Last season, Japan’s fisheries killed 551 minke whales in the Antarctic – only about 50% what they had intended. But the whaling in the coming year or two is likely to increase dramatically, and threaten the populations of Minke, Fin, and Sei whales worldwide.
By the IUCN red list, Fin and Sei whales are both endangered species. The Fin whale is the second largest animal on earth, reaching lengths in excess of 80 ft long. In the late ’80s to early ’90s, population estimates placed the Antarctic Fin Whale under 5,000 and possibly as low as 2,000. Though, since 2006, there have been no reliable population studies. Even still, Japan recently increased the quota to 50 Fin whales a year for 2009 onward. Sei whales, the third largest whale on earth, are less than 10,000 in the Southern Ocean, less than 1/6th of pre-whaling numbers.
<img width=200 src=“http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2009/01/27/whale1_wideweb__470x307,0.jpg” style=“float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px”>To be fair, Minke whales are currently not endangered, nor have ever been. But where the most catching occurs, off the coast of Antarctica, the Minke population is headed that way. Recent genetic evidence sets these whales as a separate species, and they’re currently “data deficient” according to the ICUN, but the population is likely struggling. A 2005 estimate placed them at over 760,000 whales, but new data places the numbers about 100,000 lower in only 3 years. Even still, this season, Japan currently plans to kill 850 whales for “research”.
Japan, basing their quotas on personal desire and sham science, has been whaling in Antarctica under a guise of research for years. Now, in an effort to conserve the severely depleted Antarctic stocks, the International Whaling Commission (which banned commercial whaling in 1985) might be forging a deal to allow the Japanese to whale commercially in the Pacific in trade for reduced to halted whaling in the Antarctic. Many see this supposed deal as a betrayal of everything the IWC stands for, particularly in Australia and the United States where the governments are aiding the deal-making process. Conservationists are outraged, saying those in power should be holding to strict, no-whaling agendas, not catering to the Japanese fleets. Japan, in turn, is threatening to pull out of the IWC all together if the demands remain so one-sided.
Other countries, such as Norway, already hunt for a quota of over 1,000 whales a year despite the moratorium on whaling. But if this weren’t bad enough, Iceland’s exiting government has recently announced an increase in quotas to 150 Minke and 150 Fin whales per year for the next five years – six times their last season goals. In 2007 they only caught 39 Minke and 0 Fin or Sei whales – so the jump is dramatic and sudden. This puts them on the edge of even their own estimates of sustainability, which have been accused to be biased and unscientific. There is call for the new government to overturn this, but if that will happen remains to be seen.
With the deal with the devil in Japan and the Icelandic increase, the future for these whales, particularly the Fin whale, is looking bleaker and bleaker. And if, as Japan threatens, the IWC loses all control over worldwide whaling, there is certain to be no future at all. Fishery demands in general are collapsing oceanic food stocks worldwide (e.g. Tuna), and an unchecked whaling industry is sure to be no exception. After Minke, Fin, and Sei whale populations collapse, whalers will move onto to other targets that they have been craving for years, like Humpbacks. It’s very likely that in our lifetime, many of the larger pelagic species that we enjoy now will dwindle if not disappear altogether.
