The Minke Debate

I suggest trolling the blogosphere, when you get a chance, specifically to look at how people are actually somewhat divided on the issue of whaling.

In this recent post from Greenpeace, they have put together a petition to pressure Obama to enact trade sanctions on countries that allow commercial whaling. This is to remind him to make good on his promise to help reform the IWC. In another post, Robert Bennett of fish4travel appeals directly to individuals by asking would-be tourists to boycott Iceland until Icelandic whaling stops.

One can find dozens of other similarly minded blogs and articles. Where is the division? While people generally accept that the hunting of certifiably endangered whales should be illegal, some support the hunting of Minke Whales.

According to this post put up by ‘Dr. M’ of the Deep Sea News, the issues surrounding Iceland’s whaling practices are not scientifically based but more ethical. He sites that in 2003 Iceland took a total of 562 Fin, Sei and Minke whales compared to Japan’s nearly 13,000. Dr. M points out that since then Iceland's whaling has significantly decreased as they concentrate more and more on Minkes. He goes on to argue that while Fin and Sei whales are endangered, we simply do not know enough about Minke whales to make any conclusions on their population numbers. He says that there are some studies where Minke whales have actually been seen in some areas in great abundance. He argues that one should stay away from eating endangered whales because there is sound scientific evidence of their population numbers, and that this is not necessarily the case with Minkes. When it comes to Minke whales, there is not enough evidence to say they are endangered with absolute certainty, thus the same rules regarding hunting should not apply to them.

Deficient data aside, in this realm it is safest to assume the worst and act on the premise that Minke whales may be endangered and they deserve the same protection as Fin, Sei and other protected whales. To assume the best possible scenario with no regard for the equally possible worst is simply irresponsible.

That there is any debate on this at all can be shocking at times. Surely the anti-whaling community is aware of arguments like those addressed above. While the world’s anti-whaling community is much larger than their opposite, these days this does not necessarily make them louder or more powerful. This debate highlights why a continued great effort is still absolutely necessary in order to push the world away from whaling, for good.

A New Twist on School Lunches

We’ve seen a few disturbing things popping up in the news coming out of Japan lately. Specifically, it was recently found that 18% of Japanese grade schools were found to be serving whale meat to their students! That is nearly one out of every five Japanese children.

As I’m sure our readers aware, Japanese ships have engaged in whaling, under the guise of scientific research for years. While many countries participate in whale research, the vast majority of them do not proceed to kill the whales and sell off the meat.

Decades ago, the serving of whale meat was a fairly common occurrence in Japan, not only to school aged children but across the board. Since then, whale meat has seen a great decrease in popularity. According to this report, Japanese whaling fleets have continued to engage in the loathed practice despite the marked decrease in demand. Apparently somebody is still paying for people to hunt whales even though few are actually buying them. This lead to groups like Japan’s “Institute for Cetacean Research”, to sell off their excess meat to willing schools at severely reduced prices.

As disturbing as this news is, in a mildly perverted way this does indicate a silver lining, for those fighting to abolish the practice of whaling. With such a decrease in demand for whale products, perhaps it points to a limited support within Japan for the Japanese whaling industry. If this is the case then surely Japan’s whaling days are numbered. One can only guess what effect the loss of Japan as a whaling advocate would do for other pro whaling countries like Iceland.

The sweet "boiled cabbage" smell of krill

Toothed whales like sperm whales and killer whales don't have the same olfactory organs that other mammals do, leading researchers to conclude that whales cannot smell. But a study of baleen bowhead whales has revealed that they do in fact possess the anatomical structures that would allow for a sense of smell. Other baleen whales might also be able to smell. The researchers only made the discovery, however, because the whales were killed as part of a hunt by members of the Inupiat tribe of Alaska. Scientists performed a dissection to locate the olfactory organs. To determine if other baleens can smell, scientists may have to wait for a dead one to wash ashore as most cetacean researchers stick to nonlethal methods but this would be an interesting next step. Interestingly, the results confirm the belief of Inupiat tribe members who had asserted that the whales could smell even though researchers told them otherwise.

This sense of smell would be useful to bowhead whales because it could help them locate swarms of krill, which according to a scientist quoted in the article smell like "boiled cabbage." So for whales the sense of smell might be both a blessing and a curse. It's amazing that we know so little about this order and yet some people feel perfectly confident that killing them and keeping them in captivity is no big deal.