Saving whales, dolphins and porpoises

About whales, dolphins and porpoises

Whales, dolphins and porpoises are marine mammals which play a vital role in marine ecosystems. Collectively, they are are known as cetaceans – a word that derives from the Latin for ‘large sea creature’ and the Greek for ‘sea monster’.

There are two types of cetaceans:

• species with teeth, the Odontoceti. They include the sperm whale, orca (killer whale), beluga, narwhals and beaked whales. All species of dolphin are toothed cetaceans, as well as all types of porpoises, including the Dall’s porpoise which can reach speeds of up to 30mph, and the vaquita, the smallest cetacean, which is also the most endangered;
• species with baleen, the Mysticeti. Also called baleen whales, these species have baleen plates made of keratin instead of teeth, which they use to filter food. The Mysticeti are generally larger than the Odontoceti. They include the magnificent blue whale, the largest animal ever to have lived on Earth, which can reach a length of more than 30m. Fin, humpback, minke and gray whales also fall into this category.

Cetaceans are highly social animals that build complex communities, sometimes co-operating to hunt for food, raise their young and support sick members of their group.

Cetaceans have developed some of the most sophisticated forms of communication in the animal world. Dolphins whistle, squeak and click to each other from birth. Toothed whales also communicate through high-frequency clicks and whistles, while baleen whales use long, low-frequency sounds. Humpback whales sing complex songs with repeated patterns which have been found to travel thousands of miles through the ocean.

Whales: the guardians of the ocean

Whales provide incredible services for the ocean and coastal communities, playing such an important role that scientists call them ‘ecosystem engineers’. Whales do more than simply guard the ocean – they nurture it.

Whales contribute to marine ecosystems and coastal life by:

• whale pump – by diving to the ocean depths to feed and through releasing faecal plumes at the surface, whales perform a pump-like function which carries important nutrients such as nitrogen and iron to surface waters. Whales also transfer nutrients across the lengths of the ocean when migrating great distances from feeding to calving areas, known as the whale conveyer belt. This provides nourishment for drifting phytoplankton – the base of the food web upon which all marine species depend;
• whale falls – whales play a role in the ocean’s carbon cycle, which in turn could help limit the impacts of climate change. Much as forests do on land, these ocean giants help capture carbon, both directly when they die and fall to the sea floor and indirectly through their multiplier effect on phytoplankton;
• stabilising ocean ecosystems – as large and long-lived creatures at the top of the food chain, whales bring stability to ocean ecosystems. Scientific research suggests this can make marine systems less vulnerable to external pressures;
• supporting tourism – on top of the benefits they offer to marine ecosystems, whales and dolphins can provide a boost to coastal tourism as a major wildlife attraction. Whale watching is a global industry, valued at more than $2 billion a year. Responsible whale watching guidelines and principles have been established by organisations including the International Whaling Commission (IWC);
• whale worth – a 2019 IMF report estimated the value of the average great whale at more than $2 million and more than $1 trillion for the current stock of great whales.

Exposing dolphin hunts in Taiji, Japan

In 2000, we brought the notorious Taiji dolphin hunts to the attention of the world’s media. Our investigators documented the killing and capture of dolphins by hunters in the town of Taiji. Pods of wild dolphins are driven from the ocean into a small cove, where they are either slaughtered for their meat or taken captive for shows in aquariums.

Read Report: Towards extinction 

The dolphin meat is frequently contaminated with high levels of mercury and other toxic elements. The live dolphins captured for the aquarium trade are subjected to a lifetime of captivity and deprivation for the sake of human entertainment.

Documenting the hunting of Dall’s porpoises

Otsuchi, in northern Japan, is the focal point of the hand harpoon hunt which has claimed up to 15,000 Dall’s porpoises in previous years.

For three decades, EIA has monitored and documented the hunting of Dall’s porpoises and other small cetaceans in Japan’s coastal waters. Our work has resulted in a significant decline in demand for all cetacean products.

Pressure from EIA has also led to many fewer Dall’s porpoises being killed, from more than 40,000 in 1988 to about 5,000 in 2010.

