Japan proposes expanding commercial whaling program to include fin whales amid controversy

In a recent development, Japan’s Fisheries Agency has proposed allowing the capture of fin whales alongside the three smaller whale species already permitted under their commercial whaling programme. This decision comes five years after Japan withdrew from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and resumed commercial whaling within their exclusive economic zone. According to Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, this move is in line with Japan’s traditional food culture and aims to promote the industry by sustaining usage of whales as marine resources based on scientific evidence. The proposal follows the confirmation of a sufficient recovery of the fin whale population in the North Pacific by stock survey results. However, the plan is not intended to increase the whale meat supply, and whalers aren’t required to meet quotas when capturing fin whales. The Fisheries Agency intends to seek public comments until June 5, with approval expected during their next review meeting in mid-June. The current commercial whaling programme in the Japanese EEZ caught 294 minke, Bryde’s, and sei whales in 2023, which was less than 80% of the quota and fewer than the number previously hunted in the Antarctic and northwestern Pacific under the research programme. Anti-whaling protests have diminished since Japan ceased its Antarctic research hunts in 2019 and restricted its whaling activities to its coastal waters. The consumption of whale meat in Japan was high during the country’s post-World War II malnutrition period, reaching over 230,000 tons annually in the early 1960s. However, it decreased to approximately 2,000 tons in recent years due to the availability of alternative sources of protein. Whaling officials aim to raise the consumption to around 5,000 tons to preserve the industry, as operators such as Kyodo Senpaku Co. Introduced whale meat vending machines and constructed a new $48 million Kangei Maru mother ship for sustainable commercial whaling. The proposal to permit fin whale hunting has drawn criticism from environmentalists, who argue that it goes against international conservation efforts aimed at protecting endangered whale populations.