This article is more than 2 months old

This article is more than 2 months old

Japanese fishermen have set sail to hunt whales commercially for the first time in more than three decades after Tokyo’s controversial decision to withdraw from the International Whaling Commission.

Five vessels, their harpoons concealed beneath tarpaulins, left Kushiro in northern Japan on Monday morning. At around the same time, three whaling boats left Shimonoseki in south-western Japan.

The first whales were brought ashore hours later: two grey minke whales. One of the animals, more than eight metres long, was hoisted from a ship onto a truck and driven to a warehouse where whalers lined up to pour ceremonial cups of sake over its body – a ritual to purify and celebrate the catch.

“Today is the best day,” said Yoshifumi Kai, head of the Japan Small-Type Whaling Association. “It was worth waiting for 31 years.”

The five Kushiro vessels will together kill 227 whales through to late December, according to the fisheries agency, which had delayed announcing the quota until the conclusion of the G20 summit in Osaka on Saturday. The quota includes 52 minke, 150 Bryde’s and 25 sei whales, the agency said.

The hunts are likely to spark criticism from environmentalists and anti-whaling countries, but whaling officials were in celebratory mood.

Kai, a senior fisheries official in Taiji – whose annual dolphin hunts have caused an international outcry – added: “This is a small industry, but I am proud of hunting whales. People have hunted whales for more than 400 years in my home town.”

Japan was the target of international criticism for using a clause in the IWC’s 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling to conduct “research” whale hunts in the Antarctic.

Meat from the hunts was sold on the open market, prompting claims that they were a cover for commercial whaling.

After 30 years, Japan prepares to resume commercial whaling Read more

Late last year Japan announced it would leave the IWC, frustrated by its failure to convince other members to support a return to “sustainable” commercial whaling.

Japan’s whalers killed 333 minke whales during their final “research” expedition to the Antarctic, which ended in March. In previous years, however, they slaughtered almost 1,000 whales a year, amid confrontations on the high seas with the marine conservation group Sea Shepherd.

Fishermen from Abashiri, Taiji, Ishinomaki and Minamiboso – all towns with a whaling tradition – will take part in the commercial hunt in Japan’s exclusive economic zone. Japan will no longer send fleets to the Antarctic every winter following its official withdrawal from the IWC on Sunday.

“I’m a bit nervous but happy that we can start whaling,” Hideki Abe, a 23-year-old whaler from Ishinomaki, told Agence France-Presse just before the fleet departed.

“I don’t think young people know how to cook and eat whale meat any more. I want more people to try to taste it at least once.”

Fisheries officials are hoping that the resumption of commercial whaling will spark renewed interest in whale meat among Japanese consumers.

“From today, I’d like the whalers to catch whales by observing the quota and aim for revival of the whaling industry,” the fisheries minister, Takamori Yoshikawa, said at a ceremony in Shimonoseki, according to the Kyodo news agency.

While a return to whaling for profit has long been a cause celebre for conservative politicians, Japanese consumers have lost their appetite for whale meat, which can be served deep-fried or raw as sashimi.

Domestic consumption of whale meat was about 200,000 tonnes a year in the 1960s, when it was an important source of protein in the postwar years, but has slumped to less than 5,000 tonnes annually in recent years, according to government data.

Tokyo’s withdrawal from the IWC ended its most provocative expeditions, in protected Antarctic waters, and while it sparked a firestorm of criticism, some campaigners say it is the first step towards the end of Japanese whaling.

Patrick Ramage, the director of marine conservation at the International Fund for Animal Welfare, said the resumption of commercial whaling “will not magically increase market demand”.

“The palates of the Japanese people have moved on,” Ramage said. “They have lost their yen for whale meat, even as their government has spent billions in taxpayer yen trying to prop up this economic loser. What we are seeing is the beginning of the end of Japanese whaling.” </s> The two minke whales that were harpooned are the first to be killed by Japan for commercial purposes in more than 30 years.

Commercial whaling was banned in a 1986 International Whaling Commission moratorium. However, Japan withdrew from the International Whaling Commission in December and resumed commercial hunting in its territorial waters and economic zone despite international outcry.

