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- Convenor:
-
Nobuhiro Kishigami
(National Museum of Ethnology)
- Location:
- 105
- Start time:
- 15 May, 2014 at
Time zone: Asia/Tokyo
- Session slots:
- 2
Short Abstract:
The history of whaling is more than 5,000 years old. But human interactions with whales have been changed since the 1970s when many European governments and environmental NOGs began the anti-whaling campaign. This session discusses the contemporary whaling issues and future of whaling cultures.
Long Abstract:
Whales have become increasingly powerful symbols in environmental and conservation movements. Public whale displays and whale-watching in particular have been important in fostering whales as 'eco-symbols'. However, these non-consumptive uses of whales are only one aspect of a long history of human-whale interaction. Humans have used whales for many other purposes, most notably as food and industrial resources. Human-whale relationships are regionally and historically highly varied. However, at the UN human-environment conference held at Stockholm in 1972, the USA representative argued that we could not protect our environment without protecting whales. This move was further backed by environmental NGOs such as the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Greenpeace, and many European countries adopted anti-whaling positions, no longer regarding whales as industrial resources. In 1982 the International Whaling Commission (IWC) amended the Schedule to the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW), establishing a moratorium on the harvesting of 13 species of large whales beginning in 1986. Since then, whaling issues has become internationally political rather than scientific. This session discusses the contemporary whaling issues and considers the future of whaling cultures in anthropological perspectives. The cases presented in this session include the contemporary small-scale coastal whaling in Japan, indigenous whaling in Bequia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Canada, and Solomon Islands, food culture related to whale dishes in Japan and Korea, historical changes in distribution and consumption of dolphin meat in Japan, etc.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Paper short abstract:
Ayukawa-hama is one of the four small-type whaling communities which continue commercial whaling. The Earthquake of March 11, 2011 devastated the community. Whaling, having served as a foundation of Ayukawa-hama in its history, became a socio-cultural and economic core of their recovery effort.
Paper long abstract:
Whaling culture originated in the southern part of Japan and spread to the north as the whaling technology evolved. During the modern whaling era, Ayukawa-hama and its surrounding area in North-eastern part of the main island served as a center for coastal whaling as well as a home for many whalers of the Antarctic whaling fleet. The prosperity derived from whaling in Ayukawa-hama was such that the area is known as Whaling Town, or the Whaling Kingdom to this day.
On March 11, 2011, the Great East Japan Earthquake and the Giant Tsunami that was triggered by the quake caused devastation in a wide area along the coast of the Northeastern part of the main island. The epicenter of the earthquake was off the coast of Ayukawa-hama. Many lives were lost and the boats and buildings, including whaling stations were destroyed. This presentation first introduces the historical accounts of whaling in Ayukawa-hama, and the social-cultural significance of whaling for the local people. Secondly, it describes the devastation caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake and the Giant Tsunami, with the focus on the Ayukawa-hama area. Lastly, it examines the present and the possible future of whaling community.
Paper short abstract:
The primary purpose of this study was to identify the production and distribution systems of pilot whale and dolphin meat. Secondary aims were to examine why fresh meat from this fishery is sold in these two markets.
Paper long abstract:
Small-scale coastal whaling activities have operated in the Japanese cities of Taiji-cho (Wakayama prefecture) and Nago city (Okinawa prefecture). The meat of pilot whales and dolphins caught in these fisheries has separate markets. Pilot whale meat is sent to the Fukuoka municipal wholesale market, while dolphin meat is sent to Shimonoseki local wholesale market. The primary purpose of this study was to identify the production and distribution systems of pilot whale and dolphin meat. Secondary aims were to examine why fresh meat from this fishery is sold in these two markets, as well as to analyze the factors and processes influencing the development of markets dealing in whale meat.
Paper short abstract:
This study presents the history of whale use through whale food culture in the Korean East Coast area.
Paper long abstract:
The whale use history in Korea is from approximately 5,000 years ago. However, it is from the end of 19th century that whaling activity was carried out positively in the Korean Peninsula. The people of the Korean East Coast area eat whale meat under the influence now, and food culture related to whale dishes is maintained. France, Germany, United States, Russia, and Japan captured the whales at the Korean Peninsula coast from the mid-19th century, and, Koreans had actively engaged in whaling for about 40 years from the end of World War II to the ban on commercial whaling in 1986. Since 1986 when commercial whaling was banned, Korean people have eaten such whales as to be caught accidentally in fishing nets. Whales caught in fishing nets numbered 190 in 2000, while the number has grown to 751 in 2008. Approximately 30% of the whales caught in fishing nets are made up of Minke Whales, whereas dolphins occupy 70%. The demand for whale meat is much greater compared to the supply, and a whale is priced at several million dollars to ten million dollars according to the size, so that it is called lottery of the sea. This study aims at analyzing whaling culture in Korea from a historical point of view, thus showing that whaling culture is to integrate local people and help supporting the identity of their community.
Paper short abstract:
Based on field research in the city of Ulsan in South Korea, I critically examine the policy moves taken by the government of S. Korea to control the whale meat markets at the same time that local residents resist and respond to the IWC moratorium.
