The Future of Commercial Whaling
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2010-05-24/future-commercial-whaling
![Humpback whales - Courtesy Sierra Club/Counterpoint; from "Shooting in the Wild" by Chris Palmer.](http://thedianerehmshow.org/sites/thedianerehmshow.org/files/imagecache/620xH/images/headline/whale_horizontal.jpg "Humpback whales - Courtesy Sierra Club/Counterpoint; from "Shooting in the Wild" by Chris Palmer.")
Humpback whales
Courtesy Sierra Club/Counterpoint; from "Shooting in the Wild" by Chris Palmer.
Many countries and environmentalists want the ban on hunting whales more strictly enforced. Whaling nations want it eased. A look at the International Whaling Commission's compromise "peace plan" and what it means to the future of the industry and the marine mammal.
Guests
Chris Palmer
Author of "Shooting in the Wild," Director of the Center for Environmental Filmmaking at American University's School of Communications and a wildlife filmmaker.
Karsten Klepsvik
the Norwegian Commissioner to the International Whaling Commission
Fred O'Regan
President & CEO of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)
Monica Medina
U.S. Commissioner to the International Whaling Commission, Commerce Department Principal Deputy Under Secretary at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA.)
Comments
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Whales deserve their place in the ocean and humankind will be the poorer for their destruction and loss. Populations suffer from ship strikes, manmade debris in ocean waters, and pollution, among other threats. This is not a farmable resource, it is a finite one. I strongly disagree that any country should kill whales for profit or ‘science’ and the US would be wrong to favor the killing for any reason. No contemporary people require whale meat for sustenance or income, we have the intelligence to create the means to our survival.
Thank you for including whale welfare as a topic.
I have called the White House EVERY day on this issue, as well congress! In this 21st century, we as a people should be far more advanced than we are on so many issues!We have NO need for whales for sustenance or oil! Why the IWC has to keep "talking" about this issue is beyond my understanding! Since 1986 every member has known this day would come, and instead of going forward into an age where we STOP HUNTING COMPLETELY this wonderful creatures, they are thinking of taking 10 more years to KEEP THINKING!!! How insane is this?! In light of the recent oil spill in the Gulf and the chemicals being dumped into the ocean, I suspect the whales and more sea life will die. With all the information and technology, I really thought I'd live to see a better generation of people in this world without all the new ideas on how and what else we can kill.
There is absolutely no reason or excuse for killing these magnificent creatures. They belong to our world and no person or country has the right to destroy them. Bravo to IFAW, Sea Shepherd, HSUS, and all the organizations for taking a stand against the needless and barbaric practice of whale killing.
The gentleman from Norway compares killing and eating whales with killing and eating sheep and tries to make the point that only people who don't eat meat would object.
Whales are wild animals and are endangered. Sheep are not!
There is absolutely no reason for anyone on this planet to kill whales!!!
I just did some research in Softpedia and found that the brains of some whale species are as complex as apes and dolphins, all close to that of man. Their cerebral cortex, seat of active thinking, is complex. The brain is modularly organized into "islands", like man's, thought to contribute to fast communication within the brain. The brain has "spindle cells", which are found only else in apes and man and have an unknown purpose, except that when absent or deteriorated cause Alzheimers' and other dementia diseases. Plus, spindle neurons developed in whales 30 million years ago. The ape-man lineage only developed this 15 million years ago. I think they could be smarter than us...
The Norwegian representative's statements about not taking species that are disallowed are not credible. The researcher Steve Palumbi has taken DNA samples of whale meat sold in Japan, and found many prohibited species included, including blue whales. But as a bigger point, why would anyone in this day and age believe any industry representative anyways?
I find it interesting that most of your guests and listeners have such passion for the 17,000 whale kills over the last 10 years. That number seems significant, and their passions seems misplaced.
I wonder if any of your guests or listeners have ever asked how many partial birth abortions occurred over the last 10 years? Well here you go:
According to the New York Times: "There are at least 164,000 abortions a year after the first three months of pregnancy, and 13,000 abortions annually after 4 1/2 months, according to the Alan Guttmacher Institute (New York Times, July 5 and November 6, 1995), which is an arm of Planned Parenthood. These numbers should be regarded as minimums, since they are based on voluntary reporting to the AGI. (The Centers for Disease Control reported that in 1993, over 17,000 abortions were performed at 21 weeks and later-- and the CDC acknowledges that the reports that it receives are incomplete.)
Is there such a thing as a Pro-Life Environmentalist? Doubtful.
I find most comments here totally based on feelings and totally. There is no real science showing whales like the minke whale beeing more intelligent than a lot of other species. Number of wales also indicates that a sustainable hunting can be performed. But of course a lot of modern mythology is connected to whales. May be that is the most important reason for the strong engagement in this cause?
