As this editorial is written, the IWC is holding its 55th annual meeting in Berlin. In the past, we would have waited until the meeting ended before distributing INWR Digest, in order to report decisions taken that might affect whaling. However, with easy access to the IWC website www.iwcoffice.org we decided that delay was unnecessary. We will, however, post various IWC items on the INWR website as soon as available. In this issue of the Digest, we report on the appearance of a new book (edited by William G.C. Burns and Alexander Gillespie), and an Australian academic dissertation (by Michael Heazle), both of which contain analysis and commentary on IWC performance in the past and today.
Reuters reported on March 16 2003 that Iceland will submit its whaling research plans to the International Whaling Commission for discussion at the 55th IWC meeting in Berlin. This move to resume scientific whaling under Article VIII of the international whaling treaty is a key step toward resuming whaling. However, according to the Icelandic government spokesman, Iceland is unlikely to resume commercial whaling before 2006.
The majority of Icelanders favour a resumption of whaling, with concerns being expressed that the expanding populations of whales in the North Atlantic represent a threat to the nation's fisheries. Some critics of whaling suggest a return to whaling might impact the country's tourism business.
The Faroes Islands will begin importing minke whale meat from Norway starting this year. Since the early 1980s, when the Faroese suspended the hunting of minke and fin whales, pilot whaling has regularly provided the islanders with meat and blubber. The annual pilot whale hunt currently supplies about 30 percent of locally-produced meat in the Faroe Islands. The Faroe Islands consists of 18 mountainous islands, situated between Scotland and Iceland, first settled in 1100 AD by the Norse ancestors of the present population that today numbers 47,000.
The Faroes authorities determined in August 2002 that there were no legal obstacles to importing whale products from Norway. Norway has a reservation on the Appendix I listing by CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora) which allows that country to engage in international trade in minke whale products. The CITES restrictions on whale trade are inconsistent with Faroese government authority over marine resources' management and trade so do not apply, thus allowing the legal importation of whale products.
Norwegian small-type whaling was temporarily halted in 1986 following the IWC-instituted
pause in commercial whaling. Quotas began being set in the 1970s, with the quota
reduced to zero in 1986. In 1993 the hunt resumed with quotas set by the
Norwegian authorities. Small-type whaling catches of minke whale averaged 2580
per year between 1946 - 1985 (range 771 - 4341). The catches (and quotas) from
1993-2002, based upon the IWC Revised Management Procedure (RMP), are as
follows:
1993: 226 (295) 1998: 625 (671)
1994: 280 (301) 1999: 589 (763)
1995: 218 (232) 2000: 487 (655)
1996: 388 (425) 2001: 549 (549)
1997: 503 (580) 2002: 634 (671)
The 2003 quota is 711; at the time or writing, 400 whales had been taken from the stock numbering 107,000 minke whales. The season extends from May 12-August 31. Norway has resumed exporting whale meat and blubber, to Iceland and the Faroe Islands. On May 27 2003, Japan announced that it would begin importing whale products from Norway after technical details associated with the DNA-based trade control scheme and food safety are in place.
Although Norwegian whalers today only catch minke whales, bottlenose whales were also taken in the Norwegian small-type whaling fishery from 1946 - 1973. The bottlenose fishery took an average annual catch of 201 (range: 17 - 695) between the years 1946 to 1971. Small numbers of killer whale (range: 9 - 246) and pilot whale (range: 0 - 339) were also taken from the the 1940s to the 1970s.
The Ulsan Whaling Festival was held in the Korean port city of Ulsan (population ca. 500,000) on May 30-31 2003. The festival celebrates this city's historical connection with whaling, with the festival taking place for the past five years in Namgu Ward, the port area of the city where whales are landed. At the present time, the only whales landed are from fishers' by-catch which includes about 50 minke whales each year. During the festival, whale cooking demonstrations are held and free whale dishes, using various parts of the whale, are available to those attending. Booths and displays provide information about Korean and Japanese whaling, and a number of Korean drum groups and an invited children's drum group from the Goto Islands (Japan) performed whalers' music in 2003.
The Korean government will invite the IWC to hold its 57th Annual Meeting (in 2005) in Ulsan.