A fleet of five whaling boats departed the northern port of Kushiro on Monday. A separate deep-water fleet was scheduled to leave from the southern port of Shimonoseki the same day.

The Japanese Fisheries Agency published quotas on Monday for the next six months of commercial whaling. Officials insist that they will engage in sustainable practices.

For July 1 to December 31, the permitted catch is 227 whales (52 minke whales, 150 Bryde's whales and 25 sei whales). Before Japan's withdrawal from International Whaling Commission, it caught 596 whales with a "scientific research" special permit in the 2017-18 whaling season, according to the commission. </s> Japan has resumed commercial whaling after 31 years, meeting a long-cherished goal of traditionalists and angering conservationists.

Japan’s six-month notice to withdraw from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) took effect on Sunday, and yesterday whaling boats embarked on their first commercial hunts since 1988, when Japan switched to so-called research whaling.

As the boats left port, whalers, their families and local officials in two major whaling towns, Shimonoseki in south-western Japan, which is prime minister Shinzo Abe’s electoral constituency, and Kushiro in the north, celebrated the fresh start, hoping for a safe return and a good harvest.

“We hope commercial whaling will be on track as soon as possible, contribute to local prosperity and carry on Japan’s rich whale culture to the next generation,” deputy chief cabinet secretary Yasutoshi Nishimura told reporters in Tokyo.

The mother boat Nisshin-maru and two support boats will travel as far as the 200 nautical mile limit to catch minke, Bryde’s and sei whales. Five other smaller ships will stay closer to the coast but also hunt minkes, in addition to Baird’s beaked whales and dolphins that they used to catch under an IWC loophole.

Whales caught in coastal waters are expected to be brought back for fresh local consumption at any of six local whaling hubs that are mainly in northern Japan but include Taiji, a town also known for dolphin hunts because of the documentary film The Cove.

Whale meat caught further off the coast will be frozen and distributed for wider consumption.

The Fisheries Agency said the catch quota of 227 whales is fewer than the 333 that Japan hunted in the Antarctic in recent years.

Under the “research hunts”, which were criticised as a cover for commercial hunts as the meat was sold on the market, Japan at its peak caught as many as 1,200 whales.

The research whaling programme lost money for years – 1.6 billion yen (£11.8 million) in the last year alone.

While the resumption of commercial whaling is condemned by many conservation groups, others see it as a face-saving way to let the government’s embattled and expensive whaling programme gradually succumb to changing times and tastes.

Despite the massive attention and political support from ruling party politicians, whaling in Japan involved only a few hundred people and accounted for less than 0.1 per cent of total meat consumption in 2017.

Hideki Moronuki, a Fisheries Agency official and a chief negotiator at the IWC, said the fate of commercial whaling depends on whether whale meat is widely accepted by consumers since it will not be getting as much subsidy as it used to get.

“The future of commercial whaling depends on how popular whale meat can be,” he said.

“Whale meat is a traditional food in Japan and I would like many people to try and develop taste for it, especially younger people.”

Ultimately, the resumption of the traditional whaling may end up saving both huge government subsidies and the lives of many whales, experts say.

“What we are seeing is the beginning of the end of Japanese whaling,” said Patrick Ramage, director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare. “It is a win-win solution that results in a better situation for whales, a better situation for Japan, a better situation for international marine conservation efforts and is therefore to be welcomed.”

The quota for this season’s catch, planned for release in late June, was withheld until yesterday apparently to avoid criticism during the Group of 20 summit that concluded over the weekend in Osaka. </s> TODAY Japan will resume hunting and killing whales for profit after 30 years of abstaining from the practice.

The launch of five boats comes after Tokyo's controversial decision to withdraw from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) on June 30 last year.

The hunts are likely to spark criticism from environmentalists and anti-whaling countries but are cause for celebration among whaling communities in Japan who say the globally banned practice is a longstanding tradition.

The issue has been a diplomatic headache for Japan for years, with Tokyo using a loophole in the IWC rules to carry out hunts in protected Antarctic waters for "scientific" research purposes.

