Commercial Whaling Research Paper

Introduction The debate surrounding Makah whaling is a heated one to say the least. There are valid points on both sides of the argument, but there is one side I find to be more valid once the facts have been looked at. I will examine and present my findings regarding past and current laws and regulations related to whaling, types of whaling, other countries that take an active part in whaling (and why), as well as the Makah culture – both past and present. In this paper I will argue why the Makah should not be allowed to resume whaling, as it is unnecessary and could potentially put the grey whale species back on the endangered list.

Do you agree with the Norwegian and Japanese position on permitting the hunting of non-endangered species of whales as a cultural exemption?

In 1946 the newly formed International Whaling Commission enacted a global moratorium on commercial whaling (Robbins). The IWC was formed in hopes of protecting whales and making sure that whales were spared. Without enforcement of the rules and restrictions for any nations, the problem has not gone away. Without whales the ecosystem begins to falter, the whale being one of the vital producers, and consumers of the ocean. There are countries that refused to agree to the terms of the moratorium, regardless of the damage such actions would cause. The moratorium permits whaling for scientific research, and that is the mask current whaling countries hide behind (Zelko). They argue that they are not violating any restrictions, because Article 8 of the 1946 moratorium states that whaling for scientific research is not part of the agreement (McCurry). During the 1970’s people began to care about the whales that were being killed faster than they could reproduce (Robbins). In 1986 whaling was officially banned, some nations ignored the ban, and still do. In 1993, meat DNA tested at a fish market in Japan showed that whale meat was clearly being sold, but there were no consequences. The ban made by the IWC is not

Whaling in US compared to Japan Did you know that in the last 50 years over two million whales have been killed? The United States views whaling very differently than Japan does. It is a complicated and controversial topic. Many people have opinions about whale hunting. However, everyone should know

In the 1800s the Northern Right Whales were killed mainly because their bodies have oily fat, which was used as a fuel at the time, they were also killed to make umbrellas, and whips (Endangered wildlife of the world). Other reasons for the Northern Right Whale being endangered is due to habitat pollution, Toxins, Climate and ecosystem change, Ruckus from whale-watching activities and noise from industrial activities. Also the death of the whales now is due to ship collisions and entanglement in fishing gear has limited the population’s recovery

Whale hunting is a very controversial issue. Some argue that it is morally wrong to hunt an animal with such a high level of intelligence, some argue that whales shouldn’t be hunting due to their dwindling numbers and their risk for extinction, and others argue that it is the only

The International Whaling Regime In his article, “Whale Mining, Whale Saving,” Sidney Holt states, “saving the whales is for millions of people a crucial test of their political ability to halt environmental destruction”(Holt 1985). In a world where environmental issues are often so vast that solving them seems impossible, it is rare to encounter a regime which successfully addresses these problems. If we judge a regime’s effectiveness by its ability to change the behavior of its members and possibly even encourage others to join, then the whaling regime was in fact quite effective. The significant decrease in commercial whaling brought about by the International Whaling Commission (IWC)’s 1982 moratorium is proof in itself of the

They feel that the IWC has become a conservation organization, where it was originally meant to be a regulatory agency for whaling (Schweder 2001). There have been accusations of the commission being purposely “uncertain” of the status of whales to keep the moratorium in effect, when in reality we know enough to open a sustainable fishery (Schweder 2001). There have been studies on both fin and minke whales indicating that a fishery would be sustainable. Fin whales populations off Iceland appear to be increasing at 4% per year, and minke populations off both Iceland and Norway appear to be stable, though it should be noted that the IWC indicates that fin whale populations in the northeast Atlantic haven’t been thoroughly assessed (Borchers et al. 2009, Vikingsson et al. 2009). The Marine Research Institute of Iceland has calculated that up to 150 fin whales and 400 minke whales can be sustainably harvested per year (Icelandic Fisheries 2014). Because fin whale populations are stable around Iceland, the government does not consider their IUCN listing as “endangered” relevant to their hunting status. A 1998 modeling study on minke whales in Norway showed potential population growth from 63,033 in 1995 to 70,733 in 2010 if 600 whales were taken every year (Bjorndal and Conrad 1998). Though Norway has increased their quota to 1,286, the number of minkes killed in a given year has not exceeded 600 individuals (IWC 2014). These potential harvest numbers are considered conservative, since the sighting methods used to estimate abundance were also conservative in nature. Neither Iceland nor Norway has exceeded their self imposed annual quotas since the quotas’ inception (IWC

I consider myself an animal rights and environmental activist. I have been a vegetarian for most of my life (almost 30 years), have been a member of Greenpeace, and have been an environmentalist my entire life, thanks to my somewhat hippy mother. Even though I consider culture sacred, I don’t

Since the 11th century, whaling has been a form of hunting. Originally This does not apply, however, in case of the so-called moratorium on whaling for commercial purposes, contained in paragraph 10(e) of the Schedule not being lifted within a reasonable time after the completion of the RMS. Under no circumstances will whaling for commercial purposes be authorised without a sound scientific basis and an effective management and enforcement scheme”

Many whaling countries give the excuse that hunting whales is traditional. In Japan, this justification is baseless. Japan did not begin whaling until after World War II (Zelko, 2013, p. A. 13) . In other places such as the Faroe Islands, the practice is actually traditional as it has taken place ever since the Viking settlers arrived there (O'Barry, 2013, p. 18) . Traditions are not always morally correct. Most customs are not harmful, but whaling is not one of them. Hanging African Americans was once seen as an acceptable custom as was burning women at the stake for being

Hunting whales was not on an industrial scale until the 1890’s, and continued until the International Whaling Commission took effect in 1986. The article refers to the unsustainability of whaling commercially. The number of whales in our oceans has been rapidly reducing in the years that humans have had access to commercial whaling ships. Hunting an endangered species is highly unethical, because we could, within a generation or two, see the fall of the largest beings alive today. The whales in our oceans belong to the whole world and not just to Japan and Norway. Even with the restrictions by the IWC, Japan still continues for “Scientific Research”. Scientific Research has recently been deemed illegal in the Arctic water, but they have completely disregarded all sanctions put against them to try and stop the unethical whaling.

Since 1966, commercial hunting of whales has been prohibited by the International Whaling Commission (iwc.int). However, some countries still hunt them, such as Japan, Norway and Iceland, for instance, killing of these mammals is permitted for scientific research and a few more are killed by Japanese in the Southern Ocean for blubber and their meat.

1.1 Definition of whaling Whaling is defined as hunting and killing of whales by humans for resources, mainly meat, blubber and baleen (whalebone) obtained from whales. These resources are then sold for commercial purposes and thus, whaling has become economical important for centuries (Joanne 2007; The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia 2007). Scientific whaling is conducted by hunting whales for research purposes and further analysis to study on whale’s behaviour, characteristics and distribution (Joanne 2007). Commercial whaling is a controversial whaling practice that exploits whale products for trade and profit. Recently, Japan, Norway and Iceland are the major contributors of commercial whaling and deeply support any other whaling activities (Joanne 2007). Moratorium on commercial whaling 1986 is a global ban of hunting whales for commercial purposes, implemented by International Whaling Commission (IWC). Under Article VIII, unlimited scientific research is permitted but sufficient data and analysis are required by Science Committee set up by IWC (Papastavrou 2006).

Do you agree with the Norwegian and Japanese position on permitting the hunting of non-endangered species of whales as a cultural exemption. Do you think the whaling ban constitutes a violation of these nations' sovereignty?