The hunting of whales for oil, meat, and blubber, which has resulted in a serious decline in whale populations and the near-extinction of several species. Whaling began in the 10th-c in the Bay of Biscay, but in the last two centuries it has been concentrated in Arctic and Antarctic waters. Overexploitation reached a peak in the Arctic in the 1930s, and in the Antarctic in the 1960s. The International Whaling Commission, established in 1946, exists to regulate the industry, but overfishing continues. A moratorium on commercial whaling was set up in 1986, but not all countries have agreed to it, and several have used loopholes, which allow the killing of whales for scientific research, in order to continue whaling.
History of whaling
It is unknown when humans began hunting whales. The earliest archaeological record of whaling is found in South Korea where carved drawings, dating back to 6,000 BC, show that Stone Age people hunted whales using boats and spears. Initially, whaling was confined to (near) coastal water, such as the Basque fishery targeting the Atlantic Northern right whale around 15th to 18th century and the Atlantic Arctic fishery around and in between Spitzbergen and Greenland from around the 17th to the 20th century. However, after the emergence of modern whaling techniques, certain species of whale started to be seriously affected by whaling. These techniques were spurred in the 19th century by the increase in demand for whale oil, and later in the 20th century by a demand for whale meat.
Whaling history has affected both the development of many cultures as well as their environment.
Iceland
Iceland has not a long tradition of subsistence whaling, although they have a long tradition of using whale products. The early reliance on whales is reflected in the Icelandic language - hvalreki is the word for both "beached whale" and "gained luck" as the Icelanders often could benefit from a stranded whale, since Iceland became populated more than eleven hundred years ago and throughout the middle ages.
Modern whaling in Iceland began in 1883 by the Norwegeans.
By 1947, Icelanders had set up their own commercial whaling operation for the first time.
Japan
Harpooning of whales by hand began in Japan in the 12th century, but it was not until the 1670s, when a new method of catching whales using nets was developed, that whaling really began to spread throughout Japan. In the 1890s Japan followed international trends, first switching to modern harpoon whaling techniques, and eventually to factory ships for mass whaling. In many whaling nations, the discovery of petroleum products that could replace the industrially important parts of whales, such as the oil, resulted in a decline in the importance and levels of whaling. This was not the case in Japan, however, where whale meat was an important food source, and where the whaling industry was a source of pride in a country that is dependent on food importation to feed its populace.
United States
The whaling history of the United States can be roughly divided into two parts: native whaling and commercial whaling (though overlaps exist). Commercial whaling in the United States was the center of the world whaling industry during the 18th and 19th centuries and was most responsible for extinction or near-extinction of certain species of whales. Prior to the 1920's when commercial whaling in the United States waned, as petroleum products began replacing oil derived from whales, numerous fishing ports were actually whaling ports which built whaling ships.
The primary focus of whaling in the United States was the lamp oil made from the prodigious amount of fat contained in whales.
The discovery of petroleum in Pennsylvania in the late 19th century was the beginning of the end of commercial whaling in the United States as kerosene, distilled from crude oil, replaced whale oil in lamps.
Today, the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park commemorates the heritage of both commercial and native whaling in the United States at its locations in New Bedford and Barrow, Alaska.
Modern whaling
Whale oil is little used today, thus modern whaling has primarily commercial value as a food source. The primary species hunted is the minke whale, the smallest of the baleen whales.
International cooperation on whaling regulation started in 1931 and a number of multi-lateral agreements now exist in this area, the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) of 1946 being the most important.
The members of the IWC voted on 23 July 1982 to enter into a moratorium on all commercial whaling beginning in the 1985-86 season. Since 1992, the IWC Scientific Committee has requested of the IWC that it be allowed to give quota proposals for some whale stocks, but this has so far been refused by the IWC. Norway legitimately continues to hunt minke whales commercially under IWC regulation, as it has lodged an objection to the moratorium.
Canadian whaling
Canada left the IWC in 1982 and as such is not bound by the morartorium on whaling.
Caribbean whaling
Some whaling is conducted from Grenada, Dominica and Saint Lucia. Species hunted are the Short-finned Pilot Whale, Pygmy Killer Whale and Spinner Dolphins.
Faroe Islands
Grindadráp is whaling in the Faroe Islands. The hunts are regulated by the division of the Faroes into 11 whaling districts, with a total of 23 authorised whaling bays.
Toothed whales and dolphins carry high levels of mercury, PCBs and other pollutants.
