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Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed H. CON. RES. 350 - a resolution declaring congressional opposition to all forms of whaling, and urging the International Whaling Commission to work to end all whaling, even whaling that purports to be for scientific purposes. The resolution had been introduced to Congress on May 14th, not very long ago by the standards of Capitol Hill.

Also included in the measure is the expression of opposition to “community-based whaling”. That’s an interesting development, as many people generally opposed to whaling have allowed for an exception to traditions of small-scale whaling in coastal communities. This loophole for the sake of tradition has been abused - by Norway, for example, which has claimed to have a tradition of hunting for minke whales, although Norway only began hunting for minke whales in the 1930s.

What about the genuine traditional whale hunters? Are they to be cut off from their food supply? No, not with the vision of yesterday’s congressional resolution. The measure prods the IWC to

“…oppose any initiative that would result in any new, Commission-sanctioned coastal or community-based whale hunting, even if it is portrayed as noncommercial, including any commercial whaling by any coastal communities that does not qualify as aboriginal subsistence whaling”

This resolution still provides an exception for aboriginal subsistence whaling, which would exclude tradition for the sake of tradition, or whale hunting community rituals, but allow those who truly depend upon whale meat for survival to continue their ways, if they are native to the place where they live. That’s a pretty small niche.

As a resolution, this congressional measure does not carry the force of law. It’s just a political statement. Besides, the U.S. Congress does not have control over the International Whaling Commission - just influence. Exercising that influence through a statement like this is useful to some extent, but it won’t change anything on its own.

What’s interesting to me is where this resolution comes from - West Virginia. It was West Virginia representative Nick Rahall who introduced the measure. Close your eyes and picture a map of the USA, and you’ll have a difficult time finding any West Virginia coastal communities with ties to the whaling industry.

That Congressman Rahall found it important enough to introduce a resolution against whaling and see it through to approval suggests that the appeal of whales isn’t related to any concrete connection to the oceans. That indicates a potential for ocean conservation activism that spans the entire country, regardless of physical proximity to the sea. As citizens of a nation as politically powerful and economically weighty as the USA, need to be able to consider larger issues in this way. Politics can no longer all be local, given that our power to impact the world is far beyond the local scale as well.