TROUBLED WATERS - Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society

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Section Four Conclusions 15 Whaling and welfare 50124 16 Summary of conclusions 50134
124 A REVIEW OF THE WELFARE IMPLICATIONS OF MODERN WHALING ACTIVITIES 15 Whaling and welfare Philippa Brakes, Marine Consultant, C/o Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS), Chippenham, UK Mark Simmonds, Director of Science, Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS), Chippenham, UK Philip Lymbery, Director of Communications, World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), London, UK. Welfare and the IWC Animal welfare as a scientific discipline incorporates applied aspects of ethology, bioethics and the concepts of suffering and well-being. Welfare, including health, has many different aspects and is defined by both the physical and psychological state of an animal, including how it feels. The welfare state of an animal can be described as good or high if the individual is fit, healthy and free from suffering. Animals may suffer due to disease, injury, fear, or the frustration of basic needs. A ‘need’ is defined as a requirement fundamental in the biology of the animal, to obtain a particular resource or respond to a particular environmental or bodily stimulus. If a need is not provided for, then there may be an effect on physiology or behaviour. One basic need is that an animal should not suffer at the time of death. The International Whaling Commission (IWC) has been considering issues relating to the welfare of hunted whales since 1957. During the annual meeting of the IWC that year, humane killing of whales was defined as the process by which the animal is rendered instantaneously insensible until death supervenes. In 1958, UNCLOS (the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) adopted a resolution requesting that all states use the best means available to capture and kill marine life, including whales, in order to spare them from suffering to the greatest extent possible (UNCLOS 1958). The first IWC working party on humane killing was convened in 1959, when time to death was identified as the main test of humaneness (see chapter 5). Whaling on the high seas Despite years of discussion of humane killing issues at the IWC, including the adoption of at least 15 resolutions addressing the welfare of hunted whales, progress has been slow. Today severe welfare problems remain for cetaceans that are hunted in commercial and Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling (ASW) activities. In cases where the impetus has existed to bring whaling activities into line with common expectations and national legislation for the slaughter of other animals for commercial purposes, reaching these standards has proved problematic. This is demonstrated by Norway’s limited success in improving the instantaneous death rate (IDR) during its commercial hunt for minke whales. Norway contributes more than any other nation to the development of both its own and other
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Page 145 and 146: Appendix II Colour plates ©Mark Vo
Page 149 and 150: Figure 13. Processing minke whales
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TROUBLED WATERS - Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society

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