group: japan's coastal sea hunts threatens species

[xchrom]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_JAPAN_WHALING?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-10-31-07-20-00

TOKYO (AP) -- Japan's hunts of smaller whales, dolphins and porpoises threaten some species with extinction, an environmental group said Thursday.

Catch quotas are based on data collected as much as 20 years ago and some species have been overhunted beyond the point of recovery, the Environmental Investigation Agency said in its report.

The lucrative market in live catches for aquariums, especially in China, poses another risk, the report said. Live animals can sell for between $8,400 and $98,000, sometimes more than the roughly $50,000 from sales of meat for a single bottlenose dolphin.

Japan set its catch limit for small cetaceans at 16,655 in 2013, far below the 30,000 caught annually before limits were set in 1993 but still the largest hunt in the world.

[Nihil]

1. One day, after they are extinct, someone will care ...

... but for now, Japan & China will just carry on and pretend that no-one notices ...

> sometimes more than the roughly $50,000 from sales of meat for a single bottlenose dolphin.

Sick bastards.

(And no, to the posse of habitual alerters, that isn't "racist" it is a simple factual observation
on their behaviour.)