The Association of Traditional Marine Mammal Hunters of Chukotka has undertaken a number of activities over the past several years. The Association has an elected Chairman and Board, assisted by a 12-person Scientific Coordinating Council. The association has established commissions on whale harvesting, Pacific walrus, polar bear, and reindeer.
Studies have been completed on indigenous knowledge of bowhead and gray whale migration patterns, traditional medical knowledge, boat building, and documenting indigenous cultural and nutritional need for bowhead and gray whales in Chukotka. This last study was tabled at the 2002 IWC meeting.
Projects monitoring walrus hunting and documenting migration routes of wild and domestic reindeer (the latter with the Chukchi Reindeer Herders' Union) have also been initiated. Chukotkan and Alaskan natives' cultural relationships to polar bears, and indigenous knowledge of polar bear migrations, denning, and feeding areas have been carried out with the Alaskan Nanuuq Commission.
Since 1996, representatives of the Association have attended IWC and NAMMCO meetings as members of the Russian official delegations. The Association holds that aboriginal whalers' have a right to sell their surplus production, with such trade constituting an integral part of their culture.
A book titled Cetaceans in a Changing World, edited by William C.G. Burns and Alexander Gillespie (see Publication section below), has recently been published. The book contains the following chapters and documents:
The INWR website www.ualberta.ca/~inwr has posted a discussion surrounding the Japanese North Pacific (JARPN II) and Antarctic (JARPA) whale research programs. This issue of concern is whether this research has scientific merit, a matter that is subject to rigorous and sustained examination in the IWC Scientific Committee. The INWR website has posted the text of an Open Letter sent by a number of scientists in May 2002 to the Government of Japan (and appearing as an advertisement in the New York Times) claiming the research is bogus. These claims were challenged in an article in Bioscience which attracted comments in support of the Open Letter. The editor of Bioscience ended the discussion in the May issue of the journal, but in view of the interest being expressed, we decided to allow the discussion to continue online in the ISSUES section of INWR website. Readers are invited to participate in this forum.
A recently completed doctoral dissertation has examined the manner in which scientific uncertainty has been used to influence decision-making in the IWC. The dissertation is titled A History of Scientific Uncertainty in the International Whaling Commission, by Michael Heazle, and the abstract is reproduced below. For full bibliographic information see Publications section below.
Since its founding in 1949, the International Whaling Commission's (IWC) policies have been profoundly influenced by scientific uncertainty issues. In the 1950s, prior to the collapse of the Antarctic stocks, scientific uncertainty issues in the IWC - for the then majority of whaling members - had meant that there were no compelling arguments for reducing catches, an interpretation that led to unsustainable catches and the eventual collapse of the Antarctic stocks. But by the late 1970s when the majority of IWC members no longer maintained any whaling interests, this reasoning had been turned on its head and was being employed by a majority of non-whaling governments to argue that uncertainty gave good reason for stopping, rather than continuing, commercial whaling. This dramatic switch in how the majority of IWC members treated uncertainty issues in policy making and the reasons why their views changed represents the main focus of this study's examination of the IWC. The thesis argues that the common view of science as an entirely rational mode of inquiry capable of producing objectives "truths" about the world should be rejected on the basis of the various epistemological problems that have been raised concerning distinctions between science and other forms of knowledge production. Thus, because science should not be seen as a value-neutral enterprise capable of providing objective proofs, it is the inherently political nature of science and its inability to provide certainty that has allowed scientific uncertainty issues to be used as a tool to argue for or against particular policies depending on the political priorities of the parties involved. Subsequently, competing scientific theories or advice, in the IWC and elsewhere, have not simply been judged in terms of the extent to which they are believed to be able to describe reality, but rather are most often judged on the basis of how ell they match the priorities and interests of policy makers. Over-hunting in the Antarctic during the post-war