Thar She Blows!

I am all in favor of preserving over-taxed fisheries by establishing moratoria until the population recovers. A two year moratorium on Atlantic cod, with ample payouts to fishermen (here is your year's take. Spend the season fixing your boat, spending time with your family, etc.) would be a relatively inexpensive way to preserve a vital resource. Sure, some of us would grump about going a year without baccala, or would have to learn to salt ling cod or something, but we would survive.

For that reason, I am entirely in favor of the measures that have been incredibly successful in bringing back whale populations. However, now that the populations are back up, let's resume whaling. Now any objections are nothing more than crypto-pagan pap along the lines of "oh, these magnificent creatures." Bovines are magnificent creatures, and we should eat them (and torear them) with gusto.

Scrimshaw. Oil. Meat. These are useful animals. And I would eat whale in a second.

Fortunately there are other countries that agree with me. The United States has boycotted this meeting, which is a shame, because we have a noble tradition of whaling (just about the only noble thing to ever come from New England, for instance).

Eat Shamu Now!