Exploitation Of Whales And Fish After The 1920s

In 1820 whaling and the exporting

The Marine Mammal Protection Act was created in 1972, because of the growing concern from scientists and the general public about certain species of marine mammals becoming extinct, due to human activity. The primary objective of this act in 1972 was to maintain the health and stability of the marine ecosystem. When this objective was fulfilled the next focus would be to maintain the ideal population of each species. As you can tell from the graph below there has been a substantial decrease in the percent of maximum population in certain marine mammals.

The way I conducted my research was by using the Britannica School, Facts on File, and Abc-clo. On Britannica School I found many interesting things. In North America, the Inuits had already been hunting whales for some time when they were

The whaling industry came to America in the early 1700s with shore whaling. Settlers whaled near shore, then sold the whale’s oil, ambergris, and spermaceti for considerable profit. The success of these sales prompted wealthy Quakers from New Bedford and Nantucket Island to invest in whaling ports stocked with efficient ships, equipment, and crews. These ports accumulated much money for the Massachusetts towns. Aided by the inventions of the tryworks and toggling harpoon, America fast became a prominent name in the whaling industry. By 1846, America owned almost 82% of the world’s total whaling ships (Barcott, “In the Shadow of Moby-Dick”). Unfortunate the American whaling industry declined 13 years later as the rising petroleum market and

Whaling as a business in America first began in the early seventeenth century with the English settlers. As the settlers carelessly butchered whales who’d accidentally washed ashore, they remembered how prominently the oil was used back home, and began selling and using the oil as a commodity. The “industry” was then furthered, beginning with simple row boats capturing whales which neared the land. Soon, ships stocked with crews specifically for whaling were being paid for and shipped out, mostly from ports in Nantucket Island, Massachusetts. As the industry grew and higher demands came for whale oil, focuses shifted from Nantucket to New Bedford. Oil was now being used broadly, with baleen for umbrella handles, ambergris for perfume, and spermaceti

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.

When final month of the whaling season in the year of 1897, captains of eight whaleships from San Francisco were fishing in the Arctic Ocean off the coast of Alaska. They thought they had a few more weeks of good weather to continue whaling (hunting whales for needs) before heading south. Yet suddenly during the first week of September, the temperatures fell dramatically and soon, heavy ice was coming in from far out to sea. The ships were forced to lay anchor to wait for favorable winds to drive the ice away as it was stated when the whales got stuck in the wharsh weather. But when the warmer winds came, the ice didn’t melt, and the ships were trapped.

Whaling is the hunting of whales to obtain meat and blubber. The blubber is brought to a station off the shore designed to boil the blubber into oil (Hacquebord 2001). All these components of a whale are useful to humans, but by extracting these whales at such a high rate may have consequences for the ecosystem they leave behind (Hacquebord 2001;Williams et al. 2004;Baum and Worm 2009). It is important to question the effects mass exploitation has on the environment in order to prevent or predict certain unwanted changes for future removal (Williams et al. 2004;Baum and Worm 2009). Whaling has been studied from various time periods and different places around the world (Hacquebord 2001;Williams et al. 2004;Trites et al. 2007;Baum and Worm 2009).

However, none of this arguments use scientific evidence to justify the killings of these whales. In fact the cloak of "tradition" in Norway is being used to disguise the fact that the price of whale meat is $290 a kilogram, which is a very lucrative profit. Japan’s excuse for "scientific research" is a poor one, considering money is made when the whale meat is sold to restaurants and wholesalers after the so called "scientific research" is completed. In addition, the relationship between fish stocks and whales need not be questioned. The fishery is a commercial industry, not a subsistence way of life. Minke whales are not participating in a commercial industry.

Countless amounts of great whales will be illegally caught and slaughtered for commercial sale and “scientific” research this year. In spite of a worldwide moratorium, put in place by the International Whaling Commission twenty four years ago banning the act of commercial whaling, three defiant countries continue to hunt whales illegally. If these countries hunt whales against the law and continue to get away with minimal consequence it may encourage other countries to resume their whaling operations. If stricter laws are not out in place the whale populations will be hunted to extinction and the greatest conservation accomplishment of the twentieth century will go down the drain.

To put this in perspective quotas and catch limits enacted by the Japanese Fisheries Agency in the calendar year 2013 allowed for the killing of 16,655 small cetaceans. This industry though under the veil of regulation in Japan is actually highly unregulated with many rules allowing for discretion on the side of the fishermen rather than direct input from scientist. Current analysis of the available data demonstrates concerns regarding the sustainability of these hunts.

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

such as Japan; for alleged “scientific” purposes. The focus issues of this paper will stem

Before the rise of the fishing industry in the 1950’s Newfoundland and Labrador struggled with an unstable economy and many citizens found themselves living in poverty. Initially on shore methods had minimal impact on the environment and fish population, as in-shore fishermen followed a strict season and fished only during the summer leaving the population to migrate in the fall. As technology advanced steam boats made off shore fishing possible, this allowed draggers to fish in massive quantities regardless of the season. At first this was very promising to the Canadian government and the Fishery Products International Company (FPI) as they saw huge profits, and the opportunity to create jobs for fisherman and factory workers alike. However, with continued offshore fishing the inshore fisherman saw significant depletion in the fish population, specifically cod. It took far too long for the government to realize the severity of the issue and when they did it was too late. In 1992 the government announced a complete ban of cod fishing. This resulted in the loss of 19000 jobs, and all profit coming from this industry throwing many small fishing towns in Newfoundland back into poverty.

Fin whale is a rare animal which is found in only specific regions but with no demand of specific type of water. The extinction of fin whale is due to illegal hunting and genocide of whale by hunters. There is lack of vigilance and control over hunting of fin whales. People should be aware of their importance as well as their rights which are being violated by them. There can be various steps which can be used to stop this process of extinction. Foreign policy reforms, general policy formation, research, declaration of rules and seeking help for animal rights are some measures which can be used to make their hunting to stop and save their genocide. In my point of view, I think declaration of rules and seeking help from animal rights association are the two ways by which their extinction can be stopped. Seeking