All the rich people in Japan coudn't eat a whale if all they ate was whale meat for a week. I doubt this is a controversy of rich v. whales.
Whales, like dolphins are highly intelligent creatures with a definable language and social structure. When we start killing off people who breed a lot we can start killing off the whales.
whales =/= people
people > whales
Very true. But if you go downtown and start stomping kittens, most decent people would come out and kick your ass for doing it.
If this were a case where human lives were in danger or there was a substance in these whales that cured cancer, then you might have an argument here.
But this is about a delicacy food, and really, it is no different then when they killed whales for ambergris for perfume.
Joe, You might want to keep in mind that Even Greenpeace has denounced this group as Terrorist.