Publications
Media Pack
What is the World Council of Whalers?
What are the Council's goals?How does the Council hope to achieve these goals?
Does the World Council of Whalers receive funding from commercial whaling interests?
Some groups say the World Council of Whalers is a front for commercial whaling.
How is the World Council of Whalers different from other organisations?
How can the World Council of Whalers be a conservation organisation?
Does the World Council of Whalers want to hunt whales?
What is the World Council of Whalers' view of whale sanctuaries?
Why can't the World Council of Whalers support whale watching instead?
How many different species of whale are there?
How can you be sure that whaling is conducted on a sustainable basis?
What is the World Council of Whalers?
The World Council of Whalers is an international, non-governmental, non-profit organization incorporated under the laws of Canada. Its head office is on Vancouver Island. The Council is a conservation organisation and supports whaling that is conducted on a sustainable basis.
See WCW Profile - Background
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Who belongs to the Council?
The Council has members from Australia, Canada, Faroe Islands, Germany, Greenland, Iceland, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, Tonga, West Indies, the United Kingdom and the USA. Our Members are organizations that represent whalers, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and individuals from all walks of life including whalers, biologists, social scientists, legal scholars, environmentalists, government officials, parliamentarians, journalists, students, and any person or group interested in, and supportive of, sustainable whaling. Representatives from 25 countries have participated in assemblies and conferences organized by the World Council of Whalers since 1998.
See WCW Profile - Membership Information
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Why was the Council formed?
The World Council of Whalers was formed in 1997 to provide a forum for whaling peoples around the world, both aboriginal and non-aboriginal. Our mission is to promote the continued sustainable use of marine living resources, to protect coastal communities' cultural, social, economic and dietary rights, and to address concerns expressed by many whaling peoples around the world. Although unacceptable whaling practices existed in the historic past, sustainable whaling has also been practised for centuries, and the World Council of Whalers is committed to the preservation of those rich and varied cultural traditions that have insured the sustainable use of marine living resources.
See WCW Profile - History
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What are the Council's goals?
To support indigenous and local peoples whose cultural traditions include the sustainable use of whales;
To promote respect and understanding of the world's rich and varied cultures; and
To encourage and support sustainable management practices based on science and the traditional ecological knowledge of Indigenous and Local Peoples.
See WCW Profile - Objectives
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How does the Council hope to achieve these goals?
The World Council of Whalers works by:
- Supporting communities engaged in sustainable whaling by providing a co-operative forum to discuss and reach informed decisions regarding the conservation of whales and whaling societies;
- Providing a collective informed voice for whaling peoples around the world;
- Supporting and encouraging the customary relationship existing between whaling peoples and whales;
- Encouraging respect for cultural, social, economic, and nutritional needs and concerns of whaling communities;
- Promoting sustainable and equitable resource use by incorporating the needs, knowledge and practices of whaling peoples into the management process; and
- Bringing to the attention of whalers and communities issues that may affect them and assist whalers and their communities to effectively address those issues and their impacts.
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How is the World Council of Whalers funded?
The World Council of Whalers collects membership fees and donations, and uses these funds for its administration. But our fees do not cover everything. Our General Assemblies, Conferences, and research activities may require seeking additional funding from organizations, agencies, and individuals supporting these particular activities.
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Does the World Council of Whalers receive funding from commercial whaling interests?
Yes. However, the World Council of Whalers does not consider that any important distinction exists between commercial and non-commercial whaling if whaling is conducted on a sustainable basis. Whaling is sustainable if it does not deplete whale numbers. If whaling is conducted on a sustainable basis, based on the best scientific advice and with effective monitoring and controls in place, the Council believes it does not matter if whale products are sold or not.
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Some groups say the World Council of Whalers is a front for commercial whaling.
The World Council of Whalers respects the historic traditions of all societies that carry out whaling on a sustainable basis, and consequently the Council does not distinguish between commercial and non-commercial sustainable whaling. The World Council of Whalers exists so the views of all whaling nations are given representation; not just those of our members who sell whale products.
The Council recognizes that whaling is carried out today all over the world. Whaling has never stopped. Whalers, like farmers, fishers, trappers, and tappers, sell the product of their work: hunting for food is an essential part of some coastal peoples' livelihoods. These forms of livelihood exist in indigenous societies as well as non-indigenous societies. You can buy whale meat in Greenland supermarkets and restaurants and in Canadian shops, as well as in shops and restaurants in Japan and Norway.
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How is the World Council of Whalers different from other organisations?
The World Council of Whalers is a conservation organisation that supports the now widespread understanding that conservation is enhanced through the sustainable use of living resources.
The Council also supports the view that indigenous and local communities possess knowledge about their customary resources that is important for their conservation. But we recognize that this knowledge can be lost if utilization of these resources is discontinued. The Council, therefore, links the maintenance of traditional values and understanding with marine living resources management and conservation.
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How can the World Council of Whalers be a conservation organisation?