period occurred at a time when considerable uncertainty existed in relation to the ability of the IWC'S scientists to estimate whale populations and the levels of hunting those populations could support. The high levels of uncertainty which often characterised the IWC Scientific Committee's advice during this period were often used by the Antarctic whaling countries (to varying degrees) to reject warnings by scientists that some species were being depleted. For the whaling companies and their respective governments, the likelihood of whaling becoming unprofitable as a result of lower quotas appeared far more certain, and was of much greater concern, than the risk of depleting the Antarctic stocks, due to the inability of scientists to clearly demonstrate that this was indeed happening. Improvements in cetacean science and, in particular, the scientific community's understanding of population dynamics n fisheries had occurred by the late 1950s and early 1960s. But these improvements were only in time to explain the self-evident collapse of the Antarctic stocks that had already occurred, and confirm what the Scientific Committee had long suspected but was unable to demonstrate with acceptable certainty. The ensuing decline of commercial whaling's profitability over the following decade saw the withdrawal of all but two of the antarctic whaling nations from large-scale whaling - a trend which coincided with scientific uncertainty being raised far less frequently within the commission to block lower quotas and the protection of some species. By the early 1970's however, uncertainty again had become an important issue in terms of IWC policy. Former whaling countries, in particular the United States, ere now calling for a ten year ban on commercial whaling on the basis of how little was known about whale species and populations. As more and more members ceased whaling during the 1970s and new non-whaling members joined the commission, support for this entirely different perception of what scientific uncertainty should mean in relation to policy making gathered momentum and finally led to the IWC'S adoption of the 1982 moratorium on commercial hunting. Indeed, in their interpretation and treatment of scientific advice and the uncertainty issues it inevitably entails, policy makers in the IWC generally have accepted or rejected scientific advice on the basis of how well the advice on offer matches or compliments their individual political goals. It is the contention of this thesis, therefore, that scientific uncertainty issues have played a key role in the policy choices of various IWC members because of their openness to be either emphasised or downplayed, depending on the nature of the advice at hand and its compatibility with the policies of the relevant policy makers.
Barthelmess, K., H. Busmann 2003. Zwei Walfanggemälde des 17 Jahrhunderts aus der Sammlung Hugu Buhn im Deutschen Schiffahrtsmuseum. Deutsches Schiffahrtsarchiv 25: 19-40. Bremerhavn DSM & Hamburg: Convent. ISSN 0343-3625 <redaktion@dsm.de>
Bode, Matthias 2002. Wale and Walfang in der Antike. Laverna 13:1-23.
Burns, William C.G. and Alexander Gillespie (eds) 2003. The Future of Cetaceans in a Changing World. 484 pp. Ardsley NY: Transnational Publishers. ISBN 1-57105-262-3. US$125
Clapham, P.J. et al. 2003. Whaling as science. Bioscience 53(3):210-212.
Colten, R.H. 2002. Prehistoric marine mammal hunting in context: two western North American examples. International Journal of Zooarcheology 12(1):12-22.
Endo T., K. Haraguchi and M. Sakata 2002. Mercury and selenium concentrations in the internal organs of toothed whales and dolphins marketed for human consumption in Japan. Science of the Total Environment 300(1-3):15-22.
Enghoff, Inge Bødker 2003. Hunting, fishing and animal husbandry at The Farm Beneath the Sand, West Greenland. Meddelelser om Grønland Man and Society 28, 104 pp. 50 figs.
Frank, S.M. 2003. Kuniyoshi and the Prosperity of Seven Shores. A garland of Japanese woodblock prints of whales and whaling, with a short history of whaling in Japan. Deutsches Schiffahrtsarchiv 25: 145-165. Bremerhavn DSM & Hamburg: Convent, 2003 pp. ISSN 0343-3625 <redaktion@dsm.de>
Goodman, Dan. 2003. Japan's proper whaling research. Bioscience 53(3):448.
Hacquebord, L. 2003. Walvisvangst en Traankokerijen in de Bellsund op Spitsbergen. In L. Akeveld et al. (eds), In het kielzog Maitiem-historische studies aangeboden aan Jaap R. Bruijn bij zijn vertrek als hoogleraar zeegeschiedenis aan de Universiteit Leiden. Amsterdam: De Bataafsche Leeuw. pp. 270-281. ISBN 90-6707-565-5.
Heazle, Michael 2003. A History of Scientific Uncertainty in the International Whaling Commission ix + 248 pp., tables, maps. Ph.D Dissertation, School of International Business and Asian Studies, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia.
