Reply #84: That is still true in the United States...though this is not a good enough reason to continue...

[apaflo]

Originally Posted by DaveinJapan:
it's an integral part of Japanese culture as well, isn't it? nt

Originally Posted by S_E_Fudd:
That is still true in the United States...though this is not a good enough reason to continue...

The whales they hunt (bowheads), while not currently endangered they are a conservation dependent species. Inuits currently take an average of 50 Bowheads per year which is not sustainable...

They also want to begin killng Gray whales again, despite their critically endangered status..

Hunting done by Inuits in Canada is done for commercial purposes and should be stopped as well...

The Bowhead whale is not actually endangered, but it is listed on the "Endangered Species List". And to claim that the harvest by Eskimo (who are not Inuit, but Inupiat and Yupik) whalers is not sustainable suggests that you cannot be relied upon for valid information. The IWC claimed in the 1970's that the Bowhead population could be as low as 600; the Eskimos protested and proved that there were at least 3,000. Their quotas have been based on population data for 30 years now, and the current estimates are over 15,000. The Bowhead population has been growing by a constant 3 to 4 percent per annum.

Your statements about Gray whales are equally absurd. The Eastern Pacific Gray whale population was removed from the endangered species list more than a decade ago. It peaked earlier in this decade, and due to over population was suffering from starvation (starved whales were washing up on beaches all along the US west coast).

Canadian Inuit do not commercially hunt whales.

But your first statement is the most seriously flawed. The idea that your cultural values dominate over either Japanese or Eskimo cultural values is racism.