Norway and Japan are at liberty on how naturally occurring resource in their territory is utilized. No country in the world should dictate resource usage for another. Although regulation has to be put in place to guard against exploitation, the laws should be reached by mutual agreement and not by coercion. The ban is an outright violation of Japan and Norway’s sovereignty. How can one country in the globe dictate laws in isolation and come up with sanctions for non-compliance without mutual agreement between all parties? It is also critical to note that the actions of some of these people do not endanger the species of animal concerned. Although the number of whales in these countries would decrease over time, any concerned group should …show more content…
Even though the outside community might not understand some of these practices, the people involved in such activities enjoy these actions. For example the reed dance in South Africa might seem vague to someone from another country but the ladies in the dance do it without any form of inhibition. The Argungu fishing festival in Nigeria is a cultural heritage for the people from Kebbi State. It is a largely celebrated fishing event in the area. The people in these communities have come to accept it as a cultural heritage. It even draws participants and viewers from Nigeria and the rest of the world even though it depletes the number of fish in the area. Prizes are even awarded to whoever catches the biggest fish in the festival. Taking away such an event from these people would only create animosity and hostility. My opinion on the economics of whalingdoes not factor into my comments. I strongly believe that money should not be the number one factor in the interaction between nations. The economic impact of whaling is not felt only by the countries involved. It also extends to the external community. The usage claims by Norway and Japan need to be balanced. This process is however one that needs to be dealt with caution. Negotiations and coercion is a key factor. The international community must not apply pressure. In fact, if Japan and Norway are hell-bent on depleting the entire whales in their regions, the international
The debate surrounding Makah whaling is a heated one to say the least. There are valid points on both sides of the argument, but there is one side I find to be more valid once the facts have been looked at. I will examine and present my findings regarding past and current laws and regulations related to whaling, types of whaling, other countries that take an active part in whaling (and why), as well as the Makah culture – both past and present. In this paper I will argue why the Makah should not be allowed to resume whaling, as it is unnecessary and could potentially put the grey whale species back on the endangered list.
The parties involved in this matter are the members of the tribe, both for and against the decision, the whales, the environmentalists, the courts that will settle the lawsuits and future generations that might be affected by any decision in regards to the impact on the whales sustainability. The decision at stake here is whether it is moral to revoke the ban and recent tradition,
A committee from an organization such as the WTO may be a good starting point for deciding who should participate in the negotiations for promoting the whale ban. Because an issue this complex and involved needs to have negotiations on who will be participating in the negotiations. The villagers are much more limited on the resources they have for such negotiations. It is fortunate that the nations of Norway and Japan appear to be aligned with the villagers so that additional resources are there to promote the values of that culture. And since the impact of the whaling ban is so large on these local cultures, the negotiating parameters should be weighted to their side in some manner to prevent a large number of people with little to lose out-weighing the small number of people who have everything to lose. But keep in mind, these weights cannot be determined without accurate (unbiased) and timely data on the impact to the environment and the
Did you know that in the last 50 years over two million whales have been killed? The United States views whaling very differently than Japan does. It is a complicated and controversial topic. Many people have opinions about whale hunting. However, everyone should know both sides of the whale hunting issues before they act on the issue. To start out I am going to tell you a little about whaling. The first whale hunters were in the prehistoric times. At first they would just kill and eat beached whales. That became such a habit that they started hunting them. Most whale hunters use harpoons, guns, lances, or bombs that blow up inside the whale. They use catcher boats, or kayaks. In 1925, whalers developed
What has become of our world? Look at the murder and violence in our streets and the brutal sport of death bluntly referred to as ‘Whaling’. I’m sure you’re all fairly familiar with the Japanese whaling vessels and those activists calling for legal action against those savages. But, that isn’t what concerns me today. What concerns me, is the ordinary citizens who are currently unaware of this assault of whales by their voracious Norwegian enemies. The Norwegian whale quota for this current year is 880 whales. 880 mighty masses flailing around hopelessly with a javelin fixed in their side. Let’s imagine for a second that our roles were reversed. That we were one of these 880 whales being dragged away from our home, our
They feel that the IWC has become a conservation organization, where it was originally meant to be a regulatory agency for whaling (Schweder 2001). There have been accusations of the commission being purposely “uncertain” of the status of whales to keep the moratorium in effect, when in reality we know enough to open a sustainable fishery (Schweder 2001). There have been studies on both fin and minke whales indicating that a fishery would be sustainable. Fin whales populations off Iceland appear to be increasing at 4% per year, and minke populations off both Iceland and Norway appear to be stable, though it should be noted that the IWC indicates that fin whale populations in the northeast Atlantic haven’t been thoroughly assessed (Borchers et al. 2009, Vikingsson et al. 2009). The Marine Research Institute of Iceland has calculated that up to 150 fin whales and 400 minke whales can be sustainably harvested per year (Icelandic Fisheries 2014). Because fin whale populations are stable around Iceland, the government does not consider their IUCN listing as “endangered” relevant to their hunting status. A 1998 modeling study on minke whales in Norway showed potential population growth from 63,033 in 1995 to 70,733 in 2010 if 600 whales were taken every year (Bjorndal and Conrad 1998). Though Norway has increased their quota to 1,286, the number of minkes killed in a given year has not exceeded 600 individuals (IWC 2014). These potential harvest numbers are considered conservative, since the sighting methods used to estimate abundance were also conservative in nature. Neither Iceland nor Norway has exceeded their self imposed annual quotas since the quotas’ inception (IWC
