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Japanese fleet catches 177 whales in latest hunt

japantoday.com

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Re: Japanese fleet catches 177 whales in latest hunt

#41

Post by paavoova »

jondubois wrote: post #23

I tried Minke whale when I was in Iceland. Unfortunately for them, they taste very good - Maybe the best meat I've tried. It's like a cross between beef and tuna but with a deep, complex (and very slightly gamey) aftertaste. It was surprisingly cheap too. In spite of this, I'm not sure I would eat it again though; while eating it, I kept getting flashbacks of a video I saw of a whale being harpooned and pulled out of…

I wouldn't eat whale simply due to its mercury, PCBs, and other bioaccumulated pollutant content: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5519659/

For a 60 kg person, consumption of 100 g of whale meat with the highest concentration of Hg (i.e. MeHg) found in this study (0.49 mg/kg w.w.) would lead to an intake corresponding to 51% of the provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI) set by JECFA (1.6 µg/kg bw) or 63% of the tolerable weekly intake (TWI) set by EFSA (1.3 µg/kg bw)

100 grams of meat is very little as far as protein and calories are concerned, but already puts you at risk. Not safe to eat in any sufficient quantity.

Re: Japanese fleet catches 177 whales in latest hunt

#42

Post by emodendroket »

52-6F-62 wrote: post #27
yboris wrote: post #2

My head spins about how schizophrenic the vast majority of the population is when it comes to meat consumption and love of animals. People shed tears over pets, yet pay others to abuse animals (factory farming) just to enjoy a meal that's equivalently tasty to easily available options. People will condemn the Japanese for eating whales or dolphins, the Chinese for eating dogs, meanwhile they themselves cause the suff…

I don't quite understand what you mean by schizophrenic in with what you describe. Isn't it possible it isn't a unified issue? I grew up in a rural region and I've seen the production first hand both on medium-sized farms to single hunts. I have had pets I've loved and watched them die and it made me sad. I also have an issue with the mass whaling because we know of the extinction risks and the goal when eating an an…

I kind of end up with the opposite position of the OP, but if you consider eating a whale or a dog barbaric but have no problem eating (say) an overfished white fish or a pig, you have to ask yourself why.

Re: Japanese fleet catches 177 whales in latest hunt

#43

Post by jlmorton »

52-6F-62 wrote: post #27
yboris wrote: post #2

My head spins about how schizophrenic the vast majority of the population is when it comes to meat consumption and love of animals. People shed tears over pets, yet pay others to abuse animals (factory farming) just to enjoy a meal that's equivalently tasty to easily available options. People will condemn the Japanese for eating whales or dolphins, the Chinese for eating dogs, meanwhile they themselves cause the suff…

I don't quite understand what you mean by schizophrenic in with what you describe. Isn't it possible it isn't a unified issue? I grew up in a rural region and I've seen the production first hand both on medium-sized farms to single hunts. I have had pets I've loved and watched them die and it made me sad. I also have an issue with the mass whaling because we know of the extinction risks and the goal when eating an an…

You seem to have missed OPs point. Many of us in the West find hunting wild whales, or dolphins to be repugnant. Meanwhile, we're perfectly happy to eat factory farmed pigs.

And, yes, we do morally owe it to nature not to eat animals. The natural corollary is human rights. Human rights is just a philosophy. Most of us adhere to it today, but we have not for most of our existence. The default has been to kill large numbers of fellow humans, across all societies.

Do people have a natural right to life? Humanity did not think so until relatively recently, but now we see it as obvious.

Do animals have a natural right not to be killed by humans, now that we have other options? Of course, for the same reasons.

Re: Japanese fleet catches 177 whales in latest hunt

#44

Post by emodendroket »

krylon wrote: post #21
yboris wrote: post #2

My head spins about how schizophrenic the vast majority of the population is when it comes to meat consumption and love of animals. People shed tears over pets, yet pay others to abuse animals (factory farming) just to enjoy a meal that's equivalently tasty to easily available options. People will condemn the Japanese for eating whales or dolphins, the Chinese for eating dogs, meanwhile they themselves cause the suff…

FWIW, I do not see how eating a dog or cat is morally worse than eating a cow. I am not a vegetarian, but honestly, that is mostly due to laziness and a fair amount of hypocrisy. And yes, the thought of eating a dolphin or a humpback whale is kind of sickening. I guess that is largely due to Greenpeace and their "Save the Whales" stickers that I remember as being nearly omnipresent in my childhood. The difference, I…

But Minke whales are not close to extinction; isn't objecting to eating a Minke whale because blue whales are endangered something like objecting to eating chicken because passenger pigeons were overhunted?

Re: Japanese fleet catches 177 whales in latest hunt

#45

Post by emodendroket »

jlmorton wrote: post #43
52-6F-62 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't quite understand what you mean by schizophrenic in with what you describe. Isn't it possible it isn't a unified issue? I grew up in a rural region and I've seen the production first hand both on medium-sized farms to single hunts. I have had pets I've loved and watched them die and it made me sad. I also have an issue with the mass whaling because we know of the extinction risks and the goal when eating an an…

You seem to have missed OPs point. Many of us in the West find hunting wild whales, or dolphins to be repugnant. Meanwhile, we're perfectly happy to eat factory farmed pigs. And, yes, we do morally owe it to nature not to eat animals. The natural corollary is human rights. Human rights is just a philosophy. Most of us adhere to it today, but we have not for most of our existence. The default has been to kill large nu…

> Do animals have a natural right not to be killed by humans, now that we have other options? Of course.

