who wants whale?

now this in interesting...why on earth would countries like Mongolia (land-locked!) and Dominica (self-proclaimed 'green' island?) vote to overturn the moratorium on commercial whaling? now, i did once think that perhaps a well-managed whale fishery might make sense given the current state of affairs, but recent shit has come to light, man. first of all, the japanese demand for whale meat is decreasing. so wtf? what is the point of a fishery at all? why are they obviously buying votes from other nations with no whaling interests?
secondly, it seems whales are far more valuable alive for their economic benefits from whale watching and tourism in the Caribbean, Atlantic and Pacific, than chopped up and frozen, or killed under the guise of scientific research...even in Iceland, another active whaling country which defies the moratorium anyway. so WTF?
okay, so i guess people are concerned that whales eat a lot of fish, you know, they said that for seals too, somehow justifying a reason to club them. yeah, whales eat krill and fish, and so do a lot of other things, that's not a good enough reason for removing a species (especially in such a cruel manner) from the planet..they're there for a reason, like sharks and turtles, they might not be 'convenient' for our greedy desires, as we compete with them for resources, but dammit, it's not OUR ocean.
so it looks like the US might jump into the ring* for a little tag-team action. it's about friggin' time. embargos on pro-whaling countries might also be a good idea, like stopping cruise ships** from porting at grenada and saint kitts ..but in the end, maybe instead of chasing terrorists into their holes we should be concerned with the potential collapse of a major food and money source for the entire world- our oceans.

*btw, nice shout-out to my Duke professor - i recall one student's project looking at how whales avoid oil rigs...between that and deafening navy sonar, the poor bastards have nowhere to go!

**then again, while cruise ships are $good$ they're also bad, a blessing and a curse...