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Ruby Zhang

Professor Allison Bocchino

Writing 2

05 November 2019

Writing Project 2

For years, people have raised concerns over the treatment of whales over the world.

There is an ongoing debate on whether people should kill whales for any purpose at all. Some

people are completely opposed to the killing of whales, while others argue for sustainable

whaling. Besides the killing of whales, many countries have also engaged in the whale watching

industry, where tourists can see the whales for a fee. To protect the whales, people create

organizations such as the International Whaling Commission, which help manage the issues with

whaling. Moreover, experts from different disciplines also conduct a series of studies about

whales. The issues about whales relate to many disciplines, including economics and biology.

These two disciplines study whales in very different ways. They study whales through different

approaches, use different methods, include different contents, and use different dicton.

When talking about whales, economists are more interested in studying whether whales

can generate extra earnings and employment and whether the market can be accessed globally.

As Cisneros-Montemayor and his colleagues have said in their article, “whale watching could

generate an additional 413 million USD (2009) in yearly revenue, supporting 5,700 jobs.”1 By

saying this, economists show that whale watching has the potential to affect the economy on a

1
​ 273-1274,
A.M Cisneros-Montemayor et al., "The Global Potential," ​Marine Policy​ 34, no. 6 (2010):​ 1
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2010.05.005​.
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large scale, which then leads to their main focus on this topic: “Can all coastal countries access

this market?”2 To study more about the global potential of whale watching,

Cisneros-Montemayor and his coworkers collected data from credible organizations and

estimated the yearly whale watchers in different regions. Their study estimates that there will be

145 thousand whale watchers in Africa, 46 thousand in America, 506 thousand in Asia, and 657

thousand in Europe.3 The researchers then discuss the results and the difficulties that some

countries may encounter when trying to access this market, such as ​“​ease of access and security

[to visit a country]”.4 By analyzing these results, economists are able to achieve their goals of

determining whether all coastal countries can access the whale watching market and how can

they access the market.

On the other hand, biologists view the whaling industry in a different approach. Unlike

economists, biologists pay more attention to the effects on the ecology resulting from massive

whaling in previous years. A study conducted by Ruegg and her colleagues focused on the

question of whether the killing of large whales can lead to an increase in the population of

smaller, krill-eating whales. The researchers collected a sample of 52 whale meat from the

Japanese meat market and amplified the copies of their genomes. They conducted a huge amount

of calculations to estimate whether the population of Antarctic minke whale has significantly

increased. Their study shows that the “long-term population size for the Antarctic minke whale

is 671,000 individuals”.5 By comparing the estimation with the population of Antarctic minke

whale in previous years, biologists are able to conclude whether the killing of large whales has

2
Cisneros-Montemayor, “The Global Potential,” 1274.
3
Cisneros-Montemayor, “The Global Potential,” 1276.
4
Cisneros-Montemayor, “The Global Potential,” 1275-1276.
5
Kristen C. Ruegg et al., “Are Antarctic Minke Whale,” ​Molecular Ecology​ 19, no. 2 (2010): 287,
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2009.04447.x​.
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affected the ecology. Therefore, when studying whales, biologists focused more on the

ecological effects due to whaling, while economists focused on the global potentials of the whale

watching industry.

Besides using different approaches when studying whales, the two disciplines also use

different methods when conducting their research. Economists collected data from various

organizations, inputted the data into different equations, estimated the number of whale

watchers, and analyzed the results by creating charts and graphs. For example, they created

scatterplots that represent the relationship between the total tourist arrivals and whale watchers.

They also created a bar chart that compares the average yearly tourist arrivals, species of marine

mammals, abundance of marine mammals, and potential whale watchers on different continents.

The researchers used their charts as evidence to show that some countries may encounter

difficulties realizing the potential benefits from whale watching. Thus, economists conduct their

study mainly by using data from credible sources, calculating and creating charts, and analyzing

the results.

Different from economists, biologists use other methods when researching their topic.

The researchers collected a sample from the Japanese meat market and used the genomes copied

from the sample as the data for their research. They then used statistical calculations to estimate

the population of the Antarctic minke whale from their sample results. They also created a graph

of the distribution of Antarctic minke whales and compared them with their estimation. Overall,

economists conducted their research by using data from other sources and doing calculations,

while biologists collected samples from the market and estimated the population of the Antarctic

minke whales by using the data from their sample.

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Other than using different methods, the two disciplines also include different contents in

their articles. In Cisneros-Montemayor’s article, the researcher introduced the topic and the

methods they used. Then, they presented a series of graphs and calculations. Lastly, they

discussed the results and summarized their findings. By including these contents, economists

showed their researching process clearly and logically. Similarly, biologists started their article

by introducing the topic and their research methods. They then discussed the results and made

their conclusions. However, when discussing the results, biologists included a list of things that

they took into consideration when doing the research. For example, they included a section that

says “Accounting uncertainty in gametic phase”.6 Including this content makes their research

sound more accurate, and it helps them persuade the audience that they are trustworthy. Thus, the

two disciplines include mostly the same contents, but biologists include a list of clarifications

when discussing the results.

Lastly, economists and biologists use different dictions when writing their articles.

Economists use words that are easy to understand while biologists use lots of terminologies that

are only used in the discipline. For example, biologists used the words “nuclear loci” and

“nucleotide” in their article.7 These words are not commonly used, and few people can

understand them without studying more into the discipline. This shows that the target audience

for biologists’ article is people have previous knowledge about this discipline. Furthermore,

biologists also used first-person in their article. For instance, biologists said that “To determine,

if our sequences were evolving in a manner consistent with equilibrium and neutrality, Tajima’s

D (​Tajima 1989​) and Fu’s Fs (​Fu 1997​) tests were performed using DnaSP (​Rozas et al. 2003​).”8

6
Kristen C. Ruegg et al., “Are Antarctic Minke Whale,” 287.
7
Kristen C. Ruegg et al., “Are Antarctic Minke Whale,” 285.
8
Kristen C. Ruegg et al., “Are Antarctic Minke Whale,” 285.
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Since the researching process is hard to understand and the articles involves information that is

not commonly known, biologists use first-person to make the article easy to follow. On the other

hand, economists avoid using first-person, instead, they use third-person to sound more

professional. Overall, biologists use terminology and first-person in their article whereas

economists use commonly used words and third-person in their article.

By analyzing the two articles about whaling, people can understand the differences in

writing between the two disciplines. Economists are more interested in studying global potential

and employment. They use data from other sources and input them into the calculations to do

their research. The contents in the article include introduction, the methods they use, graphs and

calculations, and discussion about their findings. They use commonly used words and

third-person in their article. On the other hand, biologists pay more attention to the effects on

ecology. They collect samples and estimate the population based on the results from their data.

Besides the contents that are included in the economists’ article, biologists also include a series

of factors that they took into consideration when doing the research. They use terminologies and

first-person in their article. These differences show that each discipline, though talking about the

same topic, communicates differently in writing.

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Bibliography

Cisneros-Montemayor, A.M, U.R Sumaila, K. Kaschner, and D. Pauly. "The Global Potential for

Whale Watching." ​Marine Policy ​34, no. 6 (2010): 1273-278.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2010.05.005

Ruegg, Kristen C., Eric C. Anderson, C. Scott Baker, Murdoch Vant, Jennifer A. Jackson, and

Stephen R. Palumbi. "Are Antarctic Minke Whales Unusually Abundant Because of 20th

Century Whaling?" ​Molecular Ecology​ 19, no. 2 (2010): 281-91.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2009.04447.x