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Comment by wjk | Hacker News Reader

That's just sensationalist clickbait. The whale species hunted are not endangered and there is no ban on hunting these whales. There are many species of creatures which actually are and which you should spend more time caring about though. These whales are not among them.

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So Norway isn't violating a whaling ban?

There is no law which bans it. Just an agreement among several countries which Norway isn't a part of as far as I know.

Yep, just like the Kyoto Protocol. (no sarcasm, just pointing out that he's right, and that most people also think every nation is bound by the Kyoto Protocol)

Fair enough. Although I personally would prefer it if whales were left alone.

why? they aren't endangered, people like to eat them. why is a whale different from say a deer?

Yes. They are. However, the IWC resolution to ban whaling is not binding. It's advisory and in my opinion not based on facts but feelings.

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Minke whales are not in any way endangered (or close to it). Check your facts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minke_whale

Yet. I take the view that the human race should only be harvesting things it really needs. The case for whaling (that I'm aware of) seems pretty weak. And if Norway did sign up to protect marine wildlife in exchange for oil rights (I'm taking that at face value at the moment) then it does seem like a jerk move to take the oil and not protect the whales.

"Protect marine wildlife" is not the same thing as "ban harvesting of a species that is not endangered."

This is where we part company. My belief is that they are. It is my view that the end result of "protecting wildlife" should be that the wildlife flourishes.

Whaling is a tradition in Norway and has been going on since medieval times.

More information: http://www.fisheries.no/ecosystems-and-stocks/marine_stocks/...

In my view, whalers are decent people - they generally aren't "jerks". You probably have never even talked to nor met any one of them.

I understand your point that hunting and farming of animals in general is not good, but it's a pretty hard habit to break.

This is how the world works at this time - people hunt all sort of animals whether it's ethically right or not. Also remember that of all the meat produced in this world, whale meat is but a tiny fraction of it, so perhaps spend more of your time protesting the way fish is treated (which is also a valid concern).

> Whaling is a tradition in Norway and has been going on since medieval times.

Jumping in a longboat and pillaging neighboring villages was also a Norwegian tradition in medieval times, but we find such practices barbaric today.

Eh, depends on how you frame it. Is a troop transport taking US forces over to Iraq barbaric? Depends on who you ask.

Absolutely, I'm not claiming the US doesn't participate in forms of barbarism.

We had a completely different set of unjustified justifications for the Iraq invasion, but we didn't use tradition as the excuse.

> Whaling is a tradition in Norway and has been going on since medieval times.

Eh, but back in medieval times it was a fair fight--no sonar, no diesel engines, no grenade-tipped harpoons, and as a bonus, there was actually a legitimate need to do this.

The whaling now is done by people with money, in order to earn more money. Nothing more.

If you write "Fact" you really should produce facts.

* The whales that we in Norway hunt are not endangered.

* Norway is not the richest country in the world.

Also no need to call anyone jerks.

Here is some more info: http://www.fisheries.no/ecosystems-and-stocks/marine_stocks/...

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