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eNewsletter |
IWC-53
London, England |
July 2001 |
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IWMC
World Conservation Trust |
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The
Opposition to Whaling -
Arguments and Ethics |
Sustainable Use
or Cultural Imperialism?
Many
environmental organisations do a praiseworthy effort to fight pollution, yet
some of them are at the same time against whaling as a matter of principle. The
anti- whaling stance is seen as a part of, or the symbol of their environmental
commitment. Notwithstanding the extreme animal welfare organisations, products
from so-called "non-charismatic" animals are widely accepted by many
societies as food and clothing. The debate about whaling becomes ethically
problematic when "the whale" is given such a symbolic value, at least
if one is not willing to consider this attitude as a culturally based
phenomenon. In this context, the opposition against whaling could just as well
be regarded as a form of cultural imperialism as something morally honourable.
Norwegian whaling policy is based on the principle of sustainable use of
nature’s resources. It is the founding principle of Norwegian environment and
resource management policy as well as the basis for international co-operation
in these areas. It is good environmentalism - and also good animal protection -
to base parts of a nation’s food production processes on the harvesting of
nature’s surplus, rather than on a one- sided model of industrial production
of food products used in some modern societies. However, it is a prerequisite
that the environment is clean so the harvest of nature’s surplus is not only
ecologically sound food production, but also as healthy as possible.
It is disappointing that many of the countries that express the most ardent
criticism of Norwegian whaling policy are not the first in line when it comes to
reducing pollution of the environment. Both air and sea are regularly used as
garbage dumps by these nations, while at the same time they say that whale
species cannot be harvested because we do not know what influence the hole in
the ozone layer and pollution of the ocean will have on their populations in the
long term.
Sustainable management of nature’s resources is a part of man’s
responsibility to nature. It is founded both on Christian ethics and on other,
humanistic non- religious sets of values. This ethical dimension imposes both
the need to protect the environment against pollution and to avoid excessive use
of nature’s resources, while at the same time allowing us to harvest the
surplus. Achieving this harmony between the use of the earth and the use of its
resources are the two sides of the same coin, that cannot be dismissed in a
serious discussion about the management of whales, even though some emotional
commitment must be accepted. At the same time, it is probably neither ethically
sound nor environmentally prudent to base the management of living marine
resources on the commandment in George Orwell’s "Animal Farm"; "
All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." (Source:
Editorial from the Norwegian newspaper Fiskaren (the Fisherman) of 21.05.01) 
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