From Hunting to Watching: Human Interactions with Cetaceans

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Whales and dolphins have been hunted since antiquity in many parts of the world. Although whaling started as a commercial enterprise in Europe in the eleventh century, it was not until the seventeenth century that the industry expanded rapidly. Early whaling targeted right and bowhead whales and then shifted to sperm whales. Technological developments in the nineteenth century allowed other species to be exploited, and at the end of the century, the possibilities of whaling in the Antarctic were realised. Nearly three million whales were killed in the twentieth century, with several populations reduced to 5% of their historical size, or less. The International Whaling Commission was established in 1946 and manages whaling, and it introduced a whaling moratorium in 1982. Despite this moratorium whales are still caught by Norwegian, Icelandic and Japanese whalers. Indigenous communities are given quotas to hunt whales, although not without some controversy. Small cetaceans are also hunted, by indigenous communities, and there are sizeable hunts in several locations such as Peru, the Faroe Islands and Japan. Human interactions with cetaceans also include indirect interactions via pollutants. One type of interaction for which there is growing concern is whale and dolphin watching. Despite many locations having guidelines or regulations to minimise the impacts of this type of tourism, compliance is often low. However, if properly managed, whale watching could be an economically valuable, non-consumptive, use of living whales as a resource by humans.