Where have all the whales gone?

Today I read the article, "Court Hears Arguments on Whaling by Japan" written by Marlise Simmons published on June 26th, 2013 on the NY Times website.
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/27/world/asia/court-hears-arguments-on-whaling-by-japan.html?ref=whalesandwhaling

This article talked all about the never ending debate about whether or not it is okay for the Japanese and other Pacific Nations to participate in whaling in the Southern Pacific Ocean. After years of hundreds and whales being slaughtered Australia and New Zealand had enough of Japan's action and in June of last year took their case to the International Court of Justice.

This article recaps what has transpired in the case as of the published date. Australia believes that Japan has violated the 1946 international convention regulating whaling and the 1986 moratorium on commercial activity set by the International Whaling Commission. The Australian government believed that Japan has since killed more than 10,000 whales. A quote the article used, '“We are saying what Japan is doing is blatantly commercial, it’s not science, it has to stop,” Bill Campbell, who heads Australia’s legal team, said in a telephone interview from The Hague. “You don’t kill 935 whales in a year to do scientific research, you don’t even need to kill one whale.”'

Minke Whale
Link:
 http://wildwhales.org/wp-content/themes/wildwhales/images/minkebreach_popup.jpg

Although Japan is one of three nations that participate in whaling, Iceland and Norway being the other two, is it the only one claiming to be whaling on behalf of science and in the Southern Pacific Ocean around Australia and New Zealand who have claimed that water as a place for whales to be free.

Australia and Japan were to make their cases before 16 judges at the United Nations’ highest judicial body, in an international equivalent of a civil suit.

Japan’s hunt is mostly minke whales and some fin whales in the Ocean close by Antarctica which is allowed by the whaling convention and the International Whaling Commission, which also allowed for the killing of whales for scientific research.

The Japanese delegation said that the minke whale population was more than 500,000 in the Antarctic region and that their research needs of about 815 minke whales per year were sustainable and well below the mammals’ reproductive rate.

I thought this article was very interesting and a topic very close to me. I'm very interesting and marine biology and do not find that whaling is a good thing for the marine ecosystem. The marine ecosystem suffers from many different things including oil spills, destruction of coral reefs, and whaling among many more. I think that saying they need over 800 dead whales to conduct scientific experiments is absurd and preposterous. I don't understand their need for whales, but I find it wrong. Personally I would have to side with Australia and New Zealand on this case because there are regulations on whaling and Japan is not really following them. 

This relates to biology class because if we think back to when we learned about food webs and food chains, we know that the presences of an animal in an ecosystem is crucial to how the ecosystem functions and how the populations of animals survives. Although whales are commonly at the top of the food chain, they eat other animals so if they aren't there to eat these organisms then their populations will explode. Which in return will shrink their population because with more of that kind of organism around they will be in need for food. Since they need more food then they will eventually eat the other organisms into extinction. 

I think whaling is a major problem in the world and it either needs to stop or be substantially cut down. I think Australia is right for cracking down on Japan.