13 February 2007
Whaling Timeline
Posted by Dave, on the Esperanza
This is a chronology of whaling, adapted from "The Whaling Season: An Inside Account of the Struggle to Stop Commercial Whaling" by Kieran Mulvaney (Island Press, 2003). I read this excellent book recently, before I came on board. There's currently three copies doing the rounds of the Esperanza. Kieran was on board several Greenpeace anti-whaling expeditions, and manages to pack his personal experiences, detailed expedition logs and a detailed explanation of the complex mess that is whaling, as well as untangling the intricacies of the International Whaling Commission. This table is from the appendices of the The Whaling Season:| c. 1000 C.E. | Basques begin hunting right whales in Bay of Biscay region, the first true commercial whaling operation. Over the ensuing centuries, they expand slowly northward and westward, arriving off Labrador around 1540. |
| 1611 | England's Muscovy Company sends two whaling ships to the newly-discovered Arctic island of Spitsbergen to hunt bowhead whales. By 1613, the waters around Spitsbergen are choked with whaling ships. By the late seventeenth century, Dutch whalers alone send roughly 250 vessels and 18,000 men to the Arctic in search of bowheads. |
| 1675 | Yoriharu Wada begins organizing whaling crews in Taiji, Japan. |
| 1712 | Beginning of American commercial whaling, operating out of Nantucket in search of sperm whales. |
| 1842 | British explorer James Clark Ross, sailing off the Antarctic Peninsula, observes “a very great number of the largest-sized black whales,” prompting interest in the prospects for an Antarctic whaling industry. |
| 1863 | Norwegian whaling pioneer Svend Foyn launches the Spes et Fides, the first truly steam-powered whaling ship. |
| 1868 | Foyn perfects the harpoon cannon. |
| 1874 | German whaling ship, the Grönland, heads south in search of the whales spied by Ross. It becomes the first steam ship to cross the Antarctic Circle, but fails to catch any whales. |
| 1904 | Norwegian Carl Anton Larsen establishes the first Antarctic whaling operation, at Grytviken on South Georgia. In its first twelve months, the company shoots 184 whales. Within ten years, South Georgia whalers kill 1,738 blue whales, 4,776 fin whales, and 21,894 humpback whales. |
| 1909 | First British Antarctic whaling station established on West Falkland Island. |
| 1923 | Larsen leads the Sir James Clark Ross, the first Antarctic factory ship, into the Ross Sea. |
| 1924 | The Lancing, the first modern factory ship equipped with a stern ramp, reaches the Antarctic. |
| 1927 | Whale kill for the Antarctic season: 13,775. |
| 1929 | Whale kill for the Antarctic season: 40,201. |
| 1930 | Thirty-eight factory ships and 184 catchers, mostly British and Norwegian, are operating in the Antarctic. |
| 1931 | Geneva Convention for the Regulation of Whaling is signed; the first international attempt to regulate the industry. That same year, an all-time record 29,410 blue whales are killed in the Antarctic. |
| 1934 | First Japanese factory ship, the Tonan Maru, heads to the Antarctic. |
| 1937 | International Agreement for the Regulation of Whaling is signed in London. The next season, 46,039 whales are killed in the Antarctic, the highest total ever. |
| 1946 | International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) is signed in Washington, D.C. Three years later, the IWC meets for the first time. |
| 1964 | Antarctic whalers are able to find and kill just twenty blue whales. The following year, the IWC protects the species from whaling. |
| 1971 | Greenpeace makes its first voyage, to Amchitka Island to protest nuclear testing. |
| 1972 | United Nations Conference on the Human Environment votes for a ten-year moratorium on commercial whaling. |
| 1975 | First Greenpeace anti-whaling voyage, confronting Soviet whalers in the North Pacific. |
| 1979 | IWC establishes Indian Ocean Sanctuary, and bans pelagic factory ship whaling for all species except minkes. |
| 1982 | IWC establishes indefinite commercial whaling moratorium, to take effect from 1985/86 Antarctic season. Japan, Norway, Peru, and USSR file objections; Japan and Peru later withdraw their objections. |
| 1987 | Japanese factory ship Nisshin Maru No. 3 and three catchers set out on first "scientific whaling" voyage in Antarctic, to kill up to 330 minke whales. |
| 1989 | During second "scientific whaling" voyage, the Nisshin Maru No. 3 encounters the Greenpeace icebreaker Gondwana, which interferes with its actions for several days. |
| 1991 | MV Greenpeace leaves Singapore on 81-day voyage to intercept Japan's Antarctic whaling fleet. |
| 1992 | French government proposes Southern Ocean Sanctuary; Greenpeace departs on second voyage to find Antarctic whalers. |
| 1994 | IWC adopts Southern Ocean Sanctuary; Greenpeace embarks on third Antarctic anti-whaling expedition. |
