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Yunhan Jiang

Writing 39C / AP Draft 0

2/24/2019

Professor Greg McClure

The Endangered Giant

Introduction

In the Hebrew Bible, there is a giant sea monster which is knows as a powerful and cruel

enemy of gods. It is called Leviathan (Cirlot, 1971). Having a giant body and the power of

apocalypse, Leviathan is often compared to other great monsters in other mythologies or tales.

Parallels to Vritra1 in ancient India region or Jormungandr2 in Norse mythology, Leviathan is

also noted as a destined enemy of the god Hadad. Later scholars interpret Leviathan as referring

to huge, brutal and mysterious aquatic animals (Gesenius, 1859). As time flies, in modern era

the name “Leviathan” used by novelists and poets becomes a term for large sea animals, usually

whales, in general.

However, although having such a deterrent nickname, whales are warm and kind animals,

and are facing a fatal threat from human -- commercial whaling. According to EIA International,

at around the middle of 19th century, modern era of commercial had begun. In short sixty years,

1 A serpent or dragon which is opposite to god Indra, and is finally killed by him (Gopal, 1990).
2 A sea serpent, the archenemy of the Norse Gods (Simek, 1993).
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the stock of many whale species suffered a sudden decrease. Data given by International

Whaling Commission (2019) expose that from 1920s to 1940s, several species such as blue

whale, humpback whale and minke whale were heavily exploited by industrial whaling and

commercial whaling. Although society realized that whales were over-exploited, and began to

regulate whalers and whaling industries, whales were already reduced to only a very small

percentage of their original population size. As a result, International Whaling Commission --

the most official whaling association in the world -- posted several whaling prohibitions on

specific species, such as fin whale and blue whale. In spite of this, whaling also happened

annually, and whaling cannot be completely controlled only by setting policies, as there are

countries which already taste tremendous economic profit and industrial benefits from whaling,

and does not want to stop even a little bit. Whaling problem should be taken serious

consideration, and there has to be a more powerful organization to take charge of whaling

problem. Moreover, normal people also should reject whaling and other whale products.

The seriousness

Commercial whaling contains several problems and is extremely inhumane. Whales have

huge bodies which bring them vitality, so they cannot die easily. During the process of hunting

and killing, every whale suffers extreme pain. As whales have huge bodies, there is no humane

way to kill a whale quickly at sea. According to researches given by Mann (2000), whales’

important organs, such as lung and heart, are hiding deeply inside their bodies, protected by

thick skins and fat. They also contain a large amount of blood, up to 14,000 pounds (6400kg),
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and it is also impossible to bleed whales for decreasing their pains. For preventing whales from

struggling, people even use harpoons with grenades in whaling. Nearly every whale dies

painfully during the hunting. Moreover, Roman (2016) says whaling ships in polar areas often

make sounds which are very similar to whales. Those sounds usually attract whales approaching.

Whales identify the ships as members so they will go closer and give body contacts, so they will

be shaved hardly by the high speed screw propellers. Many whales are killed because of the

damage of their vertebra and backs. Roman (2016) notes that although there are some lucky

survivors, they have no choice but carry scary scars in the rest of their life. Surrounding by sea

water, whales suffer from extremely pain from scars, and they may be isolated by crews because

of the weird “marks” on their skins. Whaling activity seriously threats the safety of whales, and

do no contribution to marine life and environment. Such bloody tradition should be abandoned

and prohibited by every person who contains sympathy.

Although whaling activity started to be controlled, there were countries which did not apply

for the decision, especially European countries, such as Iceland and Norway, and Japan in Asia.

Arne (2013) says in Asia, Japan is always known as the biggest whaling country. Around forty

thousand of whales were killed by Iceland, Norway and Japan since 1986. Several evidence to

show that whaling activity is still in progress, although they are under the controlling of IWC.

For example, Japan announced to leave IWC at the end of June, 2018, and resumed commercial

whaling in July. “Japan has been hunting whales for the past thirty years under a scientific

programme. Critics say the practice is a cover for what actually amounts to commercial
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whaling” (Arne, 2013). Junko Sakuma, a researcher working for Greenpeace in Japan, has been

studying in Japan's whaling industry for more than 10 years. "There is no benefit to Japan from

whaling...but nobody knows how to quit," she takes an interview at Tokyo's famously chaotic

Tsukiji fish market, the biggest in the world renowned for its fresh tuna auctions. If there is a

whale meat shortage, the price should be soaring. But according to Junko it is not. "The fact is,

most Japanese people do not eat whale meat," she says. "Consumption has been falling for

years," and follows "even as the amount of whale meat decreases, the price doesn't go up".

According to Junko's research, the average consumption of whale meat by Japanese people in

2015 was just 30g (one ounce) per person (BBC, Japan and the whale).

