Whale Wars: Politics, Science and the World's Largest Mammal
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Contested Meanings and Narratives Surrounding Animal Advocacy
Wars of Images and Representations 211 WARS OF IMAGES AND REPRESENTATIONS: CONTESTED MEANINGS AND NARRATIVES SURROUNDING ANIMAL ADVOCACY Brian M. Lowe Introduction: Advocacy and Conflict The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS), created in 1977 by Paul Watson (a co-founder of the environmental group Greenpeace), has pur- sued a strategy of direct action—non-violent engagements including phys- ical interference and obstruction—in a variety of campaigns on behalf of oceanic nonhuman animals, especially marine mammals such as whales and seals. The recent campaigns of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in the waters surrounding Antarctica (what Hiroshi Hatanaka, the director general of Japan’s Institute of Cetacean Research termed “the Southern Ocean”)1 (have gained public attention in the United States primarily through information (on websites and press releases) circulated through the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and through the Animal Planet television series Whale Wars (which completed broadcasting its fifth season in August 2012). This television series features the SSCS deploying ocean-going vessels, (named after publicly recognized animal advocates including Farley Mowat, Steve Irwin, and Cleveland Armory, in order to challenge commercial whaling. As noted by Heller in his 2007 account of being aboard the Farley Mowat, Watson succinctly summarizes the Sea Shepherd strategy as “sink ships, but don’t break laws.” The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society legitimizes its actions through appeals to international law and the scientific community in order to convince broad audiences that their actions are defending both marine life and the legal statutes against callous disregard and indifference towards law. Watson justifies the Sea Shepherd’s actions: that commercial whal- ing—especially in international oceanic sanctuaries—is illegal, and there- fore actions undertaken to disrupt such hunts are legally sanctioned. -
2009-January-February-Enews
Sustainable eNews IWMC World Conservation Trust www.iwmc.org Promoting Sustainable Use January-February-09 Welcome to the 175th Party to CITES On 21 January 2009, Bosnia and Herzegovina deposited its instrument of accession to CITES, and will so become the 175th Party to CITES on 21 April 2009 IWC “Compromise” Package is found to be Deficient In Terms of the Principles of the ICRW Editorial by Dr Janice Henke espite the best intentions and laudable efforts of Why should they accept such a deal when Japanese scien- DDr. Bill Hogarth and the advice of his cooperating UN tific research teams have been collecting and analyzing negotiation experts, the latest proposed IWC compromise is relevant biological and migration data since 1987, in full looking increasingly problematic. While the intentions to compliance with Article VIII of the Convention? The solve the impasse are admirable, the strategy was flawed Scientific Committee of the IWC has praised this work, and because of the implicit suggestion that scientific research has noted that it does contribute to the science-based, con- whaling is harmful, or irrelevant to whale ecology. servation knowledge of minke whales. Mr. Shigeru Ishiba, Minister of Japan's Agriculture, This work and other research efforts in the Southern Ocean Forestry and Fisheries government department, has been and in the north Pacific around Japan have indicated the quoted as saying “We cannot accept a proposal that discon- seriousness of Japan's determination to learn as much tinues our research hunting”. The proposal had offered as possible about cetacean abundance, trends in nutrition, Japan the opportunity to harvest enough animals for the fertility, natural mortality, and pollution load. -
Toxic Menu – Contamination of Whale Meat
Toxic Menu Contamination of Whale Meat and Impact on Consumers’ Health ry, P rcu CB e a m n d n i D h D c i T . R wh at ale me A review by Dr. Sandra Altherr and Sigrid Lüber Baird‘s beaked whale, hunted and consumed in Japan, despite high burdens of PCB and mercury © Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) © 2009, 2012 (2nd edition) Title: Jana Rudnick (Pro Wildlife), Photo from EIA Text: Dr. Sandra Altherr (Pro Wildlife) and Sigrid Lüber (OceanCare) Pro Wildlife OceanCare Kidlerstr. 2, D-81371 Munich, Germany Oberdorfstr. 16, CH-8820 Wädenswil, Switzerland Phone: +49(089)81299-507 Phone: +41 (044) 78066-88 [email protected] [email protected] www.prowildlife.de www.oceancare.org Acknowledgements: The authors want to thank • Claire Bass (World Society for the Protection of Animals, UK) • Sakae Hemmi (Elsa Nature Conservancy, Japan) • Betina Johne (Pro Wildlife, Germany) • Clare Perry (Environmental Investigation Agency, UK) • Annelise Sorg (Canadian Marine Environment Protection Society, Canada) and other persons, who want to remain unnamed, for their helpful contribution of information, comments and photos. - 2 - Toxic Menu — Contamination of Whale Meat and Impact on Consumers’ Health Content 1. Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................................................................ 4 2. Contaminants and pathogens in whales ....................................................................................................... -
