Hunting Whales To Conserve Them?

Zihua Zhou


Whaling has been a controversial issue for a long time. Although the conservationists heavily criticized and even launched ships to stop whaling, it didn’t stop the Japanese and Norwegian whalers from continuing hunting the whales. As the result, three scientists suggested a more efficient way to reduce the number of the whaling mortality. It would have the conservationists purchase quotas from the established trading market of whales. However, this suggestion has many problems and flaws.

“...Campaigners maintaining their high-risk pursuit and their attempts to foul the propellers of the whaling ships with ropes, and the whalers responding with water cannon. Surely there is a better way?”, say the three scientists in one Nature issue published on Jan 12, 2012. In this article, the author promotes this economic way because the confrontations often cause injuries on people from both sides. Moreover, the author argues that to solve environmental problem using a market approach is not a rare case. For example, carbon tax; breathing tax is being a popular topic recently, too. If this approach proved to be helpful, then this similar one would be helpful for whales. In those three scientists opinions, conservationists raise their egoboos from holding more quotas and buy the whales from whalers; on the other hand, the whaling company can gain profits from selling the whales; both sides had no loss of face, therefore it could be a mutually beneficial solution. (source)

Nonetheless, this idea arouses another question, the one Bruce Barcott says in the title of his article, saving whales by hunting them? Bruce indicates that this approach would end up in a dilemma. If Japan and Norway holds more quotas, they could use the quotas to catch the whales as they want. Reversely, conservationists holding more quotas, it just turns the rest of the world into whalers. Furthermore, Bruce quotes many scientists from different fields to show why the market approach would not work. Yet, Bruce points out that whaling is more of an ethical and cultural problem. Thus, changing the whalers’ minds is essentially a better way to solve it. (source)


In my first glance, the scheme seems rather attractive. However, it would actually bring up more problems than we have now. First of all, how are the conservationists going to deal with the whales after the purchase? The most ideal way is to release them back into the sea. After that, the whalers catch them again, and conservationists purchase them again; it looks like an endless loop, doesn’t it? Perhaps the only benefit is the world’s GDP would increase. Second, the conservationists are not the only buyers in the world. What if some slaughters purchase the whales and slaughter them? Then it is a waster of money and no whales would be saved at all. Realistically, many countries are comfortable just criticizing, but they are not very likely to actually pay for the whales.


Work Cited


Barcott, Bruce. "Save the Whales - By Hunting Them?."OnEarth. N.p., 2012. Web. 5 Feb 2012.


"Whales for Sale : Nature : Nature Publishing Group." Nature Publishing Group : Science Journals, Jobs, and Information. Web. 05 Feb. 2012