Commercial Whaling Research Paper

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.

Did you know that roughly three million whales were slaughtered in the twentieth century alone? Or that there are only around four hundred North Atlantic right whales alive today because they never fully recovered from being hunted? These whales are known as “right” whales because they are large and slow, with thick blubber that yields lots of oil plus they remain afloat after they've been killed, this simplifies the whole hunting process for everyone . Furthermore, the hunters got more money for less work. I believe that whaling is a vile and pointless thing to do to such beautiful creatures and that the International Whaling Commission should look further into the use of whales for research.

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 both sides of the whale hunting issues before they act on the issue. To start out I am going to tell you a little about whaling. The first whale hunters were in the prehistoric times. At first they would just kill and eat beached whales. That became such a habit that they started hunting them. Most whale hunters use harpoons, guns, lances, or bombs that blow up inside the whale. They use catcher boats, or kayaks. In 1925, whalers developed

This topic has generated research and observation in order to understand both sides of the whaling industry in Japan. First must take a look to the history and background of the topic. The oldest Japanese book in existence, called the Kojiki, chronicled that the Emperor Jimmu, the first emperor of Japan, ate whale meat (History of Japanese Whaling, 2013). Due to over 1,000 years of whaling in Japan, It has not been an easy task for the Japanese people to ease up on this addiction to whale products. For centuries this industry has remained strong until recently attacks by conservation groups. The international community has created the

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

Brian Handwerk4 discusses the Southern Sanctuary which was established as a “compromise effort during this week's meeting.” The Southern Sanctuary was developed in 1994 and presumed, “that 19 million square miles (50 million square kilometers) of waters surrounding Antarctica—as a critical space safe from commercial whaling. Most of the world's whales feed in these waters.”4 People should care about whales because they are being hunted, which is illegal. The whales’ population is damage due to hunting. The people who eat sushi with whale meat in it. The people are a part of the problem because they are demanding an animal that is near extinction. The ecosystem is affected because whales are a part of it. Whales are a part of the ocean. In the ocean is revolving cycle, such as planktons being eating by fish, which are eaten by whales. In order for the ocean to function, a cycle has to happen, Jeremy Jackson5. A solution could be finding another meat to use to substitute whale meat, or having a numerous amount of customer that stop demanding sushi. By lower demand the Japanese will have no reason to kill the Minke whale because it is not a request.

Despite the whaling ban in 1986 by the International Whaling Commission, some countries are refusing to stop doing this practice especially Japan. After the 1986 ban, Japan launched their supposed scientific whaling program which is widely known as their cover for their commercial whaling practice. Supporters of the whaling ban claim that reversing the ban will cause whale populations to become endangered or even extinct. Also, supporters of the IWC whaling ban say that the IWC should maintain the ban and establish stricter rules regarding the ban. Proponents also claim that the whale populations have yet to return to its former population before the excessive hunting happened. “Anti-whaling groups such as Greenpeace point to species such as the West Pacific gray whale, of which, according to some estimates, there are only about 100 left. According to Palumbi and Roman's whale population study, the North Atlantic humpback whale population before commercial whaling was more than 20 times what it is now.( )” Even with IWC whaling ban Japan, Iceland, and Norway continue to hunt illegally.

On the other side of the world, we have been losing millions of whales. Whales are still being killed across the world’s oceans, Whaling is the hunting of whales for meat, oil, blubber, and scientific research. Various coastal communities have long histories of subsistence whaling and harvesting beached whales.

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

In 2015, a program states 333 minke whales need to be killed for 12 years started. That’s about 4,000 whales that will be killed. Originally, whaling was used as a way to collect resources. The meat from whales were considered delicacies. Oil from whale blubber can be used as oil lamps or candles. Whales that are killed today are needed for scientific purposes like information on how to manage and conserve whales in captivity. However it isn’t necessary to kill so many whales to obtain information like management and conservation. Whaling should be banned because whales are no longer needed for their resources and aren’t used for scientific reasons.

Known for being the main attraction at SeaWorld, whales are often admired by tourists and locals. Some may call whales fish, but they aren’t, whales are considered mammals due to the fact that they breathe air. They’re apart of the group called Cetaceans which also includes dolphins and porpoises and they can be found throughout many oceans. We hardly shed light on commercial whaling because it doesn’t seem to affect us as humans; however, knowing that we could be the solution to this problem may change many views on this horrid topic.

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).

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

The endangerment of the Blue whale has come as a result of not only direct harm such as hunting, but also indirect factors like environmental changes and boat collisions. However, none have drove the Blue whale to endangerment as much as commercial whaling, which is still practiced today by three remaining countries: Japan, Norway, and Iceland. Through various controversial studies on whether whaling should be illegal word wide, one must constantly question the importance of the Blue Whale for success of the planet’s future.

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