Minkes and whaling ...!

As we come to the end of April and the end of our focus on the common minke whale it seemed appropriate to finish up with a word or two on the issue of “whaling”, possibly the biggest threat to the common minke whale. While Norway, Japan (although their main focus is the Antarctic minke whale) and Iceland continue to hunt this species in its hundreds, other countries (and organisations like WDCS) continue to try and put a halt to the slaughter once and for all!

To keep up to date with what’s going on in the whaling debate, to have your voice heard and to hear what to expect at the forthcoming IWC meeting in June, keep a close eye on the WDCS website. But for the moment, here is some interesting background information on the various countries whaling activities, some interesting facts and links!

Be warned, it makes for very sobering reading! (And apologies for no images but we don't really need to see gruesome images as the words say it all!)

Norwegian whaling

NewsFlash … Norway has started minke whaling in the North Atlantic, with an increased minke quota for 2010

Prior to the decision banning commercial whaling, Norway killed approximately 2,000 minke whales per year, and more than 51% of the products from those kills were exported to Japan. Minke whaling in Norway is conducted by fishermen, the vast majority of whom engage in fishing for other species outside the whaling season.

In 1982, when the IWC adopted the moratorium on commercial whaling, Norway was one of the few governments to take an objection to the decision. When the ban on commercial whaling came into effect in 1986, Norway initially undertook a small- scale scientific hunt of minke whales; in 1993, it announced that it would resume commercial whaling under its objection.

Vessels range in size from 50 to 80 feet, and the number of vessels engaged in the fishery has dropped considerably from more than 35 in the late 1990s to 21 in 2009. Quotas have risen in recent years, from 425 in 1996 to 1,052 in 2009. However, the actual take has fallen far short of the quota and only once in the past ten years (2001), has the quota been met.

The 2010 Norwegian whaling season officially opened on April 1st, with a quota of 1,286 minke whales, more than 45% above the 2009 quota of 885 animals. The final catch for 2009, however, was 484, the lowest number of whales taken in a decade.

Japanese Whaling

Japan has a limited tradition of small scale whaling that dates back centuries. However, its large-scale, industrial whaling is a relatively new phenomenon, starting after World War II when animal protein was in short supply.

Japan continues to kill whales and sell the meat from its hunts, despite the ban (moratorium) on commercial whaling. To do this it exploits a loophole in the founding treaty of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), which allows whaling for scientific research. It also hunts in an IWC-designated sanctuary in Antarctica, under an objection it lodged to that decision in 1994.

Currently, Japan allocates its whalers annual research quotas for 10 sperm, 100 sei, 50 Bryde’s and 120 minke whales in the North Pacific (60 of which are killed by Small Type Coastal Whalers), and up to 935 minkes and 10 fin whales in Antarctica, making a total of 1,225 whales a year. Hunting of 50 humpbacks a year was planned to begin late in 2007, however worldwide opposition forced Japan to postpone this hunt. Japan continues to threaten to include humpbacks as a part of its quota, despite not having killed any, which many conservation groups see as a negotiating tool in its discussions at the IWC.

Provisional figures from Japan’s 2009 hunt in the North Pacific show that Japanese whalers killed roughly 160 minke whales, 100 sei whales, 50 Bryde’s whales and 1 sperm whale. In addition, Japan killed 506 minke whales and one fin whale in its 2009/2010 Antarctic hunt.

Icelandic whaling

NewsFlash … Iceland have started their 2010 whale hunt

When the International Whaling Commission (IWC) agreed in 1982 to stop all commercial whaling by the 1986 whaling season, Iceland did not take an objection to the decision, as other whaling countries did. After the moratorium took effect, Iceland continued a small “scientific whaling” programme, and killed some 60 whales a year until 1989, but then left the IWC in 1992. Iceland rejoined in 2002 with a legally disputed reservation against the moratorium. Many countries objected to Iceland’s attempt to circumvent international regulations, and some countries still do not recognise Iceland’s membership of the IWC.

Iceland resumed scientific whaling in 2003 and in a five year “research” programme, killed a total of 200 minke whales from 2003 until 2007. Without even waiting for its supposed research study to be completed, Iceland resumed commercial whaling under its reservation to the moratorium in 2006, killing seven out of nine fin whales and seven out of 30 minkes in a self- allocated 2006/7 commercial quota. Whilst no fin whales were killed commercially in 2007/2008, Iceland issued a commercial quota for 40 minke whales in 2008, of which it killed 38.

In January 2009, just as the Icelandic government was voted out of office due to the country’s economic problems, the out-going Fisheries Minister took the decision to authorise a massive increase in the commercial hunting quotas for both fin and minke whales. The Minister issued a five year bloc quota for both species of 200 minke and 200 fin whales. The incoming Fisheries Minister declined to overturn his predecessor’s decision, and the quotas remained in place.

Iceland’s 2009 commercial whale hunt was the largest of its kind in decades, with 126 fin whales and 81 mike whales killed. In March 2010, the new Fisheries Minister went further still, setting quotas for 2010 at 200 fin and 200 minke whales, with a possible carry-over of 20% of any unused quota from 2009.

And if you’re still keen to read more then it’s worth reading Sidney Holts’ memoir on Norwegian minke whaling and more on the trade in whale products.

Until May, when WDCS will bring you everything you ever wanted to know about the Irrawaddy dolphin, we can only hope that as many North Atlantic common minke whales as possible dodge the whalers harpoons!? ???(2)trade in whale products including minke whale meat.