Why Japan does not want to stop whaling while there are less and less demands of whale

products? The explanation from the Japanese government is that whaling is a part of Japanese

culture for decades, that fishermen have caught whales for centuries. And Japan will never

accept foreigners from telling its people what they should and should not eat. A Japanese official

once replied to Hayes (2016), a news researcher of BBC: "Japanese people never eat rabbits, but

we don't tell British people that they shouldn't". Hayes mentions that rabbits are not treated as

endangered species. In another word, whaling has already become a part of economic cycle in

many countries. It is unrealistic to ban whaling in short term.

Possible Solutions

According to the data given on the website of IWC, more than 2.9 million of whales were

killed in the 20th century. IWC announced a moratorium on commercial whaling, which was the
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first important step about whale protecting. After the policy started in 1986, the rate of whales

exploited by commercial whaling decreased significantly. Only around 40 thousand of whales

were killed since 1986 (EIA International). However, although the number decreased, it was still

a huge loss of whale stocks. Life should not be counted as numbers. (On editing)

We all understand that profit pushes commercial activities, so the most direct way to stop

commercial whaling is to stop supporting whale products. There are lamp oil, candles and soaps

which are made from sperm oil and whale oil, whale meat for human consumption and animal

feed, fertilizer made from whale bones, and strings on tennis rackets which are made from

tendons (KCPC 2001). In fact, there are plenty of alternatives which have better quality and

lower price compare to those whale products. Advocating the idea of anti-whaling and

anti-whale products can be an effective way to reduce whaling activities. According to an article

from Human Society International (HSI), whales are kinds of species which are easily affected

by environmental containment. While eating, whales absorb those organochlorines3 and heavy

metals such as mercury which float on the top of the oceans and are contained by plankton. If

people consume whale meat, chemicals adjust on whale meat will also be absorbed by people

and can cause serious health problems. By exposing such fatal facts, anti-whaling activities run

actively and effectively. Even in one of the biggest whaling countries, Japan, there are more than

four thousand supermarkets which already refuse to sell whale and dolphin products. At least

85% of Japanese citizens strongly oppose their government to use money from taxpayers to

3 Such as polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and dioxin

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build new whaling ships (EIA International). (On editing)

Anti-whaling activities are held not only in Japan, but also in Northern Europe whaling

countries such as Iceland and Finland. According to the International Fund for Animal Welfare

(IFAW), they started a joint project with the Association of Icelandic Whale Watchers (IceWhale)

in the summer of 2010. The project is called “Meet Us Don’t Eat Us”, and is held in Reykjavík4

annually. Whale friendly restaurants also began to build around the beginning of 21st century in

Northern European countries such as Iceland and Norway. In 2017, more than 80% of unsold

whale meat in Norway were abandoned by markets and companies, because whale meat became

hard to sell (EIA International). In Iceland, only 1% of citizens eat whale meat regularly, and at

least 34% of Icelander actively and strongly oppose commercial whaling, which number is

nearly doubled comparing to the year 2013. (On editing)

4 The capital and largest city of Iceland

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Citation

Cirlot, Juan Eduardo. A Dictionary of Symbols (2nd ed.). Dorset Press, 1971.

Gopal, Madan. K.S. Gautam, ed. India through the ages. Publication Division, Ministry of

Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, 1990.

Simek, Rudolf. Dictionary of Northern Mythology. D.S. Brewer, 1993.

Gesenius, Wilhelm, and Samuel Prideaux Tregelles. “Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the Old

Testament”. S. Bagster, 1859.

“Commercial Whaling: Unsustainable, Inhumane, Unnecessary.” EIA International,

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eia-international.org/reports-mm/keeptheban/

“Status of Whales.” IWC | International Whaling Commission, iwc.int/home.

Roman, Joe (2006-05-01). Whale. Reaktion Books. p. 24. ISBN 9781861895059. Retrieved 25

March 2017.

Mann, Janet, et al. Cetacean Societies: Field Studies of Dolphins and Whales. University of

Chicago Press, 2000.

Wingfield-Hayes, Rupert. “Japan and the Whale.” BBC News, BBC, 8 Feb. 2016,

www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35397749.

Kalland, Arne, and Brian Moeran. Japanese Whaling: End of an Era? Routledge, 2013.

“Whale Products.” KCPC Education Resource Web Site: 9.2.3 Molar Heat of Combustion, 2001,

discovery.kcpc.usyd.edu.au/9.5.1/9.5.1_whale.html.

“Human Health Concerns of Whale Meat.” Humane Society International, 26 July 2002,

www.hsi.org/issues/whaling/facts/human_health_concerns_of_whale_meat.html.