Do our cannons shoot that far?

Japan currently harvests about 440 minke whales (which are not on an endangered list) each year from the Antarctic Ocean for what they claim is scientific research. Of course, the whale meat, a delicacy in Japan, is then sold commercially.

Now they want to nearly double the catch, plus add humpback and fin whales. The International Whaling Commission (IWC) banned commercial whaling in 1986, but the next year, Japan started a "scientific research program" to monitor cetacean stocks and habitats. It's not too hard to see they've simply figured out a way to circumvent the rules. Apparently, the IWC doesn't have much power, because Japan announced it would continue it's "research" past the original goal of March 2005.

New Zealand and Australia are ticked off, because they have a large whale-watching industry ($273 mil in Australia), and are generally anti-whaling. Also, some environmentalists don't think any whales should be killed, as they are an intelligent form of wildlife that shouldn't be harvested for human consumption. I agree. The Japanese can eat tofu.