Scientific Whaling     Commercial Whaling     Aboriginal Whaling     Small Cetaceans  Welfare Concerns     Other Threats       

Whaling

Whaling is the term used to describe the hunting and killing of whales, originally by aboriginal groups for subsistence purposes.  Through the 18th and 19th centuries, the usefulness of whale products such as meat, oil (for heating, lighting and as a lubricant), teeth, ambergris (a stomach secretion used as a perfume fixative) and baleen (filter plates from the mouths of baleen whales and used most famously to stiffen corsets) became recognized, and the industrialization of whaling occurred.  The emergence and persistence of commercial whaling through the middle of the last century has led to the devastation of the great whale populations worldwide.

After many hundreds of years of unregulated commercial whaling, humankind finally started to heed the negative effects of its actions in the 1940s.  Some whale populations were so depleted - such as that of the blue whale, which has never recovered - that they were at serious risk of extinction.  Populations of right whales, so-named because they were the ?right? whales to hunt, since they are relatively slow and float to the surface when killed, now have populations in the low hundreds. 

In 1946, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) was formed by 12 whaling nations, including the United States, ?to provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry.?  The Commission?s Secretariat is headquartered in Cambridge, UK, and since its inception, working under the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, the Commission has grown to number over 70 nations, many of which have never whaled.

Despite the creation of the Commission, the institution of the Convention to govern whaling, and the cessation of commercial whaling by most of the Commission?s founding members in the second half of the 20th century, whale species continued to decline,.  In the 1970s and the 1980s, a growing public concern fueled by AWI?s ?Save the Whales? campaign led to the IWC member nations adopting a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1982.  Whaling conducted for aboriginal subsistence purposes was not affected by the ban.

The moratorium took effect in 1986, and several countries immediately took advantage of a clause in the convention that allows members that file an objection to IWC decisions to not be bound by the decision.  Japan, Norway, Peru and the then-Soviet Union filed objections to the moratorium decision.  Peru withdrew its objection in 1983, and Japan staggered its withdrawal over 1987 to 1988.  Norway and the then-Soviet Union have not withdrawn their objections. After withdrawing its objection, Japan was able to exploit a loophole in the convention that allows lethal scientific research on whales and requires that the resultant meat be sold commercially.

Iceland did not file an objection to the moratorium, but also exploited the lethal scientific research loophole, and proceeded to conduct scientific whaling until 1992, when it withdrew from the IWC.  It rejoined in 2002 after a very controversial vote, and it immediately lodged an objection to the moratorium.  Iceland continued to conduct scientific research whaling until 2006, when it also resumed commercial whaling through its objection.

Over 25,000 whales have been killed since the moratorium came into effect, with the smaller and more abundant minke whale becoming the commercial whalers? favored target.  Fin whales, sei whales, Bryde?s whales, sperm whales and humpback whales are still killed for commercial gain.  Although the moratorium undoubtedly prevented the extinction of some great whale species, the ongoing continued commercial whaling is hampering the certainty of their survival through the next century. 

Scientific Whaling

Article 8 of the Convention allows lethal scientific research to be conducted on whales and, presumably originally intended to avoid wastage, requires that the meat be sold commercially.  Thus, IWC members are able to issue permits and quotas to themselves for research purposes.  Japan and Iceland have exploited this loophole and have killed over 10,432 whales under scientific permits since the moratorium too effect.  The IWC Scientific Committee and the commission have repeatedly challenged the validity of this research but without the availability of significant penalties for abuses of the Convention, the practice continues unchecked.

Commercial Whaling

After filing an objection to the moratorium, Norway resumed commercial whaling under its objection in 1993.  It has continued to whale for commercial purposes since that time, killing several hundreds of minke whales every year and selling the meat domestically.  The Norwegian whalers also blame the minke whales for declining fish populations and justify the whaling as a means of pest control.  Since 1993, Norway has killed over 6,000 minke whales for commercial whaling purposes.

In October 2006, Iceland announced its intention to resume commercial whaling.  It then proceeded to kill seven endangered fin whales and a minke whale, and announced its intention to kill 29 more minke whales in the 2006-2007 season, in addition to the killing of 39 minke whales for ?scientific research? in 2007.  It also announced its intention to sell whale meat to Japan.

To date, over 18,518 whales have been killed by commercial whalers since the moratorium came into force.

Aboriginal Whaling

Paragraph 13 of the Schedule to the Convention allows for whaling by aboriginals for subsistence purposes.  Native peoples in Greenland, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the Russian Federation and the United States currently engage in aboriginal subsistence whaling.

Greenland is a self-governed territory of Denmark and native Greenlanders hunt minke, fin whales as well as other marine mammals for subsistence purposes.  Since whaling records began, 3,381 whales have been reported as struck and landed by Greenland natives.

Native Bequians of St. Vincent and the Grenadines are currently issued a quota of humpback whales by the IWC for subsistence purposes.  Natives of this country have also been known to hunt sperm whales in the past.  The current quota is 20 animals over a five-year period ending in 2008, and 23 of whales have been killed by the Bequians since 1986.

