History of Whaling
History of Whaling
Whaling started in the first few centuries A.D. by the Japanese, and between about 800 and 1000 A.D. by the Norwegians and by the Basque people living on the north coast of France and Spain. The Dutch, British and Americans started in the 17th century. All of this early whaling was done from small boats using hand-thrown harpoons. Most of the whalers hunted the slow and docile Northern Right Whale, so named because it was the "right whale" to hunt.
The Europeans wanted the whales for their oil and for their baleen. The Japanese ate the meat, and found uses for many other parts of the whale. Only about 300 right whales survive in the North Atlantic and 250 in the North Pacific Ocean, and the species is showing no signs of recovery. In February 2002, the National Marine Fisheries Service refused to designate Critical Habitat for this species, claiming that not enough information was available. Many of the deaths of these animals occur by collisions with ships, and special methods are being tested to help avoid these accidents. The Southern Right Whale, a separate species, is doing better with about 7,500 individuals.
A species related to the Right Whale, the Bowhead Whale, was hunted to extinction in the Atlantic Ocean but still exists in the North Pacific. The stock is still small (7,500), but still hunted every year (quota of 67/year) by Alaskan Eskimos. &nbs0p; However, at its 2002 meeting the IWC rejected the U.S. request to continue this hunt.
The American whalers also hunted the Sperm whale (made famous in Herman Melville's classic novel "Moby Dick"), first in the Atlantic from bases in New England, later in the Pacific from bases in Hawaii. Sperm whales feed on giant squid deep in the ocean, including species that have never been seen alive. The population estimates released in 2002 show only 360,000 sperm whales in the world's oceans, in contrast with previous estimates suggesting 1.5-2 million.
The whalers also hunted the California Gray whale in the lagoons of Baja California, where they go to breed, and from 16 shore stations along the coast of California. The California Gray Whale is a specialized baleen whale: it sucks mud from the ocean bottom (in the Bering and Chukchi Seas north and west of Alaska) through one side of the mouth, and filters crustaceans called amphipods from the mud using short baleen plates. The California Gray whale was hunted almost to extinction in the late 1800's, then recovered, was hunted almost to extinction again by factory ships in the 1930's and 1940's, and recovered again. Today the species is up to pre-exploitation levels (about 26,000) and has been removed from the endangered species list.
Modern whaling began in 1868, when the harpoon gun and explosive harpoon (which explodes inside the whale) were invented. The harpoon guns were mounted on fast steam-driven vessels, making it possible to catch the faster-swimming rorquals (blue, fin, Sei, and Minke whales). The development of factory ships made it possible for the whalers to stay at sea for long periods, increasing the number of whales they could hunt.
Whaling has been regulated by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) since 1946. The IWC gave its member nations quotas on the whales they wanted to hunt, based on negotiations and guesswork. The quotas were always too high, so the populations declined rapidly. After the biggest whales (blues) were hunted to the point that they were too hard to find, the whalers went on to the next largest species, the fin whale. Then they moved on to the Sei whale, then the Minke. Humpbacks were also taken. Chart shows take by species. Humpback, blue, fin, Sei whale were hunted down to a small percentage of their original populations.
The IWC is open to non-whaling nations as well as whaling nations. The non-whaling nations gradually added to their numbers on the Commission, eventually turning it from a whalers' club into a conservation-minded organization. As a result, in 1982 the IWC was able to adopt a resolution calling for an indefinite moratorium on commercial whaling, which became effective in 1986. International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling Controversy swells around whaling commission meeting - 6-29-2000 Resolutions of the 2000 Meeting of the International Whaling Commission Recovery of some populations
The IWC moratorium meant the end of most commercial whaling.&nbs0p; As a result, many species seem to be recovering, at least in some parts of their range. In addition to Gray whales, Blue and Humpback whales are being seen in increasing numbers off the coast of Southern California:
