my writeup sort of expands on the final paragraph of the previous writeup in this node...
the continuing death of an era
In terms of the
environmentalism side of things, the whaling issue has undergone various changes and a progression through history. In the 1940's, as with other
environmental issues at the time, the goal was
conservation of economically useful
resources. As the whale
populations declined, the whaling
industry feared that there would one day not be enough whales to hunt and kill.
It was only decades later that people began to grasp the concept that whales had any
inherent value as a species, apart from the
economic benefit of selling whale products, and deserved protection on their own. Another idea that some subscribed to -- that just as
humans do, whales also have a
right to life.
There had not really been any more
commercial whaling in the United States since the 1960's, so the country no longer had an economic stake in the whaling issue, other than the
whale-watching industry. The lengthy period of over
exploitation of whales, however, had significantly dented whale populations and threatened certain species. This led to the establishment of the
International Whaling Commission by the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling in 1946. The convention prohibited killing of certain species which neared
extinction and set
quotas on the number of whales each country could kill per year.
Nevertheless, the IWC was a club of whaling nations. The organization had no power to
enforce its regulations with regards to quotas or even the bans on killing
endangered species. The quotas were also set too high. Thus, although it was not difficult to comply, there was little change in behavior from pre-IWC times. There was also no international organization to facilitate consensus building on the scientific facts on whaling. The IWC's scientific committee, under the political and economic interests of whaling nations, continued to produce data and analysis supporting continued commercial exploitation.
Meanwhile, in the United States, Americans who began to learn more about the intelligence of
marine mammals like whales and
dolphins became sympathetic to the
plight of the whales. Domestically, there was increasing pressure for serious international protection for whales. The United States, driven by the
Endangered Species Act of 1969, declared eight whale species
endangered in 1970 and then took the lead in defining the whaling issue internationally, creating a three-fourths majority needed under the treaty for a whaling ban. Because the charter of the IWC did not limit membership to whaling states, non-whaling states could be recruited to the Whaling Commission to overcome the veto coalition (which had consisted of the whaling states Norway, Japan, the Soviet Union, Iceland, Chile, and Peru). The United States also utilized the threat of economic sanctions to weaken the veto coalition.
By 1986, a
moratorium had been placed on all commercial whaling.
Today, the only whaling permissible is whaling for scientific study and aboriginal whaling practices. However, this is not been without controversy. Whaling for scientific purposes in
Japan has often been viewed as meaning 1) catch, 2) kill, 3) study, and then 4) eat. Whale meat, a
delicacy of
Japanese cuisine, continues to appear on menus despite the end of commercial whaling. The argument for
aboriginal whaling practices is the five to ten thousand year history of whaling by arctic natives. It is not believed that their subsistance whaling of at most give to six whales per year contributed to significant population declines. The
arctic climate also leaves few options and whale meat is a large part of their
diet as well as
culture. Still, others argue against the aboriginal whale hunts, believing in the whales' right to life.
Sources:
Porter, Brown, and Chasek. Global Environmental Politics. Westview Press. 2000.
"Japan, Feasting on Whale, Sniffs at 'Culinary Impreialism' of U.S." New York Times International. August 10, 2000.
Professor Kal Raustiala, Environment 161/Political Science 122B lectures, UCLA.