Those hunts were fiercely criticised, and Japan decided last year to withdraw from the IWC after repeatedly failing to convince the body to allow it to resume full-scale commercial whaling.

Whaling ships will set sail on commercial hunts from several parts of Japan today, including the town of Kushiro in northern Hokkaido.

The group of five small vessels could already be seen at the port there on Sunday. The boats have come from different parts of the country, including Taiji, an area known for dolphin hunts.

Another flotilla of ships that once carried out whaling under the "scientific research" loophole will set out from Shimonoseki port in western Japan.

"We are very excited at the resumption of commercial whaling," Yoshifumi Kai, head of the Japan Small-Type Whaling Association, told AFP ahead of the departure.

"My heart is full of hope," he added.

An open letter, sent by conservation groups and celebrities including Dr Jane Goodall, Stephen Fry and Ricky Gervais, pleaded with the G20 leaders to appeal to Japan, which is hosting the leaders' summit, to reconsider their stance on commercial whaling.

"Whales are iconic, long-lived and socially complex," the letter read.

"They are important sentinels of the health of our oceans and contribute important ecosystem services to the marine environment."

The Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) has lashed Japan's return to commercial whaling, calling it an "outdated and cruel industry selling a product to a market that has all but disappeared".

"Japan has so far failed to even say how many whales they are going to kill," said Darren Kindleysides, AMCS chief executive officer.

Mr Kindleysides said Japan is not able to simply "wash its hands" of international legal duties.

"Our legal opinion shows that established international laws and conventions - including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea - mean Japan has a duty to co-operate with other countries. Japan is acting with impunity."

"Today is a historic moment for all the wrong reasons, and the world is looking to Australia again," he said.

Japan has hunted whales for centuries, and the meat was a key source of protein in the immediate post-World War II years when the country was desperately poor.

But consumption has declined significantly in recent decades - with much of the population saying they rarely or never eat whale meat - and activists have put pressure on Japan to ditch the historic practice.

Tokyo's withdrawal from the IWC ended its most provocative expeditions in protected Antarctic waters, and while it sparked a firestorm of criticism, some campaigners say it is the first step towards the end of Japanese whaling.

"Japan is quitting high-seas whaling … that is a huge step towards the end of killing whales for their meat and other products," said Patrick Ramage, director of marine conservation at the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

He said commercial whaling, in Japanese waters, was unlikely to have much of a future given dwindling subsidies and the shrinking market for whale meat.

"What we are seeing is the beginning of the end of Japanese whaling," he said. </s> Five Japanese whaling ships are set on Monday to begin the first commercial whale hunt in more than 30 years.

Japan stopped commercial whaling in 1988 after the International Whaling Commission (IWC) imposed a moratorium on killing the giant mammals.

But despite the global ban, Japan continued to hunt whales for what it claimed was scientific research. Critics have long disputed that claim, calling it commercial whaling in disguise.

In the 2017-2018 whaling season, Japanese sailors killed 333 minke whales in Antarctic waters. More than 120 were pregnant females.

In December, Japan announced it was leaving the IWC on June 30.

The whaling fleet will sail from the port of Kushiro, on the northern island of Hokkaido. Its ships will hunt minke, sei and Bryde’s whales in Japanese waters.

Japan's return to commercial whaling has created an international outcry.

Kitty Block, president of Humane Society International, said: “Japan leaving the IWC and defying international law to pursue its commercial whaling ambitions is renegade, retrograde and myopic. It is undermining its international reputation for an industry whose days are so clearly numbered, to produce a product for which demand has plummeted."

But some experts say Japan's move might be a blessing in disguise for some whales, because it will mean that Japan will stop hunting whales in the Southern Ocean, the Atlantic and other sensitive locations.

Japan has yet to disclose how many whales it will allow its fishermen to kill. </s> TOKYO — Japan announced Wednesday that it is leaving the International Whaling Commission to resume commercial hunts for the animals for the first time in 30 years, but said it would no longer go to the Antarctic for its much-criticized annual killings.

Japan switched to what it calls research whaling after the IWC imposed a moratorium on commercial whaling in the 1980s, and now says stocks have recovered enough to resume commercial hunts.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Japan would resume commercial whaling in July "in line with Japan's basic policy of promoting sustainable use of aquatic living resources based on scientific evidence."

