This reads like a horror story - but one that came true.
Cruelty of mankind, irrational behaviour and greed never seems to end. When will this stop?
Thank you for your preseverance - it teaches me to do the same: never give up on the good cause!

People - use your blogs for protest!

I dont know really where to post. But I cant say how utterly disgusted I am that they are condemming these pour animals to death. Surely there are other way to study them. It really turned my stomach and breaks my heart. I hope something can be done to ban them completely. Good luck guys and gals.

I have lived and worked in Japan for the past 3 and 1/2 years and planned on staying here longer- but this is it. I can't stay here anymore. I feel I'm selling out my country (New Zeland) and the whales. At the end of my contract I am coming home. I almost wnat to come join you guys.

I feel absolute disgust at being a member of the human race. History seems to teach us nothing. Can remember the fist time I was given an insite into the agony and slaughter. Tory Channel New Zealand, way back in the early sixties.I'm at a complete loss to know why our government continues to allow Japanese thugs, into the Southern ocean sanctury.
Good Luck gallant crew.

Hello Dave,

I think you posted the same timeline in february. As there are a few mistakes, I'll post the same comment as then :

There is an error in this chronology :

Whaling was organized in Taiji by Wada Chûbei Yorimoto in 1606. 1675-77 is when his grandson, Taiji Kakuemon Yoriharu introduced nets in whaling.

This chronolgy would be better if it was refering to the BWU and other important mistaken measures taken by the IWC in the past. From 1971, your chronology is more about Greenpeace than whaling...

Thanks Isantori, I'll check with Kieran on this.

While I agree upon putting statistics correct I find the hairplitting incredible, regarding the fact that a few people laugh into the face of the population of a whole planet. And I find it even more incredible that these few people seem to get away with it.

How far do we allow them to go?

It is not only about killing whales, it is a matter of solidarity and responsibility for the whole planet that is totally ridiculed and stamped into the ground by a few!!

Isanatori - here's a note from Kieran (for everyone else, BWU means Blue Whale Unit, once a form of calculating catch limits)

Hey Dave,

He's correct that Taiji whalers began being organized to actively go out and hunt whales (rather than just wait for them to show up) around 1606. It's important to point out that the chronology isn't in error on this point, because it doesn't state anything to the contrary; it's a brief chronology that highlights a few key elements in whaling history. It's always been my understanding that it was the development of net whaling in or around 1675 that was the key development in whaling in Japan, and so that's why it's included. Part of it is a context thing: the chronology is adapted from the book, and of course in the book this is discussed a little.

The discrepancies in the name of the individuals is interesting. I have always seen and used the name Yoriharu Wada for the younger of the two men. I have seen different versions of the name written as well, but I don't know if it's an issue of different translation or incorrect Anglicisation, or just different ways of writing the name. Your correspondent appears to be probably better-versed on this than am I.

Regarding the BWU issue: again, a matter of context. The original, full version of the chronology as featured in the book does indeed mention the BWU, and the book discusses it extensively. When we adapted it for the website, I suspect I felt that mentioning the BWU without elucidation on what it was would be meaningless; and that a full explanation might be tedious.

As for the comment that after 1971, it's more about Greenpeace than whaling: It's a Greenpeace website.

K

Hi Dave,

Thanks for telling Kieran Mulvaney about what I said.

However, I have to say I still disagree with his chronology. I understand what he means when he says the introduction of nets in Japanese whaling in 1675 by Taiji Kakuemon Yoriharu. But to mention it the way he did, that is "1675 - Yoriharu Wada BEGINS organizing whaling crews in Taiji, Japan" (my emphasis), is just historically untrue as Japanese organized whaling started in 1606 as I said previously.

As for the name, the man's name was well Wada, but he then received the name of Taiji after his achievement. Most books I have read on the subject use the name of Taiji when referring to him.

So there's a chronology for the book and one for a website. The BWU is however one of the main reasons why so many whale species have been depleted. Not to mention it doesn't sound very serious to me. Besides, it's not too difficult to insert :

1930's - A Norwegian-English whaling cartel introduces a system of equivalences between different whale species based on the average quantity of whale oil that can be produced from a blue whale. This system si called Blue Whale Unit (BWU).

1946 - The BWU system is adopted for the management of whaling under the ICRW.

1972 - The IWC finally withdraws the BWU system.

I don't think it's too complicated for the readers. I also believe people should know about this, even without buying Mr. Mulvaney's book. It's certainly more important than knowing what Greenpeace have been doing 2007 (there are 4 entries for this year only!).

Cheers

hi, I'm chilean and I live in chile xD I can't speak english very good.. so... I go to write in spanish
yo soy chilena, especialmente, de viña del mar y acá en chile estamos haciendo todo lo posible para no permitirle el paso a japón hacia chile, no le creemos nada de que tengan que matar a esas lindas ballenas para fines cientificos =( cuenten greenpeace con el apollo de chile en esta noble causa! =)

hi, I'm chilean and I live in chile xD I can't speak english very good.. so... I go to write in spanish
yo soy chilena, especialmente, de viña del mar y acá en chile estamos haciendo todo lo posible para no permitirle el paso a japón hacia chile, no le creemos nada de que tengan que matar a esas lindas ballenas para fines cientificos =( cuenten greenpeace con el apollo de chile en esta noble causa! =)