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The International Whaling Commission: Enforce Regulations on Commerical Whaling

This petition had 365 supporters

Dear International Whaling Commission,

Whaling is the hunting of whales for their meat and oil. Whales have still not yet recovered from the devastating effects of the wave of commercial whaling in the early 20th century. Japan, Norway, Iceland, Canada, Alaska, Russia, South Korea, Indonesia, and Greenland all still whale. Some of them use the “research” excuse to continue whaling. This allows them to whale and collect a certain amount of whales each year legally. However, they sell the meat to markets to attempt to gain a profit. We understand that you and your organization are taking action in order to minimize the amount of whaling, though it is not enough. Whaling is considered immoral and we agree. Whalers use harpoons and explosives, penthrite, to murder these defenseless whales. Those explosives more than half the time do not kill the whale, the average time for them to die is over six minutes, and the longest over an hour. Can you imagine the pain they go through? And in the Faroe Islands it similar to a sport to them. They drag the whales ashore by stabbing a hook in their flesh and then butcher it. All we are asking you to do is to regulate and enforce the restriction upon commercial whaling. Annually, 2,000 whales are killed every year with 1,874 killed in the 2009 to 2010 season. Norway is one of the biggest whaling countries in the world. Since your organization’s ban 1982, Norway has killed over 8,100 whales including 534 minke whales in 2008 alone. But even though the killing of whales increases, there is a lesser need of it. Many people are whaling for profit and not just for survival. Another issue of whaling is that it makes the entire ecosystem suffer. “The slaughter of more than half a million whales in the North Pacific and Bering Sea set off an ecological chain reaction that is wiping out sea lions and kelp forests today, according to a controversial new report by researchers from Santa Cruz, Calif., Seattle and Alaska” (Chui, Glennda. "Study Says Whaling Is Reason for Decline of ...). Also, Whales may die a slow death because often times, the harpoons do less damage than they should causing the whales agonizing pain compared to a humane instant kill. We understand that there are many efforts being put forth to end whaling, they have been successful, but at the same time they have not been enough. Many whalers and nations have found loopholes around the regulations, which allow them to whale above the limit. In order to terminate or reduce commercial whaling, your organization needs to enforce your regulations. By enforcing your regulations, the amount of commercial whaling still occurring will be minimized even further. The national governments can provide punishments or fines for commercial whaling, alongside cracking down on whalers by implementing their coast guards. Whaling can have an end too; we need to enforce these regulations before it is too late. If we don’t, who knows, that this amazing creature might be lost forever, and not be available in the future for preceding generations to behold and enjoy.


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