What Are The Pros And Cons Of Whaling?

[Joker37]

Hi everybody!

 

I am thinking of doing an oral for school to persuade people that whaling is legitimate and should continue. I am wondering whether anybody would be able to give me some rough points to include for my arguments or refer me to any sites/resources that may be of use to me.

 

I am also curious whether there are any movies (or even documentaries) about whaling out there that I could watch?

 

Any help would be appreciated! :rolleyes:

 

And I am also curious what everyone thinks? Should whaling be illegal?

Is there no right or wrong answer?

[joekgamer]

Whales, the last I heard, are endangered. Ergo, it is illegal to hunt them. One numbers rise above a certain point and are not dropping, then they no longer will be endangered.

[Knothead]

I have to wonder if there is really a good reason to hunt and kill whales. Legal or not.

There are countries that continue to do so claiming the practice is part of their culture. While culture is a good thing to celebrate and perhaps revere, it seems to me that it's not necessary to take lives in the process.

I don't think that the people that still consume whale meat are in any danger of going hungry if the whalers stayed in port.

If we aren't starving and the whales aren't attacking us at every turn, then what the hell gives humans the right to kill whales?

It's bad enough the way we treat the domestic animals that we eat. How can we justify killing whales?

[Turtle]

Hi everybody!

 

I am thinking of doing an oral for school to persuade people that whaling is legitimate and should continue. I am wondering whether anybody would be able to give me some rough points to include for my arguments or refer me to any sites/resources that may be of use to me.

 

I am also curious whether there are any movies (or even documentaries) about whaling out there that I could watch?

 

Any help would be appreciated! :rolleyes:

 

And I am also curious what everyone thinks? Should whaling be illegal?

Is there no right or wrong answer?

 

we have an extensive thread on the topic that you may find helpful in your report. lots of links and talking points.

 

 

>> Killing Whales, Why?

[Joker37]

we have an extensive thread on the topic that you may find helpful in your report. lots of links and talking points.

 

 

>> Killing Whales, Why?

 

Thanks for telling me!

Definitely gonna read the whole thread and most (if not all) the links within. :)

[Moontanman]

Whale meat is quite dangerous to eat as anything other than the occasional oddity, it contains heavy metals and pesticides and other dangerous chemicals to the point that some whales have to buried as toxic waste if they wash ashore. I can't think of a good reason to hunt whales...

[CraigD]

I'm likely too late to help with Joker's homework, but as I see nobody brought any pros to the thread, I'll add the only one that comes to mind:

 

Because whale digestion doesn't generate much methane, the "production" of whale meat doesn't contribute to climate change as much as the production of an equal amount of cow or other common animal killed for its meat.

 

It's a pretty weak pro, but there it is!

[Joker37]

Because whale digestion doesn't generate much methane, the "production" of whale meat doesn't contribute to climate change as much as the production of an equal amount of cow or other common animal killed for its meat.

 

Can you provide any sources for your claim?

[Moontanman]

Can you provide any sources for your claim?

 

 

While I disdain the idea of putting words in CraigD's mouth, it is important to remember that whales are predators, they only eat other animals, methane gas from digestive systems is mostly produced by herbivores, the bacterial methanogens actions are required to digest the plant material, this provides the methane we see from cows and other herbivores we culture for food. So if you have to choose between cow meat and methane or whale meat and mercury, pesticides and PCB's I'll kill a cow

 

Edited because no one should post while drunk and in an ambien daze, the gist of it was true, the time line was grossly distorted and the details of two drink guys on the beach left out, i apologize, I have only a vague memory of even posting last night....

[CraigD]

Because whale digestion doesn't generate much methane, the "production" of whale meat doesn't contribute to climate change as much as the production of an equal amount of cow or other common animal killed for its meat.

Can you provide any sources for your claim?

Not a very good one, I’m afraid :( - the best I could find after a good bit of searching is This blogish opinion article, which, while more prettily produced and written than my short post, is no better supported, and raises a lot of emotionally fueled ethical questions concerning killing whales vs. killing cows.

 

I agree with Moontanman’s explanation. Because whales don’t digest grass or similar material using methane-producing bacteria, it stands to reason they don’t produce much methane, but as best I can tell, this conclusion’s not been empirically tested. Even the volume of methane produced by a typical cow in a unit of time is difficult to precisely measure, estimates varying from 100 to 500 litre/day (source: howstuff works article Do cows pollute as much as cars?).

 

Though I can’t find a concise source for my previous claim concerning the difference in cow and whale methane production, this article describes a study of the total greenhouse gas emissions associated with meat production – mostly the fuel use of the vehicles that transport it – that concluded that whale meat production results in less than half the greenhouse gasses of chicken production, and less than 1/8th that of beef.

 

All of this begs the question of whether humans should eat meat at all (personally, I don’t think we should, and don’t myself), but that’s a whole ‘nother large subject.

[Alpine]

There is a whole show on Whaling called Whale Wars, it comes on Animal Planet/Discovery depending on your region. It has about 4 serious and is bit controversial. The show is based on a crew which sails Southern Ocean and tries to stop mainly Japanese ships which come there to hunt whales.

 

Cons of whaling? <_<

 

1. Whales are one of the most important part of our ecosystem and it is important that they live, because if they die, the whole ecosystem would become unstable (e.g Huge bloom in shrimp and other fish population). Al though, it may sound good that huge fish population would be of advantage for humans, it would be a bigger disadvantage for other animals.

2. Whales are endangered and they don't deserve to be killed to become our food. We already have enough animals we feed on and adding Whale or Dolphin to that list doesn't seem right to me.

 

According to me, the whaling should be illegal and be taken more seriously. If ocean dies; we die.

And yes, even though it isn't my place to say this, please find another topic as you would get unbelievable amount of stares if you do your project on "Why whaling should be legal". :(

[fahrquad]

Hi everybody!

 

I am thinking of doing an oral for school to persuade people that whaling is legitimate and should continue. I am wondering whether anybody would be able to give me some rough points to include for my arguments or refer me to any sites/resources that may be of use to me.

 

I am also curious whether there are any movies (or even documentaries) about whaling out there that I could watch?

 

Any help would be appreciated! :rolleyes:

 

And I am also curious what everyone thinks? Should whaling be illegal?

Is there no right or wrong answer?

 

Whales were hunted to nearly the verge of extinction for the oils derived from the blubber. That oil was used for oil lamps, and the practice was made redundant with the processing and use of kerosene. It is even more redundant today with the widespread use of electric lighting. The only people still allowed to hunt whales legally are the Eskimos, since it is traditional, and one of the few food sources available. Whales are being hunted illegally by Japanese commercial whaling fleets in direct violation of international law.

[Turtle]

... Whales are being hunted illegally by Japanese commercial whaling fleets in direct violation of international law.

 

norway continues to hunt minke whales illegally as well. >>

 

whaling in norway

 

Year Quota Catch

1994 319 280

1995 232 218

1996 425 388

1997 580 503

1998 671 625

1999 753 591

2000 655 487

2001 549 550

2002 671 634

2003 711 646

2004 670 541

2005 797 639

2006 1052 546

2007 1052 592

2008 885 484

[OnlineMathsTutor]

I don't think that killing whales is legitimate at all. And I don't think that it is ever going to become a legitimate activity.

Edited August 16, 2012 by OnlineMathsTutor