TROUBLED WATERS - Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society

methods used to kill these whales. Despite the Commission making numerous requests forsubmission of information on the killing methods used, the government of the Faroe Islands has beenreluctant to submit data for international examination and peer review (IWC 1999). Similarly, Japanhas consistently refused requests for information on the methods used in its hunts of whales,dolphins and porpoises and has also physically absented itself from some IWC discussions of itshunts (IWC 2000). At the 2003 IWC meeting, Greenland stated that it would not comply with arequest to bring data from its small cetacean hunts to the next meeting.The politics of small cetaceans and the IWCJapan’s small cetacean hunting has been found to be linked to its large cetacean hunting and thecommercial sale of these whale meat products. It would appear to have used its small cetacean huntsto try to influence the Commission to grant a coastal commercial whaling quota despite themoratorium. When criticised because the scale of the Dall’s porpoise hunt had reached nearly 40,000animals, Japan stated that unless the Commission granted it a coastal minke whale quota, it would becompelled to kill even more small cetaceans (IWC 1989).56A REVIEW OF THE WELFARE IMPLICATIONS OF MODERN WHALING ACTIVITIESJapan has used the issue of small cetacean competence to enable it to continue hunting Baird’sbeaked whales despite the moratorium on commercial whaling, and despite the size of this species.By persevering with the argument that the IWC has no competence to set catch quotas for this largewhale, Japan forced the issue off the IWC’s agenda in 1993. Japan has used this hunt to helpmaintain its capability to hunt large whales in it coastal waters in the hope that the moratorium willbe overturned in the future.Traditionally, Dall’s porpoise products were used for local consumption in Japan. In the mid-1980s,as catch numbers rose, Japan’s big whaling companies started trading in porpoise meat, allegedly tocompensate for the reduction in availability of products from the larger whales resulting from themoratorium. Most importantly, their intention was to maintain the demand for whale products inthe hope of resumed commercial whaling (EIA 1999). Much of the small cetacean products havebeen openly sold as ‘little whale’ or ‘whale’, or been mislabelled as ‘minke whale’ (EIA 2002).The Faroes government has used the ‘traditional’ description of the pilot whale hunt to providepolitical support for this hunt, and has involved itself in the campaign to overturn the moratorium.For example, in a challenge to the IWC and the Convention on the International Trade inEndangered Species (CITES) in 2003, the Faroe Islands imported minke whale meat from Norwaydespite the CITES ban on international trade in whale products and the IWC’s moratorium(Associated Press, 25 March 2003). The Faroese government was also at the centre of theestablishment of the North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission (NAMMCO), an organisationthat challenges the right of the IWC to manage whales and whaling globally, and which aims tocontrol the management of cetaceans in the North Atlantic (Grindabod 1993).Small cetaceans and their killing methods – two case studiesSmall cetacean hunts around the world are largely unregulated. Even in Japan and the Faroe Islands,countries with high standards of living, there is little legal regulation of hunting of small cetaceans.Faroese pilot whale huntPilot whales have been killed in the Faroe Islands for over 400 years and it can be appreciated that in