EU Member States must agree on a unified EU position against whale hunting
February 8th, 2008
The images that have been flashing on television screens across the world remind us once again how some countries continue to flout the international ban on the hunting of whales under the guise of scientific research. This is just unacceptable.
European Union law on whaling is very clear. It is not allowed in EU waters. Under EU environmental law all whale species are protected from deliberate disturbance, capture or killing within EU waters and all Member States in the European Union are obliged to observe these laws. However, the EU is not opposed to aboriginal peoples traditional whaling for their subsistence – as allowed under the IWC Convention - provided it falls within the confines of catch limits based on scientific advice. This is the case for the aboriginal peoples of Greenland which are allowed to hunt fin and minke whales.
Whales are highly migratory species. If whaling is only banned in EU waters but not everywhere else in the world then such a ban can have only a limited effect on the well-being of whale species. This is why the international ban on commercial whaling must stay and why all EU Member States members of the IWC must appose any move seeking to lift it. We need to move towards more international protection of whales rather less.
The European Commission is working to coordinate European efforts to protect whales. But as the European Union is not yet a party to the IWC Convention the European Commission cannot negotiate on behalf of its Member States. This is why it is absolutely vital for EU Member States to reach a common position on whaling to reinforce the EU’s efforts to protect whales.
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February 11th, 2008 at 11:45 am #
Have a great greener week.
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My country: United Kingdom
February 13th, 2008 at 10:52 am #
subsistence , I agree with the principle and idea.. subsistence/trading.
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My country: United Kingdom
February 15th, 2008 at 11:13 am #
Subsistence hunt for the northern coast and indigenous communties should not be targeted from Brussels, as long as hunting is on sustainable basis. Assessment of stocks should be continuous to provide up-to-date information for building of EU standpoints in the matter of whaling.
Minke whales are used for human food and do not require assets that would harm the environment, such as fertilizers, industrial fodder, fossil energy for heating etc. Input-output ratio is based on nature’s material flows - thus very eco-efficient.
Hunting as a method of providing livelihood is as old as humankind even if today practices only by few of us. We who shop our daily meals from supermarkets wish not to think of the animal origins of our steaks, is not that so? Please do not detach yourself from nature’s stocks in regard to whaling of such species that are NOT threatened.
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My country: Finland
February 19th, 2008 at 11:39 am #
Morning!! Important Blog.
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My country: United Kingdom
February 25th, 2008 at 11:11 am #
Give it a rest mate, have you ever even tried a ‘Mega Minke’(the finest whale burger ever made) ? I think that if you had, your opinion would change greatly, and they are incredibly good value.
Why dont you go and do some proper work which might actually help someone as opposed to writing some useless blog planning the next ‘Free Willy’ film, which no one even cares about.
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My country: United Kingdom
February 25th, 2008 at 11:35 am #
After reading this article I was taken back to my holiday in Greenland in 1996. I could have sworn that I saw Mr. Dimas, the EU Commission for the environment, boarding a whaling boat, holding a harpoon gun and whale burger. This is clearly an infringment of European Law and not setting the best example as Mr. Dimas holds such a prestigious position within the EU.
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My country: United Kingdom
February 26th, 2008 at 4:15 pm #
On Croatian side of the Adriatic Sea Croatia has every right under international law of the sea to implement it protected fishing and ecological zones. Also not to be bullied when the hypocrites in EU, Italy and Slovenia have their own proclaimed protected fishing and ecological zones on their sides of the Adriatic sea. If the Croatian fishing fleet would ignore it and tried to fish their the boats would be sized and crews charged in court. I am soo dissapointed in EU and how they behaved towards Croatia on this matter.… EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn said in a statement that refusing to open up the fisheries and ecological zone to all member states would lead to “negative” consequences so Italy and Slovenia can rape and pillage wipe out your resources at will without any consequences to them selfs. If Croatia are going to be blackmailed so the EU states can rape and pillage wipe out Croatian resources at will and make a quick profit without any consequences to them selfs. To hell with both Italy, Slovenia and EU. Very sad picture how they behaved towards Croatia.
February 27th, 2008 at 10:50 am #
I agree with the article we do need to have in place protection for the whales, if left with out any protection then we would have very little (none) species of whales left in the world.
