Norway and Japan are two countries that have been fighting for their right to hunt these whales. Both of these countries have been hunting whales for hundreds, or thousands of years. It is a huge part of their food culture. But the hunting of whales was made illegal about 10 years ago. People still poach these animals for their blubber which is eaten in Japan and their meat with is made into sushi and steaks in both Norway and Japan. Whale meat costs a whole lot of money on the black market fetching up to $250 a pound. (Most whales weigh about three tons.) People have been poaching these whales so much that they are on the highly-endangered list. If the level of poaching that is going on now continues than these two species of whales will likely be extinct.

Videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMk6KvXyNDE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ru3aFjbdV9k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXi6Kw_u8Vs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB3ffNvW6a8&feature=related

-Soccer547

Do people care about what there doing to whales?

Why do people poach whales soooooooooo much?
Why do people eat whales when they know its wrong? Don't people feel bad when they eat whales? Do people care about what there doing to whales?
How: Fish for them then kill them and even some times throw them back dead!
Who:Sperm Whales, Humpback Whales, Blue Whales, Orca Whales, Minike Whales, Right Whales, Fin Whales
What:Poaching and water pollution
Where: Norway, Japan
Why: It's their tradition. Sell them to eat them or get oil form there blubber for lighting and lubricating purposes
they SHOULD cut down on poaching because pretty soon there might not be any whales at all.
All the whales WOULD be extincted and there would be no whales to eat.
Every year over 1,000 whales are killed in the commercial market.

-Soccer547

Whales

Whales are large, magnificent, intelligent, aquatic mammals. They breathe air through blowhole(s) into lungs (unlike fish who breathe using gills). Whales have sleek, streamlined bodies that move easily through the water. They are the only mammals, other than manatees (seacows)and dolphins, that live their entire lives in the water, and the only mammals that have adapted to life in the open oceans.

Happy Holidays

-Soccer547

Links that are usefull

Good websites to find information about poaching:
http://sportales.com/hunting/over-poached-animals-on-the-verge-of-extinction/
http://animalsndanger.wordpress.com/
http://library.thinkquest.org/11353/e-animals.htm
http://www.kangaboy.com.au/earth-abusers/9-illegal-whale-poachers-japan
http://www.divetime.com/articles/Scuba_Diving_Information/Poaching_of_Endangered_Marine_Animals_222.html
http://www.worldwildlife.org/home.html
http://www.stopwhaling.org/site/c.foJNIZOyEnH/b.4488271/k.E51A/Stop_Whaling__International_Fund_for_Animal_Welfare.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/12/11/2768448.htm

-Soccer547

Poaching

My group is researching on poaching. We are each choosing an animal to study and see why it's getting poached. I probably will do sea animals; whales and maybe Dolphins. One example is whales in Japan. People are eating whales when they know there getting poached.

-Soccer547