Modern commercial whaling is continuously being over-exploited as whaling companies strive to maximize their profits despite international protest and a ban by the International Commission. Many various species of whales have been extinct, and the relatively few whales that remain are extremely vulnerable, and the factors that led to their over-exploitation in the past have not changed. Norway, one of the several countries involved in illegal whaling, has again refused to accept the international moratorium on whaling and has announced that its catch quotas for whales have risen. In 1995 Norwegian whales caught 217 whales out of a quota of 232. In 1996 the quota was 425. Now, on May 27, 1997 the whaling season will begin, and this year’s quota is increasing to some 700-800 whales. The rise is highly questionable especially due to the fact that 50 tons of whale meat from last year had to be frozen and put into storage due to the lack of demand. How many whales will be massacre this year just to be frozen?
Recently in April, a Norwegian smuggler was caught in Japan trying to smuggle six tons of whale meat disguised as mackerel. Later it was discovered that the consignment was part of a conspiracy to smuggle a total of 60 tons of meat to Japan. The sale of whale meat can be a very lucrative net profit, considering that whaling companies make $10,000 for each whale captured.
Japan is another country that exploits whaling for what they call "scientific analysis". However, the carcasses from this whale hunt are distributed to wholesalers and restaurants after this research is done on the whale. Japan remains the world’s largest consumer of whale meat, supplied in part by black market trade in species of minke, humpback, and fin whales.
Last year Japan’s quota was Last year Japan’s quota was 400 minke whales, and in 1997 there will be an expected increase of 500 whales to be slaughtered.
Several justifications that Norway and Japan have for the endless massacre of these innocent whales are: it is a long established Norwegian "tradition" of whaling, Japan hunts whales under "scientific research", and Both countries argue that minke whales are not endangered and that an uncontrolled population of the whales would threaten valuable fish stocks.
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.
The unreasonable justifications for murder cannot be accepted by any decent human being because whales are mammals, not fish, but they have been historically treated as fish by the commercial whaling industry. A great number of fish species reproduce by laying an enormous quantity of eggs into the sea for fertilization by males. Even though only a small percentage of these eggs will survive and develop into mature adult fish under normal circumstances, they have the ability to reproduce more eggs.
On the other hand, whales have a long gestation period and usually give birth every one to two years to a single calf that requires more than one year of maternal care before it can survive independently. To make matters worse, whaler’s love catching pregnant females because they yield more meat. Also, whale calves require many years to reach maturity as any other mammal. Therefore, this is why it is difficult for whales to recover from the exploitation by commercial whaling.
In addition, after several years of research, the growth rate of the whale populations is unknown due to the fact that whales are highly migratory, long-lived, slow reproducing mammals that make studying them extremely difficult. Thus, fishing industries that fear a ban on whaling will lead to a ban on fishing should not regard the vastly different characteristics of two entirely group of species in the same manner.
There is controversy that whales have killed fish stocks in many parts of the world, and Norway, Japan, and Iceland argue that this is a mean for killing whales to protect the fishing industry. Contradictory, whales are not the only consumers of fish. A large population of fish are consumed by other fish and seabirds. Killing whales does not protect the fish that would eventually be consumed by other species in the sea. There has been no study that shows that killing whales will increase the fish stocks in the world. In fact, whales have inhabited the earth’s oceans for millions of years and play an important part in maintaining balance in the ocean’s ecosystem.
Despite the International Whaling Commission’s ban on whaling, various countries still whale illegally which has led to the extinction of several whale species. After several extinction of larger whales, commercial whalers have resorted to the smallest species of the great whales- the minke whales (Balaenoptera acustorstrata). The minkes, although larger than elephants were too small for whalers to make an advantageous profit until the early 1970’s when most of the larger whale populations were extinct. Still, Norway, Japan, Iceland, and perhaps other unknown countries disregard all laws that protect whales from this world wide massacre.
Fortunately, Greenpeace has been influential in creating a whale sanctuary in Antarctica and The International Whaling Commission has achieved a world wild moratorium on commercial whaling. However, we need to enforce these international laws more strictly, to prevent illegal killing and smuggling of whale meat for a business man’s moneymaking profit. Even though strict reinforcement may not cease the massacre completely, at least some whales will be saved and smugglers will be caught.
1. http://www.greenpeace.org/~comms/cbiowhales.htm
2. http://envirolink.org/archives/seashep/0166.html
3. whe william@flo.org
4. http://www1.wheellock.edu/archives/vmsvax/0017
5. http://ww.glen.co.uk/wdcs/norway.html
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