>im currently studying marine biology at the university of hull. im
>doing an essay on the need to rationalize the exploitation of whales. is there
>any specialised sites that you could suggest. or any info that you could give.
>any help would be appreciated.
The premise of the essay is troublesome. Why is there a "need" to
rationalize an exploitation? The arguments tend fall heavily on the
opposite rationalization; that is, to no longer exploit whales.
The Japanese are forwarding a rationale that goes like this:
whale eat fish;
Japanese fisheries are failing for lack of fish;
whales are in competition with whale for the fish stocks;
therefore whales should be killed to reduce the competition for fish.
If that rationalization is not obviously stupid on its face, consider this:
the major stocks of large whales are endangered and still a amount to
only a small percentage of their original, normal population size.
Their recovery is severly restriced due to a compromised eco system
in which fishstocks have been severely depleted by overfishing, and
some of which are endangered themselves. The Japanese have made it
quite clear that they endeavor to hunt all whales and take all fish
until such activities become commercially extinct.
Along similar lines a rationalization is promoted which simply says
there are hungry people who could eat whales, therefore feed them
whale meat. Whale populations are a mere small fraction of what they
should be in a normal, healthy environment. Human populations have
artifically expanded well beyond the natural carrying capacity of the
environment and will continue to expand. Artifically large human
populations should not be allowed to exploit depressed wild food
resoures as extinction and major eco-systems disruption are the
inevitable results.
For a recent and lucid review of that issue I suggest you contact
Cetacean Society International at 460 Wallingford Road, Cheshire, CT
06410. There may be some pro Japan Whaling web sites, but I
understand it is all hyperbolic propaganda.
Other rationalizations for exploitation include aboriginal whaling
for subsitence and cultural preservation. This makes more sense than
all-out commercial whaling, but begs a curious question: is it
appropriate to preserve a neolithic tradition in its entirety while
most of the rest of the world moves into a 21st Century modern
sensibility?
Whale watching and 'swim-with' programs are considered a form of
'benign exploitation.' However, participants in these activities have
anthropomorphized many marine mammals and have essentially reduced
the 'wildness' of these critters. I do not believe this is a good
thing.
Cheers,
Pieter Folkens
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