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Wednesday 30 May 2007
Once again, in what has become an annual rite, Japan, Iceland and Norway will try, at the meeting of the International Whaling Commission this week, to overturn the international ban on hunting whales, while a global coalition of whale lovers urges governments to stand firm against the move.
This year the meeting takes place in Anchorage, Alaska, where Japan has introduced a new twist to the debate. Japan is asking the IWC to approve a quota for traditional cultural whaling along its coasts, similar to the quotas in place for traditional subsistence whale hunts in Alaska.
Japan has also announced that it will be going after a self-administered quota of 50 humpback whales in the Southern Ocean next year. Japan began a program of so-called "scientific" whaling in 1987 after the IWC imposed the ban on commercial whaling. Japan kills around a thousand whales every year under this program, mostly the smaller minke whales.
Targeting humpback whales is winning Japan no friends. Humpbacks are one of the most charismatic whale species. Known for their enchanting songs and acrobatic displays, they are a whale watcher's delight.
Australian Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull called Japan's plan to kill humpbacks "needlessly provocative," and warned Japan that its whaling practices have a negative impact on public opinion in Australia.
New Zealand Conservation Minister Chris Carter said, "World opinion is on the side of conservation, and the vast majority of people on Earth don't want to eat whales; they want to protect them at a time of global climate change. You know, killing whales shouldn't be happening."
Trish and Wally Franklin run a whale conservation group in Byron Bay, Australia called Oceania. Fifteen years ago, they set out to study the humpback whales of Hervey Bay, a protected inlet on the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef. The Franklins spend four months each year with the whales in Hervey Bay. They also run several different educational outreach programs with the goal of protecting the whales.
I visited the Franklins at their home, and I asked Trish what prompted her to devote so much of her life to whales and dolphins. She said that initially she had been inspired by a story a friend told to her about a mythic journey with dolphins. She said, "I have devoted so much of my life to Cetacea because I cannot envisage a world without them. The planet would suffer one of the greatest losses in all of human history, and would have to live with the weight of the void left in their absence."
Trish Franklin is not alone in her feelings, as the Franklins have discovered through their years of work with the humpbacks of Hervey Bay.
One of the interesting things about humpback whales is that their tail flukes have unique markings on them that make it possible to identify individuals. The Franklins helped to start the Humpback Whale Icon project that has encouraged towns and communities on the east coast of Australia to adopt a whale of their own, picking an individual from the Franklins' catalog of images and tracking its history through the couple's annual expeditions.
Many towns wanted to adopt an unnamed whale so they could name it themselves, Trish said. Before she studied whales, Trish had studied Australia's aboriginal people, and she was pleased that the communities were contacting aboriginal groups in their areas to find a name from their languages. Many of the first people had whale myths or dreamings - even, according to Trish, people who did not live near the coast.
The Franklins have been amazed at how popular the Icon project has become. Some of the communities have asked their
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