The International Whaling Regime - Research Essay

Hunting of Whales in the Earlier Times:

The hunting of the whale dates back to the 12th century in which the hunting of black whales was conducted by the areas of North Atlantic. In 1864, explosives were used to hunt the whales. The technology used to hunt the whales could even kill the fastest fish in the sea, for example, the fin, sei and blue whales. In the 16th century, the species of whales were depleted and by the 17th century, Britishers and Dutch started to hunt whales along their coastlines. By the 20th century, the Pacific gray whales were hunted extensively and migrated to the North American Coast. The hunting operations were conducted using spears and harpoons that were replaced by shot guns and bomb lace guns by the end of the 19th century. Other ancient hunting techniques used by the hunters were the hand harpoons used by the Japanese hunters and a technique that involved nets that were used mostly for right, humpback and gray whales. The hunting of the whales expanded to the coastline of Antarctic. In 1904, the first harbor opened in South Georgia where the whales were fleeced. Furthermore, by 1925 the restriction for a land base was upheld and made it possible to pull the whales for processing on the exposed seas. After a mere five years, six sea stations were built, fourty one British and Norwegian factory boats and two hundred and thirty two whale hunters in the Antarctic. By 1961 and 1963 the total number of the whales hunted were sixty three thousand. The whale hunting has increased from 8863 whales in 1937 to the above-mentioned figure in 1962.

The International Whaling Regime:

The International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling was established in 1946 that introduced the International Whaling Commission. Fifteen countries signed this convention, the main idea of this regime was to provide suitable preservation of whales and the regulation of the whaling industry. Then by the middle of the 1960s, the goal was changed to conserve the whale stocks around the world as there was an inclusion of new members in the commission. There are total eleven articles in this regime and compulsory for all the member countries to abide by them. In the early years of the 1970s, the Commission was made the main association of the regime that was seen as a platform for the nations to sort out all the conflicts between the nations that want to preserve the whale stocks and those who want to use the whale stocks for numerous reasons. As in the early years of the Convention, the main goal of the members was to regulate the industry for whale stocks, they agreed upon two clauses:

1. To protect the native whaling and;
2. Authorizing to take and kill the whale for scientific uses

However, the member nations disrupt the negotiations into two; the first was to permit the nations to conduct the whaling season from 1947 to 1948 and the second was the establishment of the Commission. The Convention allowed the members to hunt whale to a specific amount that was 16000 blue whales in 1944. Previously, all of the countries used to hunt whale before the introduction of the Commission however, currently, only seven countries now conduct whaling as other countries have a contradicting view on over fishing of the whales. Now the rest of the nations are working to reduce the hunting of whale for any purpose. This has been due to two reasons, firstly, the modernization of the regime and due to wide spread developments in other regimes, the focus is more on the preservation of the whales. Lastly, the pro whaling members want the treaty to go back to its former objectives. Now the members of the Commission are not on good terms as they were earlier and do not trust each other because some countries are conducting commercial whaling instead of whaling for scientific purposes. Another reason is that the pro whaling countries were promised that the moratorium would be lifted but anything isn’t done to lift it

Under the Commission many treaties were launched either by the USA or a group of countries. Some of the treaties are:

• The Pelly Amendment:

This Amendment was launched by the United States for their own country’s law and particularly impacted the decisions of the IWC. This was launched in 1971 and the main objective of this treaty is to impose a quota on the fish products that is being exported from the United States. Any president of United States hasn’t imposed any sanctions under Pelly Amendment, however, President Obama raised concerns for Iceland’s scientific certification in 2011 to the federal institutions and after that Iceland didn’t conduct whaling after 2011. 

• Packwood-Magnuson amendment:

This amendment was also launched by the United States was in accordance with Fishery Conservation and Management Act in 1979. According to this act the secretary of commerce was ordered to reduce fifty percent of the fishing rights in America’s waters and if any country violated it had to bear the consequences. For example, during Reagan’s government Japan was denied of the privilege to whale under the America’s exclusive economic zone.

• North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission (NAMMCO):

According to many authors NAMMCO is a regional tactic to preserve whales in the North Atlantic area. The NAMMCO was launched in 1992 and is quite a small regime than International Whaling Commission. This institution is more successful than the Commission and the members of this Regime take advices from the marine scientists to conserve the population of the mammals. The International Whaling Commission should look into the model of the NAMMCO and should follow some guidelines of it. Much work has been done to stop the members from whaling extensively. Iceland rejoined International Whaling Commission after NAMMCO was strict in its guidelines.

