Obama: Murdering Whales Saves Whales-Right!

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Despite his campaign promise to the contrary Barack Obama is leading the charge to resume whale hunting, thus ending the 25 year old ban on the barbaric practice.   To say that this president has disappointed us on the environment would be an understatement.  One has to wonder whether he mentored under George Bush, the president with the worst record in history for protecting the environment.  Here is the story from the L.A. Times on the Obama Whaling Crusade:

No one was surprised when conservation organizations such as the Natural Resources Defense Council challenged the anti-environmental policies of President George W. Bush. But it’s a shock to many when we part company with the Obama administration.

It happens. And it’s happening right now on the question of what to do about commercial whaling and, more specifically, whether to maintain the 25-year-old moratorium against the killing of whales for profit. Last week, the International Whaling Commission announced a proposed 10-year deal, spearheaded by the Obama administration, that would suspend the moratorium and allow whaling countries to kill whales legally for commercial purposes for the first time in a generation.

There’s no disagreement between the council and the administration about the fact that the moratorium is one of the singular environmental achievements of the 20th century. Before it was adopted, on average an estimated 38,000 whales were being killed each year. Since the moratorium, that number has dropped to about 1,240, and whale populations have begun, little by little, to rebound.

There’s no disagreement that whales are among the most extraordinary creatures ever to inhabit the Earth. And there’s no disagreement that we need to protect them, or that many of the large whale species covered by the proposed agreement — humpback, fin, sperm, sei and Bryde’s whales — are depleted or near extinction.

The problem is how best to protect them.

The Obama administration argues that the whaling moratorium should be suspended because it has loopholes that are being illegally exploited by Japanese, Norwegian and Icelandic whalers. They believe that after 25 years of conflict within the International Whaling Commission, commercial whaling should be legalized in the hope that, by bringing the killing out into the open through agreed-upon quotas, a consensus eventually will emerge in support of a phase-out of whaling altogether.

Its intentions are good. But the strategy is dead wrong.

First, the proposed deal nowhere requires a phase-out of whaling. Not in 10 years. Not ever.

Second, legalizing whaling in order to eliminate it makes as little sense as allowing criminal activity in order to eliminate crime. By adopting the moratorium on commercial whaling, the world agreed that whaling, except for purposes of scientific research and subsistence, should not be allowed. Period. By suspending that global norm, the U.S. and the whaling commission will be ceding the legal and even the moral high ground to the very countries that, for decades, have been doing their best to circumvent it. Rather than a step forward in the fight against commercial whaling, this is a monumental step backward.

Third, the hope that reaching an agreement with the whalers will, in some undefined way, appeal to their better nature, eventually strengthen their interest in conservation and lead them at some future point to abandon whaling is, at best, wishful thinking. It is belied by the history of the whaling commission, where the whaling countries, even in the wake of the international agreement not to kill whales for commercial purposes a generation ago, have sought relentlessly to evade or end it. Japan exploits the exception for scientific research; Iceland and Norway assert their right to take exception to — and therefore ignore — the moratorium.

The Obama administration’s fundamental premise — that the proposed agreement will save thousands of whales over the next decade — doesn’t withstand scrutiny. The agreement suggests quota numbers, but no actual numbers have been agreed to among the nations of the whaling commission — or even among the smaller group of nations that have, for the last three years, been negotiating the proposed agreement behind closed doors. The actual number of whales allowed to be killed if the agreement is adopted is, at this point, anybody’s guess.

But even were that not the case, the situation that led the Obama administration to pursue this agreement in the first place would be unaffected by it. The exception for scientific whaling exploited by Japan will not be rescinded, nor will the exceptions claimed by Norway and Iceland be nullified. The agreement is fundamentally premised on an expectation that the countries signing the agreement will abide by it, notwithstanding their continuing right under the broader whaling convention to kill whales for research or pursuant to their existing exception. Thus, the fundamental problem of loopholes remains.

Finally, even if some might consider limited “sustainable whaling,” it should adhere to science-based management principles. However, the quotas under negotiation now are not a product of the whaling commission’s scientific committee. The negotiating process has been political, based on what the whaling countries are willing to accept rather than being governed by a scientific process to develop catch quotas consistent with the recovery of whale stocks.

