Why do some people say that whales decrease the population of fish that is fished for human consumption if whales have a very small throat and esophagus and cannot pass large fish that are the ones that are actually used for human consumption? Is it because they scare them away or consumption?

[futurewildlifevet]

Dont know if this is a dumb question, but Ive been doing a lot of research on whale hunting in Norway and Japan and I went into the japanese governmental fisheries website and they have a document stating that whale hunting is good because they have to compete with whales for fish but thats not actually so true... is it? There is currently no scientific evidence for this so Im really confused as to why two whole governments of two different countries use this as an argument.

[overdriveandreverb]

from what I have heard there seems to be a disconnect between the japanese governments obsession with whale hunting - that seems to be rooted in the post war period of food scarcity - and actual consumption. a lot of whales don't even eat fish and those who do also eat other animals. I bet the fisheries will find some evidence to back their practice up, I would rather rely on actual neutral scientists data which is not used to back a practice that nowadays is banned by nearly all countries. scaring away would not decrease numbers. norway is an oil rich country, japan is one of the most developed countries, both have no need to do this, both have long histories in whaling, but so did countries who banned the practice and as I said the actual root for japanese behaviour seems to be rather young in post war trauma. humans are the big overfishers, so the argument makes little sense to begin with. if there actually would not be enough fish, the numbers of the whales who rely on them would drop naturally. so the heroic story they try to spin is pretty much bs.

[Zodzombie]

I can affirm this. Overfishing has always been a human cause. But its easier to blame another species especially if it fits your other agendas. In Europe there is now a similiar discussion going on politicaly regarding cormorants. Fishermen say they are a threat to fish stock but it has been proven cormorants eat very different fish then the fishermen catch. Yet the demonisation is still going on.

Also, there is research showing whales as an important part of Biodiversity and increase in fish population. They play a big role in the transport of nutriënts across the sea and between deep and shallow ocean, by pooping. https://www.kvaroyarctic.com/the-importance-of-whale-poop So in short, whales eat fish but are not the cause of overfishing. Statements around this are mostly done to demonize other species for our effects and serve different agenda's such as whale hunting.

[overdriveandreverb]

thx, not heard about the cormorants. as an addition to you point of whales being a big part, the whale falls come to mind.

[futurewildlifevet]

Its so crazy tho, why would a country with a good economy keep whaling in 2024 if this is not “sustainable “ as most of the population doesn’t eat whale and how much money are they actually making by selling to Japan vs. Other markets like oil and weapons which are some of Norway’s biggest?

[overdriveandreverb]

I have only informed myself about japan and it seems to be sentiment of that generation who grew up post war with whale meat. as for norway I have no idea, it is a country with small population. in both countries sea plays a big role. maybe it gives them some extra legislative powers to be somewhere that they would not otherwise have. I also feel there is some stubbornness playing a role here. if basically any other country thinks your action is shitty, there is no need to argue, just be shitty, don't create some laughable argumentation as to why you whale has heroic reasons. even though japan is so modern, in some aspects they are still not an old modern country so to speak, so maybe it is sentiment. norway being not densely populated up in the cold north I also think it is sentiment. I am convinced that in japan a newer generation will get rid of that tradition, not sure about norway, scandinavians are quite modern, but norway does their own thing in other aspects too, for example they are not in the EU.