How to Deal with The Major Issue of Japanese Whaling

There are thirty-four kinds of whales in the world which can be broken down into two categories: baleen whales and toothed whales. The right whale (baleen) was probably one of the first whales that were really highly sought after. This was because they swam close to shore and floated when killed, making it easy to harvest. Thus, it was named the “right whale to hunt.” Whaling is now frown upon–roughly since the 1970’s, but until not so long ago, the trade was glorified, especially during its peak. In Nathaniel Philbrick’s book In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex, the author writes:

“The imprinting of a young Nantucketer began at the earliest age. The first words a baby was taught included the language of the chase— ‘townor,’ for instance, a Wampanoag word meaning that the whale has been sighted for a second time. Bedtime stories told of killing whales and eluding cannibals in the Pacific.... There was rumored to be a secret society of young women on the island, whose members pledged to marry only men who had already killed a whale. To help these young women identify them as hunters, boat steerers wore chockpins (small oak pins used to keep the harpoon line in the bow groove of a whaleboat) on their lapels. Boat Steerers, superb athletes with prospects of lucrative captaincies, were considered the most eligible of Nantucket bachelors. Instead of toasting a person’s health, a Nantucketer offered invocations of a darker sort:

Death to the living,

Long life to the killers,

Success to sailors’ wives

And greasy luck to whalers” (Philbrick, p#13,14)

As shown by this passage from Philbrick’s book the whaling industry shaped the island of Nantucket. Whaling in simple terms is going after the whales to hunt and kill them for their meat, bones, and oil. During the peak years of Nantucket (mid-nineteenth century) whaling was sought after, young boys wanted to become whalers and everyone in Nantucket knew the whaling terms. Why did people whale? Even though the trade was dangerous and very difficult, the profit was worth it. The blubber of the whale was boiled down into oil, which was used for candles and lighting, and to oil the machines that ran the industrial revolution. The spermaceti found in sperm whales is a white substance in its head that looks like sperm. The spermaceti was very useful for making candles. Ambergris is a waxy substance found in sperm whales and was used extensively in the perfume industry. Baleen refers to the filter system inside of the mouth of baleen whales filters their food; it is a hard substance that was used like plastic and its most well-known use was in the manufacture of corsets. There are three main kinds of whaling that developed in time. Drift whaling is when the whale has died and then drifts onto shore. This was probably one of the earliest forms of whaling in Nantucket (or any shore). Shore whaling is when someone standing on shore sees a whale and then, the fishermen go out in small boats and try to hunt the whale that has been spotted. Then came the whaling ships (since the 16th century) that would first go to sea for a few months; but then, as the whales were harder to find, whaling trips could last for a few years.

People have been whaling for a long time. The Basques were some of the first to whale commercially and started the trade in the 16th century. They came to Newfoundland, hunted whales there, and sold their meat. This is one of the ways they made money, because during times when meat was not permitted for consumption due to church laws (during Lent), sea ‘meat’ and anything else that came from the sea was allowed. Whaling in the U.S. started from Nantucket and Cape Cod in the 17th century; it is where drift whaling took place. Soon after (late 17th century) shore whaling took place; and as whalers started to struggle finding whales near the shore and in shallow water, they started to venture out and go further and further. Voyages became longer. The main port moved to New Bedford as the ships had become too large to fit in the small sound of Nantucket. Whaling has now shifted and is seen as very damaging for the environment because many species became close to extinction. The global community disapproves of Japanese laws that allows for whaling.

The International Whaling Commission (IWC) has established strict rules as to how whales may be killed, however these rules are optional, and the Japanese left the IWC to have freedom from regulations. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) issued a statement (December 28, 2008) condemning Japan for withdrawing from the IWC to resume commercial whaling at a time when so many whale species are at the verge of extinction from “bycatch and entanglement, the impacts of shipping, noise, plastic and chemical pollution, as well as climate change” (WWF, 2019). In his book The Outlaw Ocean, New York Times’s reporter Ian Urbina writes that Sea Shepherd’s Captain Hammarstedt (working for Interpol) has been involved in “major campaigns since 2003, including ten missions chasing Japanese whalers in Antarctica” (Urbina, 16). Interpol’s mission on the seas is to police illegal fishing, but they are outnumbered by the sheer scale of criminal activity on the ocean and the vastness of the seas.

Japan’s decision to withdraw from the IWC has multiple negative impacts on the environment that may be leading to the near extinction of several whale species and the destruction of marine life and habitat. Japan’s decision to resume whaling also bears ethical significance; whaling is a lucrative commercial business in Japan, but not a matter of subsistence or livelihood like it is for the Inuit or other tribes in northern Quebec and the Arctic region; moreover, whaling methods in Japan are non-sustainable for the environment and conservation of species. There are also many legal issues at play. Japan has conducted so-called scientific research in Antarctica for decades (this was nothing else but whaling) and ignored orders ( from the IWC (2014) to cease their whaling ‘program.’ The wider Japanese public is mostly against Japanese commercial whaling, which is at the hands of a “small but influential” circle of politicians and lobbyists (American Experience).The numerous implications of Japan’s decision to resume commercial whaling will be addressed in detail in subsequent paragraphs of this paper.