Heide-Jørgensen, M.P. and A. Rosing-Asvid 2003. Catch statistics for belugas in West Greenland 1862-1999. NAMMCO Sci. Publ. 4:127-142 [An error occurred when this article was cited in INWR Digest 24].
Holt, S.J. 2003. The tortuous history of "scientific" Japanese whaling. Bioscience 53(3):204-206.
Jolles, Carol Zane, with Elinor Mikaghaq Oozeva 2002. Faith, Food and Family in a Yupik Whaling Community. Seattle and London: University of Washington Press. pp. 344. ISBN 0-295-98189-X. US$50.
Kato, H. and T. Kasuya 2002. Some analyses on the modern whaling catch history of thr western North Pacific stock of gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus). Journal of Cetacean Research and Management 4(3):277-282.
Komatsu, Masayuki and Shigeko Misaki 2002. Whales and the Japanese. 170 pp., illus., maps. Tokyo: The Institute of Cetacean Research. ISBN 4-9901688-0-1.
Kruse, Birgir (editor) 2002. Hunters of the North/Fangskultur in Vestnorden. 176 pp, photos, art, maps, bibliography. Torshavn: Forlagið Sprotin. ISBN 99918-44-69-4.
Meinhold, Stephanie 2003. Designing an education program to manage the undesirable effects of whale watching. M.A. thesis, Royal Roads University, Victoria BC, Canada.
Orians, G. et al. 2003. "Scientists versus whaling": whose errors of judgement? Bioscience 53(3):200-203.
Reeves, R.R., S.L. Swartz, S.E. Wetmore and P.J. Clapham 2001. Historical occurrence and distribution of humpback whales in the eastern and southern Caribbean Sea, based on data from American whaling logbooks. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management 3(2):117-129.
Reeves, R.R. and T.D. Smith 2002. Historical catch enning, and feeding areas have of humpback whales in the North Atlantic Ocean: an overview of sources. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management 4(3):219-234.
Richards, Rhys 2002. Southern right whales: a reassessment of their former distribution and migration routes in New Zealand waters, including the Kermadec grounds. Journal of the Royal society of New Zealand 32(3):355-377.
Scarff J.E. 2001. Preliminary estimates of whaling-induced mortality of 19th century North Pacific right whales (Eubalaena japonicus) fishery, adjusted for struck-but-lost whales and non-American whaling. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management (special issue): 2:261-268
Schols, A. 2002. Ter walvisaart. Dagboek van een jonge walvisvaarder op de WILLEM BARENDSZ. Leeuwarden: Friese Pers Boekerij. 193 pp., illus., A4. 29.90 Euro.
Simmonds, M.P., K. Hamaguchi, T. Endo, F. Cipriano, S.R. Palumbi and G.M. Troisi 2002. Human health significance of organochlorine and mercury contaminants in Japanese whale meat. Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health Part A 65(17):1211-1235
Starke, J. (ed) 2003. Experiences of George Laing, a Scottish surgeon, in the Arctic whaling fleet 1830 and 1831. Beverley: Hutton Press, 87 pp., illus., br. £7.95. ISBN 1-902709-20-9.
Weller, D.W., A.M. Burden, B. Würsig, B.L. Taylor and R.L. Brownell 2002. The western North Pacific gray whale: a review of past exploitation, current ststus and potential threats. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management 4(1):7-12.
Visit the INWR website at: http://www.ualberta.ca/~inwr/
| Editor: | Associate Editors: | |||
| Milton Freeman Canadian Circumpolar Institute University of Alberta Edmonton, AB T6G 0H1 Tel: 1-780-492-4682 Fax: 1-403-492-5273 milton.freeman@ualberta.ca |
Klaus Barthelmess Whaling Research Project PO Box 620255 50695 Cologne, GERMANY Tel: 49-221-7408396 Fax: 49-221-747342 barthval@gmx.de |
Louwrens Hacqueboard Arctic Centre University of Groningen PO Box 716 9700 AS Groningen, THE NETHERLANDS Tel: 31-50-363-6834 Fax: 31-50-363-490 hacqubr@let.rug.nl |
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