Few things drive people who would like to see whaling end to distraction quite as much as the lack of engagement with the issue across Japanese society.

Their argument goes like this: continuing whaling is clearly not in the best interests of Japan as a nation, raising opprobrium in countries that are otherwise its friend while gaining virtually nothing in the way of meat; so even though whaling might be in the interests of the Fisheries Agency, which implements policies domestically and represents the country internationally, why don't other parts of the government or wider society weigh in, stand up for their interests, and get the practice shelved?

Southland-born journalist Peter Arnett, who became one of the stars of CNN, was covering the war in Vietnam for the Associated Press in 1968 when he took down a priceless quote.

Referring to the decision to bomb and shell the enemy-occupied Mekong Delta town of Ben Tre, even though the likelihood of many civilian casualties was very high, a US officer, according to Arnett, said "It became necessary to destroy the town to save it".

The quote's accuracy was officially disputed, but it entered the lexicon as "we had to destroy the village in order to save it."

Scientific research on animals is necessary.  It helps advance our understanding of thier habits and in some cases, helps to work towards preserving-even saving, a species.  It is therefore challenging to accept that in efforts to help animal populations, scientists often kill several members of a species to gain this valuable data.

The scientific community has been granted legal permission to kill animals in pursuit of this information.  This practice is especially prevalent in the research of whales and Japan’s research community has come under fire for the number of whales they terminate in their research practices.

Roger Williams, MP for Brecon and Radnorshire and Liberal Democrat Food and Rural Affairs spokesperson, used today’s final DEFRA Oral Question session of the current parliament to press the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs to take a strong line at the forthcoming International Whaling Commission (IWC) discussion in order to prevent a resumption of commercial whaling.

At the IWC meeting in June there is a strong possibility that a change in the current rules will allow Japan, Norway and Iceland to start whaling on a fully commercial level and would allow commercial whaling in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary, set up by the IWC in 1994.

TAIJI, Japan — "Heroes" star Hayden Panettiere and her boyfriend, world champion boxer Wladimir Klitschko, received a chilly reception Friday in the Japanese fishing village of Taiji, where they called for an end to its annual dolphin hunt.

The celebrity couple arrived in the morning with a small group of environmental activists.

Panettiere said she wanted to meet the mayor and representatives from the local fisheries union, but she and Jeff Pantukhoff, an anti-whaling activist from the U.S., were blocked by two officials at the door of the town hall.