Anyone for whale?

The International Whaling Commission (IWC) just wrapped up its annual meeting in Chile, and nothing has really changed. There are still two factions: those that support the hunting of whales, and want more; and those that oppose. I'm not entirely sure why the whaling industry is so important -- especially for a country like Japan, which has a special permit allowing it to hunt whales for research. The research permit allowed Japan to kill close to 1,000 whales in 2007, with the research meat ending up in the fat bellies of the Japanese. That doesn't even take into account the other whales that the Japanese consume, that were taken illegally from the oceans. The one surprise from the meeting, for me anyway, came from Denmark. The Danes, who we tend to look to with adoration because of their high scores in standard of living, want to increase the whales Greenland is allowed to slaughter for aboriginal subsistence. There's a load of bullshit. Japan shouldn't be doing it, and Greenland definitely shouldn't be doing it. Whale populations are nowhere where they used to be. Until populations increase and stabilize, hunting should be stopped.