In 1982 the Commission raised the issue of over whaling the seas due to which the idea of moratorium resurfaced again after few years in the Commission. Moratorium was a part in the scheduled Convention in which the activity of whaling was banned for a period of ten years. However, in 1986 Japan forcefully agreed upon this and conducts whaling under ‘scientific research’ but this isn’t the case all the members are aware that Japan still commercial whales under the name of ‘research’ and will continue to do so until the moratorium is ended or it opts out from the moratorium. 

Critique of International Whaling Regime:

The whaling expedition around the world have been going on since the early times. Many of the Aboriginal people that are also the natives of that particular country hunt the whales specially the gray and white for nutrition purposes. In 1982 the Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling principle came into being for the people who want to conduct whaling for different purposes; the regime was divided into three parts, experts in wildlife science, nutrition and cultural anthropology. Looking at this regime under ICW, the aboriginal people hunt whales for these three purposes however, in my opinion two of them aren’t valid reasons that is cultural anthropology and wildlife science. Nutrition on the other hand is a valid reason because as Earth is surrounded by 75% of the water and only 25% of the land; people have extensively used resources on land and these resources are deteriorating. The whales are seen as a source of good nutrition especially the blue whales. These natives are poor and the only source of food are whales, their meat is more nutritious than that of the animals on land. However, they can only hunt whale under the name ‘subsistence’ that means that they can only rely on whale’s meat due to poverty and marginalization from the rest of the world. If the word ‘subsistence’ is removed from the heading than they will be like rest of the countries that whale to fulfill their demands. I think the International Whaling Regime has not been successful and is rather a failure. There are numerous reasons as to why the regime failed, the main reason in my opinion is the act of moratorium adopted by Convention in 1982. The act was adopted under Revised Management Procedure, there are two kinds of members in the IWC one kind is pro-whaling that are in favour of hunting of whales for some specific reasons and other in anti-whaling that are in any way against hunting of whales. However, the moratorium meant that there will be a temporary prohibition on the hunting of whales according to paragraph 10(e) but the anti-whaling members considered this a complete ban on the whaling activities. The main goal of the Commission was to control all the whaling events alongside upholding the act of moratorium according to paragraph 10(e) that permits for quotas on whaling rather than zero whaling. This misinterpretation by the members aroused mistrust among other members and created conflict between them. Another reason is Japan, this country is among the pro whaling countries that whales under the impression of ‘scientific research’ but technically they are commercial whaling. The Convention introduced moratorium a decade before its acceptance, in 1972 but the majority of the countries voted against it however, in 1982 there was inclusion of new countries and the species of whales were over-harvested. Some of the stocks were nearly extinct so after observing the condition of the whales, the moratorium was implemented with three-fourth of the voting in favour of it. The Convention introduced many measures to stop Japan from commercial whaling but the major blow was the introduction of moratorium that Japan could whale under a fishing contract with the IWC and pressurized by the USA. After the adoption of this moratorium Tokyo introduced a ‘scientific whaling program’ that invoked the scientific clause in the Convention; Article 8 includes that any country will be allowed to whale accepting a permit under scientific reason however, the Japanese were commercial whaling disguised under ‘scientific’. In 1987, a plan was put forward to kill eight hundred and twenty five mink, fifty sperm whales in the Antarctic region for a total of twelve years. This was not approved by the Commission but the Japanese edited their proposal and put forward the proposal to hunt three hundred minke and zero sperm whales for the fishing season of 1987 and 1988. They even introduced a scientific program called the Japanese Antarctic Research Program (JAPRA) that was made for sixteen years that entailed a fourteen year research program. So, according to couple of academic authors Japan is commercial whaling under the name of scientific research. Japan conducts commercial whaling because of the cultural value in their country for whales as the fins of whales are used in their diet and is considered a vital symbol in the culture. By the end of 2019, Japan have taken its name out of the Commission and resuming commercial whaling. There other countries too just like Japan who are whaling to fulfill their own demands but Japan is one of the main countries among them who have always resisted the measures taken by the IWC to conserve whaling. In my opinion, this regime has also failed due to a major catastrophic event in 2017 where all the world was shocked when the pictures surfaced of the barbaric activity in the Faroese Island:

The act of killing Whales as a ritual in Faroese Island called Grindadrap:

