Sea Shepherd claims that their actions in the Southern Ocean opposing Japanese whaling fleets has effectively reduced the number of whales killed. What always rubbed me the wrong way about these claims is that they always compare their success against the Institute for Cetacean Research (the Japanese organization that oversees ‘scientific whaling’) Quotas. So at some point you have to ask the question, in absolute numbers, has Sea Shepherd really reduced the number of whales killed?
To answer that we need three pieces of information:
- When did Sea Shepherd begin it’s campaign against Japanese ‘scientific whaling’?
- What are the ICR quotas for that time frame?
- What are the absolute catches for that time frame?
Sea Shepherd provides a comprehensive timeline for their whaling campaigns that indicates serious opposition in the Southern Ocean began in December 2002. For the two other questions, we turn to Whale and Dolphin Conservation International, who have produced a truly exceptional interactive graph of the history of whaling since the inception of the International Whaling Convention by the numbers. The relevant figure is reproduced below:
From this graph, we can see that Sea Shepherd began its campaign when whale catches were at their lowest, and catches have increased since then. Despite their claims of preventing whaling, we can see that more whales were killed per year after 2004 than any year before 2004. In other words, more whales are dying on Sea Shepherd’s watch.
So where do they get the claim that SSCS is reducing the numbers of whales caught? Remember they always report whales saved in relation to the Japanese quota, a reasonable value since the quota provides the absolute upper limit for how many whales will be killed each year. What they ignore is that, in 2005, the quota increased from ~350 to ~1000, and at no point since that increase has Japan ever reached quota.
All of this points towards the fact that Sea Shepherd’s claim that direct action is saving the whales is bunk. More whales have been killed per annum on Sea Shepherd’s watch than during the 16 years before Watson declared a Whale War. Of course there is no causal link in these data. The only conclusion that can be drawn from these data is that Sea Shepherd’s claim that they are preventing whales from being slaughtered is not supported. Results matter.
Still interested? Check out our analysis of the real issues with Sea Shepherd and why their brand of environmental activism is ultimately ineffective.
~Southern Fried Scientist
UPDATE: It has been brought to my attention that the catch numbers reported from 2002 and 2003 are wrong. The Japanese caught 441 and 443 whales, respectively.
I think you too biased to really look at this issue constructively. Look at the graph.. when their quotas were set low, they met them. They upped their quotas but they are unable to meet their quotas as well as they did before sea shepherd came along.
As well this graph does not look(or say) that this looks only at JARPA II. Japan also participates in “research whaling” in the north. This graph doesn’t say if this is for the their whole whaling program or just the southern ocean part. some of the numbers do not match to what has been reported to the IWC as real catches.
The truth is whether you like it or not, sea shepherd has prevented the Japanese whaling fleet from reaching their quota and this year more than ever.
http://iwcoffice.org/conservation/table_objection.htm
Japan would have increased the quota regardless of sscs as they have now said their true intentions are to bring back commercial whaling.
Why don’t you pick on the Japanese whaling fleet who was discovered this year to be illegally trading the meat. (Sei whale from Japan was found in the US and in S Korea, ILLEGALLY!) You can’t honestly believe some of the numbers coming from this “research” organization based on information that we have about them.
It was also news recently that a couple of crew came forward to say that there is an illegal smuggling ring on the vessel as well.