Whales and Wiener Dogs

To almost no one’s surprise, the IWC meeting this week in Portugal turned out to be a complete waste of time. In fact, so much nothing was accomplished that the meeting actually wrapped a day early. The two sides - nations opposed to commercial whaling and pro-whaling nations (led by Japan, Norway, and Iceland) - agreed only to continue to disagree, giving themselves another twelve months to negotiate some sort of compromise.

During all this, Greenland, with support from Denmark, made a formal request to the IWC to hunt 10 humpback whales per year. The IWC dodged the issue by appointing a scientific committee to research Greenland’s request.

And the New York Times published an editorial on Sunday urging non-whaling nations to press harder than ever for a complete ban, saying that while many whale populations are recovering, they face a growing threat from other dangers like global warming, habitat loss, and commercial shipping and fishing. Their assertion that a ban on hunting is a vital component to the overall survival strategy of whales is a belief shared by many conservatonists.