Keep up the good work it is extremely important that we do care and manage our whales, we only have to look at cod and other species of fish used for food.
We were aware of problems way back in the 1950’s but choose to ignore the scientific view. We have a situation when we not sure whether these fishes will survive, but unfortunately, we still fish as normal (OK, we have quarters, but many question whether this works), but, with nets that leave nothing on the bottom and the fishing vessels are extremely large, and any thing not required is through back dead. No doubt, it will be argued that in the near future it will be said we have banned these types of nets and reduced the size of vessels, but as usually will be too late.
Kind regards
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My country: United Kingdom
March 2nd, 2008 at 5:10 pm #
being half japanese i feel personally insulted by this extremist nonsense about stopping whale hunting. i happen to find whale meat really tasty in fact i shall send you some to try yourself. if it does not reach you due to the European food regulations i shall sue your office for blatant racist discrimination against asian Europeans and inciting racial hatred. i would advise you to join the Japanese whaling fleet to discover just how fun whale hunting really is. by the way it just shows how little your office does as there are next to no whales in the med it is not their preferred climate.
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My country: United Kingdom
March 27th, 2008 at 10:01 am #
I’m disappointed by some of the comments on this blog. It is absolutely repulsing that there are people having pro-whaling ideas! So what if they are tasty or whatever, should we kill them all in the name of food? Is that disgusting burger so important to people that they are willing to endanger the existence of these wonderful creatures? Don’t you want your great grandchildren to know what a whale is from more than just a text book? I have to tell you…between this and seal hunting, it is a sad world we’re living in.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:06 pm #
well Otto i have contacted the japanese embassey in uk many times and i have found that their is a vast difference in cultures between east and west. The main problem is that asian culture in respest of whales does not show any empathy towards whales; indeed, the woman in embassey said the japanese love whales- but shoting a whale harpoon into it is a strange form of love I think that to any educated race hunting is a very bad aspect of human nature and one which must be stopped at all costs. i hope this commissoner has guts and will push europe to ban whale and seal hunting.
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My country: United Kingdom
April 9th, 2008 at 5:18 am #
Great forward thinking post, Mr. Stavros. I wish you similar wisdom, discernment and courage in dealing with the Canadian Seal Hunt issue, wherein the seal hunters could earn a better income were the Canadian government to subsidize seal hunting companies to transition into seal-watching companies, thereby doing the socially responsible thing, while bolstering the Atlantic economy of Canada through increases in toursim, and at the same time repairing Canada’s international image.
What may not be know internationally is that National public opinion polling consistently shows that the overwhelming majority of Canadians oppose the commercial seal hunt. A poll conducted by Environics Research in 2005 shows 69 percent of Canadians are opposed to the seal hunt outright, and even higher percentages oppose inherent aspects of the hunt, such as the killing of seal pups. Attempts by the Canadian government to show the opposite consistently fail.
Wishing you continued determination in your future endeavors,
Sharon — Vancouver BC Canada
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My country: Canada
May 5th, 2008 at 4:48 pm #
Seals Respond to SCOFO Report
David Brown, Medicine Hat, Alberta April 2008
In April 2007, the House of Commons published “Report of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans: Ensuring a Sustainable and Humane Seal Harvest”. Committee (SCOFO) chairperson was Gerald Keddy, MP. In response, Mr. Brown interviewed a number of harp and hooded seals and prepared this report. (Well, if you believe the things Harper and Hearn come up with, you can believe this.) The seals, although trembling with fright at being approached by a human, consented to an interview, provided their responses be attributed anonymously to a fictitious spokes-seal referred to below as “Seal”.
SCOFO p. 1: “The campaign against the commercial seal harvest… resulted in a ban by the European Union… and the collapse of international sealskin markets.”
Seal: In the first four lines of your introduction, you mention markets three times. It’s all about money, isn’t it?
SCOFO p. 1: “The Committee focused its attention on four aspects of the seal harvest…sustainability, humaneness, economic, social and cultural importance, and its role in achieving and maintaining an ecological balance within the marine ecosystem.”
Seal: I feel a lot better now. For a minute I thought you wanted to kill me. And of course, Newfoundland culture is very important.