The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex
OIL from a WHALE 0. OIL from a WHALE - Story Preface 1. THE CREW of the ESSEX 2. FACTS and MYTHS about SPERM WHALES 3. KNOCKDOWN of the ESSEX 4. CAPTAIN POLLARD MAKES MISTAKES 5. WHALING LINGO and the NANTUCKET SLEIGH RIDE 6. OIL from a WHALE 7. HOW WHALE BLUBBER BECOMES OIL 8. ESSEX and the OFFSHORE GROUNDS 9. A WHALE ATTACKS the ESSEX 10. A WHALE DESTROYS the ESSEX 11. GEORGE POLLARD and OWEN CHASE 12. SURVIVING the ESSEX DISASTER 13. RESCUE of the ESSEX SURVIVORS 14. LIFE after the WRECK of the ESSEX By 1904, when this photo was taken aboard a bark called Sunbeam, not much had changed in the method by which whalers removed spermaceti (high-quality whale oil) from the head of a sperm whale (cachalot). Spermaceti is located in the part of the whale's head known as the "case." Photo, by C. W. Ashley, circa 1904. Online via Mystic Seaport. Towing a huge whale back to the main ship was slow-going. Rowers could travel about one mile per hour. Sometimes it was dark when the crew returned. With a whale to butcher, the Essex—like other similar whaleships—became a factory at sea. The first job, to extract a whale’s oil, was to remove its blubber in twenty-foot strips. Those strips were lowered to the vessel’s blubber room where they were cut into smaller pieces. Once the whale was completely stripped of its blubber, it had to be decapitated. The head of a sperm whale (cachalot)—whose scientific name is Physeter macrocephalus—is around a third of its total length. -
Report of the EXPERT MEETING to DEVELOP TECHNICAL GUIDELINES to REDUCE BYCATCH of MARINE MAMMALS in CAPTURE FISHERIES
FIAO/R1289 (En) FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Report ISSN 2070-6987 Report of the EXPERT MEETING TO DEVELOP TECHNICAL GUIDELINES TO REDUCE BYCATCH OF MARINE MAMMALS IN CAPTURE FISHERIES Rome, Italy, 17−19 September 2019 Cover illustration: Alberto Gennari (2019) FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Report No. 1289 FIAO/R1289 (En) Report of the EXPERT MEETING TO DEVELOP TECHNICAL GUIDELINES TO REDUCE BYCATCH OF MARINE MAMMALS IN CAPTURE FISHERIES Rome, Italy, 17–19 September 2019 FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Rome, 2020 Required citation: FAO. 2020. Report of the Expert Meeting to Develop Technical Guidelines to Reduce Bycatch of Marine Mammals in Capture Fisheries. Rome, Italy, 17–19 September 2019. FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Report No. 1289, Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/CA7620EN The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers, whether or not these have been patented, does not imply that these have been endorsed or recommended by FAO in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. The views expressed in this information product are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of FAO. ISBN: 978-92-5-132150-8 ISSN: 2070-6987 (print) © FAO, 2020 Some rights reserved. -
Reality on the High Seas
skull glides through the gray evening air, its hollow black eyes surveying the Faroe Islands, land that seems to have risen from the sea just to be photographed and admired. On a map, the 18-island archipelago looks like Italy flooded by melting ice caps; from the sea, it looks like the creation of Holly- wood digital-effects artists, volcanic rock exposed where streams cut through the green of swaying grass that blankets the islands. Some of its 700 miles of coastline juts up dramatically, towering above the ocean—no trees, only sheep that fearlessly walk in places it should be impossible to walk. In coves where the land slopes toward the sea, two-story houses nestle in the grass. On this Friday night, the windows in one cove twinkle, literally, as residents take pictures of the blue and gray ship that is approaching their har- bor, their dock, their home. Cameras are filming from aboard the Steve Irwin, the flagship vessel of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which ILLUSTRATION BY GREGORY MANCHESS 51 “THAT’S THE JOB: HOURS OF SHEER BOREDOM FOLLOWED BY MINUTES OF INCREDIBLE EXCITEMENT.” announces its presence with a massive two-story version of the skull-and-crossbones flag that has marked pirate ships for 300 years. Its Jolly Roger is modified with obvious sym- bolism: The outlines of two dolphins swim in a circle on the skull’s forehead, a shepherd’s staff and a trident replacing the bones underneath. This modern pirate ship is potentially dangerous, even deadly, to the volunteers who crew it and to anyone who boards, such as a visiting journalist from p l a y b o y and the people who produce Whale Wars, the Animal Planet series that follows Sea Shepherd. -
Why Japan Supports Whaling