| 1995 | Japan increases quota for Antarctic "research" whaling from 330 to 440. |
| 1996 | Japan begins "research" whaling in the North Pacific. |
| 1997 | "Irish proposal" floated at IWC meeting in Monaco. |
| 1998 | Brazil floats idea for a South Atlantic whale sanctuary; Australia and New Zealand suggest a similar sanctuary in the South Pacific. |
| 1999 | Arctic Sunrise engages Nisshin Maru and catchers. |
| 2000 | Japan expands North Pacific "research" to include Bryde's and sperm whales. |
| 2001 | Arctic Sunrise again engages Antarctic whaling fleet. |
| 2002 | Japan expands North Pacific hunt to include sei whales, and increases N. Pacific quota of minke whales. At the annual IWC meeting, Japan and allies initially deny bowhead quota to natives of Alaska and Russia. At a special meeting in England, the IWC apparently readmits Iceland in to IWC, with a reservation against the moratorium; somehow, non-member Iceland is itself allowed to cast the deciding vote. |
| 2005 | The Government of Japan announces massive increase of "research" whaling quota in the Antarctic, to 935 minke whales annually. Beginning in 2006, the catch will also include endangered fin whales; and, from 2007, endangered humpback whales. |
| 2005-6 | The Greenpeace ships Esperanza and Arctic Sunrise interfere with the whaling fleet in the Antarctic. |
| 2006 | Iceland returns to commercial whaling, killing seven endangered fin whales. |
| 2007 | The Esperanza returns to the Antarctic in search of the whaling fleet. |
| 2007 | The International Whaling Commission meets on US soil for the first time in 18 years, in Anchorage, Alaska, in May. |
Comments
There is an error in this chronology :
Whaling was organized in Taiji by Wada Chûbei Yorimoto in 1606. 1675-77 is when his grandson, Taiji Kakuemon Yoriharu introduced nets in whaling.
This chronolgy would be better if it was refering to the BWU and other important mistaken measures taken by the IWC in the past. From 1971, your chronology is more about Greenpeace than whaling...
Posted by: isanatori at February 13, 2007 2:02 PM
Hi Dave:
This is an excellent book - read it a couple of years ago. Should be on reading list for everyone who cares about whales.
Several stats stand out:
1904 - "South Georgia whalers kill 1,738 blue whales, 4,776 fin whales, and 21,894 humpback whales."
1931 - "29,410 blue whales are killed in the Antarctic."
1937 - "46,039 whales are killed in the Antarctic, the highest total ever."
No wonder the Blue whale population is struggling to recover. History will repeat with every other species of great whale moving to the brink of extinction if Japan and cronies are allowed to dictate the IWC. Time to stop the slaughter because
it's now or never for the whales.
Posted by: echo at February 13, 2007 7:52 PM
This is a very fine list of the Greenpeace activities involving the Japanese whalers but it seems that you have omitted the work done by the dedicated Greenpeace activists against the Norwegian whalers.
I know from experience that there was Greenpeace interference by the MV SOLO and the activities of the Norwegian whaler Nybræna in the sea’s north of Norway in 1993.
Then again in the following year Greenpeace undertook a major campaign that involved the of whaling activities of the Senet with the Sirius and the Solo working hard to save the lives of many Minke whales see attached.
http://whale.wheelock.edu/archives/whalenet94/0037.html
it seems that the news only concentrates on the Japanese whaling activities even though there are others actively engaged in the hunting of whales
On a lighter note:
To emphasis that some of the actions that sea shepherd org make are over the top, have a look at there history and make your own mind up.
http://www.icrwhale.org/eng/history.pdf
This link will show the violent history of sea shepherd that they themselves are too afraid to list themselves.
Where in the name of Greenpeace anyone in there right mind would think that these such actions serve the purpose of reasonable humane non-violent protest is beyond my reasoning.
I hope that the anti whaling actions that Greenpeace has made in the past against other nations is not forgotten or swept under the mat as these are just as important and also need to be acknowledged.
I give my support and wish all the best to those hard working activists striving to save the lives of the great mammals of the sea.
Kiwi Mike
[ Andrew, Greenpeace web editor says: Although I also disagree with the Sea Shepherds tactics, I have to say that I personally have not always found the ICR to be honest. And I do NOT see the ICR as a reliable source of information, especially on this subject.
More information about Norwegian whaling.
Posted by: Kiwi Mike at February 17, 2007 12:21 PM
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