Whaling
The first recorded catch of what was probably an Antarctic minke whale (the record did not state whether it was a dwarf or Antarctic minke, but it was probably the latter) was made by the British in the 1950-51 Antarctic season. By 1957-58, the Antarctic catch had reached 493. The catch was significantly less and much more sporadic the following seasons, until 1967-68, when 605 were taken. A total of 3,021 were caught in 1971-72. Not wanting to repeat the same mistakes it had made with previous species, the IWC set a quota of 5,000 minke whales for the following season, 1972-73. Despite these precautions, the quota was exceeded by 745.
The quota was again set at 5,000 for 1973-74, but Japan and the Soviet Union, the two nations then responsible for filling all of the Antarctic quota of this species, protested, and the quota was raised to 7,713 (of which all were caught). The catch fluctuated between slightly less than 5,000 and 7,000 (with a peak of 7,900 in 1976-77) from then until 1986-87, when open commercial whaling of this species in the Southern Ocean ended.
From 1987 to the present, Japan has been sending a fleet consisting of a single factory ship and several catcher/spotting vessels to the Southern Ocean to catch Antarctic minkes under Article VIII of the IWC, which allows the culling of whales for scientific research. The first research program, Japanese Research Program in the Antarctic (JARPA), began in 1987-88, when 273 Antarctic minkee were caught. The quota and catch soon increased to 330 and 440. In 2005-06, the second research program, JARPA II, began. In its first two years, in what Japan called its "feasibility study", 850 Antarctic minkes, as well as 10 fin whales, were to be taken each season (2005–06 and 2006–07). The quota was reached in the first season, but due to a fire, only 508 Antarctic minkes were caught in the second. In 2007-08, because of constant harassment from environmental groups, they failed to reach the quota again, with a catch of only 551 whales.
Read more about this topic: Antarctic Minke Whale
Famous quotes containing the word whaling:
“The only thing that was dispensed free to the old New Bedford whalemen was a Bible. A well-known owner of one of that city’s whaling fleets once described the Bible as the best cheap investment a shipowner could make.”
—For the State of Massachusetts, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)