Japan recently resumed its cultural practice of whaling commercially. This happened after a hiatus of more than three decades. The country set out whaling ships to sail on Monday and came back with their first catches.
Whaling refers to the hunting of whales for usable products such as meant and blubber can be turned into a type of oil. This process was increasingly popular until the 20th century, which lead to the near depletion of some whale species. This lead to the banning of whaling, worldwide by the late 1980s. Whaling remains a controversial subject, with many countries favouring the list of the ban. Naturally Japan was among them.
A total of five ships sailed from the Kushiro port. They plan on catching a total of 227 whales until late December. That’s horrifying. Even someone who doesn’t have context to this event echoes with the fear.
This has lead to an incredible amount of heat from activists and anti-whaling communities. The worldwide pan of whaling came after the International Whaling Commission (IWC) proposed a ban on the practice in 1986. However, Japan, a pro-whaling country, quit the International Whaling Commission to carry on the commercial hunting in territorial waters. The ships that sailed on the 1st of this month managed to kill 2 minke whales. People have also expressed their disappointment at this inhumane practice.
People are questioning the need for the horrific practice. The #BoycottJapan is seen trending everywhere on social media time lines. People are especially questioning how a smart country like Japan seems to carry out barbaric practice like this. Aside from being gut-wrenching, the commercial activity is causing serious damage when climate change is looming all over us. Let’s hope this social media campaign can bring a permanent halt to this harrowing activity.