Well, why? It's equally consistent to simply say that no animal other than humans enjoys rights, whether it's a dolphin or a dog or a pig. You can certainly take the other position as your premise, but I don't see why I should follow you.

Re: Japanese fleet catches 177 whales in latest hunt

#46

Post by bribroder »

yboris wrote: post #2

My head spins about how schizophrenic the vast majority of the population is when it comes to meat consumption and love of animals. People shed tears over pets, yet pay others to abuse animals (factory farming) just to enjoy a meal that's equivalently tasty to easily available options. People will condemn the Japanese for eating whales or dolphins, the Chinese for eating dogs, meanwhile they themselves cause the suff…

> equivalently tasty to easily available options

Honestly curious, what are these options of equivalent tastiness? Do they pass in blind taste tests with any "mainstream" meats? Are they at the same (or lower) pricepoint? Do they have the same (or better) nutritional value?

A lot of people probably agree with your general premise that meat consumption is cruel, but will probably continue eating meat because of one or more of the above.

Re: Japanese fleet catches 177 whales in latest hunt

#47

Post by emodendroket »

soared wrote: post #25
wpdev_63 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why I am incredibly excited about the impossible burger: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebNeUihciDI It's the ultimate fake burger that has a 1/10 of the environment while being vegan. Now if there was an equivalent for chicken then it I would never eat another animal again!

Another meaning behind OP's comment might be that you can eat food that is equally as tasty as meat, without eating meat or meat replacements. Obviously this wouldn't work for 50+ years since we're all entrenched in eating meat, but vegetarian dishes /can be/ just as tasty. I'd imagine hundreds of years of improving mostly meat dishes has made them better, but that could be fixed.

If you're going to eat vegetarian, there are some cuisines, like Indian, that give you more good options.

Re: Japanese fleet catches 177 whales in latest hunt

#48

Post by 52-6F-62 »

emodendroket wrote: post #42
52-6F-62 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't quite understand what you mean by schizophrenic in with what you describe. Isn't it possible it isn't a unified issue? I grew up in a rural region and I've seen the production first hand both on medium-sized farms to single hunts. I have had pets I've loved and watched them die and it made me sad. I also have an issue with the mass whaling because we know of the extinction risks and the goal when eating an an…

I kind of end up with the opposite position of the OP, but if you consider eating a whale or a dog barbaric but have no problem eating (say) an overfished white fish or a pig, you have to ask yourself why.

edit:

Took me a moment to think about what you were saying. I agree with you. Maybe that's what I was roughly getting at to begin with. I agree you should think about why, I suppose I already had and take it for granted that others may not have even approached the need to question.

---

I have asked myself why.

I have a problem eating any animal that is endangered or at risk of extinction.

I might not be against eating a whale. I've never had the opportunity. But I have a problem with hunting them in their current state of risk.

I've had what I would call relationships with various animals as pets—as such I wouldn't want to eat them. Similarly, if I'd had such a relationship with any other kind of animal I might feel the same, but I can't speak to that.

Re: Japanese fleet catches 177 whales in latest hunt

#49

Post by simmanian »

krylon wrote: post #29
trumped wrote: post #19

At least we know the ocean is not empty yet...

I have been browsing through Wikipedia articles on various types of whales recently, and I was pleasantly surprised how much some whale populations have recovered since most of the world stopped hunting them. The conservation status of humpback whales is LC ("Least concern"), gray whales, too. It's not all good, far from it, but it is nice to know that collectively, we manage to not mess up everything we touch every…

I've heard that much of the recent rise in some whale populations can be attributed to the climate change [1]. Apparently, whales are finding it easier to find food with the polar ice retreating. But, since Krill are vulnerable to acidification and dependent on sea ice, we don't know if the trend will continue.

[1] https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/04/some-whales-are-...

Re: Japanese fleet catches 177 whales in latest hunt

#50

Post by lancesells »

soared wrote: post #25
wpdev_63 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why I am incredibly excited about the impossible burger: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebNeUihciDI It's the ultimate fake burger that has a 1/10 of the environment while being vegan. Now if there was an equivalent for chicken then it I would never eat another animal again!

Another meaning behind OP's comment might be that you can eat food that is equally as tasty as meat, without eating meat or meat replacements. Obviously this wouldn't work for 50+ years since we're all entrenched in eating meat, but vegetarian dishes /can be/ just as tasty. I'd imagine hundreds of years of improving mostly meat dishes has made them better, but that could be fixed.

I had to start eating vegan for health reasons. I thought it would be fairly difficult to stick to but I've found it easy finding foods as tasty as meat or dairy dishes without resorting to soy products that mimic meat. There's good stuff out there and garlic, salt, and olive oil do wonders!
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