Its whaling fleet launched on July 29. Japan excuses the slaughter as scientific research. In fact, the two new larger species will provide more meat and bigger profits for an illegal whale food market. Japan argues that it needs to kill the whales to study their population structure to estimate quotas from each population and stomach contents. But IWC scientists state this research is not necessary because the Southern Ocean where the Japanes kill most whales are a whales sanctuary, and that even if it was, it could be done without killing whales.
Japan also says that whales are destroying valuable fish stocks.
Again, this is untrue. Fish, not whales, are the major predators of the fish we humans eat. And killing whales will not halt overfishing, which is the major cause of fishery decline. Japan has a long history of defying international whaling laws. Though an IWC member, Japan illegally bought whale meat from other nations that caught whales outside IWC rules.