I do not agree with Japan and Norway since all global agreements should be followed. Allowing these nations to continue whaling despite all other countries complying may lead to a dangerous precedent where many nations living with endangered species like Lions and elephants will also follow suit and demand exemption
Philpott, T. (2015, December 16), 2 Surprising reasons why Japan won't stop hunting whales. Mother Jones website. Retrieved on March 4, 2016 from
Whales have been swimming in the Earth’s oceans for 20 million years; their haunting songs can travel underwater for thousands of miles, they are the largest animals to exist on Earth yet they survive on some of the smallest organisms. A whale’s heart can weigh up to 1,300 pounds, and a baby whale can drink up to 130 gallons of its mother’s milk each day (Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, 2010). Currently whale hunters claim that they are killing whales for scientific purposes; however, whale meat is being sold at a high price, considered a delicacy, and found on more than 5000 Japanese school menus (Jamsey, 2010). The International Whaling Commission (IWC) with the support of the current United States President Barrack Obama wants
The topic I’m going to be talking about it whaling, the question you may be asking is what is whaling? Whaling is the process that is mainly done by Japanese ships where they hunt and kill whales for their meat, oil and bones. Here is a little background on why the Japanese killed the whales. The Japanese has been killing whales for hundred and hundreds of years, so much so that it is part of their history. Whaling was a very important part of Japan before and during the WWII, when whale meat made up for one-quarter of Japan diets because it was so easy to get and it was very cheap. Now they didn’t really use the whale meat as much, they mainly use the whale oil for everyday products, ingredient for different foods, lubrication for motor parts.
Whaling is the hunting of whales to obtain meat and blubber. The blubber is brought to a station off the shore designed to boil the blubber into oil (Hacquebord 2001). All these components of a whale are useful to humans, but by extracting these whales at such a high rate may have consequences for the ecosystem they leave behind (Hacquebord 2001;Williams et al. 2004;Baum and Worm 2009). It is important to question the effects mass exploitation has on the environment in order to prevent or predict certain unwanted changes for future removal (Williams et al. 2004;Baum and Worm 2009). Whaling has been studied from various time periods and different places around the world (Hacquebord 2001;Williams et al. 2004;Trites et al. 2007;Baum and Worm 2009).
The Japanese would continue to be reluctant to give up whaling tradition and they will keep fighting for their cultural tradition(Rupert). On the other hand, Countries like the United States are kept exerting pressure on Japan to stop their Whaling industry. “A deeper understanding of the Japanese whaling history and culture is important to collaborate and compromise with them”(Joshua). The anti-whaling countries, including Australia and the United States, are facing a challenge since they don’t have the right to intervene on the right of the Japanese to live as they choose (Adrian). In order to solve this problem, the world needs to cooperate together to come up with a plan that will save the Japanese tradition while saving the whale population at the same
Commercial whaling is a serious world issue that has always been difficult for those who are in support and those who are against it. Each group defends their side with convincing arguments. Morally, whaling is wrong, but do the reasons for whaling outweigh the reasons to cease the primitive hunts? By studying the effects of whaling,realizing how culture has changed over time, and taking note of the money that would be saved, it can clearly be seen that there is no longer a current need for whaling to continue. Efforts have been made to try to stop whaling, but with no help from any authoritative figure,nothing has been done to regulate the whaling. The famous sea shepherd, known for its strikes against whaling, can even be seen on
Japan is one of the few countries that support the practice whaling. For decades, the country has continued to maintain its right to whale and shown aggressively lobbying with the International Whaling Commission (IWC) for reconsideration of commercial whaling. Commercial whaling is a practice that involves the hunting and killing whales for their oil meat, or whalebone. With their pro-stance on whaling, Japan has faced strong international criticism especially from environmentalists and Western governments, which view Japan as obstructing international efforts to protect these mammals. This paper will argue that Japan should not be forced to remove the practice of commercial whaling in order to satisfy the international views. This is because
Whaling is defined as hunting and killing of whales by humans for resources, mainly meat, blubber and baleen (whalebone) obtained from whales. These resources are then sold for commercial purposes and thus, whaling has become economical important for centuries (Joanne 2007; The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia 2007). Scientific whaling is conducted by hunting whales for research purposes and further analysis to study on whale’s behaviour, characteristics and distribution (Joanne 2007). Commercial whaling is a controversial whaling practice that exploits whale products for trade and profit. Recently, Japan, Norway and Iceland are the major contributors of commercial whaling and deeply support any other whaling activities (Joanne 2007). Moratorium on commercial whaling 1986 is a global ban of hunting whales for commercial purposes, implemented by International Whaling Commission (IWC). Under Article VIII, unlimited scientific research is permitted but sufficient data and analysis are required by Science Committee set up by IWC (Papastavrou 2006).