On Friday, The California State Legislature approved a historic bill that banned the breeding of captive killer whales and orca performances in the state, the only exception would be for educational purposes and not entertainment, display, or performance purposes. The bill also prohibits the export or collect captive orcas coming from any place in California to another state or country, unless approved by federal law, and importing their semen or embryos of any orcas held in captivity for artificial insemination. The legislation passed 26-13 with Democrats in favor and Republicans opposing. The bill required that the killer whales be sent to sea sanctuaries for retirement in the United States or Canada. Sea World are actively lobbying against the bill, calling it unnecessary since they had already planned to do this and had announced…
This year alone, Japan plans to kill 333 Minke Whales for “scientific research” and uses this reason to help deter outsiders from their commercial fishing mentions Melissa Chan in her article called Japan Sets Out to Kill Hundreds of Minke Whales Despite Global Opposition. Due to this recent announcement the global community has been in an uproar and demands an immediate halt to Japans whaling. This has been an on going issue for multiple years and has become such a problem that the International Union For Conservation Of Nature recommended specific quotas for every country. Japan is one of the only countries that still practices whaling at an alarming rate and sells these animals meat at fishing markets despite its unpopularity now for most…
In this study the author believes that the predator’s survival is linked to its prey, the Chinook salmon. The killer whales depend on this species of fish as the main food source, making it harder for the whales to adapt to a different source when needed. The salmon suddenly disappeared and the abundance of whales, and the pollutants they carried, led to a higher mortality rate. Because these whales only have one prey, the techniques they use to hunt are specific. It is important that these hunting techniques to remain constant for the marine ecosystem to have balanced populations. This article shows how both extremes can be harmful to the environment.…
“Bloody Ice” is an essay arguing against the mass slaughter of Harp Seals. The author reveals the legal limits for the amount of seals allowed to be killed each year as stated by the U.S. Seal Protection Act and pleads for the further reduction of those limits. The passage argues that the inevitable extinction of the animals and the inhumane methods by which they are killed are cause for severe regulations on seal hunting. In the conclusion of the paper, it is suggested that ranching the seals would reduce impact on seal population and cut down dependency on the seal industry. The essay starts off well, but generally lacks in persuasively arguing its point and is therefore ineffective as a whole.…
The first part of the article is all about the effort to stop whaling and how they have come up with a new way of tracing the import/export of whale meat. Then they start talking about how the governments and Japan and Norway have been actively resistant to efforts to inspect their markets and do the testing. Then it is said that some of the other countries think the band on Japan and Norway should be lifted so they can still enjoy whale meat. You read about how the anti- whaling effort has been nearly completely blocked by differences of opinion in the IWC and with the whalers.…
Many social organizations tried to let people to stop whaling activities, such as World Wildlife Fund (WWF), International Whaling Commission (IWC), Greenpeace, etc. Those organizations are all nonprofit organizations which stated the importance of whale protection. In recent years, whaling forbidding has achieved a great success. Most of world traditional whaling countries signed to end their “commercial whaling activities” except three countries, those are: Japan, Iceland and Norway.…
“Blue Whales are at the top of the food chain and have an important role in the overall health of the marine environment. During the 20th century, the blue whale was an important whaling target and even after it was protected and commercial whaling stopped in 1966, exploitation efforts by the former Soviet Union persisted. “(World Wildlife Fund) Studies by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) have shown that the estimated population of Chilean Blue Whales is fewer than 250 mature individuals. (Williams et. al, 2011) It is hard to estimate exactly how much of these species there are because they are almost extinct in the Chilean area. Conservation of the environment is very important so that’s why regulations have been created to try to conserve species like Blue Whales. (Wiley et. al, 2008)…
Bohn, G. (2011, November 28). Killer whales and captivity; What threat, if any, does life in the aquarium bubble pose to the health of these giant sea mammals. The Edmonton Journal . Edmonton, Alta, Canada. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/docview/251763683/133805C5287EFA914D/1?accountid=35812…
Whaling has been a Japanese tradition, which goes back to prehistoric times, so Japan has a strong historical connection with the sea as a source of food. But there are other countries that used to have such a connection to the sea as well, for example France and the US. Those countries ‘set sail’ to whaling or limited their whale hunts when the IWC put a ban on commercial whaling back in 1986. So Japan has no traditional reason to keep up the whale hunt. A country cannot, or may not keep up something like this just because it is a tradition.…
But governments have always sought ways to circumvent international agreements that attempt to create protected areas or species. Thus, a ban on the catch of blue whales in the Antarctic, was presented the proposal to declare a subspecies, the dwarf blue whale, that this was not…
Earle utilizes her chapter on fish to call the world out on the elephant in the room-overfishing. Earle discusses how at one time in history, people believed that there was an infinite amount of fish to be caught, that there would never be a day when we would see something as popular as tuna, go extinct. We are sitting on the eve of “that day.” Earle really brings out the reality of overfishing, almost mocking our early ideas of sustainable yield. “..but those pesky animals didn’t obey the rules.. So what’s wrong with the concept of sustainable yield?” (Earle) Earle makes keen note that you cannot possibly create a concept of sustainability, when you know next to nothing about the species you are supposedly “yielding”. Earle debunks the idea of a surplus in the ocean of a healthy ecosystem, stating “What APPEARS to be an overabundance to human observers is a natural insurance policy...” (Earle) Earle applies the same idea of questionable yield to marine mammals. She spends a fair amount of this chapter on the touchy subject that is almost always controversial-whaling. She lends a nod…
Every December, a fleet of hungry, evil whaling vessels set sail from Japan to commence their annual hunt on the minke and humpback whales in the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary in the Southern Ocean. At the same time there is a crew of passionate volunteers making ready their vessels to make the same journey to the Southern Ocean, but they are not going there to whale. They are going there to do whatever is necessary to make sure Japan does not kill any whales as it is illegal to kill whales in this sanctuary in Antarctica. They are the Sea Shepherds and they operate under the United Nations World Charter for Nature. Which gives citizens the right to uphold laws when governments are too scared to do so. These are their battles this is their war.…
Yes i agree with Ishmael that whaling is a honorable profession because it takes hard work a dedication for those men to do their jobs. At times they are gone for months to years on end braving the dangers of the sea and risking death from attacking the whales or from sharks that can smell the whales blood.…
Imagine that you are at soccer practice, a few days before a game. You sprain your ankle in the middle of drills, and you have to sit out for the rest of practice with ice. When you go home that night, your ankle is puffy and you can barely walk on it. Even though you are in tremendous pain, you still play at the game that you did not want to miss. Does this make sense? It is common sense to stop doing something if there is already a problem. You do not want to make it worse. In Japan, people catch and kill whale species that are already endangered. While some people believe that this is perfectly ok, whaling needs to be stopped because some whales are endangered and whale meat is not even used anymore.…
There are already enough threats in the world for the survival of whales, so we should not add any more, such as hunting. We must act as soon as possible to reduce threats to whales such as pollution, underwater sounds and sonar, ship strikes, climate change and fishing nets rather than spending time discussing whale quotas that can be…