Whales have been swimming in the Earth’s oceans for 20 million years; their haunting songs can travel underwater for thousands of miles, they are the largest animals to exist on Earth yet they survive on some of the smallest organisms. A whale’s heart can weigh up to 1,300 pounds, and a baby whale can drink up to 130 gallons of its mother’s milk each day (Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, 2010). Currently whale hunters claim that they are killing whales for scientific purposes; however, whale meat is being sold at a high price, considered a delicacy, and found on more than 5000 Japanese school menus (Jamsey, 2010). The International Whaling Commission (IWC) with the support of the current United States President Barrack Obama wants …show more content…
This is alarming to many because whales reproduce at a slow rate of one calf every one to three years (Animal Corner, 2010). Lifting the ban on whaling could also make more countries interested in whaling otherwise it would be legal for any country.
Lifting the whaling ban would also affect the indigenous peoples relying on whales for sustenance. These people such as the Eskimo people of Alaska do kill whales however, this is not only a cultural part of the Eskimo livelihood, the Eskimo’s are not selling whale meat for profit. The indigenous people tend to use the whole whale, from the meat to feed villages, to the blubber for their heaters; there is not one part of the whale that goes to waste. This one whale can sustain a whole village for an entire winter depending on the size. A positive aspect of lifting the ban is the creation of jobs. The countries that currently kill whales employ many people. This helps stabilize an economy through the purchase of ships, processing centers, and every aspect imaginable from deck hands to the supermarkets that carry the whale meat. On the other hand of this it is fair to say that whale tourism generates roughly a billion dollars a year. This would include whale watching trips, film and industry as well as a huge consumer market of whale-related merchandise. The issues that arise are similar; people from all countries have different views on
The parties involved in this matter are the members of the tribe, both for and against the decision, the whales, the environmentalists, the courts that will settle the lawsuits and future generations that might be affected by any decision in regards to the impact on the whales sustainability. The decision at stake here is whether it is moral to revoke the ban and recent tradition,
In 1946 a group of 15 nations gathered together to sign a treaty aimed at conserving the whale population following their strong concern regarding the over-hunting of whales. The treaty led to the creation of an oversight body known as the International Whaling Commission (IWC) that was created under the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling. The Convention is intended to allow for the proper conservation of whale stocks and make the established development of the whaling
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
The Japanese whaling industry has thrived and flourished since its origin. The Japanese have depended on whales such as the blue, fin, sei, and humpback whales. The issue at hand is that the demand for whale products and byproducts is so large that the numbers of these types of whales has declined to near extinction levels. Without any care to the harm being done, the Japanese whaling industry has not shown any sign of remorse towards this actions little has been done by the international community’s to put an end to the elimination of these large and peaceful creatures. There have been small groups of anti- whaling conservation. The groups have had many victories along the way by using their non- traditional methods and sometimes generating violent tension between them and the whaling ships while in international waters.
The Northern Right Whale has been an endangered species since the late 1800s, with little signs of ever recovering. The whale is also known as Eubalaena Glacialis “True Whale”; it weighs 200 tons and is 42-62 feet long. It lives in the coastal water of Sweden, Greenland, Canada and the east coast of the United States. Organizations like World Wildlife Fund or WWF have made efforts to stop whaling and try to help the species recover. But with only 300-400 left in the population the Northern Right Whale is going to need a miracle.
Did you know that killer whales are the largest species of dolphin. Killer whales have a long lifespan. They eat a lot of different species of animal. The killer whale’s size can get up to 23 to 32 feet long, and can usually weigh up to 6 tons. Killer whales also have good memory and are very intelligent.
Holding killer whales in captivity is a harmful problem to the mammal that requires action from both the government and the public.
In my opinion, by doing this it would balance both whale hunting and whale watching and I do not feel people then would have any problem because they know that whale hunting cannot completely stop as so many people would lose their jobs but this would at least make it better for people who like whale watching. By limiting the amount of whale hunting, owners of fin whaling company like Kristjan Loftsson might lose some profit on the year but at least no one will be against them if they do not over hunt the whales. As Kristjan Loftsson believes “the world has wrongly turned against him”, just shows that he does think of other people’s opinions on whale hunting and if they set a quota to a reasonable number then people won’t have a problem and he would not think that the world is against him as he thinks now. People all around the world will not question the owners and they will still enjoy watching the whales for wild
Claims of ‘cultural activity’ on the level of Norwegian and Japanese whaling must be balanced against world opinion. I do believe that an international panel that has not only environmental preservation but cultural preservation at heart will generally be very supportive of the protection of whales. The preservation of the whales cannot be ignored nor can it be left up to Norway and Japan to make their own decisions where this is
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.
Are times changing? Records dating back to the 1931-1932 whale-hunting season (ten years before the International Whaling Commission was put in place to protect and stop whaling), 28,325 blue whales were slaughtered. In 1946, the Whaling Commission was formed; however, even with protection, thirty years later (1963-1964) over 29,255 sperms kills were hunted for their meat and other products. Today, even with protection, it is estimated that only 5-10% of the original whale population remains (Carwardine, Hoyt, Fordyce, & Gill, 1998).
Whaling has become a global environmental issue as vast numbers of whales are killed commercially and scientifically every year. Intense debate on the necessity of whaling has been stirred but failed to be resolved due to the lacking of pragmatic measures employed by the responsible parties. Whaling nations continue to defend their whaling right for cultural and research purposes. Yet, ethical and humanity issues are among the controversial disputes raised by concerned public. In February 2010, International Whaling Commission (IWC) proposed a plan of lifting whaling ban by limiting scientific whaling activities with the intention of reducing overall number of whales killed besides solving the current impasse between pro
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
Now everything about killing whales is not bad because if we did have millions of whales there would be no place for people to travel by boat. But if you cut down the population to much there will