Whales for sale: sell them to save them.

• Author: Bailey, Ronald
• Position: Citings - Brief article

IN 1982 the International Whaling Commission adopted a moratorium on commercial whaling. Yet the number of whales killed each year has been going up since then, reaching about 2,000 annually under a loophole in which countries may authorize the harvesting of whales for research. Activists spend about $25 million a year trying to stop or disrupt whaling.

In a January Nature article, three researchers suggest selling whales may be a more effective method for saving them. Environmental scientists Christopher Costello and Steven Gaines of University of California, Santa Barbara, and Leah...