Banning whaling

Whales are the biggest animals that live on this planet, in the oceans. Depending on their species they can weigh up to 200 tons, the weight of around 12 elephants or 2000 people. It has also been studied that the brains of whales are developed which means they are intelligent creatures. Since centuries whales have been hunted down for their oil and meat. The process of killing whales for their meat and oil is called whaling. In the olden days only the slow moving whales were hunted.

By the 17th entury the demand for whale 011 and meat rose and It wasnt until the 18th century when a new hunting weapon was invented. Since harpoons were invented, fast paced whales like blue whales could be killed but it is a very cruel way of hunting whales. Whales being the biggest animals of our planet and being driven to almost extinction, It becomes our duty to ban hunting whales and preserve them. Commercial whaling has driven so many whale species to near extinction. Not only that but other factors like ocean noise, pollution, climate changes also threaten their existence.

In 1 905, since whaler shifted to Antarctic waters, South Georgia became he Centre for whaling and between 1930-1931 30,000 blue whales were killed and processed 1 That nearly drove the blue whales Into extinction as they were hardly noticed ever Lohan 2 since. In 1986 the International Whaling Commission banned whaling all over the world to protect whales from being hunted but despite that, many countries still practice whaling either In disguise of research or to maintain the Industrial demand for whale meat and oil. Countries that still practice whaling are Japan, Iceland, Norway.

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Iceland has recently alone killed hundreds of whales and send tons of hale-meat to Japan whose market Is already so full of whale meat. In Japan whale meat Is a delicacy and on the pretext of scientific research It kills whales. Whales take time to mature and also reproduce slowly. They only have one young one in around 3 years and it takes time for a specie to recover after being hunted in masses. Hence its numbers decrease to extinction so easily that we don't realize the harm we do by killing whales that are so Important to our ecosystem.

People all over the world consider commercial whaling to be cruel. Nowadays people all around the world love whales and whale watching trips have become opular. Many see whale watching as a better alternative to whale hunting -It Is a 1 OF3 whales popular amongst people2. "In the late 1980s, whale watching became popular outside the Ogasawara islands south east of Tokyo where they claim to have a 90% success rates for watching humpback whales by boats during the past few years. " Whale watching trips are offered there everyday at times for 2 hours or 6 hours.

The types of Lohan 3 boats are diving boats, pleasure boats and commercial/sports fishing boats3. Humpback whales and right whales are making a comeback in their numbers due to protection organizations. This, being a success, shows that we should hold out more protection campaign for whales because many species are still fragile and cannot recover their numbers quickly. Many people consider that the method of killing whales is extremely cruel. "Although whaling fleets may be highly sophisticated, equipped with sonar, helicopters, long-range explosive harpoons and factory ships, the actual kill is horrific" 4.

The way a whale is killed is through a harpoon, which is 90 kilograms in weight and is shot from a cannon. The head of the harpoon has a time fused grenade which when hits the whale, explodes and tears the internals of the hale apart. The whale still continues to suffer until hours of beating when it actually dies. Whales are smart creatures and it is not possible to find a humane way of killing them. People say killing whales is good because whales eat a lot of fish but what we don't realize is over-fishing is a bigger factor for decrease in fishes.

Since whales have decreased in numbers fishes should have increased in their numbers but they haven't, hence we are only to blame for the diminishing of aquatic animals. Japan has killed hundred of whales even after the ban on whaling. They kill whales on the rounds of scientific research whereby when a whale is killed scientists recover parts of the whale, which helps them understand the age of the whale, its diet, Lohan 4 and birthing rate and the meat is packaged and sold in the market5.

Japan's history has shown that it largely depends on whale meat for its source of protein and nutrition and thus still kills whales for food. "NRDC and over a dozen other conservation groups recently petitioned the Obama administration to take strong action against Iceland under the Pelly Amendment to the Fisherman's Protective Act" 6. Through this, the President can impose trade sanctions to a country that does not obey conservation agreements. The United States has been a leading global conservator for whaling.

To sum everything up, Whales have been hunted for years to such an extent that many species of whales have been driven to extinction and it takes time for a specie to recover its numbers because of the slow rate of whale reproduction and maturity. It is more profitable to have whale watching than killing whales because whale watching serves as a source of income through tourism. Whale oil used to be in demand in the olden days but due to modernization and lternatives for whale oil , the profits from whaling has decreased because now a days whale oil is rarely used.

The methods of killing whales are inhumane as they are When shot, they may take up to an hour to die but in the meantime suffer. Countries still practice whaling either through pretext of scientific research or commercial whaling. Consumptions of whale meat Lohan 5 can be harmful because the mercury content in them was found to be high as studied in Japan. Whales are significant to our ecosystem and without them the marine ecosystem is vastly affected. Whales are magnificent creatures and are espected and loved all around the world.

They are intelligent and also the biggest on our planet. Hunting them to extinction is Just another projection of how cruel and inhumane mankind can be. Banning whaling should be maintained all around the world but with stricter impositions.

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