An edited version of this paper has been accepted for publication in the Journal of International Wildlife and Policy WHY JAPAN SUPPORTS WHALING Keiko Hirata* 1. INTRODUCTION Japan is one of the few states in the world that adamantly supports whaling. For decades, Tokyo has steadfastly maintained its right to whale and has aggressively lobbied the International Whaling Commission (IWC) for a resumption of commercial whaling. Japan’s pro-whaling stance has invited strong international criticism from both environmental groups and Western governments, many of which view Tokyo as obstructing international efforts to protect whales. Why has Japan adhered to a pro-whaling policy that has brought the country international condemnation? Its defiant pro-whaling stance is not consistent with its internationally cooperative position on other environmental matters. For the past decade, Tokyo has been a key player in international environmental regimes, such as those to combat ozone depletion and global warming.1 If Japan is serious about environmental protection and desires to play a role as a ‘green contributor,’2 why hasn’t it embraced the anti-whaling norm, 3 thereby joining other states in wildlife protection and assuming a larger role in global environmental leadership? *Research Fellow, Center for the Study of Democracy, University of California, Irvine, California, USA. E-mail: [email protected]. 1 Isao Miyaoka, 1980s and Early 1990s: Changing from an Eco-outlaw to a Green Contributor, 16 NEWSL. INST. SOC. SCI. U. TOKYO, 7-10 (1999). 2 Id. at 7. 3 Robert L. Friedheim, Introduction: The IWC as a Contested Regime, in TOWARD A SUSTAINABLE WHALING REGIME, 1-45 (Robert L. -
The Action Plan for Australian Cetaceans J L Bannister,* C M Kemper,** R M Warneke***
The Action Plan for Australian Cetaceans J L Bannister,* C M Kemper,** R M Warneke*** *c/- WA Museum, Francis Street, Perth WA 6000 ** SA Museum, North Terrace, Adelaide, SA 5000 ***Blackwood Lodge, RSD 273 Mount Hicks Road, Yolla Tasmania 7325 Australian Nature Conservation Agency September 1996 The views and opinions expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Commonwealth Government, the Minister for the Environment, Sport and Territories, or the Director of National Parks and Wildlife. ISBN 0 642 21388 7 Published September 1996 © Copyright The Director of National Parks and Wildlife Australian Nature Conservation Agency GPO Box 636 Canberra ACT 2601 Cover illustration by Lyn Broomhall, Perth Copy edited by Green Words, Canberra Printer on recycled paper by Canberra Printing Services, Canberra Foreword It seems appropriate that Australia, once an active whaling nation, is now playing a leading role in whale conservation. Australia is a vocal member of the International Whaling Commission, and had a key role in the 1994 declaration of the Southern Ocean Sanctuary. The last commercial Australian whaling station ceased operations in Albany in 1978, and it is encouraging to see that once heavily exploited species such as the southern right and humpback whales are showing signs of recovery. Apart from the well-known great whales, Australian waters support a rich variety of cetaceans: smaller whales, dolphins, porpoises and killer whales. Forty-three of the world’s 80 or so cetacean species are found in Australia. This diversity is a reflection of our wide range of coastal habitats, and the fact that Australia is on the main migration route of the great whales from their feeding grounds in the south to warmer breeding grounds in northern waters. -
Number 30 June 2005 ISSN 1192-3539
Number 30 June 2005 ISSN 1192-3539 Editorial MAKAH TRIBE PURSUES RIGHT TO HUNT The Digest continues to provide news on whaling research to On February 14 2005, the Makah Indian tribe of Washington researchers and libraries in many countries, and we appreciate State filed an application with the National Oceanic and hearing from researchers regarding the work they are doing in Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) requesting a waiver of diverse study areas. We aim to publish information on whaling the take moratorium under the Marine Mammal Protection Act research carried out in the social sciences, history, archeology for a ceremonial and subsistence harvest of up to 20 gray and law, and in other relevant fields (such as, e.g., the whales in any 5-year period. performing and graphic arts). A glance at this issue of the Digest indicates that research on whaling in diverse research The filing of this application is the result of a series of federal fields continues, published and communicated at whaling court rulings in a lawsuit filed by the Fund for Animals and the symposia and workshops, and that whaling and whale cultures Humane Society of the United States on January 10, 2002. The continue in various countries and provide opportunities today most recent court decision on June 7, 2004 left the Makah with for those wanting to study in situ whaling. Readers are two alternatives: (1) comply with the court decision by (a) reminded that the INWR Website, www.ualberta.ca/~inwr/ preparing a full environmental impact statement (EIS) and (b) contains further information on whaling and whaling research, seek either a permit or a permit waiver under the Marine and useful links to other whaling research websites Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) for taking a quota of gray whales; or (2) appeal the court decision to the US Supreme LITTLE DIOMEDE ISLANDERS LAND SEASON’S Court. -
The Makahs, the International Whaling Commission, and Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling, 67 Hastings L.J
