Issues of the Virtual Planet - Whaling
... lose their traditions and their way of life. Whaling is doing serious damage to our oceans ecological balance. There has been scientific proof that the population of plankton has increased rapidly due to the extremity of whaling. Plankton is the primary source of food for whales, which solely can consume several tones of plankton in one feeding. The decrease in whale population has no doubt had an effect on the environment and an overpopulation of plankton has also led to increase in other species that consume the species. Norway has a huge whaling industry. Some of Norway’s whaling vessels cross international waters and travel more than a thousand miles to reach their hunting grounds. The ships are like small factories, flensing whales on board and remaining at sea for weeks at a time. This on it’s own, provide many jobs for the Norwegian community and by exporting whale meat to Japan, where the prices paid are several times higher then those in Norway. This is one of the ways Norway sustains its economy. Whaling may be considered cruel, but Norway is categorically opposed to the hunting of endangered whale species. While there are some 80 different species of whale, Norway only hunts one: the Minke, and international experts of the International Whaling Commission, has stated several times that the Minke whale is not endangered. So it is apparent that Norwegian whaling is not doing any harm at all, just talking a few whales now and then to boost their economy. During the past ten years, both Japan and Norway have made major improvements in their whale killing technology. This includes advances in the explosive grenades and introduction of a new explosive material used in Minke whale hunts. Increasing concern has aroused in the humane killing of whales. Assessment of the efficiency is usually measured by the time to death in whaling operations rather than the amount of pain the whales withstand or the cause of death for whales. However, it has been stated that some of these creatures take up to 55 minutes to die in Norwegian hunts. Many creatures hunted are pregnant females, which have been reportedly hunted because they give more meat. From this, conclusions could be drawn that the methods of hunting whale are inhumane and vindictive. Greenpeace argues that Norway and Japan’s ‘scientific whaling’ is bogus and the primary reason they are doing it is to sell the meat on the Japanese market and keep the industry alive. Norway claims that whale meat is sold in Norway where it is a traditional part of their diet, but in reality there is little market for the meat in Norway and their real goal is to export to Japan, where whale fetches dearer prices. Japan as also begun scientific whaling and has gradually self increased its quota and added two new species of whale, Sperm and Bryde to their hunts, despite public outrage and protest from around the world. It has also been proven that, due to the ban of whaling in Australia, and other countries that have forbidden whaling, boats of Norway and Japan do not venture into ...