Save the Whales Movement Essay ⋆ Environment Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the modernization of whaling methods, such as the invention of the explosive harpoon, powered catching vessels, and factory ships led to an explosion of commercial whaling activity. As the numbers of whales killed grew and species of whales declined, the public began to take an interest in these animals. Starting in the 1940s, articles and pictures appeared in popular magazines on whales and their unique appearance and behaviors. The whaling nations noted that whale numbers were starting to decline and concerns about the impacts of this on the industry and a need to manage catches led to the establishment of the Convention on the Regulation of Whaling in 1931, and the International Whaling Commission in 1946.

Some nongovernmental organizations (such as the Humane Society of the United States and Friends of the Earth) began actively advocating for the conservation of whales and calling for the cessation of commercial whaling as early as the 1950s and 1960s. But it was not until the 1970s that this advocacy reached a peak with the initiation in 1971 of the Animal Welfare Institute’s and the Fund for Animals’s “Save the Whales” campaign. One aspect of their campaigning was a call for a boycott of goods from Japan (the main whaling nation).

In 1975, the relatively new environmental group Greenpeace expanded its scope from campaigning against nuclear activities to opposing whaling, and promoted its Project Ahab program. The media attention gained by Greenpeace’s filming and publicizing of commercial whale hunts led to international public concern and protest, and helped to galvanize the “Save the Whales” movement, with more nongovernmental organizations, such as the National Audubon Society, joining the movement.

Also during the 1970s, national governments began expressing concern about the impacts of whaling activities. For example, in 1972, the Nixon administration in the United States passed the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which among other actions prohibited whaling and the sale of whale products. Moreover, at the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm in 1972, the U.S. government proposed a 10-year ban or moratorium on commercial whaling, which passed 53 votes to zero (with three abstentions). The resolution was the initiative of, and spearheaded by, the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Project Jonah.

A major development at the International Whaling Commission was an allowance in 1970 for NGO observers to attend the IWC meetings. These NGOs encouraged conservation-minded countries to press for a ban on commercial whaling. Finally, in 1982 the necessary three-quarters majority of IWC member countries voted in favor of a moratorium on commercial whaling, which was implemented in 1986.

The moratorium was considered a victory for the “Save the Whales” movement. However, despite this, countries continue to hunt whales. Norway filed a formal objection to the ban and returned to commercial whaling in 1993. Japan and Iceland hunt whales under a provision that allows killing of whales for scientific research. The quotas and the diversity of species taken under both commercial and scientific whaling have increased, so that now over 2000 whales are being targeted each year. However, the media attention that accompanied the original enactment of the moratorium has led a large proportion of the public to believe that whales are no longer threatened by commercial whaling, i.e., that whales have been saved. In an effort to counteract this misconception, some nongovernmental organizations are starting to develop renewed advocacy programs. According to public surveys in some countries, awareness of the continued existence of whaling and opposition to whaling appear to be increasing.

Bibliography:

Ellis; Men and Whales (Afred A. Knopf, 1991);
N. Scott and C.M. Parsons, “A Survey of Public Opinion in South-west Scotland on Cetacean Conservation Issues,” Aquatic Conservation (v.15, 2005);
Whaleman Foundation, Save the Whales Again Campaign, http://whaleman.org;