Even after a whale is dead, it's important for its body to remain in the sea, where it becomes the habitat for a complex ecosystem, as described in the February <i>Scientific American</i> (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-prolific-afterlife-of-whales). Obviously the Japanese "researchers" aren't doing this, & I doubt NASA's suppliers are either.

Inuit have a pre-industrial understanding of the world - they put back everything they don't use and are reverential toward and about the whale parts they eat - how can we do this!

I have some 1st hand experience with what the Japanese are doing. They take advantage of the system, buying off poor governments for their "scientific research". In the Caribbean, they build these countries state of the art fisheries in exchange for Whaling rights for their "research" and then essentially put the local fishermen out of business. It's truly horrible. They are doing this in the country my husband and I do work in right now. They don't even put that much money into the local economy since they bring their own workers and their own food. The only people that get rich are the government officials they pay off.

This is an outrage! I did sign a petition recently online. Everybody sign the petition! Indeed we are the "Ignorant biped!!!" You are right, Leonard, farming is a different situation. And Eskimoes historically have a whole different understanding and agreement.

Sorry, you got to let the Inuits hunt whales. We all but annihilated the North American Indian and their culture. Same goes for the Central and South American Indians. We absolutely can not do the same to the Inuits.

Will lifting the ban result in less wale death?