Many governments and environmental organizations confuse the term "conservation" with "protection". Conservation means using resources sustainably. The World Council of Whalers is committed to the conservation of all whale species through the respectful use of these important food species. Leading conservation organizations, including WWF, IUCN, and UNEP, today recognize that increasing the amount and range of benefits local communities derive from their local resources better secures the conservation of those resources.
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Does the World Council of Whalers want to hunt whales?
The World Council of Whalers does not hunt whales; rather it represents communities that do. Our members have utilized whales for hundreds, even thousands, of years. Whaling is conducted by a large number of communities throughout the world - more than 100 in North America alone. Whereas in the past, whales were hunted to satisfy oil and baleen markets, with the meat being dumped, today the communities that continue to whale do so only to obtain food. In some cultures, every part of the whale is utilized for food with nothing wasted.
The various species of whale that are hunted supply communities, especially those isolated communities, with a fresh source of high-quality protein and other essential nutrients that they would otherwise not be able to obtain.
Not all communities that belong to the World Council of Whalers hunt whales. Maori, from Aotearoa/New Zealand, for example, do not engage in active whaling, but have utilized stranded animals, as their ancestors have done for hundreds of years. And some Australian Aboriginal member groups only rarely access whales, but rely on another large marine mammal, the Dugong, for food and fats.
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What is the World Council of Whalers' view of whale sanctuaries?
The World Council of Whalers believes that whale sanctuaries disregard accepted management methods for sustainable fisheries worldwide because they ignore ecological reality by providing protection to only one part of a multi-species ecosystem. It may be justifiable to set aside small areas of critical habitat where endangered whales breed, for example. However, setting aside large areas of ocean where fishing, shipping and other offshore developments occur, can never be justified on rational grounds. Such large-scale sanctuaries would interfere with the sustainable and beneficial use of marine resources, the use of which is provided for under international law. Such disregard for international law does not serve environmental interests, and it adversely affects international relations and the rights and cultures of whaling peoples.
The World Council of Whalers does not support whale sanctuary proposals because whales that are hunted for food are abundant, and species that are considered to be in need of protection, receive that protection through established international agreements.
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Why can't the World Council of Whalers support whale watching instead?
The World Council of Whalers does support whale-watching enterprises, because diversifying local economies can contribute to community security and wellbeing. But the Council does not see whale-watching and whaling as mutually exclusive activities. In fact, in some countries whale watching and whaling are carried out in the same communities. People often state one reason for visiting these communities is because they have the opportunity to eat whale meat and thereby share in the local culture.
But, more importantly, coastal communities engaging in sustainable whaling access healthy food at the same time as strengthening their cultures, economies and connections with their environments in ways that are meaningful to them. Recognising that many tourists find whaling distasteful, in communities where whaling and whale watching occur together, each activity can be organized so that it does not interfere with the other activity. In this way, local people and visitors each benefit in their own way.
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How many different species of whale are there?
Whales (together with dolphins and porpoises) belong to a class of mammals known as cetacea. There are about 80 different species of cetacea, of which about 40 are called whales. However, five of these "whale" species, including Killer whales and Pilot whales, are really dolphins.
No species of whale has ever become extinct as a result of modern whaling. However, some species, such as the Blue Whale and the Right Whale, were seriously depleted during the so-called Industrial Whaling era, which operated from the 16th century until it closed down in the 1970s. Most whale species today are abundant. Many formerly depleted populations are now recovering.
Whales being hunted today, such as the Minke, Beluga, Pilot, Narwhal, Gray, Sperm and others, remain abundant, and stocks of Humpback, Fin and Bowhead whales that are also being hunted are recovering well. All of these whales are hunted for food.
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How can you be sure that whaling is conducted on a sustainable basis?
Whales are a renewable resource, and are capable of increasing in number through reproduction. Yearly catches in community-based whaling operations are small scale, and can be sustained, whilst allowing the stocks to increase in size. Some whale stocks, numbering in the several hundreds of thousands, can sustain larger-scale operations provided that appropriate management measures are in place.
The International Whaling Commission (IWC) has responsibility for ensuring effective management procedures are developed and implemented. In cases where the IWC is unwilling to assume its management responsibilities, national governments and regional management bodies have demonstrated their ability to provide the necessary regulation and control to insure whaling is carried out in a sustainable manner.
The global demand for whale oil that resulted in heavy investments in whaling fleets and consequent over-exploitation of whales no longer exists. The cheap vegetable oils and synthetic lubricating oils that replaced whale oil now support a huge and established industry, insuring that the now dismantled industrial whaling enterprises of the past could never become re-established. You can ask yourself: would you ever purchase margarine or cooking oil made from whales?
Markets for whale meat are restricted to a very few countries that can supply their own needs for whale meat. These nations all wish to protect their own small whaling communities, and consequently they oppose the re-emergence of international interests that would disrupt their own small domestic whaling activities.
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