IWMC  World Conservation Trust

04 June 2005

Editor of the Ottawa Citizen,

Dear Sir:

Mark Anderson struggles to identify a reason why abundant whales shouldn't be harvested on a sustainable basis ("Saving the whales is simply the right thing to do", 2 June 2005).

His personal feeling that killing whales is wrong is a reasonable justification for him not to go whaling. However, it is not sufficient ethical reasoning to justify trying to impose those convictions on fishermen in other countries who have very different feelings.

It is important that we consider how and why wildlife is utilized before we make ethical judgments on others. Japanese people have eaten whale meat for centuries, Japan only hunts abundant whales, it does so on a sustainable basis, its harvests are carried out lawfully, the whales are fully utilized, and Japanese scientists study whale populations to improve understanding of sustainable yields.

From an environmental point of view, consumers of seafood should be encouraged to choose meat from well-managed fisheries. This is the case with Japan's whaling program and it provides sufficient justification for the harvests.

It is surely a moral imperative that we rely on more than just our feelings when trying to influence others on how to utilize wildlife or other natural resources.

Kind regards 

Eugene Lapointe
IWMC President
Former Secretary General of CITES (1982-1990)

Promoting the Sustainable Use of Wild Resources
- Whether Terrestrial or Aquatic
- as a Conservation Mechanism