Reasonable minds often can and do differ, even among friends. But the whaling commission’s proposal for the next decade is a terrible idea. It would do more to protect the whaling industry than to protect whales, and it would be a tragic step backward to an era when the most magnificent animals on Earth could legally be slaughtered for profit.

President Obama, we strongly urge you to reject the deal on commercial whaling. Your administration is making great strides in developing a sound national policy for the protection of our oceans. Don’t let the return of legalized whaling become your legacy.

About Post Author

Professor Mike

Professor Mike is a left-leaning, dog loving, political junkie. He has written dozens of articles for Substack, Medium, Simily, and Tribel. Professor Mike has been published at Smerconish.com, among others. He is a strong proponent of the environment, and a passionate protector of animals. In addition he is a fierce anti-Trumper. Take a moment and share his work.
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13 years ago

Japan Stop killing the whales it is against the law, go home and leave the whales in peace!!

13 years ago

er….what’d I say?…I want to know! Only out of curiosity!!!!

Given the post I certainly said something against ‘cough cough’ and rightly so!

What the hell was it???? I have no idea!!!!

…call me Al…..short for Alzheimers

13 years ago

I understand the whole edangered species thing here. And, yes, Mike, I totally sympathize with your points. But, I’m telling you, if you ever want to see real “barbarism”, check out a factory farm or two (in Texas, North Carolina, etc.). That’ll really make you lose your breakfast.

13 years ago

I think Obama and the Administration are playing politician, agreeing to something now, retracting over a point of order later. I can’t believe he would lead the US into backing the whaling business. Refuse to believe until it happens.

13 years ago

What. The. Fuck.

I honestly thought all the shit that was going to hit the fan had mostly done so. But this? This is the Hadron collider of excrement! I am not quite as pissed as 4D, but damn near.

13 years ago

“Despite his cam­paign promise to the con­trary Barack Obama is lead­ing the charge to resume whale hunt­ing, thus end­ing the 25 year old ban on the bar­baric prac­tice”

I need to read no more.

The final line of this comment was removed by the Blog Administrator because it was offensive and a violation of United States Law.. Even worse it was written by a foreigner. 🙂

Reply to  fourdinners
13 years ago

Agreed.

Jess
13 years ago

Damn at the rate this is going, I told hubby I might quit my job and go full time into eco activism. Don’t get me wrong, I totally LOVE my job but this is way different. I cannot stand this at all. This has been a humdinger of a week for the planet that has done nothing wrong but be in the same place as greedy humans.

Reply to  Jess
13 years ago

Thx Jess for saying that… I’ve been thinking…I don’t know what? Am I having some kind of isolated breakdown? I mean, it seems kinda overwhelming the shit that’s hit the fan in the last couple of weeks. Are we crazy? MY President is supporting whaling? He allowed fishermen to sign BP sign offs / caps on recompense? The world has gone mad. Utterly, stark staring, shit in your hat shove it over your head mad~! (btw, Agreed below is in the same vain as the Hatter who said it… IRONY.)

Gee, Goddess! Thx Jess for saying so…

Jess
Reply to  Gwendolyn H. Barry
13 years ago

I don’t think it is isolated at all. There are a lot of people feeling the same way with all the stuff happening. What are we hearing about on some news places today? Don’t know, ok well Kim Kardashian met Justin Bieber in case you don’t know. Um, who are they and why do I fuckin care if they met? Can someone explain that to me?

No violence four dinners. I don’t believe in it being used against anyone, so go have some more vodka(that is your drink right) and get that thought right out of your head. 😉

13 years ago

Okay, maybe I have been pulling the wool over my own eyes. I had to read this story twice to see if I was understanding it properly. Damn….I cannot even believe this is a topic of discussion! Sus­tain­able Whal­ing??

13 years ago

Not even the ‘lesser than two evils’ any longer. This I can’t stand or work with. There is NO REASON to abandon wildlife protection … EVER.
Its been a very hard opening of Spring this year MM. VEry very hard. This keeps my head low.
You know?

Reply to  Professor Mike
13 years ago

It hurts awful MM.

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