Not without political ulterior motives and despite criticism, Japan will add fin whales to the list of whales that can be hunted for commercial purposes. The announcement was made on Thursday May 9 by government spokesperson Yoshimasa Hayashi, who mentioned “an important food resource. We believe that it must be exploited sustainably, like all other marine resources, on a scientific basis. It is also important to perpetuate Japan’s traditional food culture.”.
The government has taken up a proposal from the Fisheries Agency and should validate the new framework in mid-June. The organization proposed adding fin whales to the list of cetaceans – Minke whales, Bryde’s whales and sei whales – that can be hunted by Japanese whalers. It is based on studies which would confirm the level sufficient numbers of fin whales in the North Pacific.
The initiative sparked a reaction from Nicolas Entrup, director of international relations for the NGO Ocean Care, who criticized “the aggressive development of a useless and cruel activity which does not meet any pressing human need”. The fin whale is the second largest living mammal. It is classified as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Japan remains attached to whaling even though the Japanese hardly eat it anymore. Whale meat was an affordable source of protein during the malnourished years following World War II. It was widely served in school canteens. Peak consumption reached 233,000 tonnes in 1962.
Under the guise of scientific studies
The collapse of populations led the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to decree a moratorium on whaling in 1986. Japan respected it before obtaining exemptions in 1988 authorizing it to engage in this activity under the cover of scientific studies. The archipelago was nevertheless criticized because, since the resumption of hunting, its fishermen have caught several thousand whales, a level considered disproportionate for simple research.
Sometimes violent clashes have opposed whalers and cetacean defense organizations, such as Sea Shepherd. In 2014, Australia won a conviction against Japan by the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Canberra was protesting against the presence of Japanese whalers in the Antarctic Ocean, an area considered a sanctuary by several countries. The UN court accused Tokyo of disguising a commercial activity as a research program and of violating “the preservation of marine mammals and the marine environment”.
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