Historical memory, cultural claims, and environmental ethics in the jurisprudence of whaling regulation

This study considers in historical perspective the ethical and juridical norms relevant to commercial and indigenous whaling activities and their regulation. An assessment is offered of the records of the International Whaling Commission from 1946 to the present, and of individual whaling nations, especially Japan and Norway. The argument is made that historic behavior should matter, when the question is raised: What nations or interests come to the table with “clean hands”? The author rejects arguments by Japan, Norway, and various scholars that coastal whaling communities in industrialized countries should be regarded as equivalent to indigenous whaling communities such as the Inuit in justifying exceptions to the IWC moratorium. In light of whale species’ precarious condition and in light of past behavior by whaling fleets, only strongly based indigenous cultural claims should be permitted to trump a general rule against whaling.