by Latrevia Chatman

Created on: February 17, 2009

Often times, we rely on television networks to provide us with plausible information if they are protecting people, species or the truth. Most of the time, we take what they say as validity without conducting our own research, to ensure their claim. After all, isn't that their purpose? Report to us what's in our local, national, global economy with verifiable evidence? What has sparked my attention was the show Whale Wars on Animal Planet, and how something just didn't seem right.

The first time, I watched whale wars I understood that there is a ship call the Nisshin Maru where they take specimen of whales and then process the meat for marketing purposes. Following them is a globally diverse group aboard the Sea Shepards whose sole purpose is to stop them from hunting and killing whales.

First off, I would like to mention that I lived in Okinawa, Japan for three years, and I must say that they have the strictest policies pertaining to trash. All trash must be dumped in clear bags, and certain items are collected on certain days, and bulk items must be called for. Recycling is not optional, but mandatory for the entire island. I am pretty sure mainland Japan follows the same rules. With that being said, their culture's motto would be "waste nothing". However, the military bases on the island follow their own rules, and recycling is optional, and personnel are allowed to throw away whatever, whenever. Also, the Japanese began the Kyoto Protocol was, so it would be very hypocritical of them to only care about one portion of the environment.

So, I conducted research. I learned that they only conduct research on the minke whales, which are a part of the most populous group of whales spanning the globe, with about 800,000 to 1 million existing. With that being said, yearly for about 60 years, the Japanese have been studying these whales and only capture about one hundred to four hundred. Instead of just dumping the specimen, they use every bit of it as food source. Are their actions cruel and wasteful? Not in the least bit, especially when you have farms world wide of specific animals that are for either food or clothing.

In my opinion, if you can fund going out to sea just to taunt others about practices you deem reprehensible, then why not fund organizations that want to end global hunger, or educate children in desolate areas. However, for the sake of entertainment, those options are not viewer worthy.

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