... survival of their society. Japan along with many nations have a long history and tradition of whaling and it is part of their culture. Anti-whaling countries such as Australia, the UK and the United States are accused of cultural ignorance in their ongoing opposition to commercial whaling. Japan argues that this cultural bias is based on Western societies norms and political prejudice against whaling. The projection of the Western world's anti-whaling beliefs onto traditional whaling nations is seen to infringe on the rights of those nations. Some argue that whaling is an ecologically sustainable industry, which uses a plentiful marine resource to support a growing human population. Whaling nations say it causes minimal environmental damage when compared to the land based agricultural industries of westernised nations like the United States and Australia. The effects of land based agriculture include soil erosion, wildlife habitat destruction, loss of biodiversity, pollution of groundwater reserves, release ...

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