Commercial Whaling and its Controversy

What exactly happened in the whaling industry that had such a detrimental effect on the whale populations?

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

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 means of food for some indigenous people who have been hunting whales for centuries. I personally, am against commercial whaling, but do understand the IWC’s (International Whaling Commission) catch limits for aboriginal subsistence whaling.

The Cove, directed by Louie Psihoyos, is an award winning documentary that spotlights how the Japanese hunt and kill dolphins by the tens of thousands and how a group of people try to stop and expose this to the world. The chapter about the International Whaling Commission (IWC) brings forward a few key points that need to be discussed. The IWC is a group of nations that come together and make decisions based on how they can preserve cetaceans. The smaller cetaceans, like dolphins, are not protected under the bigger umbrella. In order to bypass the rules of the IWC, a loophole is used; a nation can claim that they are killing and collecting whales for research and the IWC will not stop them. The Japanese are trying to legalize whaling worldwide.

These are not the only whales to pay the price; since the beginning of commercial whaling over one million sperm whales, two-hundred and fifty thousand humpbacks, and two million other whales have been killed for profit.

According to Greenpeace, “up to 80% of [Japanese] respondents disagreed with whaling on the high seas. And 85% said they did not know endangered species were being hunted by Japanese ships in the Antarctic Ocean”(Ganderton, 2014). More than that, both Japan and Norway have significantly declining sales of whale meat. The impact of whaling on small fishing villages might impact my opinion on this issue, but I don’t think the impact is significant enough to warrant whaling, especially when, for example in Norway, the government has to subsidize the whaling industry because they can’t sell enough meat to

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.

Despite claiming the slaughter is needed to learn more about whales, Japan has not offered any new worthwhile information about whales, with the exception that they eat large quantities of krill (Zelko, 2013, p. A. 13) . Japan has been using this excuse, among many others, since 1986. In the decades Japan has used this excuse, it seems almost ridiculous that Japan has not learned anything new about the mammals’ breeding, migratory, or any other habits. When Australia took Japan to the International Court of Justice to challenge the validity of Japan’s scientific whaling industry, Australia’s agent to the court, Bill Campbell, stated, “Japan seeks to cloak its ongoing commercial whaling in the lab coat of science.” He later told journalists: “You don’t kill 935 whales a year to conduct scientific research. You don’t even need to kill one whale to conduct scientific research” (McCurry, 2013) .

Not only that they were importing whale meat from Norway because of its lower prices there, the whale ban was executed to make all whaling illegal which Japan failed to recognise. 400 whales were killed a year and most of the meat ending up in fish markets and restaurants. The

The increase in the fishing industry could be due to any number of things such as the weather, the time of year, or even the lack of a whale’s presence. It does not suggest that the whales are consuming the fish or that they are depleting important fish populations. Also, it has been proven that commercial whaling does impact the whaling industries in pro whaling countries. If money is the end goal for some of these countries they could just adopt the whale watching industry rather than commercial whaling because in the end, due to conservation movements, it will probably be making more money. If Japan wants to continue whaling under scientific research pretenses, then I’m sure they can find more humane and less invasive ways to collect data such as studying beached or already dead whales rather than killing them, as well as taking samples from live whales using minimally invasive techniques. Furthermore, in countries such as Norway who commercially whale specifically for the meat for human consumption, well they should be required to put warning labels on whale meat detailing how the animal was killed as well as how much mercury the meat

. Japan is another nation that claims its commercial whaling has specific social and cultural values that are unique to Japan.

I believe that the Japanese and Norwegian people should have standardized limits just as does any other country when it comes to hunting and/or fishing regulations. I do agree with the Japanese and the Norwegians position on being permitted to hunt “non-endangered” whales as a cultured exemption for food purposes regulations exist, without them cultural exemptions allow them to kill whales at a more alarming rate. I believe that there needs to be better enforcement of the regulations which already exist. Although I agree that some

Commercial whaling is a serious world issue that has always been difficult for those who are in support and those who are against it. Each group defends their side with convincing arguments. Morally, whaling is wrong, but do the reasons for whaling outweigh the reasons to cease the primitive hunts? By studying the effects of whaling,realizing how culture has changed over time, and taking note of the money that would be saved, it can clearly be seen that there is no longer a current need for whaling to continue. Efforts have been made to try to stop whaling, but with no help from any authoritative figure,nothing has been done to regulate the whaling. The famous sea shepherd, known for its strikes against whaling, can even be seen on

I do not agree with the Norwegian and Japanese position on permitting the hunting of non-endangered species of whales as a cultural exemption because I just don't approve of whaling in general. I can however see their point. For the majority of a population in a village to depend upon whaling as their main income and/or food source would be really difficult if it was banned. It would be a nice thing if their governments could help with job rehabilitation. Maybe even offer incentives to change their business venture. I feel like whaling is an archaic practice these days with so many other options to take place of the stuff harvested.

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).