Whaling

We do not "need" to hunt whales. That being said, we don't "need" to kill cows, pigs, chickens, etc. There are indeed other sources of food. We choose the food we eat, and with that comes the right to harvest the animals we wish to eat. And if the Norwegians, Japanese, Icelanders, Greenlanders, Faroese, etc. wish to eat whale meat, what right does the west have to tell them it is not okay, while destroying thousands of square miles of wildlife habitat to make room for cattle ranches, and raising millions of cattle in poor conditions to be killed? Whaling does not destroy habitat. It never has, and it never will. The whales are born and grow up in the best conditions the world has to offer them, and like the animals that are made into America's big macs, they are then killed and eaten. The other 20% my opponent brings up are not necessarily dying very slowly, it only means they are not dead instantly, just like that. But the animal is generally winched quickly back to the boat, and shot with a very large rifle to the head. Again, whaling must be compared to other forms of meat production in regards to humane kills. Holding it to a higher standard is arbitrary and meaningless. Take for example deer hunters. Most deer are killed instantly or very quickly. But sometimes, as is the case with any kind of hunting or fishing, the animal does not die instantly, and may be shot again to relieve pain. Criticizing whaling for not maintaining an impossible 100% instant death rate is a significant double standard in comparison to alternatives. However, I maintain that even in the longest death times, a whale only experiences less than a day of pain, in comparison to a lifetime of misery attained by modern farmed animals. My opponent brings up other whaling groups, so I feel it appropriate to discuss them. The Japanese do not have the same instant death rate as the Norwegians for a number of reasons, among them the rougher sea conditions, faster boats, taller boats, and inferior quality of harpoon grenades. I feel that there is an obligation for the Japanese to improve their practices, yes. The whalers in Russia and Indonesia are aboriginal groups, and thus do not utilize the same killing method as commercial whalers do. They will generally use hand held harpoons and lances instead of a harpoon cannon. This leads to a longer time to death. However, aboriginal hunting techniques of many animals, such as hunting of big game in Africa, tend to have longer death times due to the older methods and weapons. Whaling must not be held to a double standard, but I do agree that continual improvement of the hunting methods to improve animal welfare would be in order. Whale meat is not a luxury. It is a reasonably priced, good quality meat that is sometimes eaten in whaling nations. The hunted whales are not endangered, and hunting of endangered species has essentially been phased out. Norway hunts exclusively minke, Iceland hunts fin and minke, and Japan, starting next year, is hunting only minke in the antarctic. No treaties are violated in whaling. The ICRW article 5 specifically allows whaling nations to object to any provision of any decision by the IWC and thus not be legally bound by it. Therefore, Iceland and Norway are indisputably whaling legally. Article 8 specifically allows the taking of whales for scientific research, so Japan's whaling is also legal. The ICJ has ruled that Japan's program in the Antarctic did not fulfill this provision, however, it also ruled that the whaling would once again be legal with a revised research program, which has been formulated in preparation for the winter 2015 season. We do not risk extinction for whale meat. Even according to Sea Shepherd, there are at least 800,000 minke whales in the oceans. We hunt, say, 1,000 per year. This means that, essentially, unless only 1 in more than 400 female minke whales gives birth per year, the population is unlikely to see any whaling-related decline.