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.
According to Greenpeace Program Director Hisayo Takada,
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.
Whaling is a dying industry – it is an outdated and cruel industry selling a product to a market that has all but disappeared. Japan’s whaling is out of step with the international community, and legal opinion shows it’s also out of step with international law.
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.