The International Whaling Commission was formed December 2, 1946 and signed in Washington D.C. The original goals of the IWC were to regulate whale stocks, for the benefit of the industry, but still were not opposed to whaling. The IWC proposed a quota with the unit “Blue Whale Units” which was not very effective. “‘The major drawback of the BWU system lay in the fact that it took no account of the varying degree of protection which each species requires’”. This did not benefit the whale populations, and after World War II, the stocks continued a sharp decline through the 1960’s, due to lowered enforcement and catch quotas that were too high to keep the stocks constant. This led to more countries actually beginning to understand the problem of overfishing of whale populations, and led to the re-convention of the IWC. Beginning in the 1970’s, this led scientists to propose whale sanctuaries. This took precedence in 1982, when the IWC created a moratorium on whaling, condemning commercial whaling.

Today, 88 countries are apart of the IWC, and many regulations have been put in place to stop commercial whaling. A modern problem that stands today is the abuse of scientific whaling, which is exploited by countries such as Japan and Iceland. Scientific whaling allows a country that is part of the IWC to give out a permit to kill whales for scientific purposes. Japan uses this to continue commercial whaling and increasing differences in policy agreements caused Japan to leave the IWC in 2018. Much like UNCLOS, a state is only bound to the rules and regulations of the IWC if they consent to them. Japan had full sovereignty to remove itself from being bound to the IWC, yet still remain a member of UNCLOS. This is interesting because leaving the IWC to continue whaling doesn’t align with the values and laws UNCLOS prides itself in, that protect the oceans while simultaneously allowing fair use of waters and its resources.

Scientific whaling has just been commercial whaling in disguise for Japan. Since leaving the IWC, Japan has set up its own whaling programs that continue today. There is the Japanese Antarctic Research Program (JARPA), which has expanded to create JARPA II in 2005 (Hirata). This is noteworthy because in the same year, Japan killed a total of 1,243 whales, a record number. Japan has not killed nearly that many whales since 1987, when 1,082 whales were killed (WDC). 1987 is a significant year for Japanese whaling because it was when JARPA was first created right after the moratorium was declared by the IWC (Hirata). The highest points of whale hunting deaths are directly correlated to the expansion of Japanese whaling programs. It is obvious that these groups that are designed to be used for scientific studies are only formed to hunt more whales.

Another program set up in Japan is JARPN, which allows the Japanese to spread their fishing to north Pacific waters. Each expansion allows them to hunt more Minke, Sperm and Bryde’s whales. There are two types of whaling firms in Japan that contribute to overfishing whales. There are eight small firms with 5 boats in use that operate on a small scale in coastal waters. The other is government funded scientific whaling (Hirata). It should be expected for smaller firms to get involved in whaling now since Japan has left the IWC in the previous months.

Although the rest of the world is scared due to Japan pulling out of the IWC to resume commercial whaling, the whaling industry is not self sufficient. It is hardly independent and relies on outside assistance, especially from the Japanese government. It is estimated that the Japanese government pays the equivalent of $10 million U.S. dollars each year to keep the whaling industry afloat (WDC).

Between 2017 and 2018, just before leaving the IWC, Japanese boats went whaling in Antarctica and it was reported that out of the 188 female Minke whales hunted, 122 were pregnant (WDC). This statistic alone shows how much Japan can and will contribute to the depopulation of whales. Killing pregnant whales decreases any chance whale species have for repopulating. Not only did that hunt lower current numbers of whales, but it affected the future generations of whales as well. Less calves means less of a chance for increasing whale numbers in the upcoming years.

Not only does Japan hunt pregnant whales, but endangered whales too. After leaving the IWC, Japan declared its’ whaling will not surpass their 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone, in order to try and curtail other states disapproval. Nevertheless, as of July 1st, 2019, Japan has declared that they were going to hunt 52 Minke whales, 187 Bryde’s whales and 25 Sei whales (Whaling in Japan). Since the population of blue and fin whales has declined rapidly, Japanese fishers have turned to the sei whale. As a result, about 50 sei whales are targets annually and are now on the endangered species list (WWF).

Japan is quick to combat criticism from other states and defends whaling as a cultural matter that shouldn’t be interfered with, especially from western nations. They claim that they have been eating whales for thousands of years and that it’s an important part of their cuisine and is traditionally prepared (Hirata). It may be shocking to hear that this is a myth and eating whales can be dated back to only after World War II, only a few decades ago. Whale meat was only fed to the impoverished population in large amounts and currently it only accounts for 2% of all the meat eaten in Japan. Whale meat is sold on the open market to pay for scientific whaling but since it is rarely eaten, much of it goes unsold and becomes a waste (WDC). This is where government subsidies come into play to support the whaling industry. Whale meat is barely eaten, so it seems inappropriate that Japan would claim it is a staple in their cultural diet.

It may be shocking to learn that Japanese people don’t know much about the whaling industry but it is true. Many people are uneducated about whaling in Japan, but this can be part of the solution. If Japanese people can become educated on whaling then they might be the key to reversing commercial whaling. If the public knew how much money and effort the government was spending on whaling, then they may be able to rally together and protest against it. Public opinion is important is persuading government policy.

Another solution to commercial whaling could be to lower government subsidies. Like mentioned before, the Japanese government spends tens of millions of dollars to finance the whaling industry. Commercial whaling depends on outside resource support. If funding from the government were to be cut, then the whaling industry would have no monetary backing and then they wouldn't be able to continue whaling at the intensity they are now. This could help the whale population regain its numbers.

Since the Japanese seem steadfast in commercial whaling, it could be beneficial to place regulations. One rule that the Japanese government could implement is to use the entire whale. Whale meat is seldom bought, which means a lot of it goes to waste. If there was a rule in place that the whole whale needed to be used and not discarded, it could prevent fishers from killing excessive amounts of whales. Although it would not stop commercial whaling completely, it may lower the amount of whales hunted annually, giving them a chance to repopulate.