Most of these things are necessities and are needed in everyday life but the main reason whales are hunted if or meat and oil these two things are in demand everyday but that still doesn’t make it right to hunt whales
What are the consequences of whale hunting?
Whales are a tourist attraction and by hunting them you are reducing their population which means they could face extinction and if they do become extinct then the areas which tourists are attracted due to whales being there will no longer be a tourist attraction causing money to be lost(This information was taken from the CGP revision guide). Also all the luxuries and necessities whales give us will be gone due them being extinct we won’t be able to get our oil and belts, shoes and bangs or lipstick, ointment and crayons, all these things whales give us and yet we still hunt them, for what Meat? Haven’t we killed enough chickens and cows, now do we really have to move on to whales? (4)
Also due to whales having a long life span, their reproduction is a slow process; the gestation period can take up to a year so if a whale is killed during their pregnancy they will not be able to reproduce so we are reducing the population of whales which contributes to the risk of whales becoming extinct(3). Also whales could possibly not become pregnant for another 5 years and this means that there population slowly increases meaning for every 2 whales you kill it could take 2 years for the whales to be reproduced meaning whales are the most dangered species. (This information was taken from page 2 of the stimulus material making it very reliable due to the information being taken from marine biologists who have provided us with information showing us how slow whales reproduce)(3).
Whale hunting has to be banned because if whales become extinct it will affect a lot of things, Whales fill a niche in the ocean which would be left open by their extinction and this will affect the food chain causing other animals to suffer and this will have drastic and harmful effects on the ocean’s ecosystem(2), which means that other animals will become food causing their population to decrease which could lead to their extinction(2).(This information was taken from BBC which means it’s very reliable due to scientist having observed and environments with no whales which showed a disruption in the oceans ecosystem due to there being problems with the food chain which affects other animals as well.)(2)
Quantative Data
This bar chart was taken from the middle of page 2 in the stimulus material (3) and it shows the number of permitted whale catches. From 1986/1987 a moratorium comes into effect and this means that they cannot hunt for whales anymore due them being an endangered species but in 1987/88 Japan withdraws objection to moratorium. But the number of whales being caught increased by 200 because in 1986/87 it was 390 whales but in 1986/7 it was 190 whales and 390-190=200 showing a huge difference which endangers whales even more.
Conclusion
In conclusion I believe that whale hunting should be banned because we are reducing the number of whales endangering them of becoming extinct. We already have on source of meat which are chickens so we don’t need whale meat the demand for it isn’t that high anyway so we are needlessly killing whales. In the future they could aid us with medical research or possibly carry the cure for cancer who knows? But if we carry on hunting them then they will end up extinct which is an immoral and terrible thing their existence will be no more.
