[mercyseverity]

Then why don't they address that issue properly and cite that as one of their reasons? I'm sorry I don't really see the connection. Surely their are other resources to "exploit" then whales. Why don't they develop ways of farming dolphins instead of continuing to kill them in the wild (like with the Dall's porpoise they are being killed unsustainably) Maybe I'm not understanding your argument but the matter still remains that the meat of dolphins is practically poisonous and whale meat isn't much better.
Also I'm curious what will happen if other pro-whaling nations follow Japan's scientific research idea and all have similar quotas. Then the overall number of will be unsustainable and it will be right back to commercial whaling and near extinction for the cetaceans. Japan isn't the only country with food security problems I'm sure.