Japan began commercial whaling Monday following a 30-year ban, after the country announced it would pull out of the International Whaling Commission late last year.
As the first five boats left Kushiro, a northern Japanese port on the first day of July, many conservation and environmental groups condemned the actions. The whalers brought back two minke whales, which were lifted by crane and placed on a truck to be processed at a factory.
Late in December 2018, Japan announced it would withdraw from the IWC in six months, stating that populations have grown enough to resume commercial whaling. Since the IWC banned commercial whaling in 1988, Japan has only allowed research whaling.
When the country announced it would withdraw from the IWC, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the country’s commercial whaling would be “in line with Japan’s basic policy of promoting sustainable use of aquatic living resources based on scientific evidence,” as reported by the Associated Press.
Commercial whale hunting would be limited to waters that were a part of the country’s territory and the 200-mile exclusive economic zone on the coast of Japan, Suga said. He also announced that Japan would halt expeditions in the Antarctic and northwest Pacific Oceans, which many conservation groups supported.
Sunday, Japan officially withdrew from the IWC, allowing commercial whaling once more.
Despite Japan’s statements that the whale population have recovered, many conservation and environmental groups have condemned the country’s decision to allow commercial whaling in its waters once again.
When Japan announced its exit from the IWC in June, Hisayo Takada, Program Director of Greenpeace Japan, said the organization “is pleased” Japan would halt whaling in the Antarctic, but expressed “concern” from the country exiting the IWC.
“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,” Takada said in a statement sent to the Daily News.
“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,” Takada said.
Blue Planet Society founder John Hourston also expressed aversion at Japan’s decision to leave the IWC.
“The world’s ocean is in a perilous state. For a leading country like Japan to leave the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and resume commercial whaling sends out the wrong message at the worst possible time,” Hourston wrote to the Daily News.
“Two-thirds of Earth’s biodiversity has been lost since 1970. We should be protecting what remains of our precious wildlife, not killing it.”
The Australian Marine Conservation Society also released a statement opposing Japan’s decision to withdraw from the IWC.
“Whaling is a dying industry – it is an outdated and cruel industry selling a product to a market that has all but disappeared,” Darren Kindleysides, CEO of the AMCS said in a statement.
“Japan’s whaling is out of step with the international community, and legal opinion shows it’s also out of step with international law,” he said.
The whale meat from the hunting on Monday will be auctioned off at a market on Thursday, according to Fisheries Agency officials, the Associated Press reports.
Despite backlash from conservation groups, Fisheries Agency officials have maintained that the commercial whale hunting will not harm the animal population.
Hideki Moronuki, a Fisheries Agency official and the chief negotiator at the IWC hopes the commercial whaling will help whale meat be reasonably priced instead of carrying a higher price tag as a delicacy for a select clientele.
Patrick Ramage, director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare said commercial hunting being allowed once again could help end whaling in Japan.
“”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,” Ramage said, as reported by the Associated Press.
With News Wire Services