |
Real research or sham science? A review of Japan’s scientific whaling |
title_fullStr |
Real research or sham science? A review of Japan’s scientific whaling |
title_full_unstemmed |
Real research or sham science? A review of Japan’s scientific whaling |
title_sort |
real research or sham science? a review of japan’s scientific whaling |
publisher |
Eureka |
publishDate |
2010 |
url |
http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/eureka/article/view/7630 |
geographic |
Antarctic Pacific The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Pacific The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic |
op_source |
Eureka; Vol 1, No 1 (2010); 43-46 1923-1520 1923-1512 |
op_relation |
http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/eureka/article/view/7630/6482 |
_version_ |
1766270805694480384 |