Whales are Threatened by Massive Hunts

Whales’ numbers have plummeted due to massive hunts.

After commercial whaling has been monitored for the past three decades, experts have now come to the conclusion that many species of whales are currently endangered due to massive hunts conducted especially by Japan.

The data was collected by scientists from the International Whaling Commission, which organized the 66^th event Friday in Slovenia. This agency had saved until now countless of whales and helped many species recover from excessive hunting especially during the 20^th century when whales were hunted for their blubber and meat used in restaurants, fuel, and soap.

Although only Japan was allowed to hunt whales supposedly for research, the statistics have shown that over 15,000 specimens have been killed since 1985, which many people claim that were used for food, not science.

More precisely, Japan hunts around 500 whales every year forcing the International Court of Justice to take active measures in preventing this country from killing whales to such a large extent.

In the exemption, it is clearly stipulated that all meat must be processed, whereas in this case, it ends up in restaurants and supermarkets. Whale hunting has been part of the Japanese tradition for hundreds of years, because whale meat represented the primary protein source, especially during the World War II.

Although over the past thirty years many people started to consume less whale meat, these large animals are still massively hunted.

Experts underline that Norway is another bad example because it is the top whale hunter worldwide. More precisely, this country is responsible for killing around 12,000 minkes from 1986 to 2014, while the highest annual record was established in 2014 when 736 specimens were taken down.

Together with Iceland, it has negotiated a formal objection against the IWC regulations under which they keep hunting whales, although hunting rates are much lower in Iceland.

The statistics have revealed that hunters from Iceland have killed 906 minke and fin whales between 1986 and 2014. As most people don’t eat whale meat in these two countries, experts believe that all haul was probably shipped to Japan.

This meat is usually consumed by tourists, but most of it is eventually used to feed animals. According to Russel Smith, IWC US commissioner, Norway and Iceland are urged to immediately stop whale hunting and international trade of this meat because many species of whales are critically endangered.

Image Source: WCVB

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Karen Jackson

Karen Jackson has always been passionate about technology. All the way through high-school she immersed herself in computers and web-design. Her ambitious nature helped her become a pro in Adobe Photoshop only by watching online videos and working with the program herself. This is also the program that she mostly uses in the creation of websites at her work-place. Technological innovation and gadgets that push the boundaries of what we are comfortable with have always fascinated her, so expect to see some weird gadget reviews coming from her.