In addition to sharks and other fish, marine mammal populations are also being reduced from human actions. Despite attempted regulations, countries such as Norway, Japan and Iceland still continue to practice whaling in large numbers. Although there was a ban passed by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in 1986, these countries still continue to kill whales. Over 50,000 whales have been killed since the ban went into effect.
Japan started a "scientific whaling program" soon after the ban was established so they could have a cover for their commercial whaling program. Instead of being used for science, the whale meat is sold or given to people at cheap rates so that people will be encouraged to buy it and support the industry. The Japanese have been killing hundreds of whales each year under for their supposed research.
Iceland also used a "scientific program" to avoid the limits on whaling. In 2006, it resumed commercial whaling because they left the commission for a period of 10 years and reentered under new regulations. In just 2010, they killed 148 fin whales (which are endangered) and 60 minke whales.
Norway did not respect the whaling ban at all until 1993 and set its own quotas for the killing of whales. They have a limit of killing up to 1000 minke whales per year, which is a very large number because they kill many breeding females which can have a drastic effect on the population and on future populations.
Between Japan, Norway and Iceland alone, thousands of whales are killed each year.
There are currently three types of whaling in existence: commercial, special permit and indigenous.
Whaling results in so many harmful effects for the environment and should be limited as much as possible. Fewer people depend on whale meat for survival (however if they truly do, whaling should be allowed so they can sustain their populations, as long as it is done as minimally as possible) so there is less demand for the whales to die. Whaling is never really done humanely and it takes so many years for whales to grow that their populations cannot regrow very rapidly.
Whales are important parts of marine ecosystems, yet, just as with sharks and various species of fish, they are being killed by humans in tremendous numbers. They are killed in vast numbers and in inhumane ways and whaling should be limited as much as it can be so that whale populations have a chance to make a comeback.
Sources:
http://www.ifaw.org/united-states/our-work/whales/which-countries-are-still-whaling
http://us.whales.org/wdc-in-action/whaling
https://iwc.int/whaling
http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/cetaceans/threats/whaling/whaling_facts/
https://iwc.int/environment
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