FOJLTWA FAQ

(12) IF THERE ARE NO GOOD PRO WHALING ARGUMENTS, THEN WHY WOULD THEY WHALE?

THE SECOND ARGUMENT is based on Japans military historical goals and the economic state of Japan.

There is NOT a decent amount of valuable natural resources within Japan’s borders, yet the Japanese have always wanted one.

The country is a mountainous, volcanic island country. It is known that Japan has inadequate resources to support its growing economy and large population and this was a motivator for her behavior during the Second World War.

Although some resources have indeed been extracted in past times, most mineral resources had to be imported in the post-war era.

The nation’s large and varied forest resources, which covered 70 percent of the country in the late 1980s, were not utilized extensively. Because of the terrain, underdeveloped road network, and high percentage of young trees, domestic sources were only able to supply between 25 and 30 percent of the nation's timber needs.

Agriculture and fishing were the best developed resources, but only through years of painstaking investment and toil. The nation therefore built up the manufacturing and processing industries to convert raw materials imported from abroad.

This strategy of economic development necessitated the establishment of a strong economic infrastructure to provide the needed energy,transportation, communications, and technological know-how as we all know Japan is famous for in todays world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Japan


NOW.... let’s all take a look outside the box. Could Japan have ulterior agendas on whaling off Antarctica?

Antarctica is filled with unlimited resource wealth.

ICE: One of Antarctica's most important resources is ice. It is said that Antarctica's ice accounts for 90% of the worlds fresh water. As a resource it has potential as a fresh water supply.

COAL: There are coal deposits found along the coast of Antarctica. It is also very wide spread throughout the Trans-Antarctic Mountains. Coal is used as a source of direct heat and also to generate electricity in coal burning power plants.

PETROL: Petroleum deposits are formed when plants and small animal remains are buried in a marine environment by sand and mud. These remains then build up as hydrocarbons and are trapped by a layer of rock that the hydrocarbons cannot pass through. Most of the speculation about petroleum in Antarctica comes from finding petroleum on the other Southern continents which were at one time connected together. The petroleum deposits thought to be on the offshore regions of Antarctica would probably be most feasible to obtain.

METALS: Mineral resources have not been found in great quantities so far due to the small amount of rock that is exposed. It is believed that since the other continents that were once attached to Antarctica to form Gondwana have metallic and nonmetallic minerals, that Antarctica probably has similar minerals. It is also known that rock layers such as those in Antarctica commonly contain large amounts of cobalt, chromium, nickel, vanadium, copper, iron and platinum group minerals.

HYDROTHERMALS: When fluids such as water are heated by the earth's interior, they can carry dissolved minerals in their fluid state such as quartz, gold, etc. When the solution of liquid and dissolved minerals cools in a new environment, the minerals are deposited as a solid. It highly likely there is plenty of these minerals in Antarctica... yet to be confirmed.

http://www.globalclassroom.org/antarct3.html


NOW... what is stopping Japan in 15 years time declaring to the world “We are now sending mining companies down to Antarctica to mine the resources and drill gas from the oil fields".

They are clearly setting a precedent for the worlds countries to harvest Antarctica’s resources.

After all, they have already started. Under current laws and treaties, there is no difference between harvesting whales from Antarctic and drilling for oil. Both are illegal. We know Japan is defying 5 international treaties/conventions and laws and thus far noone has brought her to justice.

SO... if Japan can break these treaties on whaling in Antarctica and get away with it, then what is stopping the Japanese (or any other country) from mining the continent.

Scary thought isn’t it?

Lets wake up a little, step outside the square and look at the consequences of allowing Japan to whale in defiance of all these treaties in Antarctica!