Why don't we exploit whales commercially?

Boerseun · 05-31-2005

Yes - I know this is a touchy subject. But, if we start exploiting whales commercially, we:

a) Ensure their survival! Contradictory as it may seem, if we put a monetary value on a whale's head, we will make it necessary for those harvesting them to ensure their scientific, sustainable exploitation - and even to farm them in such a way as to increase their numbers. In the olden days they were hunted to the brink of extinction, but that was due to the indiscriminate slaughter of all available whales. A case in point - we have been slaughtering cattle for thousands of years, and they still outnumber deer by several orders of magnitude!
b) Consume a resource as close to the base of the marine food chain as possible. Sure - we can start eating plankton, but it tastes like crap. If we have whales converting crappy-tasting planton into yummy-tasting meat, we still consume solar energy with a minimum energy loss through the chain, seeing as this specific chain will have only one link.
c) Okay - a whale might take 5 to 10 years to mature, whereas a cow will be ready for slaughter in approximately 2 years. But - if a whale takes 10 years, and a cow 2, the whale need to be only 5 times more massive than the cow to make it worthwhile. A whale is considerably larger than that, so this should be viable.
d) Cattle, sheep and all other commercially exploited stock is dependent on large fields committed to lucerne and other feedstuffs - which is artificially fertilised with chemicals that is dangerous and harmful to the environment. Baleen whales, on the other hand, consume plankton which is the biggest concentration of nutrient mass on the planet. So, in consuming whales and farming them scientifically and sustainably, we will have less of an impact on the ecosystem.
e) I am not proposing slaughtering whales indiscriminately, like in the old days. That will lead to extinction. Rather, each farmer must start up a pod and mark them with some sort of radio transmitter or microchip. He is responsible for their welfare, and is only allowed to kill those whales bearing his "farm"s chip. Obviously there will be cases of "stock theft", cattle farmers all over the world suffer it as well. That can be treated on a technical, legal way. But the principle of whale farming should be investigated further, I think.

ThatWierdGuy · 06-01-2005

I don't condone killing intellegent animals, except maybe pigs, but they taste good.

Also, I think there maybe a problem holding the 2nd or 3rd smartest animal (humans being the first) in captivity. I'm sure they'll notice that they are being bred for slaughter, particularily when "jimmy-whale" is taken captive and never comes back, and will probably take violent action. And holding a giant animal like a whale down will take a lot of man-power, and probably a lot of money spent to ensure its possible, unless of course you want to kill it before its ready for slaughter, which would be a waste of money. Of course this could be fixed by upping the dollars on reinforced captivity and security, but this will up the price of whale more then it needs to be.

GAHD · 06-01-2005

Hmm, I don't know, does whale meat taste good? If if doesn't tateste good, no on e will buy it.

C1ay · 06-01-2005

Putting a value on the hides of other animals has nearly driven them to extinction in the black markets.

Boerseun · 06-01-2005

That's the thing. As long as we ban the whale trade, countries like Japan and Norway will keep on harvesting it, like they've been doing for many years, without any statutory body controlling them. I can only assume that the meat tastes good, judging by the Japanese and Norwegian activities in this regard. Now, on the other hand, if we can make it legal, we can regulate it - and that should be better for the whales in the long run?

C1ay · 06-01-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boerseun

That's the thing. As long as we ban the whale trade, countries like Japan and Norway will keep on harvesting it, like they've been doing for many years, without any statutory body controlling them. I can only assume that the meat tastes good, judging by the Japanese and Norwegian activities in this regard. Now, on the other hand, if we can make it legal, we can regulate it - and that should be better for the whales in the long run?

I think they harvest whales more for the oils than the meat. As for regulation it's just a dream. Look at how well nuclear regulation is working in North Korea right now.

Boerseun · 06-01-2005

Point taken - although if all countries are signatories to some whale treaty, and one of them breaks it (re. your North Korea analogy), that country would make itself a target for several economic sanctions and boycotts.
Yeah - I'm idealistic.
Bad idea, probably, but I think we should investigate further, not just say "No, we can't kill the poor whales! They're so darn cute!"

Tormod · 06-01-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by GAHD

Hmm, I don't know, does whale meat taste good? If if doesn't tateste good, no on e will buy it.

It doesn't taste good. Yet a lot of people buy it.

Tormod · 06-01-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by C1ay

I think they harvest whales more for the oils than the meat. As for regulation it's just a dream. Look at how well nuclear regulation is working in North Korea right now.

I think the Norwegian government these days harvest whales for no other reason that keeping up a claim that we can do it in our own waters as much as we like. The say it is for "scientific" use, which is utter bollocks in my opinion.

BTW, I have a picture of myself in front of the White House wearing a "Kill a whale" T-shirt.