He added that Japan is disappointed that the IWC — which he said is dominated by conservationists — focuses on the protection of whale stocks even though the commission has a treaty mandate for both whale conservation and the development of the whaling industry.

"Regrettably, we have reached a decision that it is impossible in the IWC to seek the coexistence of states with different views," he said.

Suga said the commercial hunts would be limited to Japan's territorial waters and its 200-mile (323-kilometer) exclusive economic zone along Japan's coasts. He said Japan would stop its annual whaling expeditions to the Antarctic and northwest Pacific oceans, noting that non-signatory states are not allowed to do so.

The IWC imposed the moratorium on commercial whaling three decades ago due to a dwindling whale population. Japan switched to what is calls research whaling, but the program was criticized as a cover for commercial hunting since the meat is sold on the market at home.

The environmental group Greenpeace condemned the Wednesday's announcement and disputed Japan's view that whale stocks have recovered, noting also that ocean life is being threatened by pollution as well as overfishing.

"The declaration today is out of step with the international community, let alone the protection needed to safeguard the future of our oceans and these majestic creatures," Sam Annesley, executive director at Greenpeace Japan, said in a statement. "The government of Japan must urgently act to conserve marine ecosystems, rather than resume commercial whaling."

Australia's government, often a vocal critic of Japan's whaling policies, said in a statement that it was "extremely disappointed" with Japan's decision to quit the commission.

However, New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters joined Australia in welcoming Japan's withdrawal from the southern ocean. Japan was the only country with an ambition to return to commercial whaling in the Antarctic Ocean.

Japanese Fisheries Agency official and longtime IWC negotiator Hideki Moronuki said Japan would use the IWC's method to carefully determine a catch quota, but declined to give an estimate.

Japan has hunted whales for centuries, but has reduced its catch following international protests and declining demand for whale meat at home. The withdrawal from the IWC may be a face-saving step to stop Japan's ambitious Antarctic hunts and scale down the scope of whaling to around the Japanese coasts.

Japan slashed its annual quota in the Antarctic by about one third after a 2014 International Court of Justice ruling that the country's research whaling program wasn't as scientific as Japan had argued. Japan currently hunts about 600 whales annually in the Antarctic and the Northern Pacific.

Fisheries officials have said Japan annually consumes thousands of tons of whale meat from the research hunts, mainly by older Japanese seeking a nostalgic meal. But critics say they doubt commercial whaling could be a sustainable industry if younger Japanese don't view the animals as food.

Suga said Japan would notify the IWC of its decision by Dec. 31 and remains committed to international cooperation on proper management of marine life even after its IWC withdrawal. </s> Despite international outcry, Japan has already hunted its first whales as part of its return to commercial whaling following a 31-year hiatus.

The return comes following Japan’s departure from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) last September after the group voted down Japan's proposal to resume commercial whaling.

According to Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, “the whaling will be conducted in accordance with international law and within the catch limits calculated in accordance with the method adopted by the IWC to avoid negative impact on cetacean resources.”

Even while part of the IWC, Japan hunted up to 1200 whales per year, as reported by the IWC. The Commission has maintained a moratorium on whaling since 1985, but Japan asserted the whales killed were for scientific research even though the meat was subsequently sold to Japanese citizens. Japan is the only country to hunt for whales in Antarctica during the moratorium, for which it received backlash from conservation groups like Greenpeace.

Whales are directly affected by climate change, plastic pollution, oil exploration, industrial fishing and habitat loss. While these problems require time to be resolved, there are also threats that can be immediately removed, such as commercial whaling, which has been banned internationally for over 30 years. Now is a critical time for ocean protection. A time when threats to our global oceans are increasing, with direct impacts on species like whales. Right now we need more international cooperation, not less.

This view is shared by The Australian Marine Conservation Society's CEO Darren Kindleysides, who emphasized the declining market for whale meat in Japan.

