this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2023
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Whaling is no different then fishing as far as sustainability goes and ethically a whale is no different then a cow. If you have no problem with killing cows, you should have no problem killing whales, assuming it is done sustainably.
It takes a lot less time to grow a new cow than it does to grow a new whale.
Sure and that is taken into account with the sustainability. While you can harvest something like a billion cows a year plus cows are domesticated the same concept applies to whale but it may be only a few thousand a year.
Ah yes "sustainability". Whaling is such a sustainable industry that basically every civilized nation has banned it. That's okay though, we've proven that we're really good at farming and fishing sustainably, so I'm sure we'll be just as good at whaling. We definitely aren't fishing the oceans to extinction, or releasing millions of tons of methane from factory cattle farming.
Oh wait...
Since when exactly are unsustainable industries banned?
That's a pretty strong statement without any underlying argument. There are countless differences between whaling and slaughtering livestock. I'm not in favor of either one per se, but to say they're ethically identical is quite the leap.
Problem is fishing is one of the biggest contributors to plastics ending up in the oceans and sea floors being destroyed. If whaling is like fishing then that's still adding to the problem.
Whaling still uses harpoons, just more modern and sophisticated ones. It's more akin to hunting than fishing.
I get it's probably because people just aren't used to the idea of eating whale, but it's odd you're being downvoted when like that's kinda the stance I think a lot of environmentalists have here in Norway, though I think the comparison is more to like venison than cows, because venison's hunted but cows are raised. In the grand scheme of things, the beef industry does way more damage and has more ethical concerns than the strictly regulated whaling industry and we should be focusing our attention on that. I could be completely off though - I ain't from Oslo and whale is regularly available on the supermarket shelves in the season so I'm obviously somewhat biased here. I know a lot of people have ethical concerns but like, I don't get it. Pigs are smarter than a whale, but people aren't upset at pork chops.
Also idk how reliable it is because obviously it's a biased source, but according to the fishing industry pound for pound whale's actually way better for the environment than any farmed red meat because you're, y'know, not raising it.
Yea wild-hunted venison is probably a much better comparison, I'd probably agree that whale meat is better for the environment then farmed meat but ultimately you have to account for scale. It would be impossible for the world to live on whale meat alone, much like it would be impossible for the world to live on fish, or non-farmed crops. It's good to have a variety of food sources both for culinary enjoyment as well as food security and sustainability.
Lol wut. There is no sustainable way to raise animals for slaughter in this overpopulated planet.
We have reason to believe whales are in the same ballpark as us. Also we should probably stop eating both but if we can't save both at least we may be able to keep folks from eating the whales.
Funny you should take for granted no one has a problem with fishing, a practice absolutely chocked full of problems, environmental and otherwise. Also do you not realize a lot of people also has issues with killing cows?
Sure. And even more people have absolutely no problem with killing cows and eating them daily. Which is why I had the qualifier that if you don't have a problem with cows you shouldn't have a problem with whales. If you do have a problem with cows, that's fine, and being against whaling is also fine.
As far as the fishing industry, it is chock full of environmental and sustainability concerns, but it can absolutely be done in an environmentally sustainable way, must like whaling could.