Faroese island is among the eighteen islands in the North Atlantic Ocean with less than fifty thousand residents on that island. The people of these island follow a ritual called grindadrap in which they kill the pilot whales as soon as they come near to the shore. Countries have described this a barbaric act to slaughter the innocent pilot whales that is a so-called ritual in Faroese island. According to anti whaling countries there are three main reasons why this act is horrendous; firstly, the act of whaling is not necessary and the citizens can buy their meat at the super stores. Secondly, the act is uncivilized and barbaric and lastly, the killing of pilot whales can be dangerous for the people because these types of whales contain industrial chemicals like mercury. Since the middle of 1980s the environmentalist have been raising concerns for the ‘ritual’ conducted in the Faroese islands. The biggest blow was when pictures of slaughtered whales were surfacing on the internet and there was an uproar from all the sides of the world; the picture were surfaced in 2017. The act of grindadrap occurs thrice a year and is considered a great deal to the citizens of Faroese. In 1986 when the hunting of whales was temporarily prohibited for a mere ten years by the ICW, the government of the Faroese island also prohibited the hunting of whales except for the species of pilot whales whose hunt is conducted for the ritual. The pilot whales are often hunted for commercial purposes in the North Atlantic Oceans by the Faroese fishers. The intake of the pilot whales is dangerous as in the 1980s samples of mercury were found in the mothers’ hair which indicated that it was effecting the fetuses development. This case shows that the promise by the Commission to preserve the species of whales have been a failure in the case of Faroese Islands and that the people are still consuming these whales even after the Faroese health authorities have issued reports regarding under development of the fetuses.

Case Study of IWC Regime:

The International Whaling Commission have impacted greatly through the measures undertaken by many countries. Many of the countries have come forward in support of preservation of the species of whales in the past decade. Many of the non profit organizations that work for the conservation of the maritime animals urge the government to speak up for these animals. There is one country that stood against another, Australia is among the anti whaling countries that worked tirelessly to punish Japan for their pro whaling regimes. Australia is among those countries that fought for the rights of the whales and stopped Japan in killing more of the whales under false pretence. A little background to this case study, Japan conducts commercial whaling as the whales are considered an important symbol in the Japanese culture. After signing the moratorium in 1986 with the Commission, Japan did not stop whaling as did the other countries like Norway and Iceland instead Japan invoked the ‘scientific research’ clause that is Article VIII of the Scheduled Regime and made the Japanese Antarctic Research Program also known as JAPRA I . The Article VIII of the Convention was: “Any government can allow the citizens to hunt, treat and take whales under a special permit for scientific research and all the government authorizing the citizens special permits for hunting of whales shall report to the Commission” and “ the whales that are hunted under special permits shall so far as practicable be dealt with”. This program was aimed to whale in the South Pacific Ocean by the Japanese and whaled a total of three hundred minke whales per season that increased to four hundred. Then in 2005, JAPRA II was introduced that whaled for ‘scientific purpose’ in the Antarctic and the North Pacific Ocean. The Japanese have hunted and killed approximately ten thousand eight hundred and fifty seven whales since the introduction of the so called JAPRA program under Article VIII . In 2010 Australia reported against Japan that it is conducting commercial whaling in the seas under ‘scientific research’ and in 2012 New Zealand went against Japan for falsely using Article VIII  with International Court of Justice (ICJ). Both the countries, Australia and Japan didn’t hesitate in receiving the jurisdiction of the ICJ in 2002 and 2007. According to Australia Japan violated the Commission with three articles; firstly, the 10(e), the idea of the moratorium in which the catching limit of the whales would be none. Secondly, the 7(b) to not to whale for domestic purposes in the South Pacific Ocean and thirdly, the 10(d) only to hunt, take and treat all the species of whales except the minke whales by the professional  whale hunters that are connected to factory ships . However, Japan questions these obligations and reports that the violations accused by the Australian government are false for JAPRA II because the regime has taken whales only for a scientific reason and has been following the Article VIII . The decision taken by the ICJ regarding the whaling case in the Antarctic was that the second version JAPRA can be somehow recognized for scientific purpose however, the proof does not show that the JAPRA’s whole purpose and application are in accordance to achieve the nation’s Commissions’ objective. The ICJ however, ordered Japan to not grant any more permits under JAPRA II  . Then seeing that the other countries have stood against them, Japan introduced other programs to allow themselves to hunt whales in the seas. On December 1, 2015, NEWREP-A was launched by the Japanese, this program was aimed at the ICJ’s jurisdiction that included that Japan did not provide much evidence that this program is for ‘scientific’ purpose and not much attention was provided to means of using non deadly techniques for research purposes. So, NEWREP-A according to multiple Japanese personnel is in accordance with the ICJ’s jurisdiction to Japan and also is according to the objectives of the Commission. However, by launching this program Japan doesn’t stop whaling under any special permits and disregards the court’s order. Observing from all of the factual information above we can see that Japan will do anything to hunt whales in the South Pacific, North Pacific, and the Antarctic. Another main reason why countries like Australia and New Zeeland had problems with  Japan’s whaling was because it only hunt whales in the coastal areas of other countries due to which Japan was not allowed to whale any more in the coastal areas of USA after 1988 and this was even more extended in Bush’s era. As discussed, earlier Japan hunt whales because of the symbolic reason the animal holds and that the meat of the animal is nutritious. In my opinion, in this case, the good guys are Australia and New Zealand and that the Commission has been a success when addressing these two countries. The reason why these countries are considered a success for the Commission is that the main goal now of the Regime is to conserve the species of whales; Australia and New Zealand did the same by standing against Japan and confronting it of the heinous crimes they committed. Countries like the USA did not appeal to the Court against Japan as the Commission was only made following the American progressive law and only banned Japan from whaling from their coastal areas under Packwood-Magnusson Amendment. In the case of Japan, the Commission needs to reform some articles when it comes to countries like Japan to stop whaling for domestic purposes and acting as if it is killing the whales for ‘scientific’ purposes. In other words, Japan figured out the loopholes through Article VIII of the Commission and did not give much evidence of its scientific research methods. This was a major waking call for the Commission to do anything in their power to stop the country from hunting whales in any case. Japan was not conducting the deed of commercial whaling in its coastal areas but conducting in other countries’ coastal areas, the political reason why the countries were also furious. This case study includes both the success of the Regime and the case that needs reform; the former includes Australia and New Zealand and the latter includes Japan. Now Japan is leaving the Commission and will start to whale in its coastal area.

