Armed with what looks to be a simple voting majority for this year's International Whaling Commission meetings, Japan has been leaking hints to the media that it will double the number of minke whales it kills annually and perhaps even begin to hunt two endangered species.
Japan will not present its formal "research program" whaling plans until the IWC's Scientific Committee meets on May 30 in Ulsan, South Korea. But news reports in advance of the meetings are rife with Japanese threats to essentially ignore the commercial whaling moratorium that took effect in 1986.
Media reports claim that Japan plans to nearly double its annual quota of minke whales, which currently stands at 440. Japan also reportedly intends to start killing endangered fin and humpback whales—the latter species is, in particular, a prime target for Japan since the whale's meat is considered a delicacy on the island nation.
"Japan may, for the first time since the mid-1970s, have a simple voting majority among the members of the IWC," says Kitty Block, director of Treaty Law, Oceans, and Wildlife Protection for Humane Society International. "If Japan has the numbers for this year's meetings, it could reverse a lot of the conservation and welfare measures adopted in recent years. Clearly, by leaking its deadly intentions to the media, Japan is already seeing how far it can push the international community about its plan to lift the commercial whaling moratorium. We obviously need to push back strongly or risk losing more of these majestic animals."
Japan is not the only country testing the international waters over whaling. Norway, whose whaling season opened on April 18, announced it will kill 797 minkes this year, 127 more than the quota set last year by Norwegian officials. The nearly 800 minkes will be Norway's largest quota since the country resumed whaling in 1993.
Unlike Japan, Norway objected to the moratorium when it was originally passed in 1982, so the country has never been bound by the commercial whaling ban. Japan, conversely, exploits a loophole in the IWC convention that allows scientific whaling; the country then sells the whale meat commercially.
"All this whaling, whether commercial or under the guise of research, makes a mockery of the moratorium," says HSI's Block. "The fact is, Japan, Iceland, and Norway have killed more than 25,000 whales since the moratorium took effect in 1986. The international community has clearly stated it wants a moratorium on commercial whaling, yet Japan and its allies continue to undermine this public mandate with their self-serving agenda."
Japan currently hunts more than 700 minke, Bryde's, sei, and sperm whales a year in the Antarctic and North Pacific Oceans. Some of the species are considered endangered, and some of the kills have occurred in protected areas such as the Australian Whale Sanctuary (which has prompted HSI-Australia to seek federal court permission to sue the Japanese whaling company that has killed minkes in the protected zone.)
The IWC has no control over whether Japan follows through with threats to increase its minke quota and start to kill fin and humpback whales. Although the country submits its research proposals to the Scientific Committee for review every year, Japan routinely ignores critical comments from the body's leading whale biologists, further evidence that the killing is not about science at all.
Because some believe that the U.S. government needs Japan's help to secure an aboriginal bowhead quota, the United States has failed to take trade measures against Japan for continually flounting the IWC. Under the Pelly Amendment to the Fisherman's Protective Act, the U.S. secretaries of Commerce and Interior have four separate times certified Japan for undermining IWC's conservation agreements. Once a country is certified under the Pelly Amendment, the U.S. president has the right to impose legal trade sanctions. Yet, the United States has never issued sanctions.
Strengthening Its Hand
Heading into the IWC meetings in South Korea, Japan has continued to bring new members aboard the commission, raising serious concerns among conservations that the pro-whaling nations will hold a simple voting majority. With such a majority, notes Block, Japan could cause serious damage at this year's meetings; the country could even dismantle the recently approved Conservation Committee.
"There's absolutely no reason to kill whales in this day and age," Block says. "Japan, for reasons that remain a mystery to the international community, continues to invoke 'cultural tradition' to justify its whaling, as if any country's culture remains forever stagnant and unaffected by research discoveries and humane trends."
The bottom line is, hunters cannot kill whales cleanly, Block adds. A whale's size, its behavior in water, and the conditions at sea make instantaneous death impossible. Hunted whales, therefore, suffer terribly before death, often taking an hour or more to die. And what's the reason for these painful deaths? So a few people can consume whale meat?
"Japan can't seem to get it through its head that whale watching will provide much more economic benefit than whaling," Block says. "Whale watching would be a win for Japan's economy, and certainly a win for the whales. We must prove the truth of this to pro-whaling nations – before it's too late."