SCOFO p. 2: “[There was] a steady increase in the size of the harp seal population in the Northwest Atlantic, from about 1.9 million in 1970 to almost 5.2 million in 1995.”
Seal: The Canadian human population increased from 22 million in 1971 to 27 million in 1991. (Reader’s Digest Assoc., “Atlas of Canada”, Montreal, 1995, p. 50)
SCOFO p. 3: “As a result of the anti-seal harvest campaigns… export markets for seal skins in Europe are threatened, and Canada’s image continues to be tarnished.”
Seal: You mean to say that because Newfoundlanders are trying to kill me, Europeans see it as a thoughtless act of all Canadians? That’s kind of rough on Albertans and others, isn’t it?
SCOFO p. 6: “While Aboriginal Canadians account for a relatively small proportion of the seals killed annually, the harvest is a vital source of cash income to Aboriginal hunters. Much of this income is derived from the sale of pelts in international markets.”
SCOFO p. 12: “Marine mammals form an important part of Inuit nutrition and diet that comes from generations of living off the land and sea… [They are a] food source, a cultural source, a knowledge source, a spiritual and inspirational source, and a livelihood source.”
Seal: These guys claim they need to kill me to maintain their traditional lifestyle. Okay, let’s say they can hunt me in the traditional fashion, provided they no longer user non-traditional means such as rifles, gas powered marine engines or diesel marine engines. And, traditionally there is no sale to a foreign market. My remains must be consumed only locally.
SCOFO p. 11: “In its 2005 report, “Northern Cod: A Failure of Canadian Fisheries Management”, the Committee concluded that the size of the seal herd had to play a role in the lack of recovery of many northern cod stocks.”
Seal: Funny, the Canadian Coast Guard fired on the Spanish vessel “Estai” in March 1995 during the “Turbot War”. Although the editor at Thesealfishery.com blames the cod collapse on Russian bottom draggers, the Canadians never fired on any Russians. Maybe the Russians, unlike the Spanish or the environmental boats, know how to shoot back?
Sure, I’m a seal, I eat fish. My forebears have eaten fish for a hundred thousand years or more without wiping out any fish stocks. Blame someone else.
SCOFO pp. 15-16: “The two expert witnesses testified that the methods used to kill seals – the hakapik and the rifle… satisfy both the requirements of the Canadian and American Veterinarian Associations for humane killing and euthanasia and compare favourably to methods employed to harvest other species of wild animals as well as those used to slaughter domestic livestock.”
Seal: You’ve got to be kidding.
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(At this point, the interviewer, Mr. Brown, was overcome emotionally and had to terminate his report. He hopes to respond to pages 18-41 of the SCOFO report at a later date.)
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My country: Canada
May 7th, 2008 at 9:29 am #
Urban dwellers are enthusiastic to detach themselves from nature, from subsistence hunting and from being a part of the web of life. Congratulations for that :-/ Of course food & other stuff comes from the shelves of a supermarket, doesn’t it?
It is amazing how those criticizing hunting of marine mammals are eager to correct and fix this wrong-doing by ignoring the way of life of those dwellers, who rely on hunting of free-living animals with a chance to live a life typical of the species.
Protection and safe-guarding the existence of endangered species IS extremely important but some sensibility would be welcome into this debate where all hunting is the target. Too narrow-sighted and thus unfair.
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My country: Finland
May 11th, 2008 at 4:21 am #
My hats off to you Mr. Brown. These beautiful animals need a voice. How can I help?
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My country: United States of America
June 6th, 2008 at 2:20 am #
The whaling issue is NOT an environmental issue.
Everyone is agreed that endangered species of whales (that is, “endangered” in the original sense of the word) should not be hunted.
Anti-whalers and whalers alike.
The argument that is had is whether hunting of non-endangered whale species should be tolerated or not. The EU may wish to oppose even the most conservative of whale harvests, but whaling is going to continue. The EU has no power to effectively impose it’s cultural preferences on whale eating peoples (short of declaring war…).
If the EU wishes to focus on those species of whales that are truely endangered (in the original sense of the word), then the EU has my support.
It is simply ridiculous to suggest that sustainable whaling of non-endangered whale species (i.e., those numbering in the tens and hundreds of thousands) is an environmental issue. Please understand this, for the sake of your own credibility, if anything.
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My country: United Kingdom
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