Greenlandic whaling
Greenland Inuit whalers kill around 170 whales per year, making them the third largest hunt in the world after Norway and Japan, though their take is only about one quarter of either Japan's or Norway's, which take 600 or more whales each year. In a typical year around 150 Minke and 10 Fin Whales are taken from west coast waters and around 10 Minkes are from east coast waters. However, under strong pressure from anti-whaling countries, viewing scientific whaling as a circumvention of the moratorium, Iceland ceased whaling altogether in 1989. Following the 1991 refusal of the IWC to accept its Scientific Committee's recommendation to allow sustainable commercial whaling, Iceland left the IWC in 1992. The primary aim of the study was to deepen the understanding of fish-whale interactions - the strongest advocates for a resumed hunt are fisherman concerned that whales are taking too many fish. In 2005, the government issued a permit for a third successive year - allowing whalers to take up to 39 whales.
Iceland resumed commercial whaling in 2006. The annual quota is set to 30 minke whales (out of an estimated 174 thousand animals in the North Atlantic) and nine fin whales (out of an estimated 30 thousand animals in the North Atlantic). Iceland broke the IWC ban on commercial whaling on 22 October 2006 after Icelandic fishermen killed a sixty ton female fin whale.
Indonesian whaling
Lamalera, on the south coast of the island of Lembata, and Lamakera on neighboring Solor are the last two remaining Indonesian whaling communities.
Japan
When the commercial whaling moratorium was introduced by the IWC in 1982, Japan lodged an official objection, but withdrew this objection in 1987 after the United States threatened it with sanctions. Therefore, in 1987, Japan stopped commercial whaling activities in Antarctic waters, but in the same year began a controversial scientific whaling program (JARPA - Japanese Research Program in Antarctica).
The Japanese government mainly justifies this type of whaling on the grounds that analysis of stomach contents provides insight into the dietary habits of whales and that analysis of actual tissue is the only way to ascertain the age of a whale as well as the degree of interbreeding in the population which provides vital insight into whale population distribution.
Japan's scientific whaling program has remained controversial, with anti-whaling groups maintaining that the killing of whales is unnecessary for scientific purposes and that the real reason for the scientific kills is to provide whale meat for Japanese restaurants and supermarkets. The Japanese government points out that hunting of whales for research purposes is specifically sanctioned under IWC regulations and that those regulations specifically require that whale meat be fully utilised upon the completion of research.
In 1994, Australia attempted to stop some of the Japanese whaling program by enforcing a 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) around the Australian Antarctic Territory.
In 2002, Japanese whalers took five sperm, 39 sei, 50 Bryde's and 150 Minke whales in the northern catch area and 440 minke whales in the southern catch area. With the adoption of this plan, Japan’s lethal take will include 100 sei whales, 10 sperm whales, 50 humpback whales, 50 fin whales, and 50 Bryde’s whales, some of which are considered endangered, along with 1,155 minke whales.
The most vocal opponents of the Japanese push for a resumption of commercial whaling are Australia and the United States, whose stated purpose for opposing whaling is the need for conservation of endangered species.
Refer to International Whaling Commission for more details on controversy surrounding the Japanese whaling program.
Norway
| Year | Quota | Catch |
| 1994 | 319 | 280 |
| 1995 | 232 | 218 |
| 1996 | 425 | 388 |
| 1997 | 580 | 503 |
| 1998 | 671 | 625 |
| 1999 | 753 | 591 |
| 2000 | 655 | 487 |
| 2001 | 549 | 550 |
| 2002 | 671 | 634 |
| 2003 | 711 | 646 |
| 2004 | 670 | 541 |
| 2005 | 797 | 639 |
| 2006 | 1052 | 546 |
Norway has registered an objection to the International Whaling Commission moratorium, and is thus not bound by it. The catch is made solely from the Northeast Atlantic Minke whale population, which is estimated to consist of about 110,000 animals. It has been attempting to export to Japan for several years, though this has been hampered by legal protests and concerns in the Japanese domestic market about the effects of pollution in the blubber of the North Atlantic Minke whale. The tagging research program has been underway since 1999
Russian whaling
Russians in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug in the Russian Far East are permitted under IWC regulation to take up to 140 Gray Whales from the North-East Pacific population each year.
United States whaling
In the United States whaling is carried out by Alaska Natives from nine different communities in Alaska. The whaling programme is managed by the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission which reports to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The Makah tribe in Washington State also reinstated whaling in 1999, despite intense protests from animal rights groups.