Paper long abstract:
Describing the situation of Ulsan, South Korea, I argue that the local pro-whaling campaign and the local retail trade in whale meat are examples of cultural resistance to the IWC moratorium on commercial whaling. Recent policy moves taken by the government of S. Korea are described here as efforts to control the whale meat markets and bring S. Korea into line with the international moratorium on commercial whaling. In Ulsan, the locally prevailing ways of thinking about whales and ecology are not ancient and traditional, but are reactions against the moratorium which is deeply resented by local citizens. Local ideas are enacted in the prominent social practice of eating meat from cetacean bycatch (the accidental death of a cetacean by entanglement in a net used for catching fish). Providing information from interviews and from our observation of city-sponsored public events intended to promote whale meat consumption, I examine the local stakeholders' cultural models. Drawing a contrast between the local models and the prevailing ideas in the scientific debates about whaling at the international level, I argue that in Ulsan the scientific ideas which justify whale protection policies do not have a high degree of social acceptance. In order to implement whale protection policies in Korea, it is necessary to design the policy based upon local ideas about whales and bycatch.
Paper short abstract:
The harvesting of humpback whales by Bequians has been approved by the IWC as a form of "aboriginal subsistence whaling" since 1987. But, in 2012 an NGO launched a pro-whale watching campaign. In this presentation, I would like to take up the problems that the movement has brought about.
Paper long abstract:
The small Caribbean island of Bequia has a history of whaling dating back to 1895, and the harvesting of humpback whales by Bequians has been approved by the International Whaling Commission as a form of "aboriginal subsistence whaling" since 1987. This recognition permits a catch quota of 24 whales for the 2013-2018 whaling seasons. As of 2012, twelve whalers were engaged in whaling with two whaling boats in operation. The regular use and consumption of whale products such as meat and blubber constitute a key component of Bequian culture, and whale products are of economic and nutritional significance to the Bequians.
However, in 2012 an NGO launched an anti-whaling campaign targeting the island, with the ultimate aim to convert whaling into whale watching. To this end, the organization has recruited a former whaler to persuade active whalers to stop whaling, and also took a harpooner to Australia to introduce him to whale watching. The NGO's leader is a lawyer and the daughter of the former prime minister, and she has successfully used her connections and eloquence to gradually build the organization's influence in Bequia.
In this presentation, I would like to discuss the problems that the pro-whale watching movement has brought about. It has created a rift among the whalers and strained relations between two whaling communities. To prevent this movement from spreading on the island, we must advocate the cultural significance of whaling to the people of Bequia.
Paper short abstract:
While information oriented society is progressing, how can local people maintain their culture, and what kind of role should the anthropologist play in it? The conflict between the international environmental group and Solomon Islands' villagers about traditional dolphin hunting will be analyzed.
Paper long abstract:
A few villages in the Melanesian islands have inherited dolphin hunting techniques to obtain meat and teeth as traditional treasure. In April 2010, six members of the international environmental group flew down by helicopter to one of these villages in the Solomon Islands. These "white people" told villagers that their dolphin hunting activity was castigated by all over the world. The information made villagers frightened, they signed a contract paper under duress.
The contract was as follows, instead of two years of dolphin hunting, the community will receive 2400,000BSD (240,000USD) as compensation. The amount is considerably large and, in a certain sense, meant that controlling them through economical power. The money payment was termed externally as "payment for eco-system services" or for dolphin conservation activity by villagers. The environmental group that operates by the donation can get increased funding by attracting attention.
Villagers had kept to the contract and they did not hunt for dolphin during the season in 2011 and 2012. However the "compensation" was not paid in full, only 700,000BSD was given to the community. Hence, hunting began once again on 21 January 2013. This news went around the world in a week through the Internet, bringing severe censure to the villagers.
This case is not a debate on the right or wrong of dolphin hunting. While globalization brings about an information oriented society, we must consider how local people can maintain their culture, and what kind of role should anthropologists play in it.
Paper short abstract:
An indigenous group of Canada, the Inuit, revived bowhead whale hunting in the 1990s. This paper discusses the meanings of the revival in relation to the nation state, indigenous rights, and international society, with cases from the hunts of the Nunavik (Northern Quebec) and Nunavut Inuit.
Paper long abstract:
The Inuit of Canada revived bowhead whale hunting in the 1990s after a more than 50 year interruption of the hunt. This paper discusses the meanings of the revival in relation to the nation state, indigenous rights, and international society, with cases from the hunts of the Nunavik (Northern Quebec) and Nunavut Inuit. Contemporary Inuit hunters lost knowledge and techniques on how to hunt, butcher and share a bowhead whale due to the long interruption of the hunt. Also, several Inuit did not like the taste of the whale. Furthermore, the whale hunt required a lot of money for preparing for and carrying out the whale hunt itself. In spite of these difficulties, Inuit had been eager to resume bowhead whale hunts in Canada. In response to requests from the Inuit, the government of Canada gave permission for the hunt to the Inuit as an indigenous right. Although I doubt that bowhead whale hunts contribute to obtaining essential food for contemporary Inuit's physical survival, I argue that the hunts and distribution of whale products among the Inuit contribute to maintaining or enhancing their Inuit identity. Also, I insist that whale hunts of the Inuit have a symbolic political effect to visualize their indigenous rights. On the other hand, the government of Canada shows its political position concerning the current indigenous policy through giving the Inuit permission to hunt bowhead whales.