[Wasabista]

Whaling advocates in Japan claim that certain species of whales are endangered while some have rapidly growing populations. I don't know one way or the other, but it does seem clear that Japan places specific quotas on specific species of whale.

What is odd, though, is that whaling doesn't even make economic sense. Whale meat is not popular in Japan, so Japanese consumers don't buy much of it -- and they would buy even less except for the subsidies being paid to the whalers.

That's right -- taxpayer money is being paid to whalers to kill animals to make food people don't want to buy, making the whole world mad at Japan. Incentives can be weird sometimes.