Problems with the Japanese Whaling Industry

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 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.

Whaling has been occurring for over thousands of years. Norwegians and the Japanese’s where the first to hunt whales, as early as 4,000 years ago (Marrero and Thornton 2011). Whaling traditions varied in different parts of the globe, for instance the Inuit hunted in the Arctic Ocean, the Basque hunted in the Atlantic, and the Japanese hunted in the Pacific. All these cultures relied on whales to provide material goods for food,

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.

I do not agree with Japan and Norway since all global agreements should be followed. Allowing these nations to continue whaling despite all other countries complying may lead to a dangerous precedent where many nations living with endangered species like Lions and elephants will also follow suit and demand exemption

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) .

Whaling has been a honored tradition all around the world for thousands of years, from Australia to Canada, most coastal countries have had a whale trade at some point in their past. In a few countries; Norway, Iceland, and Japan, whaling is still a tradition that a percentage of the population goes out every season to hunt whales, for research or for resources. These communities not only continue whaling for its cultural importance and historic significance, but also because they believe that there is nothing environmentally or morally erroneous about it. The pro-whaling community states that whales are not endangered and even if they become endangered, restrictions can be placed on whaling to allow the population time to repopulate, so that they may be healthy enough to be hunted once again.

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

The Ocean Conservancy is a nonprofit organization that focuses on protecting and preserving marine wildlife and its habitats. The Ocean Conservancy was founded in 1972 as the Delta Corporation. One of the Ocean Conservancy’s first priorities was starting the ‘Whale Protection Fund’, which advocated for the saving of whales from hunters and protesting commercial whaling by countries in Asia and Europe. The organization realized that they had to raise support from the public to invest in scientific research. Soon, they were able to spread the message and raise awareness about the whaling industry. The organization’s effort paid off in 1982, when the International Whaling Commission banned commercial whaling.

Supposedly, in Japan, the whales are killed for their meat for science however they were instead being sold in food markets or even given away for free to hospitals and schools. This encourages the consumption of whale meat. The Japanese kill many different types of whales for example, 200 minke whales, 100 sei whales, 50 bryde’s and 10 sperm whales under scientific research. There is also Norway, which didn’t respect the IWC ban until 1993 as they continued hunting for minke whales. Norway has a fixed number of whalers its whalers are permitted to kill for commercial reasons.

Japan has consistently opposed IWC regulations and currently whales the North Pacific and Southern Ocean around Antarctica for “research” purposes. 5 Japan’s spokesmen for the IWC claim that a few coastal towns are actually suffering from the moratorium on commercial whaling.

Whaling is the act of hunting whales for their blubber, bones and meat which are commonly used for jewelry, tools, food and medicinal purposes. The practice of whaling can be dated as far back as 6000 B.C.E as whale bones were used in ancient tools. Increased popularity growth of whale products in the 18th and 19th century caused whaling to become a competitive industry, whalers became desperate and ignorant, leading to over whaling. This resulted in the extinction of many important whale species including Killer Sperm Whale and caused numerous others to become endangered.

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

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).