Whaling has been practised for over five millennia. By the middle of the twentieth century, the efficiency of whale harvesting threatened the survival of many whale species. In 1982 the International Whaling Commission decreed a moratorium on commercial whaling so that whale numbers could recover. The Japanese government would like to resume commercial whaling, to harvest whale meat and to preserve fish stocks by culling whales. It sponsors the Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR), the stated purpose of which is to study the size and dynamics of whale populations. Anti-whaling organisations, such as the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, claim the ICR is a front for commercial whaling.

The collision between a Japanese whaling vessel and a Sea Shepherd protest boat off Antarctica on 6 January 2010 ‘could potentially spill over into other bilateral issues, like continuing negotiations on a free-trade agreement between Australia and Japan’.

Paul Watson, of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, freely admits damaging property. ‘I don’t care,’ he says. ‘I do what I do because it is the right thing to do. I am a warrior and it is the way of the warrior to fight superior odds’ (Taipei Times January 14 2010 page 9). Terrorists and suicide bombers use a similar twisted logic to justify the murder of innocent civilians! The Australian Federal Government seems reluctant to condemn the behaviour of Paul Watson, perhaps because it knows the public are overwhelmingly on his side. School teachers, however, need to be more rational and balanced in their discussions with students on the issue of whaling: not easy, as a majority of students show unblinking support for the anti-whalers.

Why do young people regard some mammals more highly than others? Kangaroos are mammals and you can find kangaroo meat on the shelves of Australian supermarkets. Cattle, sheep, goats and pigs are mammals. If whales are threatened with extinction, then they should be protected. If they are not, then there is no logical reason why they should not be ‘fished’.