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| iStockphoto/Dale Walsh |
| A humpback whale breaches. |
On November 18, Japan launched its whaling fleet for the Southern Ocean Sanctuary around Antarctica, where the country plans to kill more than 1,000 whales over the next several months. It will be the largest whale hunt undertaken in the South Pacific since commercial whaling was banned in the late 1980s.
| Breaking News |
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Japan announces that it will temporarily postpone targeting humpbacks until the June 2008 IWC meeting. Read HSI's statement. (December 21, 2007) |
For 20 years, Japan has been defying the international ban on commercial whaling by continuing to slaughter these majestic mammals, even in the face of global public disapproval. This year, Japan’s self-allocated quota includes not only 935 minke whales and 50 fin whales, but also 50 endangered humpback whales. Humpbacks are known as the “singers of the sea” due to the melodic sounds made by males calling to potential mates. As the species of whale most commonly observed in whale watching programs, they have become a favorite of whale watchers worldwide. This will be the first time that humpback whales have been hunted industrially since the mid-1960s. In the past, their populations dwindled by an estimated 90 percent to severe endangerment before killing them was finally banned.
Japan claims that its whale hunts are for “scientific” purposes. The International Whaling Commission (IWC), however, has condemned this research, as most of the questions being asked can be addressed using non-lethal methods. In fact, Japan’s so-called “scientific” whaling is merely a way to perpetuate a commercial hunt.
"Tradition" is another excuse for continuing the hunt. Yoshinori Soji, the head of Gaibo Hogei Whaling Company based in Wada, Japan, claims that coastal people have been eating whale for 400 years. This may be true, but with the invention of new technologies in the 1900s, the cruelty of traditional whaling took a turn for the worse. In addition, whale meat was never consumed widely in Japan until after World War II, when protein was scarce, and nowadays whaling mainly serves the luxury commercial market.
The whaling towns of Wada and Taiji in Japan try to foster pride in their children by teaching them about whaling traditions in schools and serving whale meat in the cafeterias, despite the health risks from high levels of mercury in some of the meat. Some schools take their students to witness the flensing of whales, which is the stripping of the blubber and skin. Observing this causes some children to feel ill; yet their teachers insist that it’s an important part of their cultural education.
The Japanese factory fleet uses exploding harpoons to kill the maximum number of whales allowed under a national quota system that has no basis in science or need. With the new addition of humpbacks to this quota, it seems that not even species protected by the international community will be spared any longer. Meanwhile, though Japan and Norway claim that these harpoons, which hurl shards of metal through a whale’s body, severing nerves and blood vessels, result in a quicker death for the animals, this is not always the case. From Japan’s own accounts, some whales take many minutes to die and a few take an hour or longer. According to outside observers, some whales who are not killed immediately by harpoons are dragged backwards by the boats until they drown.
There is no excuse for Japan to carry on with this cruel and unacceptable practice. In the face of other threats, such as global warming, pollution, and fisheries entanglement, scientific and commercial whaling are unconscionable acts. It is an embarrassment for Japan to continue whaling in the face of global condemnation and an international ban. Japan must get a wake-up call before it’s too late for the whales.
