Stardate 20010706.0743 (On Screen): We should end the whaling ban for the sake of the whales, a Japanese official argues. This is fatuous on its face, but his argument also doesn't survive detailed scrutiny. He contends that a lot of the whaling in the world is done by "pirates" (i.e. unlicensed unregulated whalers), but that this could be stopped if legal whaling were again permitted because legal whale meat would enter the market causing a price collapse, putting the pirates out of business.
But if prices for whale meat dropped it would be because of an increase in supply; that's basic economics. In other words, you be legally killing multiple whales for each pirate whale you saved. Of course, the whales who die don't know or care who kills them; so how exactly does an increase in their death rate benefit them?
There is no longer any justification for hunting whales. They provide nothing we need that can't be gotten elsewhere. (discuss)
