Save the Whales

Wherever whaling has been practised it has devastated populations of whales. When the International Whaling Commission (IWC) was formed in 1946, its preamble noted that 'the history of whaling has seen overfishing of one area after another and of one species of whale after another to such a degree that it is essential to protect all species of whales from further overfishing'. But despite this clear recognition of the problem the IWC was unable to stop it, instead presiding over the decimation of species after species. It is still not known if some species will ever recover, even after decades of protection.

This devastation happened because the reproductive rate of whales is low and the monetary value of individual whales was high. Given this, it might seem sensible to you and me for whalers to strictly limit their catches in order to secure a future for their industry, but a short-sighted economic reality meant that whalers tended to catch as much as they could, as quickly as they could.

Save the whales