Ted Poe: “last November a fleet of Japanese whalers set sail to kill more than a thousand whales, including endangered humpback…”

“last November a fleet of Japanese whalers set sail to kill more than a thousand whales, including endangered humpback whales for the first time in the last 40 years. After international outcry, Japan agreed not to hunt the humpback whales this year, but that has not stopped them from continuing to hunt and kill more than a thousand minke and fin whales. You see, although an international moratorium against commercial whaling has been in effect since 1986, Japan and a handful of other countries have used a loophole in the international treaty, and in the name of pseudoscientific research, they have gone ahead and killed more than 11,000 whales. After killing them for 'scientific research,' as they say, they sold the whale meat and blubber on the commercial market. Anyway, scientists in the field say that these hunts, conducted in the name of science, are really unnecessary because nonlethal research alternatives do exist. Mr. Speaker, Moby Dick is in trouble, and it is time to close the loophole and make sure that endangered whales in our oceans are protected once and for all.”