The Chukotka people of the Russian Federation traditionally hunt gray whales and bowhead whales.  The IWC issues quotas for bowhead and gray whales, which the Chukotka natives share with the Alaskan natives of the United States and the Makah tribe of Washington state, respectively.  Since record keeping began, 10 bowhead and 2,381 gray whales have been struck and landed by Russian natives.  The current quotas for bowhead and gray whales landed are 280 and 620, respectively, over the five-year period ending in 2008.

The United States is a whaling nation, by virtue of the Alaskan natives who have hunted whales and other marine mammals for subsistence purposes for millennia.  The Alaskan native peoples hunt bowhead whales by the use of an IWC quota that is shared by the Chukotka people of the Russian Federation.  The Alaskan natives have also hunted gray whales in the past although they do not share the quota of gray whales assigned by the IWC.  Alaskan natives have struck and landed 968 of bowhead whales.

The Makah Tribe of Neah Bay, Washington state was formerly a whaling tribe that ceased whaling for subsistence purposes in the 1920s.  In 1996, the Makah tribe, citing a cultural need and an 1855 treaty right, succeeded in persuading the U.S. government to request that the IWC assign it a quota of gray whales.  Through a controversial vote, the quota passed at the 1998 IWC meeting.  In May 1999, the Makah killed a juvenile gray whale.  A lawsuit against NMFS for failure to comply with its National Environmental Policy Act responsibilities and filed in 1997 was finally won on appeal in 2000, and subsequent hunts were suspended.  The Makah tribe has since requested a waiver of the take moratorium under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and NMFS is currently preparing the Environmental Impact Assessment that is required under the National Environmental Policy Act.

Small Cetaceans

Small whales, dolphins and porpoises are also victims of destructive hunting.  The animals are hunted for their meat, to reduce the perceived competition for fish and to supply the aquarium industry.  Although small cetaceans are not specifically covered by the Convention for the International Regulation of Whaling, its Scientific Committee does conduct work on the threats they face including those from direct hunting.  

Small cetaceans are hunted the Faroe Islands, the Solomon Islands, and elsewhere, but the largest slaughter of small cetaceans in the world is conducted in Japan. Over 20,000 small whales and dolphins are hunted and killed each year by Japanese whalers.  Of these, the Japanese drive hunts are the most tragic.

 

Whaling is Inherently Cruel

The principal technique used by commercial whalers is to shoot a harpoon tipped with an explosive penthrite grenade, into the whale while aboard a boat.  In some hunts, rifles are also used as the primary or secondary killing method.  Even the most advanced whaling methods cannot always render the whales irreversibly insensitive to pain prior to slaughter, as is the usual requirement for most animals raised for food and other animals.

Modern whaling involves projectiles being fired at distance into large, moving targets from moving platforms on a shifting sea, often under extreme weather conditions.  The probability of obtaining a clean strike with a swift death is extremely low and animals can take hours to die.  While some whalers, notably Norway, claim death can be achieved within minutes, the data to support these claims is ?self-collected? by the whalers and therefore questionable.

The IWC criteria used to determine death is also questionable.  Currently a whale is considered insensible and/or dead when it displays relaxation of the lower jaw, no flipper movement or sinking without active movement.  Several respected scientists have questioned the validity of these criteria and agree that the only true measure of insensitivity and death is to examine an animal?s brain, which for a whale, is impractical and cost-prohibitive.

There are significant differences in the mass, length and organ placement of the whale species targeted by whalers yet the methods of slaughter are the same.  While an exploding penthrite grenade harpoon might be successful on a 25-foot minke whale, the same harpoon has little chance of rendering a 60-foot fin whale dead or unconscious with a single shot.

 

 

Whales Are Facing An Uncertain Future Because of Other Threats

Whaling nations purport that whale stocks can sustain commercial hunting, but this is not true.  Whale populations have not sufficiently recovered enough to sustain hunting, especially given the other threats they currently face.  These threats include toxic pollutants such as DDT, dioxins, PCBs and mercury; deadly high intensity sounds produced by military sonar and air guns; by-catch, with some 300,000 dolphins and whales drowned every year after they become entangled in fishing nets or other fishing gear; over-fishing of prey species; ship strikes; climate change affecting habitat, migration routes and prey species availability; and habitat destruction.

The consumption of whales and dolphins is also very concerning because of the level of pollutants that are present in the meat.  As the oceans? top predators, whales accumulate extremely dangerous levels of heavy metals such as mercury in their bodies, which can be harmful to humans if ingested.

Not only is whaling damaging to whale populations, but the depletion of predators can also devastate whole ecosystems.  Biologist Craig Smith?s research shows that the lack of ?whale falls,? dead whales that sink to the ocean floor, may be advancing the extinction of deep-sea scavengers that depend on whale carcasses for survival.