Conclusion:

The IRWC was launched to regulate the whaling industry in its first term and the member countries used to whale at that time. However, with further development of the planet, the awareness was raised to conserve the maritime life as the resources will soon be extinct if the pace of commercial fishing is the same, then the Regime introduced a Commission that’s aim was to conserve the whale stocks around the world. Many countries stopped whaling for domestic purposes but few others did not due to many reasons. The Commission introduced Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling that would allow the aboriginal to whale for three purposes: wildlife science, nutrition, and cultural anthropology. The natives were allowed subsistence because this community is marginalized in the world and is quite poor so the only source of food that is nutritious is whale meat. Article VIII was introduced by the Commission to allow the countries under special permits to whale for scientific purposes, the permit would be granted by the government and it would report to the Commission as soon as possible, once the permit is granted. This article was invoked by Japan after accepting the moratorium in 1982 that was the temporary prohibition for the countries to stop whaling until further notice. After the moratorium, Japan introduced two scientific programs JAPRA I and II that indicated the country conducted whaling for a scientific reason, however, according to many countries and environmentalists they were commercial whaling under a pretence of scientific research. Appeals were taken against them in front of the International Court of Justice and the order was taken by the Court that the Japanese officials will no longer grant any special permit under JAPRA II. Japan still launched a new scientific program in 2015 that is the NEWREP-A, which according to the officials are following the Court’s jurisdiction and there will be no use of deadly techniques whatsoever. However, any step taken towards the conservation of the whales completely couldn’t stop few countries to conduct whaling. According to some, whales are the largest sea animal in the world and can easily replace the meat of the animals on land. After the moratorium there has been an increase in the population of whales, however, the blue whales that are the largest of their kind consume other small fishes and the smaller whales that weren’t over harvested also consumes the same kind of small fishes but reproduce more than the big blue whales. This caused the problem for the big blue whales that couldn’t consume the smaller fishes and ultimately dies. Another reason for the countries to resume commercial whaling is that humans won’t be able to get their hands on the smaller fishes if the moratorium isn’t lifted. However, brutally killing the whales for their good is ethically wrong and immoral. A recent event of commercial whaling surfaced in 2017 on the internet, pictures were taken of the barbaric act in the Faroese Islands where according to some rituals the civilians brutally murdered the pilot whales. Samples of mercury were found in the people and especially in the pregnant women, the particles found in the hair of the women were from killing the pilot whales that were the source of mercury. People still don’t care about the world except their own and they still do as they please.