I believe you are taking his quote out of context. He was talking about sustainability. Killing a small amount of some whales by the Japanese (he referred to Minkes, in particular) is sustainable. Our over-fishing of fish stocks globally is not sustainable. You seem to have latched on to the Daily Telegraph headline "Flannery says whaling is OK" and there it is lodged in the back your brain never to be dislodged. He also said "I'm very relieved to see the humpback whale quota dumped" at the same time, but you don't remember that, you just remember the shock jock headline.
