Is Whaling Taking a Dive?

Usually lasting into the middle of March, it seems that Whaling Season in Japan is cutting their controversial sport short this year. To anyone who watches Animal Planet, one of many Discovery's channels , the show Whale Wars may have interested you at one point. In essence, the show is  described as 'The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's ongoing struggle to end Japanese whaling', according to the show's website.  Though the television show won't premiere until Summer 2011, the Shepherds' efforts have not been interrupted. 

During this whaling season,  Japanese scientific boats depart to hunt whales for 'scientific studies', and then sold to the public as food products, a delicacy in the country. This year, however, their attempt at capturing the large, aquatic mammals has been significantly disrupted. Using only the Sea Shepherd, the main boat in the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's (which will be referred to as the SSCS in the rest of this blog), the Japanese fleet's mother ship has been successfully chased out of Atlantic waters. Just last week, the fishery's minister has stated his fleet will temporarily return home to Japan. To the SSCS, this action is an incredible achievement, as many of the whaling boats don't usually go quietly. 

Armed with water cannons and harpoons, the Japanese ships are indeed quite dangerous when tampered with. This season, however, they have decided the fight is not worth the effort. Though the SSCS has essentially one this season's war on whaling, Paul Watson, the founder of the Sea Shepherd group stated, "We will however stay with the Japanese ships until they return north and make sure that they're out of the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary." The Japanese halted their attempts on February 10th, but they have an opinion of their own on the matter.

Japan's Farm and Fisheries Minister Michihiko Kano stated publicly, "Even now the mother ship is being chased, and it is difficult to ensure the safety of the crew members." Japan's fleet consists of approximately 180 ships designed for whale hunting, which intend to kill nearly 1000 whales in this one season. Though every ship is technically for scientific study of the whales, most of the corpses will eventually end up in the food industry as various preparations. Even with such an immense fleet, the SSCS has managed to stop this practice by preventing ships from drawing the whales onto the ships. Many Japanese citizens claim not to consume whale on a daily basis, yet still feel the interference from activists is unjustified and disrupting a cultural tradition that has been carried out for centuries. 




As this season comes to an end, the SSCS, as well as many anti-whaling efforts carried out by Australia and New Zealand, the Japanese have successfully been given the message, though this success will be short lived, as next year will be just as chaotic for all activists, and possibly with more challenges. Fortunately for hundreds of whales, they can live out a fulfilling life, without the possibility of being slaughtered. 


Personally, I applaud these activists' efforts, and am very glad that our planet's ocean will have a little less blood in the water this year. If any readers would like to continue and follow these efforts, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has its own website, where information will be constantly updated, as well as give an opportunity to donate to their efforts. I will be keeping my fingers crossed that these activists, in unison, will be able to dismantle the destruction of whaling, and cause it to inevitably take a final dive.