...Environmental Issue Project – Whaling; to kill or not to kill Larry Baker Rasmussen College Authors note: This assignment is being submitted on August 22, 2014 for Ms. Jaime Farrow’s Section 05 Human Uses of the Environment class. We have all seen, or most of us anyway, the classic movie Moby Dick written by Herman Melville, about the obsessed Captain Ahab who is determined to kill the whale or die trying. Now this is a work of fiction but people have been hunting whales for tens of thousands of years. It only took America about ten years to kill 50 – 60 million buffalo; it makes it hard to believe there are many whales left after thousands of years hunting them. This paper is about the Whaling Debate on whether countries should be allowed to continue to hunt whales or should we leave them protected and my beliefs on the subject. This debate has also focused on issues of sustainability and conservation as well as ownership and national sovereignty. Some of the issues included in these debates is the question of cetacean intelligence this refers to the Cetacea order of mammals, which includes whales, porpoises, and dolphins; and the level of suffering which the animals undergo when caught and killed (The Whale Debate: Whale Wars, 2014). Another hot topic in the debate right now is the right to kill a certain amount of whales for scientific research, Japan kills 1000 minke whales a year and about 100 endangered fin and humpback whales. Whales are mammals the same...
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...Whales are brilliant animals. Surely understood for their knowledge and delicate nature, they are iconic representatives of marine biodiversity. Yet degenerate and neglectful practices still threaten whales today. To guarantee we have solid and healthy seas, we have to ensure the sea's tender titans. Whaling is the process of hunting whales for their produce. Numerous customs relied on upon whales to give material produce as a piece of culture and tradition, all aspects of the whale was misused for; meat, skin, fat and organs were consumed as a critical foundation of protein, vitamins and minerals. Due to this the community of whales are in the brink of extinction. Whaling business started around the eleventh century, when the Basques...
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...commodities. And as for their meat? A single catch of a large sperm whale could feed a small coastal village for weeks. Although demand for whale meat is ailing and advancements in technology have replaced whale oil with more effective and practical substances, whales are still being hunted and killed. Despite a ban on all commercial whaling certain nations still continue to kill these animals, primarily Japan, Norway and Iceland. The populations of these animals are becoming...
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...as materials for baskets and fishing lines. (“Diary of Extinction”). The limited technology humans had during this time prevented an imbalance in the number of whales hunted and the overall population of whales. However, with the introduction of the steam engine and steam powered ships, whaling rapidly commercialized and because of this the number of whales that could be killed and processed each year grew exponentially And while they were hunted for their meat and blubber during this time as well, industrial whaling allowed for more and more whales to be hunted and killed, decreasing the overall whale population by about 85% (Lusted). Whaling became a key factor in economics. Whale meat and oil soon began to circulate in international markets and trade, leading to thousands of more whales being killed each year....
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...representatives of marine biodiversity. Yet degenerate and neglectful practices still threaten whales today. To guarantee we have solid and healthy seas, we have to ensure the sea's tender titans. Whaling is the process of hunting whales for their produce. Numerous customs relied on upon whales to give material produce as a piece of culture and tradition, all aspects of the whale was misused for; meat, skin, fat and organs were consumed as a critical foundation of protein, vitamins and minerals. Due to this the community of whales are in the brink of extinction. Whaling business started around the eleventh century, when...
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...Makah & maori whaling Whaling is a cultural aspect in Makah tribe. In Maori culture they don’t hunt whales because they see it as a spiritual animal. Makah uses whales for meat, blubber, bone and sinew, and products(Makah.com). The Maori tribe uses the whale as a spirit animal that helps guide them. Makah tribe been hunting whales for a long time. Archaeological evidence points back to 2,000 years (alamut.com). Maori tribe would be very upset with Makah tribe for killing whales. In this paper I will be talking about how the Makah tribe and the Maori tribe views of the whaling industry. Makah tribe culture is whaling. They do rituals,ceremonies.They get inspiration of tribal songs, dancing, designs, and basketry. Whaling of Makah is important...
