TOKYO, Japan (23 Nov 2000) -- Japan has put yet another environmental spin on whaling by asserting that whales must be killed because they are eating too many fish. According to Dan Goodman, who has been put on retainer by the Japan Institute of Cetacean Research, whales eat five times more fish than humans do and therefore, a marine sanctuary for whales is absurd. Goodman made the claim at a three-day whaling conference in New Zealand. He argued that the proposal to establish a whale sanctuary in the South Pacific will destroy the fishing industry. Japan, a country dominated by special interest groups including small but politically powerful fishing and agricultural cooperatives, has defied the international ban on whaling since the late 80's. Japan kills over 400 whales a year under the guise of scientific whaling, however, it is common knowledge that the whales go to up-scale sushi restaurants, not scientific laboratories. © CDNN - CYBER DIVER NEWS NETWORK | | "The West is trying to impose its unilateral standards on us. I regard this as cultural imperialism," said Masayuki Komatsu whose strident ultranationalist rhetoric echoes the anti-western slogans of Japanese fascists convicted of war crimes and executed after World War II. |
