So anybody that knows me, knows how strongly I believe in the Sea Shepherd Society and everything that they do. Every year, Japan heads to the Southern Ocean to slaughter whales, some of which are on the endangered species list. In the 2007-8 year they set out to kill 935 piked (Minke) whales, 50 fin and 50 humpback whales (both of which are protected under the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES). Japan is able to violate the ban on commercial whaling by using a loophole and citing "Scientific Research". Japan is not the only country to violate this ban. Iceland, Norway, the Danish Faeroe Islands and St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines all are guilty of whaling. Japan and Norway alone have slaughtered more than 25,000 whales in the past 25 years under the "scientific research" loophole. Japan also heavily promotes the consumption of whale meat. They even introduced it into school lunch programs and family-oriented restaurants.
" The head of the Institute of Cetacean Research, which conducts Japan's whaling program, says, "We have to preserve this sort of traditional food culture among children," and he said that school lunch programs would be charged lower prices for whale meat to help make this happen."
Next: The importance of whales and our oceans
