Sch-Whale War

The various organizations involved in the ""Save the Whale'' movement have been successful in awakening public interest and in establishing sanctuaries; but their efforts to end commercial whaling have been thwarted. Canadian Day, author of The Doomsday Book of Animals and Tolkien Bestiary, looks at the ongoing battles of the last 25 years between whale-hunters and whale-savers. Since 1972, he says, every international body and treaty that has anything to do with whales has ruled that commercial whaling must end. But the rules are ignored because no nation, including the U.S., will enforce them. Most recently in 1982, the International Whaling Commission voted for a moratorium on commercial whaling by 1985-86, but the slaughter continues despite evidence that it is no longer economically viable. Day recounts the daring confrontations of the Rainbow Warrior, the recent sabotage in Iceland by the Sea Shepherds and some appalling stories of pirate whalers. He examines myths and facts about Japanese whaling (mainly a postwar industry, heavily subsidized for the benefit of a few wealthy families) and flatly charges that Japan wrecked the moratorium with the direct aid of the Reagan administration. Day's illustrated account comes complete with an exact chronology of this ``war'' in charts. It is clear that Save-the-Whalers still have work to do. (September 15)