ShepherdsDog ShepherdsDog:
This is one of the causes that I side with the Watsons of the World. Cetaceans are one of the few truly intelligent species on the planet and harvesting them for food is morally wrong.
We have plenty of herd animals, whose sole purpose on this planet is to provide food for other animals.

If the Japanese hadn't lobbied to get the provision into international law; that any whales harvested for 'research' must be then used as food - and if they actually had added to our knowledge of the whales they 'study', I'd be inclined to let the Japanese do what they want using the fabrications that please them.
But they don't add to the sum of human knowledge with their 'research'. Soybean paste can be just as nutritious as meat, and you don't have to sail the Antarctic ocean to get it.