The Hidden Problems of Banning Whaling

Whaling is the term used to describe the act of killing whales to use for meat, oil, bones, and any other by products that they may provide. Whaling has been around for a long period of time. The meat was used to feed people, the oil was used to light fires to provide warmth and a place to cook, and the bones were used to build things such as fences and corsets. Although whales provide many things to people, some groups oppose the act of whaling.

Some groups of people who oppose whaling are very passionate about what they believe in and will go to the extremes of sometimes disrupting whalers while they are hunting in an attempt to protest. Whaling to some people is cruel, unnecessary, and reduces the population of the whales. Whales are thought to be able to feel, perceive, and experience emotions. With this knowledge, people feel that it is unethical to kill a whale and have the rest of the whale’s group grieve its death. The way that we kill whales is by using a harpoon to grab the whale and then using a rifle to kill it. This method sounds very painful which makes people upset. People fear that whales will be overhunted and they will become extinct. If this happens, we will lose the opportunity to be able to whale watch, which some people enjoy doing as a past time. Protesters also believe that the system for whaling could be done in a different way that could make the death of the whale more peaceful.

Protesters may not be well educated on the subject of whaling. What they see is people aggressively hunting down these whales and brutally killing them. People also tend to think of whales as one animal, when in fact there are multiple types of whales and not all of them are overhunted. What these protesters do not understand is that whale meat is widely used in areas that do not have suitable land to grow crops and to raise livestock. Whales are also used in the cultural traditions of certain societies. These people and their ancestors have grown up with whaling and it is something that has been carried on through generations. If over hunted, the population of any animal will become diminished. Whales are just a lot harder to raise and farm as we do with chickens and cows. Because of this, I think it is important for there to be rules enforced about how many whales can be killed and what time of the year that they are allowed to be hunted. This way, we allow the whale population to grow and we can continue having whales in the years to come.

Whaling has the potential to cause extinction and unnecessary pain to the animal, but if done under regulation it can be beneficial to humans as well as better for the whales. If rules are enforced, both parties will benefit in some way. The protesters will have a decrease and regulation of whale slaughtering and the whalers will still be able to hunt the whales, but by following regulations, they are ensuring that whales will continue to be available to be used for food and other reasons.