Whaling: a cultural activity or ecological threat?
Do you agree with the Norwegian and Japanese position on permitting the hunting of non-endangered species of whales as a cultural exemption?
The International Whaling Commission banned whaling for commercial purposes in 1982 (White, 2016). Many countries who used to whale for centuries have continued whaling despite this international regulation. For example, Norway resumed whaling in 1994 and Norwegian whalers alone have killed some 12 000 whales since 1993 (White, 2016). Quite often the lobbyists in Norway appeal to the cultural importance of whaling when demanding exemption from the ban as whaling dates back to the 9th century Vikings (Altherr, O’Connell, Fisher, & Lüber, 2016). Let’s look at some facts about whaling in Norway to see if it carries purely cultural importance.
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Interestingly enough, the market in the country is saturated and Norway officials publicly state that there is a need to take measures to grow demand for whale meat domestically and internationally (Palmer, 2014). Throughout the moratorium, Norwegian government continued to finance research on new commercial products made of whale oil ( The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, 2010).
Based on these facts, I conclude that the culture-centric argument is just a cover-up for continuation of whaling for commercial purposes. Therefore, I am against their position on allowing whaling for cultural