Oh come on, if whales were really that smart they would never have returned to the sea in the first place.

No, they were smart enough not to come out in the first place.

a) I was being sarcastic, but more importantly,

b) Cetaceans (whales, dolphins, etc) used to live on land but then returned to the sea. There is tonnes and tonnes of evidence for this.

c) I think whale's vestigial appendages are much cooler than mine.

I was just being a smart ass

the japanese think these people are delicious.

And probably aphrodisiacs too. :(

and armin meiwes thinks you are delicious.

So do Icelanders and the Inuit.

I'm kind of on the fence about whaling. I definitely do not support this supposed "research" whaling, but at a time when Earth's fisheries are being depleted at alarming rates, a whale or two might alleviate some of this stress.

I don't like the idea of killing an intelligent creature, but whale is so healthy that I hate to imagine the crisis we might face if the Inuit are forced to cease all whale hunting.

I agree completely. I do not believe it is research at all.

I think there is a sense of reverence and respect for the animal when natives harvest a whale or two for their people. Not so for the Japanese who seem to have alot of animal torture and cruelty in their culture.

There are a lot less Icelanders and Inuit, though, potential Japanese consumption is a great deal higher.

Haven't they been switching to a more western (less nutritious) diet?

For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much - the wheel, New York, wars and so on - whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man - for precisely the same reasons.

-- Douglas Adams

Exactly. We've seen the havoc farmed fish can wreak on marine ecosystems, and I until test tube meat becomes feasible I think it's worth considering whether several whales might be worth the same weight in fish.

Some have. It's awful. Health problems are abundant, and the government has done a 180 and now recommends a more traditional diet. It's just close to impossible to get most western nutritious foods to these communities in good condition for anything even remotely close to a reasonable price ($20 for 1L of milk is not really reasonable).