For many centuries Japan has hunted whales as a means of getting food. In the past many other countries have also been involved in whaling, and it wasn't until a few decades ago that the global public decided that whaling could not continue for fear of eliminating certain species. In 1986 the IWC, International Whaling Commission put a ban on all commercial whaling, and since then all but a few select countries ceased their whaling practices. Japan is a country that has blatantly disregarded all laws that protect endangered species, and other marine animal preservation acts, and continued to kill whales despite their dwindling numbers. Unfortunately the international community is unable to change this because the Japanese are claiming that all the whales they kill are being used for scientific purposes. Japan is operating under a technicality because the IWC's ban allows for whaling as long as it is for scientific research. To truly solve this problem laws need to be tightened. There can be no space for interpretation of what determines "valid" research, the law should ban the killing of whales for all purposes. Any research that needs to be done should be conducted by non-lethal means. If action is not taken and this resource continues to be mismanaged, many species of whales will become extinct, and the earth’s natural ecosystem will face a mass amount of distress and imbalance.
