Commercial Whaling Adrift?
By Mark J. Palmer
Special thanks to Kate O’Connell, Marine Animal Consultant for the Animal Welfare Institute.
Today, commercial whaling is largely restricted to Norway, Iceland and Japan, but there are many signs that the industry is doing poorly.
2022 marks the 40th anniversary of the passage by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) of the moratorium on commercial whaling. The resolution was passed in 1982, to be phased in by the 1985-86 Antarctic whaling season. Many nations ended their whaling industries, notably the Soviet Union. But some nations did not stop.
Norway filed a formal objection to the whaling ban, and it continued commercial whaling. Iceland re-joined the IWC with an objection to the whaling resolution and has intermittently sent out whaling fleets. Japan adopted the strategy of claiming they were ending commercial whaling but authorized thousands of permits for “scientific” whaling. This was a ruse that was only dropped in 2019 when Japan quit the IWC and resumed commercial whaling, but only within its 200-mile limit.
The International Marine Mammal Project (IMMP) of Earth Island Institute, since our inception, has been active in opposing and demanding an end to commercial whaling, helping pass the whaling ban resolution at the IWC. We are getting closer to that day when commercial whaling fleets cease the carnage and disappear in rust.
IMMP previously noted the opposition to whaling voiced by Iceland’s Minister of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, proposing that Iceland’s government end issuing whaling permits in 2024, when the current cycle of permits ends.
“In a historical context, these whale hunts have had a negative effect on the country's export interests," the minister wrote.
In May 2022, one of Iceland’s two remaining whaling companies announced it was permanently shutting down its minke whaling operations, but the other company, owned by Kristján Loftsson, the richest man in Iceland, announced in defiance that his company would continue hunting the endangered fin whale. Already, a first fin whale has been killed, and more are expected as the summer season progresses.
A fin whale surfaces, the second largest animal on Earth. Iceland claims they are abundant in the North Atlantic, but scientists still list the species as endangered due to over-hunting. Photo Credit: iStock JG1153.
According to CNN, the renewed whaling touched off protests in Iceland, especially from the tourist industry, still weak due to the COVID pandemic shut-downs.
"The tourism industry and most Icelandic citizens are against whaling," said Ásberg Jónsson, CEO of Travel Connect, a large travel services company based in Reykjavík.
In Norway, while whaling continues, one company, the Reinefangst, has announced closing down its whaling operations, which were begun in 1941. The paterfamilias Bjørn Hugo Bendiksen cited the high cost of whaling and the low price for whale meat on the Norwegian market.
For years, Norway has exported whale meat to Japan and the Faroe Islands. Recently, companies have been selling whale meat as dog food, including selling meat to competitive dog sled teams and online in Norway. Sales to mink farms are also happening.
Last year, our colleagues at the Animal Welfare Institute polled Norwegian consumers, revealing less that 2 percent of Norwegians eat whale meat often, down from 4 percent in 2019.
The minke whale is a major target of Norwegian and Japanese whalers. Why? Because it is so small, most of these whales were ignored while their larger cousins were destroyed by commercial whaling. Minke whales are the only ones left, but some populations are very low in numbers. Photo Credit: iStock
For years, Japan has had trouble dumping its whale meat on the market, despite huge government subsidies of 5.1 billion yen ($37.7 million US) annually of Japanese taxpayers’ money. The conservative Japanese government has warned Japan’s whaling industry that the subsidies will end soon, likely causing considerable consternation as annual whale meat sales are only 2.5 billion yen ($18.5 million US).
Poll after poll has shown Japanese people do not particularly like whale meat, nor do they want to buy it. According to One Green Planet, whale meat is now being promoted as treats for dogs and cats. A Japanese NGO, Animal Liberator, reported finding 60 whale meat products offered online for sale as pet food and treats.
Whale meat is also kept frozen in Japanese warehouses due to low sales.
The whaling industry always depended on depleting whale populations in order to make money. “Sustainable” whaling may be possible, but it most certainly is not economically viable. In order to make money, you must wipe out whales. And that tragedy continues in Iceland, Norway and Japan.
It is long past time to stop treating highly intelligent and sentient whales and dolphins as sources of meat and profit. They should be respected as fellow travelers on Earth, contributing to the ocean ecosystems that sustain us, and sequestering carbon in our warming oceans.
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