The Causes and Effects of Whaling
The Causes and Effects of Whaling
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The Causes and Effects of Whaling
Whale is the current name for diverse marine mammals of the order Cetacea, having the general shape of a fish with forelimbs modified as fins, a tail with level flukes, and one or two blowholes on top of the head. (“Whale”, 2010). Whaling dates back to prehistoric times, but it became an important industry in the nineteenth century. Whales have been hunted for meat or made into lighting oil. Until the international injunction on commercially hunting whales was enacted in 1982 by International Whaling Commission (effective from 1986), some species were seriously endangered. Although commercial whaling was forbidden, several countries were unwilling to follow it such as Norway and Japan. They developed whaling industry for the sake of economic benefits and because the cost is low with free marine resources. But whaling has serious effects on both the environment as well as the society. Japanese are the leading whale hunters at present, now we use Japan as a typical example and we will mainly talk about Japan’s whaling. Commercial whaling is lucrative, the prosperous fishing industry in Japan also affects the economic interests of other industries such as tourism and Catering Industry. This is the first reason why Japan insists on whaling. According to a statistics of Japan 's Institute of Cetacean Research in 2000, the production of whale meat in Japan is 2849 tons, and the whale skin is 1051 tons. The revenue generated by whaling activities is more than US$32 million each year.
Whaling What’s more, Japan has natural and vast amount of marine resources. The
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whaling industry was also driven by the free marine resources. Japan was facing the pressure from public opinion especially the West about hunting whales unrestrictedly and excessively. But why Japan was still
persisting in whaling? The most significant reason comes to my mind is cultural conflict. Put it this way, Japanese
1
The Causes and Effects of Whaling
Whale is the current name for diverse marine mammals of the order Cetacea, having the general shape of a fish with forelimbs modified as fins, a tail with level flukes, and one or two blowholes on top of the head. (“Whale”, 2010). Whaling dates back to prehistoric times, but it became an important industry in the nineteenth century. Whales have been hunted for meat or made into lighting oil. Until the international injunction on commercially hunting whales was enacted in 1982 by International Whaling Commission (effective from 1986), some species were seriously endangered. Although commercial whaling was forbidden, several countries were unwilling to follow it such as Norway and Japan. They developed whaling industry for the sake of economic benefits and because the cost is low with free marine resources. But whaling has serious effects on both the environment as well as the society. Japanese are the leading whale hunters at present, now we use Japan as a typical example and we will mainly talk about Japan’s whaling. Commercial whaling is lucrative, the prosperous fishing industry in Japan also affects the economic interests of other industries such as tourism and Catering Industry. This is the first reason why Japan insists on whaling. According to a statistics of Japan 's Institute of Cetacean Research in 2000, the production of whale meat in Japan is 2849 tons, and the whale skin is 1051 tons. The revenue generated by whaling activities is more than US$32 million each year.
Whaling What’s more, Japan has natural and vast amount of marine resources. The
2
whaling industry was also driven by the free marine resources. Japan was facing the pressure from public opinion especially the West about hunting whales unrestrictedly and excessively. But why Japan was still
persisting in whaling? The most significant reason comes to my mind is cultural conflict. Put it this way, Japanese
References: Whale. (October 8, 2009). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved April 17, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale Whaling. (February 12, 2009). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved April 17, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whaling The Cove. April 25, 2009). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved April 17, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cove_(film) Reuben B. Ackerman. (2001, January) ‘Japanese Whaling in the Pacific Ocean: Defiance of International Whaling Norms in the name of ‘Scientific Research’, Culture, and Traditional’, Boston College, Retrieved April 17, 2010, from http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/law/lwsch/journals/bciclr/25_2/07_TXT.htm Japan 's Institute of Cetacean Research, In Baidupedia, Retrieved April 17, 2010, from http://baike.baidu.com/view/1632862.html