Bycatch and illegal trade
Since the IWC moratorium, there have been several instances of illegal whale kills by IWC nations. In addition to the legally-permitted minke whale, the analyses showed that the 10-25% tissues sample came from non mink, baleen whales species, neither of which were then allowed for take under the IWC rules. In a separate paper, Baker stated that "many of these animals certainly represent a bycatch (incidental entrapment in fishing gear)" and stated that DNA monitoring of whale meat is required to adequately track whale products.
It was revealed in 1994 that the Soviet Union had been systematically underreporting the number of whales it took.
In 1985, an activist organization, Earthtrust, placed undercover employees on Korean fishing vessels who took photographs of both fin and right whales being hunted and processed in violation of the ban.
The arguments for and against whaling
Conservation status
The sharpest point of debate over whaling today concerns the conservation status of hunted species. The unregulated whaling before IWC introduced regulation and ban has depeleted the overall whale population to a significant extent and several whales species were severely endangered. According to IUCN's Cetacean Specialist Group (CSG)
"Several populations of southern right whales, humpbacks in many areas, grey whales in the eastern North Pacific, and blue whales in both the eastern North Pacific and central North Atlantic have begun to show signs of recovery."
Other species, however, in particular the minke whale, have never been considered endangered and still other species or certain population group within particular whales species have shown signs of recovery.
Still, those opposed to whaling argue that a return to full-scale commercial whaling will lead to economic concerns overriding those of conservation, and there is a continuing battle between each side as to how to describe the current state of each species. For instance, conservationists are pleased that the sei whale continues to be listed as endangered but Japan says that the species has swelled in number from 9,000 in 1978 to about 28,000 in 2002 and so its catch of 50 sei whales per year is safe, and that the classification of endangered should be reconsidered for the north Pacific population.
Some North Atlantic states have argued that fin whales should not be listed as endangered anymore and criticize the list for being inaccurate.
A complete list of whale conservation statuses as listed by The World Conservation Union (IUCN) is given below.
|
Extinct |
Critically Endangered |
Endangered |
Vulnerable |
Lower Risk |
Lower Risk |
Lower Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| None |
Gray Whale Northwest Pacific population (cf. Northeast Pacific population) |
Blue Whale (ANTARCTIC) Fin Whale North Pacific Right Whale North Atlantic Right Whale Sei Whale |
Beluga Blue Whale musculus subspecies - Atlantic population Humpback Whale Sperm Whale |
Antarctic Minke Whale Arnoux's Beaked Whale Baird's Beaked Whale Blue Whale(North Pacific) Bowhead Whale Gray Whale Northeast Pacific population Northern Bottlenose Whale Southern Bottlenose Whale Short-finned Pilot Whale Southern Right Whale |
Minke Whale | Dwarf Sperm Whale Pygmy Right Whale Long-finned Pilot Whale Pygmy Sperm Whale Melon-headed Whale |
Additionally, the IUCN notes that the Atlantic population of gray whales was made extinct around the turn of the eighteenth century.
Method of killing
Farming whales in captivity has never been attempted and would almost certainly be logistically impossible. Instead, whales are killed at sea often using explosive harpoons, which puncture the skin of a whale and then explode inside its body. In March 2003, Whalewatch, an umbrella group of 140 conservation and animal welfare groups from 55 countries published a report, Troubled Waters, whose main conclusion was that whales cannot be guaranteed to be killed humanely and that all whaling should be stopped. He said that the average time taken for a whale to die after being shot was the same as or less than that of animals killed by big game hunters on safari. Whalers also say that the free-roaming lifestyle of whales followed by a quick death is less cruel than the long-term suffering of factory-farmed animals. For instance, the United Kingdom allows the commercial shooting of deer without these shoots adhering to the standards of British slaughterhouses, but says that whalers must meet these standards as a pre-condition before they would support whaling.
The economic argument
The anti-whaling side of the argument often argues that the killed whales are those that are most curious about boats and thus the easiest to approach and kill. The argument over whether whales are worth more dead than alive is primarily raised by anti whaling side while pro whaling side consider it to be spurious.
