“Scientists versus Whaling”: Whose Errors of Judgment?

In “Scientists versus Whaling” (BioScience 52:1137–1140), Aron, Burke, and Freeman defend Japan's controversial “scientific” whaling program against a series of criticisms we made in an open letter to the Government of Japan last May in the New York Times. Our letter, signed by 21 eminent scientists, including three Nobel laureates and several pioneers of conservation biology, called on Japan to suspend its whaling program. Aron and his...