Why Save Whales?

INTRODUCTION
“We have no moral right to exterminate forever the creatures that we share this earth with.” (Quoted by David Attenborough book: The Living Planet, Pg 308.) Throughout our human history whales have been featured prominently in human culture. Whales have been a source of food, and a source of other valuable products. Their over exploitation has reduced number of whales and has brought species to near extinction. Whales today mainly face problems caused by a range of human activities and actions. I am going to explore these issues facing whales and some of the steps taken to correct them. People are responsible for the problems caused to whales and it is our job (as humans) to fix them.

WHALING TODAY


People have been hunting whales for thousands of years. But in the last two decades it has become a problem. (Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises, pg. 8 by: Peter Gill and Linda Gibson.) After WWII there was a shortage of protein in Japan and other countries, so they turned to the sea. Whale meat became a part of the people in Japans diet. The keep hunting and eating whales today even though it is illegal. It became illegal in 1986, when whales population numbers became dangerously low by over hunting them. In 1994 the I.W.C ( The International Whaling Comition) set aside the large Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. That included all Antarctic waters; the sanctuary gave whales very little protection. Because every year Japan still sends a fleet of illegal whaling boats to hunt whales.
ORGANIZATIONS
There are two different types of organizations there are nonprofit organizations and there are government run organizations. To help the protection of whales all around the world. An example of a government run organization would be NOAA. That stands for National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration. A nonprofit organization would be IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) and The Sea Shepherd conservation society."Because of whales, more people now care about all life on earth."(http://csiwhalesalive.org/csiwhy.html)

THE SEA SHEPHERDS
The sea shepherds are a nonprofit organization that goes down to the Southern Ocean near the Antarctic coast to harass and get on video illegal whaling by the Japanese. This expedition is lead by Paul Watson. His crew harasses the whalers by throwing butyric acid on the deck of the whaling boats. It prevents any work to be done on deck. Butyric acid stinks and smells really bad. If that got on something it would stink for forever. That’s why if it got on whale meat on the decks of the whaling boats it would go bad. And if the whalers can’t sell their meat. They could go bankrupt. “Many people think we are pirates, but if we were we wouldn’t be able to dock or go into port.” (Quoted by Paul Watson) the sea shepherds are my favorite organization. Because their actions they try to shut down illegal whaling for forever.

BYCATCH

By catch is one of the many manmade problems whales and other marine mammals face .It is the accidental catching of whales during commercial Fishing activities. When this happens whales face serious injury or death. Some solutions are weak links. when a whale gets wrapped up in the line the line will snap off so the whale has a better chance of survival and doesn’t have to drag a pot of lobster traps.( Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises Pg:148-149, BY: Linda Gibson and Peter Gill.)
A second solution is something called a pinger. A pinger is a battery run device that emits sound. The pinger emits sound all the time. When a whale is swimming near a gill net it hears the sound and swims away and avoids getting entangled in it.
The third is the banning of floating lines in the lobster fisheries. Floating lines were used to attach many lobster traps together to make a trawl. Diving whales would entangle themselves in the floating loops of the floating lines. The new and improved line lobstermen use now sinks flat to the bottom. To make sure that all that floating line doesn’t go to waste a group in Gloucester
Massachusetts makes door mats out of the old floating lines. Pollution Most of pollution today is mostly manmade or humans have had a big part in it. Pollution is affecting animals everywere not just whales. Whales and other marine mammels (dolphins, porpioses and seals ect.) are afectted by having trash and garbage floating in the water and whales eating it.
When debris floats in the ocean whales can mistake it for squid or small fish.(Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises, Pg:148-149. By Peter Gill and Linda Gibson) When whales eat the garbage it stops in their digestive trackand blocks it.they usually starve to death or they stop breathing. So when you are at the beach in the summertime make sure you think before you leave a plastic bag or bucket on the beach. Because it does go somewhere. It doesn’t seem like much but everything counts.
CONCLUSION
I first had a great interest in whales about seven months ago when the show WHALE WARS was on Animal Planet. Whale Wars is a documentary about the Sea Shepherds that go down to the southern ocean whale’s sanctuary to harass, film and shut down illegal whaling by the Japanese whaling boats. To me the Sea Shepherds are true heroes. Because they are the voice of mammals that can’t speak. I have been on numerous whale watches and it makes me feel good that there are people that do and want to do something about this situation. I remember when I was five my family and I went to the beach for the day. I at the end of the day I left a plastic straw from juice boxes on the sand. My mom made me walk down to the beach and pick it up. Even though I was five I have never left a single piece of trash on the beach ever again.
WHY SAVE WHALES?
We save whales because they are very important to our culture and our environment. We save whales because they don’t have a voice. The people that contribute to help save whales are the voice. If we don’t save them then the beautiful wonderful, intelligent mammal (the whale) will be gone forever like the Northern Right Whale. There are less than 400 off them in the world. (If you are a fisherman) and you get a call that you are in an area that a Northern Wright Whale has been sighted you have to pull up all the nets or lobster pots in the area. Do we want all whale species to be that endangered? no, of course not.

There are two reasons,Whales are biologically special. They are the largest animals on earth. They include the biggest creature ever to have lived on our planet, the 100-foot long female blue whale. Their sheer size commands extreme respect. And whales and dolphins have large and complex brains.((http://csiwhalesalive.org/csiwhy.html) Whales have evolved as marine mammals over millions of years, with both baleen and toothed whales probably appearing more than 25 million years ago, long before the development of human beings. Because they where here before us we should respect there place in our enviroment.
The wonderful whale is symbolically special. More than any other form of non-human life, whales have come to symbolize concern for the environment. At least in Western society, protection of whales has become a touchstone for caring about the inter-relatedness of all life on this water planet. There is widespread support for not killing whales because they are such a special symbol of sharing the earth. ((http:csiwhalesalive.org/csiwhy.html )Why would we want some of the most entelagent to just disapear?
Whales and humans have had a lot problems like hunting and over hunting them . Japan has been hunting whales. In 2007 -2008 they have killed over 935 minke whales, 50 humpback whales and 50 fin whales. Because the humpback whale and fin whale have a less quota then the minke whale, is becausse that they are comeing to near extinction. “We owe it to our children to be better stewards of the environment. The alternative? - A world without whales. It's too terrible to imagine.” 
Pierce Brosnan (http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/whales.html)
http://www.earthjustice.org/library/features/right-whales.html?gclid=CJydsYCz6p8...