Download Whales and Whaling

Chapter 7: Whales and Whaling
The “Great” Whales:
Baleen whales
(e.g. Bowhead):
8 species
Baleen (like plastic)
Meat
(for food or oil)
Toothed whales
(1 species:
Sperm whale)
Spermaceti (liquid wax – candles and lubricants)
Meat
(rendered into oil)
No species hunted to extinction;
BUT: many hunted to commercial extinction; and many stocks extirpated
Baleen
Corsets
Krill
(Baleen whale food)
Amphipod
(Gray whale food)
Giant Squid
(Sperm whale food)
Baleen
Baleen Whales
- hunted for meat (for oil) and baleen
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Right Whale (Northern and Southern)
Bowhead Whale
Gray Whale
Humpback Whale
Blue Whale
Fin Whale
“Rorquals”
Sei Whale
Minke Whale
Early Whaling
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(“thousands of years”): Eskimos
First few centuries A.D.: Japan
800-1000 A.D.: Norway, Basque
17th Century: British, Dutch, American
•Main target of early whalers
•Listed as Endangered since the ESA was established
•Listed as depleted under the Marine Mammal Protection Act
•No longer hunted; but not recovering
•Now divided into 3 species, ALL endangered
The Right Whale (to hunt)
North Pacific Right
Whale: Eubalaena
japonicus: ~100 left
North Atlantic Right
Whale: Eubalaena
glacialis: ~300 left
Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis: 7,500
•North Atlantic Right Whale:
Eubalaena glacialis:
•VERY few calves reported
•Critical Habitat designated
North Pacific Right Whale: Eubalaena japonicus
•Critical Habitat designated 2006
•Now threatened by oil and gas development in their critical habitat
Bowhead Whale
• Atlantic: extinct
• Pacific: about 7500, hunted
(67 / year) by Alaskan Eskimos
Eskimos carving muktuk
from a Bowhead Whale
Harpooning Sperm Whales
In the Atlantic from New England;
In the Pacific from Hawaii
Bad end to a “Nantucket Sleigh Ride”
Sperm Whale and
Giant Squid
(Architeuthis,
up to 57 feet long!)
23MagnapinnidaeQ04.mpg
23MagnapinnidaeQ03.mpg
50MagnapinnidaeQ01.mpg
California Gray Whale
Feeding
method
Amphipods
Winter Whale watching from Newport Beach: Davey’s Locker 673-1434
WINTER
Gray whales hunted from 16 shore stations
in California, and in Baja Lagoons
Harpoon Gun
Early
Whaling
Modern
Whaling
“Modern” Whaling Explosive Harpoon
INVENTED 1868
Harpoon guns on fast
steam-driven vessels
- made it possible to catch
the faster-swimming
rorquals (blue, fin, Sei, and
Minke whales).
Factory Ship
Sustaining Harvest by Serial Depletion:
The History of Commercial Whaling
Fin
Fin
Blue
Sei
Sperm
War
Humpback
Fin
Blue
Minke
Rorquals
Largest animal ever to have lived on earth.
Largest: 108 feet long
Can weigh up to 150 tons
Blue Whale: Was ~250,000; Now ~14,000
Common Dolphin: Off Dana Point 8/12/07
Fin Whale: Was ~470,000; Now ~111,000
Sei Whale: Was ~200,000; Now ~25,000
Minke Whale:
Was ~140,000; Now
~940,000
ack Whale: Was down to a few thousand at the time of the mora
Humpback Whale (baby) completely airborne - the only
existing photograph showing a whale voluntarily flying
International Whaling Commission
(IWC) :
Established by the International
Convention for the Regulation of
Whaling – 1946
“The purpose of the Convention is to provide for the proper
conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly
development of the whaling industry”
Originally 14, now 72 member nations
Purpose is NOT “to protect all whales irrespective of their abundance”
1986: Commercial
Moratorium
Moratorium Loophole #1: Compliance is voluntary
• Every year Norway violates the IWC moratorium
• Kills ~ 600 North Atlantic Minke Whales
• 1997; IWC passed a Resolution calling on
Norway to halt all whaling activities under its
jurisdiction.