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...275,000 blue whales before the development of modern whaling in the mid-nineteenth century. By the 1960s, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimated that the number of blue whales had decreased to between 650 and 2,000.ʺ (Global Issues in Context Online Collection). The number of all whales has been decreasing and the Japanese whalers have been the major cause of the depletion of whales throughout history. The Japanese use whaling for to gather resources like whale meat and oils. I don’t believe that the Japanese should be using whaling for food and resources. First of all, when the whales die off, it greatly affects the ecosystem, in other words, the food chain. Another reason is that the international relations with the International Whaling Commission (IWC). Lastly, whaling does not provide the economic benefits that the Japanese thinks it does. Now let me give you a little background information on whaling. Whaling has gone on for centuries and it has been a necessity for people all over the world. The IWC does allow tribes like the Eskimos, who have hunted whales traditionally, to continue to hunt whales but they could only be a certain type of whale. Traditionally, there used to be a demand for whale oil as a lubricant for machines but these are synthetic so that means you don’t need to kill the whale you could just make. In 1987, the IWC imposed a moratorium on commercial whaling which means they were banned from killing whales for...
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...Commercial whaling has been a hot topic for many years; many say that all forms of whaling must stop, while others argue that whaling should be allowed if it does not pose a threat to the total whale population. Now while this topic may seem straightforward on the surface, there are deep ethical questions being asked. Some of which are embodied the battle between deontological and utilitarianism views, and the variations between them. Beginning with utilitarianism, which is the view that everyone’s interests should be considered (including animals) and that only the consequences of actions should be taken into consideration when determining whether an action is moral. The primary goal of utilitarianism is to “balance the pleasure and pain as such, the question of to whom a pleasure or pain belongs to is irrelevant” (27). Many, such as Singer, even state that the idea that humans should get special consideration would be considered “speciesism” which would be comparable to racism. Then on the other spectrum lies the deontological view, which is the idea that some things have intrinsic value, or as Tom Regan believes, that animals or at least beings that were “subject to life” (beings...
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...Unit 6 Written Assignment Japan and Norway: A cultural case for the exemption from an international ban on whaling. Introduction and the Japanese and Norwegian position Japan Japan is certainly one of the two countries, and the only country in Asia to make the claim that Whaling should be permitted for certain Whale stocks. The practice of hunting Whales can be traced back to over 1,000 years. And, in turn there are records that show Jimmu, the first Emperor, who rein circa 660BC himself ate Whale meat. However, it wasn’t until the 17th century, which saw a major development in the techniques associated with hunting Whales. In the Meiji era (1868-1912) saw the controversial introduction of powered gun vessels, actually inspired by Norwegian...
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...Whaling in the arctic is a huge part of the cultural tradition of our community and has been rapidly changing over the last 100 years. With all the rapid changes, we are going to look at the historical history of traditional/cultural whaling vs modern whaling. Subsistence hunting has provided food and clothing for many years for the people of the north slope. Traditionally the hunters were able to freely hunt and provide for themselves and their families. Living in our modern society, the tradition of whaling is currently governed by the AEWC (Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission). The life of subsistence living has been and continues to be majorly impacted. Traditional tools were used for a variety of different ways for whaling. The tool that was used to pull the whale to shore...
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...had remained the same for many centuries. The methods we use today weren't invented until the centuries later and they contrasts from whaling of the nineteenth century in various ways. Present day whale hunting has progressed from whaling of Melville's day and the whalers are even hunting for different reasons. For example, in Herman Melville's Day, whalers sailed out on small boats searching for the "elephants of the sea." If the wind was not in their favor, they had to smoothly paddle with oars, careful not to scare their prey. When coming upon a whale, the harpooner would kill the beast with a manual harpoon. The hunters must bring the massive animal onboard the ship, to immediately remove the oil, since they are onboard for years at a time. Similar to nineteenth century whaling, whalers today also have small fishing boats, but with sails or motor to speed up the process. They use harpoon cannons, invented by two Norwegians, that explode once penetrated a foot into the flesh of the whale. Occasionally the mammal will not die immediately, therefore the harpooner will shoot it with a high powered riffle. Then the whalers either tow the whale to shore or bring it alongside the ship. Along with the sail, the invention of the explosive harpoon was a dramatic progress for modern whalers and became the turning point in whaling. This difference in these two systems of whale catching shows the advance in modern technology and methods. The explosive harpooner...
