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The Pros And Cons Of Commercial Whaling

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The act of hunting whales has been around since the beginning of human history. However, overexploitation throughout the last centuries has severely depleted these species. Yet still, thousands of whales are killed each year for profit. Mankind’s avaricious nature for more money has driven these creatures to their demise. Despite that, an increasing number of people worldwide are against commercial whaling. This is due to the issues associated to commercial whaling such as the inhumane killing methods, the non-demand whale products and the disruption of ecosystem (refer to Figure 1 in Appendix 1). One of the main issues associated to the infamous commercial whaling is the inhumane killing methods. Ideally, humane killing is the causing of death without pain, stress or distress perceptible to the animal, thus, rendering an animal insensitive to pain as swiftly as technically possible is the aim of humane killing (Gillespie, 2005). Unfortunately, methods used in modern commercial whaling does not classify as humane killing. In 1940, Dr Harry Lilie, compared a draft horse pulling, screaming in pain as its drover stabbed it until it bled to death to a harpooned whale …show more content…

Changes in predator abundance can cause cascading effects to the ecosystem structure, functioning and resilience (Baum & Worm, 2009). Due to the sperm whales’ large body size, large population size, high trophic level and potentially important role in top-down control of cephalopods, the impact of their reduction may be more significant than that of other species. North Pacific sperm whales are significant cephalopods predators. Removal of sperm whales in the North Pacific could lead to dramatic increase in abundance of large squids, subsequently leading to the decline of sardine landings (Croll, Kudela & Tershy, 2006). This could majorly tip the fragile balance of the marine

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The petroleum market rose in 1859 after former rail director Edwin Drake successfully unearthed an oil well with his own oil drill. After this breakthrough, investors realized that oil sites made more financial sense than whaling voyages. Whaling was dangerous, time-consuming, and expensive—while often yielding no profit. But oil drilling was generally risk-free, would not cost anyone’s life, and was more likely to yield something profitable with the reliability of Drake’s oil drill. Consequently, many whaling ports lost their funding to oil sites, and kerosene replaced whale oil as America’s leading natural resource.

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886 Words | 4 Pages

Director, writer, and producer, Gabriella Cowperthwaite, in her documentary, Blackfish, describes the shameless hunting and treatment of killer whales. Cowperthwaite’s purpose is to persuade us into opening our eyes to the reality of what we are doing to killer whales by confining them in captivity. She invents an emotionally wrenching tone in order to transmit to the adult viewers that living in captivity may not be acceptable life for the whales. The film effectively showed that the whales should not be kept in captivity by giving the audience examples of their signs of aggression and displays of emotion. Cowperthwaite begins her documentary by showing how killer whales can become barbaric when held captive.

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372 Words | 2 Pages

The Killer Whales should be in small tanks, if an animal in captivity then is should have space to roam around and run. Parents should be able to take their kids to zoos and see healthy animals behaving

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579 Words | 3 Pages

The documentary “Blackfish” focused on killer whales in captivity, specifically Tilikum; a wild orca who was caught and exposed to captivity and its environment which eventually lead him to violently turn on his trainers at SeaWorld and even took some of their lives. This documentary examines how the difference from living in sea life to captivity can cause these whales and orcas to live up to their names. Blackfish discusses and argues how life in captivity for these whales is cruel and dangerous, not only for the whales but for their trainers as well. The information throughout this documentary was all painful to watch in my view, but it also had a positive approach.

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In conclusion Blackfish is gives audiences a shocking, aggressive and deeply compelling look into cruel practices of marine parks for decades that will change the way you look at captive/trained killer whales and other animals. In watching this documentary has significantly opened my eyes regarding the brutal treatment and methods of capturing wild animals giving me a greater sympathy for orcas in parks such as SeaWorld. This startling documentary will surprise audiences as Cowperthwaite is unrelenting in showing the fatal consequences of keeping killer whales in captivity while also critiquing of the cruel and immoral practises of

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Andre Cole Ricardo Acosta G. English 101 September 22, 2015 Do Killer Whales Actually Belong in Captivity? Ever since wild animals such as Killer Whales have been captured and kept in theme parks and zoos as amusement, there have been issues on whether they should or shouldn’t be kept in captivity. Killer Whales, otherwise commonly referred to as Orcas, have regularly been taken away from the sea at a very young age so they can be trained, raised and kept in theme parks for exhibition. Although theme parks no longer capture whales from the wild, they are still bred in captivity for public display at marine parks such as Sea World (Gorman).