• Annually since 1998: Self-imposed quota of 6800 whales
• Iceland plans to take 100 minke, 100 fin, and 50
sei whales within Iceland’s 200-mile exclusive
economic zone.
Since the moratorium
Moratorium Loophole #2: Aboriginal / Subsistence Whaling
allows subsistence quotas for groups whose
“traditional aboriginal subsistence and cultural needs have been recognized”
Limits for 2008-2012
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Bering-Chukchi-Beaufort Seas stock of bowhead whales (taken by Alaskan
Eskimos and native peoples of Chukotka):~67 / year
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West Greenland fin whales (taken by Greenlanders):19 / year
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West Greenland minke whales (taken by Greenlanders): 200 / year
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West Greenland bowhead whales: 2 / year
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East Greenland minke whales (taken by Greenlanders):12 / year
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Humpback whales (taken by St Vincent and The Grenadines): 20 / year
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Eastern North Pacific gray whales (taken by native peoples of the USA and
the Russian Federation): ~140 / year
Moratorium Loophole #3: Exceptions for “Research”
Japan’s “research whaling” in the
Southern Ocean Sanctuary
• 2005-2007: “JARPA II” program
• Annual kill of 850 Minke, 50 humpback and 50 fin whales within
the Southern Ocean Sanctuary
• Objectives:
– Monitor the Antarctic Ecosystem
– Monitor competition among whale species
– Elucidate temporal and spatial changes in stock structure
– Improve management procedure for Antarctic minke whale
stocks
• Whale meat is sold to wholesalers
• The Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living
Resources has questioned Japan’s lethal research methods and
has called for a special review of the program.
Japanese Minke whale harvest
http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0709-interview_mike_sutton.html
Emotional Anti-Whaling Battle
Escalates in Southern Ocean
CANBERRA, Australia, January 16, 2007 (ENS) - Australian
Environment Minister Ian Campbell says Japanese whalers will not
be allowed to dock in Australia as long as he is minister.
The bow of the Greenpeace ship
Arctic Sunrise was damaged by the
Japanese factory whaler Nissin Maru
The Sea Shepherd vessel strikes the
Japanese supply tanker Oriental
Bluebird and deploys a sharp
blade Captain Paul Watson calls
"the can opener."
Whalers use
water cannons
against
Greenpeace
The U.S. at IWC
• will not consider lifting the moratorium on
commercial whaling until Revised Management
Scheme (RMS) is in place.
• Opposes Iceland’s reservation to the moratorium
on commercial whaling.
• strongly questions Japan’s and Iceland’s claims
that lethal scientific whaling is necessary to
evaluate the impact of whale predation on fish
stocks.
• strongly supports proposals to establish whale
sanctuaries in the South Pacific Ocean and in the
South Atlantic Ocean
U. S. laws
Supporting IWC Decisions
(In addition to ESA; MMPA)
• Packwood/Magnuson and Pelly
Amendments to the Fishermen's
Protective Act:
– U.S. Government must invoke sanctions
against any nation that undermines the
authority of the IWC.
– But: Inconsistent with free-trade
principles of World Trade Organization
(WTO)
Low Frequency Active Sonar
• Deafeningly loud sonar is a proven danger to marine
life, but its use throughout the world's oceans is
spreading. This powerful movie makes plain what sonar
does to whales
• Thanks to a ruling by the U.S. Department of Commerce
on January 23, 2007, the U.S. Navy will be able to test
its powerful new SONAR system.
• Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England permitted
the U.S. Navy a two-year grace period, until January
2009, to test the new High-Power, Mid-Frequency
SONAR system.
• Several lawsuits have been filed
• The American Cetacean Society asks you to write to
your congressman to protest the two-year exemption.