| Tonga, geographically the first nation on the globe
to greet each new day, recently welcomed a taste of their traditional diet
when a dying humpback whale was towed ashore and its meat was distributed
to hundreds of jubilant Tongans. The whale was mortally wounded
during a collision with an ocean-going ship. That incident, on July
10, 1999, marked a brief return to the Tongan whaling tradition halted by
government decree in 1978.
According to the Tongan Health Department
and press accounts, Tongans, like many Pacific nations’ people, are
suffering health problems including hypertension, heart disease, obesity
and diabetes due to reliance on processed and fatty foods such as “sipi”
(sheep bellies) imported from New Zealand and elsewhere. This health
crisis has prompted the Tongan government to consider lifting its
21-year-old ban on whaling.
On a recent visit to Tonga, World Council
of Whalers Chairman, Tom Mexis Happynook offered WCW assistance to the
Island nation in conducting surveys of the local humpback whale population
and the beneficial affects of consuming whale on the health of the Tongan
people.  |