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754 Words | 4 Pages

This film about these extremely diverse mammals shows true footage of the whales and what they are capable of in captivity. It also talks about a lot of wrongs that are done to the whales in captivity by people who were there and done it or witnessed it themselves. The film gives out a lot of good information and statistics that have been proven by others as well. Because this source focuses on captivity and the poor treatment of whales, as will my paper, It will come to great use when the time comes to use

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Without a doubt, killer whales (Orcinus orca) are by far among the most intelligent and socially complex creatures on the planet. They live in close-knit family units each with unique social structures, hunting techniques, and even vocalization. A wild orca is a sight to behold, gracefully gliding through the waves, enjoying being the powerful, elegant creature that it is. However, some orcas are not so lucky. The captive killer whale industry is mainly monopolized by the SeaWorld corporation, which has made billions off of the exploitation of orcas and their “Shamu” shows.

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Offshore Drilling Every year, in the United States alone, 565 million barrels or oil are extracted as a result of offshore drilling; totaling a startling amount of roughly 1.5 million barrels a day. Consequently, these threatening practices are negatively impacting marine mammals, sea birds, sea turtles, and fish. Although drilling offshore provides access to expensive resources such as oil, it heavily contributes to the extinction and endangerment of animals, and the disruption of marine ecosystems, thus these practices should be prohibited and viewed as unethical. To begin, new techniques of horizontal drilling allow for even greater amounts of oil to be extracted from a single well, producing problems in infrastructure on land.

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549 Words | 3 Pages

However, lack of information on past populations makes it difficult to compare the current recovery in this species, to that of pre-exploitation abundance. Estimates based on genetic diversity suggest they are still only a fraction of their pre-whaling numbers. The purpose of this paper is to examine the humpback whale’s role in the oceans, their populations, and the need for it’s conservation and the manor in which to do

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1406 Words | 6 Pages

Killer whales were initially captured in the 1960s, when a female orca was captured and put into a tank. Two days into the female orca's stay she repeatedly bashed her head against her tank wall and perished the following day. Unfortunately, people did not heed or take any precautions from this traumatic incident and since then killer whales all over the world have been captured for entertainment purposes and have been stored in facilities such as SeaWorld. From these types of facilities incidents continue to happen such as killer whales killing their trainers, killing themselves, dying due to medical conditions, and more. Continuous accidents such as these have caused suspicion among the public of whether killer whales live healthy and prosperous lives in captivity and brings up the concern of ethicality.

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604 Words | 3 Pages

It is a common misconception of natural instinct and imaginative onlookers; these whales are not people they are wild marine life. It is no secret that killer whales have a bad reputation, however what earned the reputation was sheer unintentional killings. Orinus Orcas are wild marine life that should not be prosecuted like human beings, and the name “Killer Whales” is the result of false

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514 Words | 3 Pages

Introduction The Army accomplishes many missions in diverse and unusual circumstances worldwide. Leaders that develop others is the most important when building and leading units in an ever-changing operational environment. Army Field Manual 6-22 highlights that the "development of people is an Army priority. " 2 Leaders must grow in their ability to understand and assess under differing conditions at each leadership level.

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766 Words | 4 Pages

The Norwegian and Japanese positions and arguments to be permitted with the hunting of non-endangered species of whales as a cultural exemption should not be considered. According to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation, “the whaling industry is in decline and the demand for meat is falling” (WDC, n.d.). Given this statement, I would support the ban of whaling worldwide. In addition, it would be difficult and costly to monitor the whaling activity that is taking place in waters where whales frequent.

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1731 Words | 7 Pages

There are many whales in the sea, but this particular whale called Moby Dick is the desirable catch for the whalers and captain due to its legendary proportions. In the novel, Moby Dick, it offers an allegorical story of humanity’s dangerous search for meaning. The monstrous, white whale represents that “meaning” humans have been hunting for their entire lives, but at the end one will discover that one can do so much but still end up not finding their answer. The entire plot to Moby Dick is directed towards the final confrontation between Ahab, his crewman and the White whale. At the end, the whale wins the fight and the rest of the crew on ship all die, demonstrating the fact that the whale cannot be defeated, hence signaling how the laws

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