As a result of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, many of the hunting boats and numerous hunters were lost. The numbers of Dall’s porpoises killed reduced significantly and have not recovered to pre-disaster levels.

However, the hunting of about 800 Dall’s porpoises continues each year and EIA is concerned to note the sale of Dall’s porpoises in Nagano, a market not previously known to EIA. We continue to monitor catches and sales of Dall´s porpoise products.

Documenting the hunting of small cetaceans in Greenland

New EIA research revealed that more than 100,000 small cetaceans have been slaughtered in poorly regulated hunts off Greenland during the past three decades. A total of seven species of cetacean have been targeted, but only two of them under formal quotas – for the rest, it’s pretty much open season. Reported catches for all small cetaceans have increased since hunting records began. Narwhals are experiencing significant declines in abundance due to hunting. This is especially critical in East Greenland, where recovery may be compromised. Learn how thousands of small whales and dolphins slaughtered in Greenland’s poorly regulated hunts.

Highlighting the threats to whales, dolphins and porpoises

Since the moratorium on commercial whaling was agreed, the intensification of human activities has wrought unprecedented changes on the marine environment upon which cetaceans depend.

The world’s oceans are in an increasingly fragile state and there now exists even greater cause for concern – and doubt about the ability of cetacean populations to withstand direct hunting – than ever before. There is a pressing need to better protect cetacean populations from anthropogenic threats to allow them a fighting chance in the face of unprecedented environmental changes.

At such a time, the role of the moratorium in protecting cetacean populations from direct commercial hunting has never been so important.

Our 2016 report Plight of the Ocean Sentinels outlines the major environmental activities that threaten the survival of the great whales and their cetacean cousins – dolphins and porpoises.

Climate change

Ocean changes due to climate change are likely to pose one of the greatest threats to cetacean populations, through ocean acidification, melting of ice sheets, changes in ocean temperature, disruption of food chains and changes in the supply and cycling of nutrients.

Marine debris

Plastics form the vast majority of marine debris, from packaging-related litter, fishing lines and nets to microplastics and nanoplastics. The equivalent of a full rubbish truck of plastic waste is dumped into the ocean every minute. Plastic pollution poses a serious threat to cetaceans when they ingest plastic waste or become entangled in plastic including abandoned fishing gear.

Read Report: Dying at our convenience

Chemical pollution

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are chemicals that were used in plastics, paints and electrical equipment. Although they were banned in the 1970s, they have created a toxic legacy for certain toothed cetaceans, particularly killer whales, striped and bottlenose dolphins and harbour porpoises. They are known to cause immunosuppression and to impair reproduction and are likely to affect cetacean populations in Europe for decades to come.

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010 had a disastrous impact on cetaceans.  This was the largest spill in marine oil drilling history involving a BP rig in the Gulf of Mexico which exploded and sank with four million barrels of oil being released over more than 80 days until it was finally capped. Evidence suggests there was up to a 51 per cent reduction in the dolphin population in the local area.

Bycatch

Bycatch – the process whereby marine species are caught unintentionally – is one of the primary direct threats to whales, dolphins and porpoises worldwide. The vaquita will be extinct within a few years unless bycatch in gillnets is completely eliminated from its habitat in the Upper Gulf of California, Mexico.

Other cetaceans threatened by bycatch include: populations of harbour porpoise in the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea; the franciscana, dusky dolphins, Chilean dolphins and Commerson’s dolphins in South America; Hector’s dolphins in New Zealand; J-stock minke whales in Japan and South Korea; Indo-Pacific and humpback dolphins off the coast of South Africa and Tanzania; common and striped dolphins in Peru, Ecuador and the Mediterranean; North Atlantic right whales off the east coast of the US; sperm whales in the Mediterranean; and populations of finless porpoises and river dolphin species in Asia.

The U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) requires the U.S. government to ban seafood from nations that fail to meet the same strict standards to prevent marine mammal bycatch that U.S. fishers must meet. But the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) recently delayed any decision on blocking imports from non-compliant nations until 2025, risking the future of cetacean populations globally.