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...The North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) is a cetacean species that is found primarily in the waters off the eastern coast of North America, between the Gulf of Maine and the Bay of Fundy (Asaro, 2012). The population of the right whale was significantly diminished during the 18th and 19th century, when the species was subjected to commercial whaling that nearly drove the species to extinction (Caswell et al., 1999). Today, it is still one of the most endangered species of large whales, with only an estimated 300 – 400 individuals left (Doucette et al., 2012). While commercial whaling has been discontinued for decades, the right whale is still being directly impacted by anthropogenic activities, such as vessel strikes and entanglements...
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...Introduction - The fin whale population was wiped out due to commercial whaling in the 1800s and early 1900s. It was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Conservation Act, the predecessor to the Endangered Species Act (ESA), in 1970. Once the ESA was passed in 1973, the fin whale was listed as endangered throughout its range. It is also designated as depleted under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Known for its ability to travel at speeds of almost 40 km/hour, the whale can be referred to as the “greyhound of the sea.” Whales are very important because they are at the top of the food chain and affect the overall health of the marine environment. The fin whale has been greatly affected by worldwide by commercial whaling. Background...
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...Effects of Whaling and the Ecology Whaling is one of the oldest human activity for hunting done by man since the beginning of time. Whaling can come with a cost, and result with a set of consequences that can affect the ecology and the world. The consequences of whaling can not only endanger and extinct whales, but destroy and kill the oceans that can eventually kill all life. Whaling is the hunting of whales primarily for meat and oil. It is believed that whaling dates back to a millenia. According to Encyclopedia infoplease.com, “whaling for subsistence dates to prehistoric times. The early people of Korea were hunting whales as far back as 5000 B.C., and those of Norway began whaling at least 4,000 years ago. Various peoples of the NW North American coast and the Arctic have a long tradition of whaling. Whaling, done from canoes or skin boats, often when migrating pods of whales passed nearby, was a very dangerous undertaking. Over time, many, such as the Qwidicca-atx (Makah) people of the Olympic peninsula, developed set spiritual and hunting practices that became the core of their culture.” The origins of commercial whaling started according to online encyclopedia infoplease.com: “The hunting of whales is thought to have been pursued by the Basques from land as early as the 10th cent. and in Newfoundland waters by the 14th cent. It is not until the middle of the 16th cent., however, that the appearance of Basques in those waters is established by record. Whaling on a large...
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...Name: University: Course: Tutor: Date: International Whaling Commission Introduction Just recently on May 31st 2010, Australia opened a court case against Japan in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) with regards to a dispute relating to Japan’s JARPA II program on ‘Scientific Whaling’. The case was dubbed the ‘JARPA II Case’ and was primarily based on a dispute between Australia and Japan over interpretation of the 1946 International Convention of Whaling (ICRW). JARPA refers to Japan’s Research Program under Special Permit in the Antarctic to carry out research in the marines. The first was introduced in 1987 in the Southern Ocean Whaling Season of 1987-1988. JARPA II was to commence some 18years later from and it started in 2005. During that period of 1987 through 2005, Japan had apparently ignored the Moratorium sanctioned by IWC against Whaling and it is consequently some six thousand eight hundred minke whales were taken under JARPA. That led to a longtime dispute between whaling states and anti-whaling states over limited whaling v no whaling at all. Among the cases is the one between Australia and Japan of 2010. This article will look into the case between Japan and Australia in a bid to answering the following questions; one, how is the International Whaling Commission policy determined and influenced, secondly, what is the role of scientific advice in policy making, thirdly, what are the arguments for both Japan and Australia in the International Court...
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