Why is whaling needless slaughter

Japan announced it was withdrawing from the IWC, which it has been a member of since The first ships have set sail with permission to catch whales.

Many people around the world were shocked by this news and have criticised Japan for making the decision to leave the IWC and resume commercial whaling. Whaling is the process of hunting and killing whales. It used to be very common. During the 19th and early 20th Century, it happened so much that it meant that the giant mammals almost became extinct. By the s, fishermen had better ways of catching whales and big ships were built that could process lots of them, so it became even easier to hunt them in greater numbers.

It became clear that something had to change to protect these animals and so the ban came in. It was thought this would be a temporary measure until organisations could come up with rules for sustainable commercial whaling - that is, a number of whales that could be hunted while still keeping their numbers stable.

But this never happened - something which whaling nations like Japan, Iceland and Norway have not been happy about. Japan has left the IWC and its rules about hunting whales as the organisation has not come up with rules for sustainable commercial whaling - and Japan wants to hunt them again. Officials say eating whales is part of the country's culture. Some communities in Japan have been hunting and eating whales for many, many years.

While more recently when the Japanese population was starving after World War Two, from the late s to the mids, whale meat was the biggest source of meat in Japan. Even though it is not eaten in the same volumes now, Japan does not think that other countries can tell them what they can and can't eat.

They also think that the IWC has not done enough to support sustainable commercial whaling and that it is too focused on one goal only - to protect the number of whales in the world's oceans. Whaling nations have all said that the practice is part of their culture and should be able to continue in a sustainable way.

The announcement that the country will start commercial whaling again hasn't come completely out of the blue. For the last 30 years Japan has hunted whales for what it says is scientific research. This is allowed under the rules of the IWC and the meat can be sold afterwards. But conservationists have criticised this, saying it was just a disguise for what was actually still commercial whaling.

What this new announcement means is that Japan will be able to freely hunt species which are currently protected by the IWC, like minke whales - something which it cannot currently do. They have also said the whales are not endangered species and argued that the practice is sustainable. The group said it sent a mission in to disrupt one of the hunts, which led to the passing of a local law to prohibit Sea Shepherd ships from going to the archipelago.

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. Accept Read more. UK urges Japan to stop hunting as whaling fleet sets sail December 28, Recent news. Any humane killing technique aims first to render an animal insensitive to pain as swiftly as is technically possible, which in practice cannot be instantaneous in the scientific sense. The IWC has spent decades trying to agree to criteria for determining the onset of death or irreversible insensibility.

The current criteria, which the IWC agrees are inadequate, require the whaler to determine visually from the vessel whether a whale displays relaxation of the lower jaw and no flipper movement, or sinks without active movement. Despite the IWC prioritizing this issue, it has not been possible for the whaling nations and countries that oppose whaling to reach agreement on new criteria.

From a purely physiological standpoint, there are significant differences in the mass, length, and organ placement of whale species targeted by whalers. Unlike farm animals who have been bred for consistency in size and weight, individual whales of the same species might differ in length by 10 to 20 feet.

Unfortunately, in recent years, Japan and Norway have stopped sharing their data regularly with the IWC. Since it resumed commercial whaling in , Iceland has also declined to provide information on the welfare aspects of its hunts with the IWC. ASW whaling nations have also become more reticent to share data.