The Resumption of Whaling by Norway
The Resumption of Whaling by NorwayA paper by Bryan Togias
Introduction
The following paper is about the resumption of whaling by Norway with a focus on the
American attitude towards whaling in general. Whaling is a very sensitive issue for many
people, including myself. There are many people who feel that whales are highly
intelligent mammals, akin to humanity in many ways. They cite the fact that whales mate
for life, the size of the average whales brain, and the proof that whales communicate with
one another ; all of these traits they share with us. The anti-whaling people feel that to
kill whales for their meat or oil, would be like killing people for their meat or oil. The
pro whaling people don’t buy any of their reasoning. The pro whaling people feel that it
is their right to use their resources any way that they want, and no one can tell them
what to do. These people don’t feel that whales are intelligent or that the size of their
brains has any thing to do with it. The people of Norway don’t see a problem with whaling
because they were raised w
ith it. The anti-whali
An international study by Milton Freeman and Stephen Kellert, published in 1992, surveyed
people in 6 major countries including Australia, Germany, Japan, Norway, The United
Kingdom and The United States about their attitudes towards whales and whaling. 57% of
the US respondents confirmed that they “opposed the hunting of whales under any
circumstances” and 55% felt that “even regulated whaling must be abandoned” (Skare
1994). Although none of the respondent groups showed a high level of knowledge on the
subject, all seemed to agree on the following points.
1. The protection of whale habitats from pollution and disturbance.
2. Maintaining an “ecosystem” perspective in whale management.
3. Basing harvest levels on the most sound scientific advice available.
In Norway where whale hunting was once a big industry the proponents of whaling scoff at
the prospect of a world without whaling. Norway claims that whaling in their country
dates back more than ten thousand years (Skare 1994) and that history, they claim, gives
them the right to exploit the resources that they have available to them; what they don’t
say is that those “resources” aren’t really their own to exploit. Eric Doyle, a member...
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