Before I visited Antarctica, I had no opinion on whaling nor a lot of the environmental issues at all. But my trip to the white continent in 2006 changed my view on nature and environment enormously. And the latest news about the Japanese whaling fleet setting off to the Southern Ocean really makes me angry.

If it's really for "scientific research", is there a need to kill so many whales, year after year? I do wonder whether this is commercial whaling disguised as scientific research, thus trying to make this look acceptable?! What have the Japanese published so far on their scientific findings?

I probably have less of a problem if the Japanese admit that the objective of whaling is for food - After all, many people eat fish and meat, and whale meat is just another meat source. However, hiding the true motive of whaling behind "scientific research" is just cowardice and totally unacceptable.

And if it is their food source, why do they have to go all the way down to the Southern Ocean? How did they manage that hundreds of years ago?

The world is a delicate place - and humans have already done enough damage to the environment and nature in the southern ocean already.