The Case for Sustainable Whaling

Marine Policy, 2007

Morishita's ''multiple analysis'' of the whaling issue [Morishita J. Multiple analysis of the whaling issue: Understanding the dispute by a matrix. Marine Policy 2006;30:802-8] is essentially a restatement of the Government of Japan's whaling policy, which confuses the issue through selective use of data, unsubstantiated facts, and the vilification of opposing perspectives. Here, we deconstruct the major problems with Morishita's article and provide an alternative view of the whaling dispute. For many people in this debate, the issue is not that some whales are not abundant, but that the whaling industry cannot be trusted to regulate itself or to honestly assess the status of potentially exploitable populations. This suspicion has its origin in Japan's poor use of science, its often implausible stock assessments, its insistence that culling is an appropriate way to manage marine mammal populations, and its relatively recent falsification of whaling and fisheries catch data combined with a refusal to accept true transparency in catch and market monitoring. Japanese policy on whaling cannot be viewed in isolation, but is part of a larger framework involving a perceived right to secure unlimited access to global marine resources. Whaling is inextricably tied to the international fisheries agreements on which Japan is strongly dependent; thus, concessions made at the IWC would have potentially serious ramifications in other fora. r

Since its establishment in 1946 as the international body intended to manage whaling, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) has expanded its areas of interest to ensure the wider conservation of whales. Several key conservation topics have been taken forward under its auspices including climate change, chemical and noise pollution, marine debris and whale watching. Work on each of these topics at the IWC has grown substantially since the 1990s and remains ongoing. Important developments were the establishment of the Standing Working Group on Environmental Concerns in 1996 and the IWC's Conservation Committee in 2003. Trying to address this diverse set of issues is obviously a challenge, but will be necessary if the long term conservation of cetaceans is to be achieved. Through research, workshops, resolutions and collaboration with other organizations, the IWC has advanced both the understanding of the various issues and the means to manage them with increasing effectiveness. The IWC is likely to remain on the forefront of continuing efforts to address these, and other, conservation concerns and ensure the continued viability of cetacean populations around the globe.

Bioscience, 2003

2019

Nature is fragile in the face of men. Despite their paltry size, men can endanger entire species of whales, including the blue whale, the largest creature that has ever existed. Throughout centuries, a whole whaling technology was developed in order to kill, cut and process whales as profitably as possible. Basque, Dutch, Scandinavian, Japanese and American whalers, among others, crossed the seas and risked their lives in the name of profit and at the expense of entire ecosystems. If commerce created and maintained whaling, it also generated its regularisation; the second half of the 20th century saw numerous debates between pro and anti-whaling nations as well as a certain number of regulations as the 1986 International Whaling Convention (IWC) moratorium on commercial whaling. Unfortunately, despite the opprobrium of international public opinion against whaling and the growing political pressure against whaling nations, whales are still legally and illegally hunted nowadays. The case of Japan is particularly interesting because it shows the tensions between the economic, cultural and diplomatic factors related to whaling as well as the lack of power of the international organisations to effectively control the number of catches and to build compliance with the rules established to preserve the great marine mammals’ population. This essay will trace the history of whaling from the start of commercial whaling to these days, highlighting its cultural and legal aspects in order to show how the whaling controversy is highly representative of every environmental issue the world has to face. I will relate the history of whaling focusing on modern whaling, the technological development that permitted the near extinction of several species and the economic basis, then I will expose the late 20th-century wake-up call and its legal outcomes. Finally, I will discuss the effectivity of the anti-whaling policy by focusing on the current situation in Japan, try and make suggestions for the future of anti-whaling organisations and show the symbolic significance of the whaling issue.

2015

The author Is grateful to Professor Jack E, Ohm for his counsel and encouragement during the preparation of th is dissertation, and wishes also to express her deep appreciation to Dr, Robert L. Pendleton for his inspiration and confidence, and for his guidance during the e a r lie r stage of development of this dissertation. The author is also grateful to the Ford Foundation for its financial support from 1968 to 1971. F in a lly , the author expresses profound gratitude to her husband, Hermon Spikes, and to her daughter, Rhonda Kathleen, for th e ir patience, understanding and encouragement during the past three years and especial! during the preparation of th is dissertation.

Biology Letters, 2009

The International Whaling Commission (IWC) is currently engaged in an intensive negotiating process in an attempt to resolve international disputes about whaling. The IWC has pioneered and agreed a management procedure approach for setting catch limits for commercial whaling that was unanimously recommended by its Scientific Committee. It is disturbing that current negotiations are moving towards discarding this agreed and carefully developed scientific procedure in favour of ad hoc catch allowances based on political expediency.

International Social Science Journal, 2003

Review of Policy Research, 2011