Foreword
The book International Marine Mammal Law by Nikolas Sellheim is a commendable undertaking. It seeks to address a range of misconceptions, myths,
ill-founded allegations, and occasional fake news on marine mammals, the threats
they currently face, the worldwide status of their populations, the people and
countries hunting them, and the rules of international law relating to their conservation and sustainable use. This serves a twofold purpose. The first essentially amounts
to fact-checking, which is nowadays increasingly resorted to in response to fake
news—whether manmade or by robots.
The second purpose is to provide insights into the multiple perspectives and
dimensions that have made conservation and sustainable use of marine mammals
such a controversial issue. Prominent among these are the fundamental differences in
societal values that exist in individual states as well as the foundational principles of
international law: the sovereign equality of states and the consensual nature of
international law. The need for prior consent means that states cannot be bound
against their will. This second purpose of the book is ultimately aimed at fostering
mutual understanding and respect among citizens and states. Ideally, children will be
taught to be careful when judging others. That thinking in terms of good and bad, or
superior and inferior, will only drive people apart and not bring them together. That
it is more constructive to acknowledge that, often, things are just different.
This book was written during the period when Japan announced its decision to
withdraw from the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling—and
thereby from the International Whaling Commission (IWC)—and to commence
whaling in its own maritime zones, rather than far way, such as off Antarctica.
The actual start of this whaling on 1 July 2019 heralds a new chapter in international
marine mammal law in the twenty-first century, with large-scale commercial
whaling now occurring formally outside the auspices of the IWC. How long this
unregulated whaling will continue depends on a range of factors, including the
evolving opinions of citizens on hunting and consumption of animals, and their
welfare; the worldwide status of whale populations; global, regional, or domestic
vii
The book International Marine Mammal Law by Nikolas Sellheim is a commendable undertaking. It seeks to address a range of misconceptions, myths,
ill-founded allegations, and occasional fake news on marine mammals, the threats
they currently face, the worldwide status of their populations, the people and
countries hunting them, and the rules of international law relating to their conservation and sustainable use. This serves a twofold purpose. The first essentially amounts
to fact-checking, which is nowadays increasingly resorted to in response to fake
news—whether manmade or by robots.
The second purpose is to provide insights into the multiple perspectives and
dimensions that have made conservation and sustainable use of marine mammals
such a controversial issue. Prominent among these are the fundamental differences in
societal values that exist in individual states as well as the foundational principles of
international law: the sovereign equality of states and the consensual nature of
international law. The need for prior consent means that states cannot be bound
against their will. This second purpose of the book is ultimately aimed at fostering
mutual understanding and respect among citizens and states. Ideally, children will be
taught to be careful when judging others. That thinking in terms of good and bad, or
superior and inferior, will only drive people apart and not bring them together. That
it is more constructive to acknowledge that, often, things are just different.
This book was written during the period when Japan announced its decision to
withdraw from the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling—and
thereby from the International Whaling Commission (IWC)—and to commence
whaling in its own maritime zones, rather than far way, such as off Antarctica.
The actual start of this whaling on 1 July 2019 heralds a new chapter in international
marine mammal law in the twenty-first century, with large-scale commercial
whaling now occurring formally outside the auspices of the IWC. How long this
unregulated whaling will continue depends on a range of factors, including the
evolving opinions of citizens on hunting and consumption of animals, and their
welfare; the worldwide status of whale populations; global, regional, or domestic
vii