The whale-watching industry, and those opposed to whaling on moral grounds, claim that once all benefits to local economies such as hotels, restaurants and other tourist amenities are factored in, and the fact that a whale can only be killed once but watched many times, the economic balance weighs firmly down on the side of not hunting whales. This economic argument is a particular bone of contention in Iceland, which has amongst the most-developed whale-watching operations in the world and where hunting of minke whales began again in August 2003. Many developing countries such as Brazil, Argentina and South Africa argue that whalewatching, a growing billion-dollar industry, provides more revenue and more equitable distribution of profits than the possible resumption of commercial whaling by pelagic fleets from far-away developed countries. These countries are defending their right to the non-lethal use of whale resources and refuse to bow down to the pressures of the whaling industry to allow the resumption of commercial whaling in their regions. Aside from Indonesia, no country in the Southern Hemisphere is currently whaling or intends to, and proposals to permanently forbid whaling South of the Equator are defended by the abovementioned developing countries plus Peru, Uruguay, Australia, and New Zealand, which strongly object to the continuation of Japanese whaling in the Antarctic. They point out that anti whaling argument implies that hunt is done on unsustainable basis to the point that it deprive whale for whale watching industry. Whalers argue that if whales are hunted on a sustainable basis, the argument that the whale-watching industry and whaling industry is in competition is invalid. Moreover, given the size of sea, simple system of communcation between whaling fleet and whale wathich boat would ensure that these activities are separated. Whales are the largest animals in the world, a single whale kill provides more meat in absolute terms than any other animal. Whale blubber can be converted into valuable oleochemicals while the unused portions of the whale carcass can be rendered into meat and bone meal.
Whaling side has no objection to use of whales as tourist attraction which is another way to utilise whales as a resource. Moreover, whaler argue that it unfair for whale watching industry to prevent whaling provided that it is done on sustainable ground. Moreover, for poorer whaling nation, the need for resumption of whaling are more pressing. In reference to pro whaling Caribbean islands, Joth Singh, director of wildlife and habitat for the International Fund for Animal Welfare, stated "Individuals for whom whaling is abhorrent will think twice about going to a destination where their values are not shared." Danielle Grabiel, American observer of IWC from the Environmental Investigation Agency, also stated "Americans feel very strongly about their love for the whales, and I wouldn't be surprised if they decided not to see their money go to countries that support a return to commercial whaling," Saint Lucia's fisheries chief, Ignatius Jean, in response stated "We have heard these threats before, but we will not cower,". Still, The Dominica Hotel and Tourism Association called for "Caribbean governments to abandon pro-whaling positions and to propose a new regional whale sanctuary to promote the fast-growing pastime of whale watching."
Intelligence
The issue of the extent of whale intelligence has also been debated, primarily by those opposed to commercial whaling. However, those in favor of whaling point out that pigs are also amongst the most intelligent of animals with no definitive study indicating that whales are more intelligent than pig.
Safety of eating whale meat
Studies of several species have shown that whale meat products often contain pollutants such as PCBs, mercury, and dioxins. However, studies of minke whales hunted in both the North Atlantic and the southern ocean have shown that the red meat of some minke whale individuals have levels of toxicity below recommended limits, with the Antarctic minke having the lowest levels of contamination.
In general, studies have shown that levels of some pollutants in toothed whale products are higher than corresponding levels in baleen whales , reflecting the fact that toothed whales feed at a higher trophic level than baleen whales in the food chain. In Norway, another whaling nation, only the red meat of minke whales is eaten and studies indicate that average toxicity levels conform to national limits for toxicity ( P224)
Fishing
Whalers say that whaling is an essential condition for the successful operation of commercial fisheries, and thus the plentiful availability of food from the sea that consumers have become accustomed to. A minke whale's annual diet consists of 10 kilograms of fish per kilogram of body mass (Sigurjonsson and Vikingsson, 1997), which puts a heavy predatory pressure on commercial species of fish. Thus, whalers say that an annual cull of whales is needed in order for adequate amounts of fish to be available for humans. Anti-whaling campaigners say that the pro-whaling argument is inconsistent: If the catch of whales is small enough not to negatively affect whale stocks, it is also too small to positively affect fish stocks.
However, the dietary behaviour of whales differ among species as well as season, location and availability of prey. In the Barents Sea, it is estimated that a net economic loss of five tons of cod and herring per fishery results from every additional Minke Whale in the population due the fish consumption of the single whale (Schweder, et al, 2000).
Public Opinion
Gallup on Public Attitudes to Whales and Whaling (Source: The High North publication "11 Essays on Whales and Man," second edition, 26 Sept. NAMMCO Scientific publications
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