Library
REVIEW : The History and Science of Whales.
The History and Science of Whales. Masayuki Komatsu & Shigeko Misaki
Tokyo: The Japan Times Ltd. 2004 (xi + 160 pp. ISBN 4-7890-1169-0, hardcover).
This book, written by two authors with extensive experience in international fisheries and whaling management, addresses on-going conflict among nations and interest groups debating the future of marine resources that include whales. International conflicts within the whaling debate involve consideration of two types of costs, namely what may be categorized as "pro-whaling costs" and "anti-whaling costs". Pro-whaling costs are the cost that whales bear when humans conduct whaling, and anti-whaling costs are costs that whales and humans (including whaling societies) must bear when anti-whaling activities hamper whaling. Among such anti-whaling costs are, for example, the consumption of marine resources by increasing numbers of whales in the oceans at the present time when human use of these marine food resources remains important, and the decline of local economies caused by anti-whaling regulations. The book brings unusual attention to the whaling debate as it addresses some of the human and environmental costs associated with anti-whaling activities. In view of the much larger number of publications that deal only with costs associated with whaling, while ignoring costs associated with the anti-whaling position, this book sheds light on the seldom expressed anti-whaling costs by examining three main aspects of the problem from a Japanese (whaling nation) perspective. The first aspect involves the science of whales as marine species, the second aspect looks at the modern history of the international competition for whale resources, and the third aspect deals with Japanese whaling culture.
The book describes whales as marine species and resources in a scientific manner in Chapter 1 (Whale Ecology), while questioning the recent tendancy to personify whales an "the humans of the sea". This chapter makes it clear that while some whale species or stocks are still depleted and may be only slowly recovering from past over-exploitation, other whale species' populations are now abundant, no longer in danger of extinction, and continuing to increase in size. Chapter 2 (Protection of Whales: Whale Management) describes population aspects of whale biology and management and the questions that arise regarding competition that occurs, or may occur in the future, as whales and humans both seek to capture marine resources to meet their food needs. This chapter provides easily understood information about whale population behaviour obtained from Japan's whale research programs undertaken with IWC scientific permits in the Antarctic since 1986/87 and in the western North Pacific since 1994. The book describes the scientific significance of this research by reference to evaluations of this research made by the IWC Scientific Committee.
The book also sheds light on the modern history of international competition for whale resources (Chapter 5: Whales and Global Whaling in the History of the World; and Chapter 6: Whales and Whaling in the Future). Unlike books and other publications that describe the development of modern whaling while ignoring the problems of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), this book pays attention to various problems that have plagued the IWC for decades. The authors suggest that it is almost impossible for international organizations designed to manage natural resources to remain objective or neutral in any international dispute concerning access to these resources, even when the charters of these management organizations have been established through formal legal agreements among nations. The authors observe that the IWC has undergone a "paradigm shift" since its inception, becoming in the process an anti-whaling commission and, according to various critics, "hijacked" by the (now anti-whaling) majority without regard to the original (and still unchanged) intent of the whaling commission's founding charter.
What should be especially helpful to many readers wishing to better understand why whaling nations continue whaling, are two chapters describing the whaling culture of the Japanese (Chapter 3: Whales as Food; and Chapter 4: The Relationship Between Whales and the Japanese). Culture is defined as a system of tool kits used to solve problems and thereby enable a distinct ethnic group to survive and reproduce its culture. The book details Japan's cherished and distinctive long-term cultural tradition of whaling dating back 5,000 years to the prehistoric Jomon Period. This distinctive cultural tradition has experienced adaptive changes through the centuries, but has nevertheless been maintained to the present day. The book details the different techniques used in Japan to catch whales through the ages, and how use was made of all parts of the giant gift in their daily life, art and religion. These chapters explain that Japanese whaling has never been a single economic activity, one that only sought financial profit in selling whale oil into the global market, an important characteristic that distinguishes Japanese commercial whaling from commercial whaling conducted by all western nations. Rather, in Japan, whaling has been a culturally-based activity carried out by a distinctive non-western society that seeks to maintain its marine-based food system. The full extent and significance of this ethnic imperative has not been easy for other countries to appreciate. The authors state their position that the anti-whaling argument that dismisses the need for whaling today by arguing that whale oil (the commodity that drove western nations' past whaling activities) is no longer necessary, cannot fairly or reasonably be used to dismiss Japan's culturally-based need to continue whaling. As they explain, whaling has been embedded and sanctioned in Japanese culture as a national food procurement activity, and not solely to procure whale oil for the global commodity market. Although the term "whale foods" (Chapter 3) may offend some people, others will likely concede that whaling as a respected cultural activity of a distinctive ethnic group for their own domestic use, cannot be regarded as equivalent to a purely commercial activity pursued by an industry that seeks the goal of financial profitability in the global marketplace.
Overall, the book makes a strong presentation of the Japanese government's contention that international conflict between the pro-whaling and anti-whaling positions highlight some important conclusions. The first conclusion is that the U.S. economy (taken as a proxy for western industrial economies generally) only shifted from heavy dependence from whale oil to petroleum-based and other oils during the last century. Even as the west has switched its need for oils from whale oil to petroleum and other non-whale oils, the authors question whether it is fair for those western nations that no longer have a need for whale oil and other whale products, to victimize those others nations who, for equally rational reasons, continue to use abundant and non-endangered marine resources for their own strategic national purposes, purposes that include maintaining their distinctive cultural identities.
The second conclusion this book offers concerns the naïvete on the part of those assessing "pro-whaling costs". Such critiques tend to be emotionally loaded and exaggerate pro-whaling costs, while minimizing or ignoring anti-whaling costs. The views expressed in the book regarding the costs created by anti-whaling policies and actions are presented with supporting scientific findings. This book contributes to a more balanced understanding of the international whaling dispute, and in so doing may assist the public in assessing more fairly the costs that whales, people, and even the biosphere, must bear when anti-whaling activities are allowed to go unchallenged and unchecked.
Dr. Dai Tanno is an economist who teaches at Aomori Public College, Japan