Why Whaling Should Be Banned
- Whales have been hunted by humans for their meet, bones and blubber.
- Whaling, during the 19th century, wiped out most of the world’s whale populations.
- Whales grow and breed slowly; numbers will take a long time to recover. This means that they will more easily become more extinct.
Information
- The International Whaling Commission (IWC) banned whaling in 1986.
- There are some countries that issue permits to kill whales for research; Japan uses this to hunt whales and the meat from their research. The Japanese whaling people left for the Antarctic in December 2006, with the intention of killing 850 Minke whales and 10 fin whales.
Whales are hunted for their:
- Liver – oil * Skin – Belts/ shoes/ handbags and luggage
- Bone – animal feed and fertilisers
- Teeth – buttons/ piano keys and jewellery Why?
1. Lots of different types of whales are hunted, including:
Right Whale: It was considered the perfect whale to hunt because it had lots of blubber for oil lamps; (that is why it is called “Right” whale. )
Blue Whale: Considered too dangerous to hunt mostly, but some of the more brave hunters went after this whale because, it is bigger and so it provides more blubber, meat and bone. Arguments against Whaling Anti-whaling extremists claim that the whale is an intelligent mammal, that is able to feel pain the same way humans do, and that they should be treated as humans. Those supporting whaling think that, and claims that man is above the whales and man has been put on this earth by God to maintain the natural resources, in which includes the lords of the sea, – the whales.
Maintain meaning both making sure they don’t become extinct but as masters of this earth, we are allowed to hunt them. Whaling is a tradition, especially in Norway, but also in other countries, like Japan, and for some, keeping traditions alive is very important. The strongest argument against whaling is simply the pain it has to go through. As stated above, anti-whalers say that the whale feels pain the same way humans do, and when a harpoon hits a whale, it might take up to 10 minutes before it is dead. If the whale is dead 10 seconds after impact with the harpoon, the whale is killed instantly, they claim, but this is rare.
In 1996, whaling-inspectors reported that the average time the whale had to suffer rated from 4-6 minutes. But that is just the killing process. Before you can shoot the whale, you have to find the whale, and because the whale is only up to breathe a couple of seconds the shooter has 2-3 seconds to fire. Anti-whalers say that the hunting, which may take up to several hours, must scare the whale, and they want us to imagine the fright the whale must feel when being hunted. There is no question about it, whaling provides work, and whaling provides meat.
Whale meat is very popular in Norway, but Norway also has a big surplus of meat ever year, so why keep hunting whale? Sure, whalers say, Norway has a big surplus of meat, but whale meat is considered a luxury. It’s expensive and it’s tasteful. It seems, anti-whalers want to bring us back to the idea about man being equal to animals when they want us to imagine the pain the whale must go through, and try to imagine what we, as humans would feel if we were being hunted like that. Whalers do it for the money, and for them it is a tradition. There grandfathers have been doing it for several hundred years, so why stop now.
In 1996 there were 110’000 whales in the Atlantic, and it was wiped from the list of endangered species. There is no question about it; whalers also do it for the provocation and the media attention.
Reasons for Whaling
- Whaling provides work
- Whaling provides meat.
- Whale meat is very popular in Norway
- Whale meat is considered a luxury.
- It’s expensive and it’s tasteful.
Product of Whale The main source of these products comes from the Sperm Whale and the Right Whaling
