TROUBLED WATERS - Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society

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WHALE WATCH.org Section One Introductory Section 1 Executive summary 5002 2 A background to whaling 5006 3 An introduction to animal welfare 5013 4 Whales – individuals, societies and cultures 5015 5 The IWC and whale welfare 5030
2 A REVIEW REVIEW OF THE WELFARE IMPLICATIONS IMPLICATIONS OF MODERN WHALING WHALING ACTIVITIES 1 Executive Summary This review examines the welfare implications of the methods currently used to hunt cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) for commercial, special permit and Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling (ASW) purposes. The welfare implications are assessed and the question raised as to whether whaling could be conducted in a reliably humane manner. The report calls on the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to urgently address the severe welfare problems attendant in modern whaling activities. The welfare implications of modern whale killing methods • The physiological adaptations of cetaceans to the marine environment have significant implications for whale welfare during whaling operations. Adaptations for diving may make it difficult to determine when these animals are dead. Their sheer mass, complex vascular systems and specific anatomical features may also impede efforts to kill them swiftly and humanely. • In general, current killing methods are not adequately adapted for the species being killed. Morphological features such as size, blubber thickness, skeletal structure and location of vital organs significantly influence the efficacy of a particular killing method. These differences may effect the course of projectiles through the body, as they travel through different thicknesses of blubber and muscle and encounter bone and vital organs at specific locations. Such factors may also vary between individuals of the same species, according to age, sex and season. During whaling operations, where accuracy is often poor, these specific characteristics may greatly increase the margin for error and influence the time to death (TTD) and associated suffering. • Lack of due consideration to species specific killing requirements may be a major contributory factor in protracted times to death and may be a particular cause for concern where larger species, such as fin and sperm whales, are killed using methods developed for the much smaller minke species. Commercial and special permit whaling • The main killing method used during commercial and special permit whaling is the penthrite grenade harpoon fired from a cannon mounted on the bow of a ship. The harpoon is intended to penetrate about 30 cm (12 inches) into the minke whale before detonating. The aim is to kill the animal through neurotrauma induced by the blast-generated pressure waves of the explosion. However, if the first harpoon fails to kill the whale, then a second penthrite harpoon or a rifle (minimum calibre 9.3mm) is used as a secondary killing method. • Despite the similarity of the killing methods used, there are marked differences in reported killing efficiency between Japan and Norway. According to Norwegian data, in 2002, 80.7 per cent of minke whales were killed instantaneously. During the 2002/2003 Japanese minke whale hunt in Antarctica, only 40.2 per cent of whales were recorded as killed instantaneously. • Recent data show that, for commercial and scientific whale hunts, the average time to death is over two minutes.
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Appendix II Colour plates ©Mark Vo
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Figure 13. Processing minke whales
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TROUBLED WATERS - Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society

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