Dunno if anyone here heard the guy from the Japanese Ministry today on Jeremy Vine.
He 'argued' that the killings are needed in order to obtain Whale ear wax so as to ascertain how old the creatures are, and the meat has to be sold in order to raise revenue for the research!
Oh that and they have to be killed and monitored and tinned etc for the scientific purpose of ensuring there are enough of them to eh, be killed later on.
'Was rather unbelievable.