Scientific whaling not justified

[Guest guest]

Next month, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) will meet in London,

England to set quotas for whale catches. The meeting will likely be

contentious because both Japan and Iceland are expected to lobby hard for

more whaling, while other countries will no doubt condemn current whaling

activities conducted in the name of science.

Iceland rejoined the IWC just last week, nine years after quitting the

organization to protest the global ban on commercial whaling. Norway also

rejects the ban on whaling and continues to hunt, with an annual commercial

kill of about 600 minke whales.

 

Japan, meanwhile, has been hunting whales through a loophole in the ban that

allows whaling for " scientific " purposes. The Japanese whaling fleet set out

into the North Pacific last month with a self-imposed scientific quota of 10

sperm whales and 50 Bryde's whales (both threatened species) along with 100

of the more plentiful minke whales. This catch is in addition to the 400

minke whales caught by the Japanese fleet every year in the Antarctic.

 

According to the weekly science magazine New Scientist, Japan plans to use

data from last year's hunt to argue that commercial whaling should resume.

The unpublished Japanese findings show that the dead whales' stomachs

contain large quantities of commercially valuable species like anchovy and

pollock. Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research argues that based on these

findings, whales could be eating three-to-five times as much fish as are

caught by the world's fishing fleets. Resuming commercial whaling, they

surmise, would help protect fish stocks.

 

Japan has a legitimate reason to be concerned about the state of fish

stocks. The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization reports that one-quarter

of the world's fish stocks are depleted and half are fully exploited and in

danger of becoming depleted. However most researchers say this is most

likely due to overfishing by humans, as well as from pollution and habit

destruction, not from whale predation.

 

A recent study also questions the legitimacy of some whale population

estimates used to establish hunting quotas. For example, using sighting and

surfacing data, Norway estimates that there are 112,000 minke whales in the

northeast Atlantic. But researchers from Scotland's Aberdeen University have

found that minke whales change their surfacing patterns considerably

throughout the year, which would lead to population overestimates. So there

could be as few as 40,000 minkes in the northeast Atlantic and the Norwegian

whale harvest may be depleting the population.

 

Biologists writing in a December edition of the journal Science also argue

that one of the most troubling aspects of continued whaling for " scientific "

purposes is that it acts as a cover for illegal whaling. Minke whales are

the only species currently allowed to be hunted for science, and after

study, the flesh can be sold for consumption.

 

But when New Zealand researchers used molecular genetics to sample 700

" whale " products sold in Japanese markets, they found DNA from eight species

of baleen whale (including one of the most endangered species of whale in

the world - the Asian gray whale) as well as from dolphins, sperm whales,

beaked whales, killer whales, sheep and even horses. In total, the

researchers say that 10 per cent of whale products on the market in Japan

come from protected species.

 

Last week, the Japanese government announced that it will now allow

fishermen to kill and sell whales that are " accidentally " caught in fishing

nets. Although Japan insists that this action will improve the tracking of

poachers, it could be seen as a thinly disguised attempt to allow limited

commercial whaling. Considering how little we know about these great

mammals, killing them by the hundreds or even thousands every year in the

name of science or for commercial reasons can only be considered

irresponsible.

 

 

 

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