Whaling?

 As I said in class, I have no problem with the hunting of whales in general.  The thing that I have a problem is with the unregulated, and oftentimes selfish, hunting of whales for no purpose other than to make money.  Hunting has, and always will be, a large part of society, and there is no denying that.  While humans have perfected the art better than any other species, we must not forget that every other species hunts in it's own way.  In my opinion, a mustang grazing is no different than a lion hunting, and then consuming, an gazelle.  Both animals are just doing what instinct and hunger has driven them to do.  However, there is a big difference between an animals hunting in order to feed themselves and others, and not hunting again until required, and whalers hunting, regardless of how much whale meat they already have aboard their ship, and how much is required to feed those they are hunting for.  I think the key to conservation is keeping an eye on the natural balance of things, and making sure that nothing is hunted too much, or too little.  If international regulation is the only way to achieve this, than I think that is our best option.  Past experience has shown that some countries can not be trusted to regulate themselves, when greed is such an influential factor.

 I get the impression that whaling issues are related to Western imperialism to some degree. I think it is significant to that the Sea Sheppards we talked about are American and European but the people who are whaling are mostly Japanese. The idea that whales are special and have culture comes from the West. The idea that whales are a source of food is from Japan. We shouldn't try to make other counties adopt our way of thinking. Whaling shouldn't be banned internationally. However, I think whaling should should be regulated somehow, maybe the same way that fishing is regulated. 

I watched a documentary about dolphins called "The Cove" awhile ago. It talked about the same issues but in relation to dolphins. One thing I remembered from the documentary is that the movement to protect dolphins sprang from the TV show Flipper. People connected with Flipper on TV and then thought it was unfair to kill dolphins. Based on this example, I think it is important to consider how our culture has impacted the way we think about animal conservation. 

 I too, I think, would have difficulty eating whale meat. I can't say that i've ever actually been presented with the option, but it doesn't sound like an opportunity i'd jump at. 

 We hunt cows and deer and all other sorts of animals, and I think these other animals can have culture too. I know that quotas exist for that kind of hunting, and they exist so we can get what we need, without drastically effecting the ecosystem. Something similar should be in place for hunting whales. The need for a governing agency of some sort is clear. There needs to be an entity that regulates the amount of whales being killed in certain regions (if the killing of whales is to be allowed at all). 

While I accept the fact that eating whale is a part of certain cultures in places other than America, I can't help but hear Naa's voice from class, saying that, just because something is part of a culture, does not mean that it is OK for it to be...she very correctly pointed out the example of female genital mutilation. Should we excuse behaviors/attitudes on the premise that they have already been established in certain cultures?

In the past, I never really paid much attention to conservation practices. Of course, somewhere in my high school biology education, I held up a piece of yarn and represented a fly or a frog in my science teacher’s attempt to introduce the food web and convey the importance of every animal. Since I obviously did not want any student to drop their piece of yarn, I adopted the policy that we could continue swatting flies as long as we didn’t completely deplete the frogs’ food source. I believed (and might still believe) that we could keep killing animals up to the point where our lack of conservation would irreversibly impact the ecosystem by causing another animal to die out.

While I still am in favor of establishing this necessary ecosystem balance, I have recently become slightly more concerned about conservation. When abroad last year, I redeveloped a fascination with certain animals as I fell in love with a whole new set of animals unique to New Zealand. I debated about the relevancy of including this in my post since unlike whales, I doubt that most of society is aware of and concerned with the existence of these wonderful animals since they are endemic to NZ. However, I realized that my fascination with NZed’s unique set of flora and fauna speaks to one side of the debate on our motivation for conservation. Most of these incredible animals endemic to NZ are endangered and I would be devastated if due to our lack of conservation practices, we lost the cute kiwi bird or tuatara. Since every other country has been getting along fine without the kiwi bird, it is clear that this bird is not necessary for human existence. People do not advocate for the conservation of the kiwi because of its utility, but rather because of its uniqueness (sidenote: its one of the few birds that has a well developed olfactory system) and its beyond adorable appearance. While NZ does ultimately hope to benefit humankind by preserving interesting and in some cases, aesthetically pleasing animals, it hopes to do so in a less tangible way. Before going to NZ, I only believed in conservation for necessity’s sake however I now recognize that we should not resort to conservation practices only when our way of life is threatened.