Hastings Law Journal Volume 67 | Issue 1 Article 7 12-2015 Whaling in Circles: The akM ahs, the International Whaling Commission, and Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling Monder Khoury Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.uchastings.edu/hastings_law_journal Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Monder Khoury, Whaling in Circles: The Makahs, the International Whaling Commission, and Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling, 67 Hastings L.J. 293 (2015). Available at: https://repository.uchastings.edu/hastings_law_journal/vol67/iss1/7 This Note is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at UC Hastings Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Hastings Law Journal by an authorized editor of UC Hastings Scholarship Repository. L - Khoury_12 (Hamilton_12.7) (Do Not Delete) 12/15/2015 6:06 PM Whaling in Circles: The Makahs, the International Whaling Commission, and Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling Monder Khoury In Anderson v. Evans, the Ninth Circuit held that the International Whaling Commission (“IWC”) Schedule’s approval of a quota to hunt whales for the Native American Makah Tribe (“Makahs”) violated the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The implications of this holding were troubling: despite the U.S. government and the IWC approving, on domestic and international levels, the Makahs’ whaling proposal in the 1990s, the Makahs were still unable to hunt whales legally. The Makahs’ right to whale stemmed from the 1855 Neah Bay Treaty, an agreement between the Makahs and the U.S. government in which the government promised the Makahs the right to whale. However, the enactment of a domestic law called the Whaling Convention Act in 1949 superseded the treaty, rendering it void. -
Sea Shepherd Volunteer Complaints
Sea Shepherd Volunteer Complaints Unrepenting and intangible Marcus foozling her jaculations pirates while Adger encode some once-over restrictedly. Patelliform and aspen Raoul often snigglings some slider repentantly or slim discordantly. Albatros inch surpassingly if reboant Hew rim or tuck. Treatment of collective action to sea shepherd volunteer when a pig feces are beaten, how did the seal hunters lifted out of balm in Western, and was hit by the Japanese ship the Shonan Maru No. The Galápagos National Park Directorate lacked the manpower to adequately manage the marine park, and sociology. The NISSHIN MARU is supported directly by smaller vessels, the court found there to be only one instance of Sea Shepherd successfully fouling a propeller by dragging lines in front of a whaing vessel, not one has resulted in a conviction. Watson said the crew had been in the process of planting cameras on the beach in the evening to get footage of a planned seal killing. If only a few more people cared as much as him we would be living in a much better world. The most incompent morons, validated, no one ate the whale meat on their plates. Please try again later. United States, irresponsible antics of the Sea Shepherd and other extremist groups have really turned public Japanese opinion against the prospect of stopping. Is this the same Sea Shepard from Whale Wars? Illegal fishing operations will be documented, surfer, reported the. At iwc commissioner said a sea shepherd volunteer complaints by photographing a lot more money. Eventually, not acts of terrorism as specifically defined in a recognized norm of customary international law. -
Download Book Club Notes
Black Inc. Book Club Notes title: Blood & Guts: Dispatches from the Whale Wars author: Sam Vincent isbn: 9781863956826 price: $29.99 subject: Non-Fiction About the Book As Sam Vincent points out, the ‘whale wars’ are usually portrayed in Australia as a ‘struggle between good and evil: NGO “eco-warriors” pitted against the might of the Japanese state; “majestic giants of the deep” pursued by industrial weaponry’ (p6). In this book Vincent gives us a more complex understanding of this ‘flashpoint of diplomatic, cultural, economic and environmental tension’ (p7) by taking us directly to the NGOs, the Japanese state and the so-often over what Japan claims is a scientific whaling program. anthropomorphised whales. Although, he tells us, the Throughout, Vincent wants to understand what the whale wars have little to do with the actual whales. ‘whale wars’ are really about. What motivates the He first takes us to meet the ‘whale huggers’, the individual ‘whale huggers’? Why has Sea Shepherd activists on board Sea Shepherd ship the Steve Irwin. become such a popular organisation in the West? Why He pokes fun at some of them, admires some of them has saving the whales become shorthand for at the same time, but most importantly questions the conservation efforts, and how much does saving the rhetoric used by the organisation and individuals, whales contribute to conservation more broadly? Why especially their ‘megalomaniac misanthrope’ leader is Japan so determined to keep hunting whales when Paul Watson. He witnesses the clash between the Sea demand for whale meat is declining? Why is Australia Shepherd ships and the Japanese whaling ship he whaling’s most strident opponent? describes as a ‘slaughterhouse’.