I believe that commercial whaling, particularly in the south polar seas and particularly by the major players such as Norway and Great Britain, brought mankind close to the verge of destroying - or severely reducing - several whale species commonly referred to as "great whales". This could have had far reaching consequences for the marine environment. I believe therefore, that it is a good thing that we have international regulations, quotas and conservation conventions to protect these species.  Such progress would not, in my opinion, have been achieved, were it not for the work of many environmental and political organisations, who in the 60's and 70's especially, mobilised the world's media and with it public opinion.

But this does not mean that I consider the whale as a special case, I do not adhere to romantic ideas about whales being especially intelligent or communicative compared with other species. Given credible scientific data indicating that a given whale population is neither endangered nor below its minimum sustainable size, I do not oppose whaling by indigenous peoples, whaling for scientific purposes, or even indigenous commercial whaling - so long as this is regulated, monitored and sustainable. I wish to see the continued development and use of better hunting methods, which limit the pain endured by the whale to the minimum possible, though I recognise that there remain practical limitations when hunting large marine mammals in ocean waters. I do not believe in the idea of "humane killing" - for me, no killing is humane, and the methods of husbandry and slaughter in commercial abattoirs and on farms are often far less "humane" than methods employed when hunting wild animals and marine mammals. Through my work in the Arctic, I am also acutely aware of the problems which uninformed protests against commercial harvesting of marine mammals have created for indigenous peoples, for whom subsistence hunting is an important part of their culture. I do not wish this programme to create or reinforce any myths about whaling, in ways which could be detrimental to indigenous people.

The Kosmos Assignment is about commercial whaling - an industry which served its purpose, but which eventually pursued industrial methods and profits to such an extent, that it all but killed itself. Before the second world war, the whaling grounds of the Antarctic were far way from the spotlight of the world's media, and the world's political and scientific arena, but as the world recovered from war, a new order began to appear, one in which the colonial powers could not plunder the riches of far away oceans and lands without the scrutiny of the public. The priviledged access which the commercial whaling companies, under the patronism of their national governments, enjoyed to marine mammal rich waters of the polar seas came to an end. Fut Jensen was a witness to the last days of this era - however, his film and his story are as relevant today, as they were in 1949.
 

Adrian Redmond Mesing, Denmark, October 1999