Save the Whales Campaign
The Save the Whales Campaign is a long-standing advocacy initiative that began in 1971, aimed at protecting whale populations and ending commercial whaling practices. This campaign emerged in response to the severe depletion of whale species due to centuries of unchecked hunting for oil and meat, which remains a delicacy in certain cultures. The initiative has been instrumental in raising awareness and garnering international condemnation against illegal whaling activities and the trade of whale meat.
The campaign contributed to significant developments, including the establishment of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in 1946, which later adopted a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986. The campaign's philosophy has evolved to embrace not only conservation but also animal rights and the value of observing whales in their natural habitats. Despite these efforts, some countries, such as Japan and Norway, have continued whaling, citing scientific justifications. Legal actions, such as Australia’s case against Japan at the International Court of Justice, further illustrate the ongoing tensions surrounding whale conservation and the rights of nations to conduct whaling. The Save the Whales Campaign remains a critical movement advocating for the preservation of these majestic marine mammals.
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Subject Terms
Save the Whales Campaign
IDENTIFICATION: A sustained advocacy effort on behalf of the protection of whales
DATE: Initiated in 1971
The efforts of the variety of individuals and organizations involved in the Save the Whales Campaign have been influential in bringing about a ban on commercial whaling and in arousing international condemnation of the activities of pirate whalers and whale meat smugglers.
The unchecked commercial hunting of whales over several centuries in both open oceans and coastal waters caused the depletion of whale populations worldwide. Once harvested for their oil, whales later became prized for their meat, considered to be a delicacy in Japan and a few other countries. Many whale species approached extinction because of rampant overhunting.
The International Whaling Commission (IWC) was founded in 1946 to prevent further exploitation of whale populations, but instead it presided over some of the worst excesses in whaling’s history. In 1971 the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) joined with several other organizations to launch the Save the Whales Campaign in an effort to end the harvesting of whales. Pursuing the theme of this campaign, the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in 1972 called for a ten-year moratorium on commercial whaling. In 1974 the IWC decided to regulate whaling according to the principle of maximum sustainable yield. Whenever a species of whale dropped below the optimal for such a yield, the IWC instituted a ban on hunting that species so that the population could recover. In 1974 the blue whale, bowhead whale, and right whale populations reached low levels and were immediately protected. Because of the difficulty of obtaining reliable data and enforcing catch limits, the Save the Whales Campaign encouraged the IWC in 1982 to adopt an indefinite moratorium on commercial whaling; such a moratorium took effect in 1986 when the IWC instituted its international whaling ban.
During the 1990s the philosophy of the Save the Whales Campaign expanded to include not only the conservation of the whale population but also the issues of animal rights and the aesthetic value of observing whales. Many people worldwide simply believe that it is wrong to kill and eat such large, unique animals, and the World Wide Fund for Nature and others have pointed out that whales must be preserved for observation because of their intrinsic value as mammals of great intelligence.
In opposition to the Save the Whales Campaign and the IWC, Japan, Norway, Russia, and Iceland resumed whaling of the minke species in the early 1990s, citing their rights to refuse specific IWC rulings. These countries based their decisions on information submitted by the Scientific Committee of the IWC, which stated that the minke population was large enough to absorb sustainable exploitation. However, a deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) test of whale meat imposed by the IWC in 1995 revealed that Japan was also harvesting some fin and humpback whales. At its May 1995 meeting, the IWC strongly censured the continued whaling activities of these countries and took serious steps toward stopping pirate whalers and the illegal trade of whale meat.
In May 2010, the government of Australia brought charges against Japan in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, Netherlands, alleging that Japan was conducting illegal whaling under the guise of scientific programs. On March 31, 2014, the ICJ ruled that Japanese whaling programs in the Antarctic had not been conducted for scientific reasons. The ICJ then ordered to halt all whaling in the Antarctic region. Despite this, representatives from Japan alleged that its annual whaling programs were necessary to examine the age and health characteristics of whale populations. They also alleged that such data could not be collected through nonlethal methods.
Bibliography
Heazle, Michael. Scientific Uncertainty and the Politics of Whaling. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2006.
Kalland, Arne. Unveiling the Whale: Discourses on Whales and Whaling. New York: Berghahn Books, 2009.
McCurry, Justin. "Japan Told to Halt Antarctic Whaling by International Court." The Guardian, 31 Mar. 2014, www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/mar/31/japanese-whaling-halt-antarctic-international-court#:~:text=%E2%80%9CWith%20this%20ruling%2C%20Japan%20must,for%20the%20Regulation%20of%20Whaling. Accessed 23 July 2024.
Vaughn, Jacqueline. Environmental Politics: Domestic and Global Dimensions. 5th ed. Belmont, Calif.: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2007.