With their return to commercial whaling, Japan has announced their hunts in the Antarctic will be discontinued. Suga explains, “...after the withdrawal comes into effect on June 30, Japan will conduct commercial whaling within Japan’s territorial sea and its exclusive economic zone, and will cease the take of whales in the Antarctic Ocean/ Southern Hemisphere,"

In both their Antarctic hunts and current hunts in Japan's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), Japan has predominantly hunted for Minke Whales. Minke whales use baleen, or thick rows of bristles, to filter plankton and small fish out of the water to eat. They are considered to be the smallest and most abundant of the 'great whales', and can weigh up to 20,000 pounds. So what does Japan’s return to commercial whaling mean for minkes?

As of 2018, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN ) has the Antarctic minke listed as ‘near threatened,’ citing insufficient data to properly assess whether the species is ‘threatened,’ and evidence that the species has been undergoing significant declines over the last 40 years.

However, the numbers of common minke whales estimated in Japan’s EEZ are believed to be at abundant, healthy levels. According to Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, the whaling catch limits for the rest of this year will be capped at 237 whales, including only 53 minkes - far fewer than the over 600 whales hunted by Japan in Antarctica and the northwestern Pacific annually in recent years.

This could be good news for Minkes. If Japan stays within reported catch limits, the transition away from Antarctic whaling and into more local hunts could alleviate pressure on the Antarctic Minke populations, while also maintaining local Minke population sizes that are sustainable. Still, in reference to common minke whales, the IWC says "difficulties in determining stock structure make firm conclusions on status difficult." More research is needed to accurately asses the status of minke whales, and to correctly predict the impacts of commercial whaling on these populations. </s> Japan withdrew from the International Whaling Commission on Sunday and will resume commercial whaling on Monday for the first time in 31 years. Whaling ships are set to leave from ports in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, and Kushiro, Hokkaido.

The IWC, which Japan joined in 1951, decided to suspend commercial whaling in 1982, citing the need to protect whales. Japan started to research whaling in 1987 in the Antarctic Ocean to collect ecological data on whales, including their numbers.

While Japan suspended commercial whaling in 1988, it has domestically sold whale meat gained as a “by-product” of research whaling in the Antarctic Ocean and northwest Pacific.

Commercial whaling, which will start Monday in Japanese territorial waters and its exclusive economic zones, will target three kinds of whales – minke, Bryde’s and sei whales. </s> TOKYO, Japan– Japan has announced its withdrawal from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) next year, and will resume commercial hunting in its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone from July.

It will also cease whaling activities in the Antarctic Ocean, according to an official statement released Wednesday, and hunt species with so-called “healthy” population numbers.

“In its long history, Japan has used whales not only as a source of protein but also for a variety of other purposes,” the statement said. “Engagement in whaling has been supporting local communities, and thereby developed the life and culture of using whales.”

The move to resume commercial whaling drew criticism from conservation groups and governments.

“The declaration today is out of step with the international community, let alone the protection needed to safeguard the future of our oceans and these majestic creatures,” said Sam Annesley, executive director at Greenpeace Japan. “The government of Japan must urgently act to conserve marine ecosystems, rather than resume commercial whaling.”

Australia called Japan’s decision to withdraw from the IWC “regrettable” and urged Japan to return to the convention as a “matter of priority,” in a statement released Wednesday.

Commercial whaling was banned under a 1986 International Whaling Commission moratorium. But Japan has used a loophole to continue hunting whales legally since 1987 for what it claims is scientific research.

Iceland and Norway object to the moratorium and continue to hunt whales commercially without relying on science as an excuse.

In September 2018, the majority of member nations at the IWC annual symposium in Brazil approved a non-binding resolution stating that commercial whaling was no longer a valid economic activity, or needed for scientific research.

While the Japanese political class has sought the resumption of commercial whaling activities, campaigners say eating whale is becoming “less and less popular.”

“Actually many (regular) people don’t have any interest in whales or whaling now in Japan,” Nanami Kurasawa of the Iruka and Kujira (dolphin and whale) Action Network (IKAN) told CNN.
Japan resumes commercial whaling after 30 years following the country's withdrawal from the International Whaling Commission. At least 227 whales are expected to be killed through to December.