Other cetaceans threatened by bycatch include: populations of harbour porpoise in the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea; the franciscana, dusky dolphins, Chilean dolphins and Commerson’s dolphins in South America; Hector’s dolphins in New Zealand; J-stock minke whales in Japan and South Korea; Indo-Pacific and Atlantic humpback dolphins off the coasts of Africa; common and striped dolphins in Peru, Ecuador and the Mediterranean; North Atlantic right whales off the east coast of the US; sperm whales in the Mediterranean; and populations of finless porpoises and river dolphin species in Asia.

Noise pollution

Cetaceans live in a world of sound, using acoustics to perform vital activities in their life cycle including communication, mating behaviours, navigation and locating prey and predators. As the quantity and level of anthropogenic sound increases in our ocean, so the ability of cetaceans to perform these key tasks is affected, with impacts ranging from chronic stress, deafness, increased energy expenditure, habitat displacement and reduced communication range through to mortality.

Key sources of noise pollution include sonar, seismic surveys and shipping as well as pile-driving, drilling and dredging.

Highlighting the issue of toxic whale and dolphin meat

EIA has campaigned for many years to raise awareness of the issue of toxic whale and dolphin meat.

Co-founder Dave Currey photographing whale meat in a market, Japan (c) EIAimage

The Government of Japan continues to recklessly expose its citizens to heavily polluted whale and dolphin products. Much of this meat is contaminated with excessive levels of mercury and other marine pollutants such as carcinogenic polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

However, many Japanese citizens are largely unaware of the risks to human health of consuming cetacean meat and blubber, which is often contaminated with toxins at considerably higher levels than those officially recommended by the Japanese Government.

In our 2015 report Dangerous Diet, we outlined the significant risks to human health posed by eating whale, dolphin and porpoise products which are frequently toxic and mislabelled.

The report found that whale, dolphin and porpoise products sold for human consumption in Japan continue to consistently exceed the country’s provisional regulatory limits for mercury, methylmercury and PCBs at levels tens to thousands of times higher than domestic and international safe limits.

Given that food products from coastal whales, dolphins and porpoises almost without exception exceed advisory limits for mercury, we urged that the Government of Japan should permanently ban these products for human consumption. We also pressed the Government to phase out all whale, dolphin and porpoise hunts.

Dall’s porpoise hunts: source of toxic, unwanted meat

Dall’s porpoise products are highly contaminated with toxic pollutants and yet they continue to be freely available in Japanese markets and supermarkets.

For some 30 years, we have been monitoring and documenting the annual Dall’s porpoise hunts that are the source of these products. We wanted to raise awareness of the cruelty of the hunts, the threat to Dall’s porpoise populations and the hunts’ negative impact on marine conservation. Otsuchi, in northern Japan, is the focal point of these hand harpoon hunts which have claimed hundreds of thousands of Dall’s porpoises over the years.

We have also carried out research into the toxicity of porpoise products. Eight Dall’s porpoise blubber products analysed by Japanese scientists, commissioned by us, revealed high PCB levels, with one product purchased in Shizuoka, near Tokyo, having a concentration of 4ppm, a startling eight times higher than the regulatory level of 0.5ppm.

We have strived to let Japan’s consumers know that they are purchasing contaminated products with potentially very serious impacts on human health.

Persuading businesses to stop selling whale, dolphin and porpoise products

We have steadfastly campaigned to reduce market demand for whale, dolphin and porpoise products by targeting governments and retailers, as well as raising awareness of the health and environmental issues with consumers.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) has banned international trade in the products of whale species listed on the treaty’s Appendix I.

However, Japan, Norway and Iceland took reservations to the CITES Appendix I whale listings, enabling them to trade in whale meat with other nations holding the same reservations or with non-Parties to CITES.

Whale meat is not widely consumed in any of these countries, despite the best efforts of government-backed marketing campaigns:

• in 2017, just one per cent of Icelanders said they ate whale meat regularly and 82 per cent claimed to have never eaten it at all;
• in Japan, average consumption of whale meat was just 30g per person in 2015. Japanese commercial whaling companies are struggling to sell the products from recent hunts;
• demand in Norway is so low that 60 tonnes of whale meat had to be given away in 2017 due to poor sales.

