Nations Seek to Increase Whale Hunting by Expanding Loopholes in International Ban

Stock photo.

Whaling as a way of life and industry can be traced back to prehistoric times through archeological evidence such as harpoons dating back to 6000 BC, petroglyphs (rock engravings) depicting whale hunts, and whale bones in ancient settlements.

Historically, whales were hunted for uses including: meat, bones for corsets, wax for candles, and oils for industrial lubricants and fuel for lamps and lanterns.

“By the 1920s, whale oil fed increasing demand for animal feed, machine lubricants, glycerin-based explosives, soap, detergents, and margarine; spermaceti from the sperm whale became a staple in cosmetics, and later, even as a lubricant for the (NASA) aerospace programme,” according to Reinventing the Whale, a report published in May 2010 by the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society in the United Kingdom.

Right whale. Graphic courtesy of BBC News.

Reaching up to present times, this excessive international hunting has brought many species to the brink of extinction, such as the right whales, gray whales, and blue whales, just to name a few.

What’s being threatened now is the worldwide commercial whaling moratorium (ban) that was put into effect in 1986 by the International Whaling Commission. Countries are allowed quotas - which can change yearly - on catching and killing whales for scientific research purposes. After the research data is obtained from the animals, their meat and other useful parts can be sold to market.

Last month, the IWC held it’s 62nd annual meeting, and discussed issues including:

• The question of the moratorium (on commercial whaling).
• The number of whales that might be taken (killed).
• Special permit whaling.
• Indigenous whaling.
• Sanctuaries.
• Trade.

No agreements were reached on any of these issues, with the IWC saying that “more work is required.” The question of the moratorium is whether is should be lifted for 10 years, coupled with strict regulations.

Other information presented at the meeting, included that the population of the endangered western North Pacific gray whale is “only about 130 animals,” according to the IWC, adding that, “Ship strikes (hits) and entanglements are also a threat to the endangered western North Atlantic right whale population which numbers around 300.” The IWC said that it would like to see this problem “reduced to zero as soon as possible.”

Also of concern, the IWC said that it has “received reports from a number of countries on animal welfare issues related to whales and whaling. These ranged from information on the most appropriate methods for euthanasia for stranded animals to information on killing methods and hunting information from a number of countries.”

The overall outcome of the IWC’s annual meeting brought out the following reaction from Dr. Susan Lieberman, director of international policy for the Pew Environmental Group:

“We are deeply disappointed that the governments present here, after more than three years of intensive work, could not reach a solution that will benefit whale conservation.”

The environmental group says that, “Currently, 1,500 whales are killed every year in direct contravention of the moratorium, with quotas set unilaterally, and no international control or oversight of whaling operations.”

Pew would like to see a proposal on the table that would cover issues including:

• No takes (kills) of threatened species and populations.
• If any whaling is authorized, the whale products must be for domestic consumption only.
• Ending all whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.
  • The sanctuary was established by the IWC in 1994 with 23 countries supporting the agreement and Japan opposing it. During the 2004 meeting a proposal was made by Japan to remove the sanctuary, but it failed. Since the sanctuary only applies to commercial whaling, Japan has continued to hunt whales inside it because its whaling is done in accordance with a provision in the IWC charter permitting whaling for the purposes of scientific research.

The Institute of Cetacean Research in Tokyo responded to accusations that Japan’s research activities are inappropriate, saying that conservation groups have “made much of the fact that Japan’s take of whales for research occurs in an area declared by the IWC as the Southern Ocean Sanctuary and that the programme continues while the IWC’s moratorium remains in effect. Neither the moratorium nor the Southern Ocean Sanctuary applies to the take of whales for research purposes.”

Minke whale. Graphic courtesy of BBC News.

The Institute elaborated on Japan’s research methods, citing its Antarctic activities, saying, “The research programme involves both a sighting survey whose primary purpose is the estimation of trends in abundance, and a sampling component that involves the take of up to 440 minke whales from a population (that was) estimated by the scientific committee of the IWC in 1990 at 760,000 animals.

“Since the IWC’s scientific committee calculated that 2,000 minke whales could be harvested from the Antarctic each year, for the next 100 years with no risk to the stock, the take of only 440 whales for research purposes is obviously not a conservation issue. More than 130 scientific papers have resulted from the research.”

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