Homo nonsapiens’s inability to put its greed and vanity aside and work towards a better future (or, indeed, a possible future) is depressingly shocking.
The new bad news is that we failed to protect the whale population.
From Sunday 20 June, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) was holding meetings in Agadir, Morocco. But instead of being original, the IWC simply repeated Copenhagen’s case. It failed.
“I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse.”
He can, Godfather, he can.
The great betrayal
Commercial whale hunting is forbidden since 1982. That year, after a long campaign by environmentalists, international whaling moratorium was agreed. The Independent called it “one of the environmental movement’s greatest achievements”.
The argument was that, a) whaling (firing grenades which explode inside the bodies of these intelligent mammals) is cruel; b) many whale populations had been brought to a near extinction by hunting.
But who cares about international agreements. Japan, Norway and Iceland continued their whale massacre. They invented various explanations to justify themselves. Japan, for one, pretends to be carrying scientific research. So scientific that aggressive whale meat advertising is needed to attract consumers, the majority of whom are simply not interested in eating whales.
Iceland argues whaling is important to its economy. It also says that whales eat fish which should be on homo nonsapiens’s table. Oh, and then there’s the “principle”. The principle to do whatever we want.
Norway doesn’t even bother with explanations. It simply formally objects to the moratorium and declares itself exempt.
The new deal would have stopped all sorts of whaling and in return given quotas (much smaller than whale hunting countries award themselves now). This wasn’t the best deal for the whales, but at least it would have put some international monitoring. On the other hand, some common sense existed at the IWC meeting as the ban wasn’t lifted altogether.
Other crimes
A whistleblower told the BBC that Japan was bribing developing countries to support its whaling at the IWC meeting. The Sunday Times investigated further.
All in all, the bribes included: aid money (vote for us, and you get your aid; vote against, and you won’t see it anymore), cash (in envelopes) and prostitutes (in person).
How about that.
Beautiful whales
It may be hard for homo nonsapiens to accept, but ours is not the only intelligent species on Earth.
To quote Margi Prideaux from the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society: “We now understand that dolphins and whales, in various different ways, have distinct personalities and identities; that they can think about the future, and have the innate ability to learn language. Much of whale and dolphin behaviour is cultural, learned and passed down through generations.”
Did you know that every whale’s tail is unique, just like our fingerprints? That’s how scientists distinguish one individual from another. Some are given names. Humpback whale Salt, for example, comes back to US East Coast every summer to feed and show off her babies.
Whales are also great acrobats, jumping around in the ocean despite their considerable size. They’re curious, and they sing to their relatives for miles away. Have a look at them at Whale Watch.
But it’s not really about the whales, is it. It’s about our national interests, elections, economies, greed, ignorance, traditions, "principles"...
Oh-oh, did I say greed and ignorance?
Well I meant it.
Photos: me.
“Whales are important for the economy”. So what!? Whales are more important to nature, oceans, humans, ... They are one of the most beautiful creatures on earth; why can’t we let them be so?
I was so very disappointed when I read about the meetings having failed. And angry. And sad.
Hanna, I feel the same. Angry, sad and disappointed.
I suspect whales are not so much important to the economy, as to the fattening wallets of certain individuals. It’s all just a big lie, like Japan’s “arguments”. Last year I saw a BBC documentary about whale burgers, which are marketed to attract the young Japanese, the McDonald’s visitors. This is done because whale meal is not even popular among consumers. They also said that even though whaling is old, just like any other form of hunting, Japan had never had traditions of eating whales. It was only after WW2 that the devastated country turned to them.
But I certainly agree with you, we cannot always put economy on top of everything else. There are ways to do things, and killing whales is not one of them.
I agree, it’s frustrating! We have a huge responsibilty to protect, not to destroy those marvelous -as we can see on your photos - animals! Thank you for flagging up the issue on THINK!
Thank you for your support, Sylwia. Whales are indeed marvelous. And there is no need to eat them, nor kill them “for science”, as science can easily watch them without firing grenades into their stomachs.
Having watched whales for three months, it breaks my heart to see that we humans still believe we have no responsibility whatsoever to the nature and other species which were here before us.
I have never seen one live, but I am happy to watch them on GN films and just stare at a nice photo too, let them live etc. I have somehow always marveled their sublime nature. There was a very good art movie made about them…I will try to dig it out;)
Sylwia, if you dig it out, please let me know.
Everyone, please sign Greenpeace petition asking Japan to stop playing its dirty games with whales: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/oceans/whaling/ending-japanese-whaling/End-whaling-NOW/
Here’s another one: http://www.whalesrevenge.com/. There’s a little game there, you can be a whale for a while, trying to escape grenades shot at you. Impossible.
All this is so hypocritically outrageous!
It is before such very human decisions on what could be turning points that I become profoundly frustrated with mankind. HOW COME?!
I’ve already signed it, Giedre. Thanks for delivering this brilliant post.
Thank you for signing it, Luan. I share your frustration, and you touch an important point: “such very human decisions on what could be turning points”. Why is it so that humankind is unable to think long-term, to think emphatically, and to put its own insecurities and arrogance aside for once?
(Because money is involved I’m afraid…)
:( The Swedish government has also been supporting Norway on this. It is the Norwegian situation I know best.
Whale fishing has become a kind of symbolic issue for a group of fishermen who have a hard time surviving on their trade. BUt they would be better off not hunting whales I think. There is obviously no huge economic market for whale meet, so what they are fighting for is some sort of political recognition, but this will not help them in the long run.
The basic problem, as I see it, is the industrial fishing, that outcompetes the local fisheries. If they felt secure about their livelihood, I think they would moree easily compromise on whale hunting as well.
Thanks for sharing your insights, Daniel.
I agree that in the local fishers case, it’s about their security and ability to compete in the market with big companies. But there have to be other ways to deal with this than finding a scapegoat, which just happens to be whales. “I’m out of business so I’ll kill a whale.” Where is government action? Initiatives? New skill learning? ... They then invent all sorts of “explanations” which are no more than nicer-sounding justification for their criminal actions. I can understand locals’ frustration, but it’s not the whales’ fault and therefore they shouldn’t be punished for it.