Targeting businesses

EIA parody of Rakuten adverts, used in our campaign to pressure the company to cease whale meat sales (c) EIA

In Japan, our campaigns have persuaded more than 3,500 supermarkets to stop selling cetacean products. Subsequently, we successfully took the fight to the key online marketplaces of Amazon Japan, Google and Rakuten. Our campaigns also took Japan’s three main fishing companies – Nippon Suisan, Kyokuyo and Maruha – permanently out of the whaling business.

• We don't buy it (re Nippon Suisan, Kyokuyo and Maruha)
• Ito-Yokado and 7-Eleven
• Whalemart
• Gortons Family whale killing business (re Nippon Suisan)
• Amazon.com's unpalatable profits
• Blood e-commerce (re Rakuten)
• Google

Investigating Iceland’s whaling kingpin

In recent years, we have investigated and exposed Icelandic whaling driven by multi-millionaire Kristján Loftsson and his company Hvalur. Our report Slayed in Iceland: the commercial hunting and international trade in endangered fin whales revealed that Hvalur kept shipments of fin whale products flowing, exploiting a limited demand for whale meat and blubber in Japan.

Hvalur recently sparked global outrage when it announced plans to use fin whale meat, blubber and bones in iron supplements and other medicinal or food products. EIA continues to monitor the company’s activities, joining with other NGOs to keep up the pressure on Hvalur.

Raising awareness with airlines and tourists

Iceland’s whale watching industry has grown substantially since its inception in 1991 when 100 people took part in a whale watch tour. Hundreds of thousands of the more than two million tourists visiting Iceland’s each year enjoy at-sea encounters with humpback, fin and minke whales and other species.

Yet, back on shore, tourists are significant consumers of whale meat. Many of the minke whales killed each year end up in restaurants, as well as grocery stores, falsely marketed to tourists as traditional local dishes. Now, with no minke whaling in Iceland, some minke whale products are being imported into Iceland. Carved whale bone, baleen and teeth are also sold as tourist souvenirs, even though the vast majority of countries prohibit the import of whale products.

EIA has joined forces with other NGOs to urge airlines not to promote consumption and purchase of whale products to passengers.

We also encourage tourists not to eat whale meat in Iceland, Norway, Japan and Greenland and to support responsible whale watching.

Fighting the plastic pollution that threatens marine life

Building on our original campaign to protect cetaceans from hunting and non-hunting threats, in recent years our work has expanded significantly to address broader marine issues concerning the health of the environments in which these magnificent creatures live, especially the problem of marine plastic pollution.

Visit microsite

We first drew attention to the issue of marine plastic pollution in 2001 through our work assessing global threats to whales, dolphins and porpoises and, via scientific papers and reports to the IWC, have contributed to that organisation’s work to address marine litter.

We became more active on plastics at the legislative level in 2013, with our work on plastic bags helping to secure measures to reduce use of plastic carrier bags in the UK and Europe. In 2016, we formed the Microbead Coalition with Fauna & Flora International, Greenpeace UK and Marine Conservation Society, successfully campaigning for the UK Government to adopt a world-leading ban on microbeads in cosmetics and personal care products which will prevent countless billions of microplastic particles entering our seas every day.

As part of the Rethink Plastic Alliance, we have helped strengthen EU legislation on plastics and waste. Internationally, we are a founding member of the #BreakFreeFromPlastic movement, working to secure the adoption of a UN initiative to tackle marine plastic pollution at a global level.

How you can help us save whales, dolphins and porpoises

EIA is one of the top 20 most effective environmental charities, according to the Environmental Funders Network.

Please donate today to support our vital work to protect whales, dolphins and porpoises (cetaceans) and their marine environment.

Given our decades of experience in saving whales, dolphins and porpoises, we have the expertise, knowledge and connections to protect them from the many threats they face.

Please support our work to protect cetaceans from hunting, bycatch, chemical and plastic pollution, entanglement, ship strikes and climate change. Any donation you are able to make today will help us save whales, dolphins and porpoises and preserve the oceans that are their home.