Education
Introduction
Information on whaling
There are many countries and indigenous groups all over the world that rely on the cultural, nutritional and economic sustenance that whaling provides. In most cases their whaling traditions and techniques have developed over hundreds and in some cases thousands of years. In all cases a whaler's concern for the health of their communities is linked to their concern for the health of the whale populations. This is because the whales are a source of food for the whalers and their families so if the population of the whales is in trouble or the whale's health is affected by pollution it will affect the people that eat the whales.
Industrial Whaling (Whaling of the past)
Whaling peoples today are a not like the whalers from the industrial whaling days of the past century, who slaughtered entire whale populations to feed a global demand for whale oil and bone. There is no longer a global market for whale oil - electric lighting is now used and synthetic oil is used to oil machinery. The whale meat was thrown overboard by most industrial whalers - they were only after the oil and bone. The bones of the whales contain a lot of oil and they were also used for carving.
Modern Day Whaling
Today, from skin covered boats, small coastal fishing vessels, and dugout canoes, residents of small, often isolated coastal communities from around the world subsist fully or in part on the sustainable, small-scale harvest of cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises). Whaling feeds their families, their communities, their economies, and their cultures. For many of these people, centuries of relying on products of the hunt have created an essential nutritional, cultural, spiritual and ecological link between whaling peoples and whales. For all, the amount of food and the high quality of nutrition a whale provides remains essential to their overall health and survival.
Whaling Countries and Regions
Whaling communities are widespread, in many regions: the Arctic, the Caribbean, Europe, North America, Southeast Asia, and the South Pacific. In countries such as Canada, the Commonwealth of Dominica, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Indonesia, Japan, Norway, Russia, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the United States, communities and cultures are sustained by the small-scale, sustainable harvest of cetaceans.
Types of Whales Hunted
Among the cetaceans hunted are bowhead whale, Bryde's whale, fin whale, humpback whale, gray whale, minke whale, and sperm whale; these are often referred to as "International Whaling Commission (IWC) whales" (they are among the 13 species of large whales that fall under the management authority of the IWC). Other species (not under the authority of IWC) are hunted as well, and include the beluga, narwhal, Baird's beaked whale, pilot whale species, pygmy killer whales, harbor porpoise and various species of dolphins. These represent only a few of the more than 80 cetacean species in the world today.
For further reading about whaling communities see Whaling Around the World