E - This has absolutely nothing to do with environmentalism, and I say this as a rather far left environmental liberal. Are you suggesting we act as a police force and tell small villages what can and can not be part of their diet? Are you suggesting we somehow bestow tofu patties upon every group of people that still hunts it's food? This is one small village that has been living this way for hundreds of years. As skh.poola said, they more than likely use every single part of the whale and don't hunt more animals than is necessary to their survival, so it's hardly on the level of slavery, footbinding, or burning witches (Though I'm rather certain DCer was being a bit sarcastic). It would take thousands, if not millions of villages such as this to have even a fraction of the impact the commercial whaling industry, the fishing industry, or the oil industry have had on the whale population.

Police were actually stopping anyone with "professional equipment" from snapping photos, claiming the artist has a copyright on the work. There is obviously more than a few things wrong with that, but your average tourist can freely take photos.