We have a consensus of 4-Talisker, S Clark, I Gray and now myself underscore the absolute lack of any reason for the need to continue the murdering of these highly intelligent beings. Personally I have been against this since my cousin worked the summer of '48 aboard a whaler. He brought pictures back from the trip, that to me, then young, were horrifying! The "international horror" has magnified over the years. (see National Geographic).
All wars of the recent century, that were exercised on the oceans of the world have produced endless sources of oozing pollution coming from the hulks of sunken ships, aircraft, and other weapons including the "H" bomb tests in the Pacific!
Ask yourself, "Why do Whales beach themselves?" We, humans, have polluted their life-supporting environment! Sonar is another very plausible reason!
Sollution: Life Incarceration of a human for every whale "murdered": Per "Killing" Ship, per act: one person-ship's owner or CEO/boardmember, another citizen from the "home-port" govt., and a third being the captain/officer of the "killing ship" (a total of 3 persons for every murdered male); for every calf, double the number of incarcerated persons, for every female, triple the number! Continue until this idiotic behaviour stops. Parole may be invoked for the incarcerated persons upon a World-Wide Enforced Moratorium for the killing of whales, sea mamals, and the elimination of "long-line" & "drag-net" fishing.
Final question: "Would you murder your mother, father, daughter or son"?
In the slaughter of whales, we are killing off intelligence and balance for the sake of 21st century human stupidity. NO ONE WILL DIE should the practice of murdering whales and other ocean species be stopped! Native peoples NOTexcluded.
For the investors, the World Bank can very well launch a buy-back of every whaling ship and factory, or idemnify their current debt & convert the chattels to ocean educational faciities.
More thoughts and then action please!
Brokenreef makes many good points.
So sad that the various governments and regulatory bodies fail to ensure species protection and a ban on killing whales. It's encouraging that the World Bank has that capability. Are they huMANe enough to put such a plan to practice?
IFAW has some recommended actions:
http://www.ifaw.org/ifaw_international/media_center/press_releases/04_22...
The Obama Administration needs to hear that we want a strong ban, not a suspension of the international ban.
Call the Prez 202-456-1111
I will NEVER forgive President Obama if he votes to end the moratorium. He should instead be fighting with the full power and might of the United States to END this barbaric practice once and for all. The Japanese, Norwegian and Islandic barbarians have NEVER honored the conditions of the two decades plus moratorium, and they will KILL the remaining whales with wild abandon if we do not do something to stop them, ASAP. Lifting the moratorium will give the whaling industry legitimacy and hasten the demise of their intended victims. Most of the meat they harvest isn't even eaten! Because the vast majority of Japanese don't even like whale meat, there are huge hordes of this meat building up in Japanese warehouses. But because the Japanese taxpayers subsidize the killing as well as the generous pensions of whaling executives, there is NO rational reason for the murderers to stop! The United States needs to step in and save these magnificent beings from their irrational and insane extinction. NO WHALING! EVER AGAIN!
In reply to Steve Allen:
If I argue that apples are good for people, does that mean I don't like oranges? Why don't you abortion folks learn logic? It is not a zero-sum question. (Look up that term in a good dictionary.) It is not a matter of the whales OR the fetuses. Fighting for the lives of God's whales and other animals (who cannot fight for themselves) does not preclude fighting for human fetuses.
However, the girl who has to go through a pregnancy, give birth, and then raise, feed, educate, clothe, house, and provide health care for a child should be the judge of whether she wants to do that or is capable of doing that...not governments, not religions, and not you. Whales belong to the world...not to governments, not to countries, not to whalers, not to anybody. They are not property to be disposed of by the highest bidder.
The irony is clearly displayed in this interview as real science is showing that whale population are far lower than they should be, however, the whaler's pseudo-science is claiming that whales have recovered so they may continue to pursue their profits. Please pay attention to the real science and facts. They are all telling us to conserve and protect them.
We need to take action in supporting & encouraging anti-whaling nations in phasing out whaling. Banning all forms of whale hunting is true conservation!
http://WhalingNoMore.org/
On the science of measuring stocks, if you have 30,000 animals and they are increasing at 10% a year and you take 0.05%, you will have more whales, year after year.
It's good to have science-based sustainable harvests from the wild for our protein needs, as opposed to replacing wild animals with herds on introduced domesticated animals or fields of soybeans.
For example, a sustainable hunt of bison makes a lot of sense for the environment versus replacing bison with crops of soybeans or domesticated sheep.
We should support countries living in balance with nature. Pushing for a ban on whaling when every county on the planet uses animals for food and clothing, is unsupportable.