Japan's Whaling Defiance: whalers prepare to head to Antarctic waters again

While Japan's last season of whaling was cut short, in part due to the at-sea harassment efforts of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, it appears that the island nation is planning a return this winter. Here is a report from CNN:

"(CNN) -- Japan says it will hunt whales in the Southern Ocean this winter and will send a Fisheries Agency ship to guard its whalers against promised intervention by a conservation group.

"The Fisheries Agency will send a patrol boat and take increased measures to strengthen the protection given to the research whaling ships," Fisheries Minister Michihiko Kano said at a news conference Tuesday.

At its annual meeting in July, the International Whaling Commission passed a resolution calling on its member countries "to cooperate to prevent and suppress actions that risk human life and property at sea."

Last winter, Japan cut short its planned December-to-April hunt by two months after anti-whaling activists from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society repeatedly interfered with the whaling vessels.

Sea Shepherd claims it saved 800 whales by its actions during last season's hunt. Japanese whalers killed 171 minke whales and two fin whales during the Antarctic hunt, according to IWC figures.

In a statement issued last Friday, Sea Shepherd vowed to take on the whaling vessels again.

"They will have to kill us to prevent us from intervening once again. ... We will undertake whatever risks to our lives will be required to stop this invasion of arrogant greed into what is an established sanctuary for the whales," Sea Shepherd's leader, Paul Watson, said in a statement on the organization's website. Sea Shepherd will have more than 100 people in the Southern Ocean to block the Japanese whaling fleet, according to the statement.

Kano said Japan wants to continue research whaling with the aim of establishing that whale stocks are sufficient to resume a full commercial hunt in the future, according to Japanese media reports.

Sea Shepherd contends that the research hunts are a sham, with meat from the hunts being sold to consumers and served in restaurants.

Australia's government condemned Japan's decision to resume its research hunt and its plans for future commercial hunts.

"The Australian government remains opposed to all commercial whaling, including so-called 'scientific whaling.' We will keep working to achieve a permanent end to all commercial whaling," Environment Minister Tony Burke said in a statement.

"Australia believes Japan's whaling is contrary to international law and should stop," Australian Attorney General Robert McClelland said.

"That is why Australia is taking our case in the International Court of Justice to bring to an end Southern Ocean whaling permanently."

Japan also hunts whales in the Northern Pacific, taking 100 sei whales, 50 Bryde's, 119 minke and three sperm whales last season, according to the IWC.

Iceland and Norway also conduct whale hunts. Aboriginal whale hunts are permitted in the Danish territory of Greenland, the United States, Russia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines."

Japanese Whaling Renewed: fleet heads towards Northwest Pacific

The Japanese whaling fleet has once again set out to harvest whales under the abused "scientific research" provision of the International Whaling Commission (IWC). This time, the three-vessel flotilla, led by the factory ship Nisshin Maru, are headed into the Northwest Pacific Ocean with the intention of catching 260 whales including 100 minke whales, ostensibly to examine stomach contents, take DNA samples, and conduct other research on the dead whales.

Last year, the fleet's whaling season in the southern oceans off of Antarctica was cut short, with a total of 172 whales taken, primarily due to the harassment by Sea Shepherd Conservation Society vessels. Many nations hoped that the curtailed season would spell an end to japan's whaling activities. The recall of the fleet was a major victory for the Society but, as of this writing, there has been no response from the anti-whaling organization in regards to this recent departure to the northwest Pacific. It is unknown as to whether it anticipated or was caught off guard by this new hunting expedition.

Several key vessels of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society have been engaged in harassment of the Mediterranean tuna fishing fleet. With demand for tuna high worldwide, not just in Asian markets, the bluefin tuna stands perilously close on the brink of extinction. Demand has encouraged illegal fisheries and Sea Shepherd has dispatched the Steve Irwin and the newly acquired Brigette Bardot to the Mediterranean Sea to track down those fishing boats working outside the laws and regulations of ICCAT (International Commission on the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna).

Japan's Institute for Cetacean Research, the organization that is fronting this new hunt, told the Japan Times that the whalers haven't encountered any obstruction from anti-whaling activities so far, but said they remain on high alert.

At the last meeting of the IWC, a proposal was made to allow Japan to hunt whales in its own coastal waters in exchange for reducing its annual catch quota for research whaling. However, as a testament to the Commission's inability to reach a binding consensus regarding Japan's whaling activities, the proposal was, ultimately, not acted upon. In the meantime, Australia continues to move forward with their legal action against Japan's whaling activities through the International Court of Justice.

Read about the launch of whaling fleet in the Japan Times.

Japan's Whaling Industry Setback: what conservationists do next is critical

The past several weeks have seen a considerable amount of media attention over the decision by Japan to curtail its annual Antarctic whale hunt ahead of schedule. This has been due in no small part to the actions of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in disrupting the Japanese whale fleet's activities through harassment and intervention. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has been dogging the Japanese fleet for many years while the island nation hunted whales under a "whale research" loophole in the regulations put forth by the International Whaling Commission (IWC).

I have gone on record as not being an advocate of the kind of attention-grabbing, eco-terrorist techniques employed by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. I believe that it polarizes the opposing parties and does not pave a way for reasonable negotiations - which, like it or not, is where the necessary economic and regulatory change comes about. But credit where credit is due. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's efforts this season, while not as dramatic as in past seasons (with rammed ships, arrests, and calls for international prosecution), succeeded in reducing Japan's catch this year from an anticipated 850 minke whales and 50 fin whales to just 170 and 2, respectively. The Society deserves a hardy pat on the back.

The big question is: What next?

What will be Japan's strategy for 2012? This is a nation whose government and whaling industry is smarting and feeling very defensive over their cultural predilection toward whaling (indeed, toward commercial fishing in general) and their sense of national pride and indignation regarding verbal (and in the case of Sea Shepherd, physical) intervention from foreigners. One mustn't think that, based on this year's curtailed whaling season, Japan will be willing to throw in the towel.

However, there are several social and economic factors at work that may be pressuring the governing forces in Japan to begin to re-evaluate their position regarding whaling. In a recent article in Inter Press Service (IPS), Suvendrini Kakuchi reported,

"Despite campaigns to increase the sale of whale meat from minke whales, the local market has reported a reduction of 30 percent in 2010, according to the Tokyo-based Minato Newspaper quoting the publicly funded whaling company Koyodo Senpaku.

Whale meat is popular among older consumers in the sixties and above whose diet soon after World War II relied on whale as a protein.

But a 2008 September survey conducted by an independent organization under a request by Greenpeace Japan conservationists indicates that 70 percent of people between the ages of 15 to 39 years have not eaten whale meat.

The Japanese media has reported that 4,000 tonnes of excess whale meat was frozen and stored in warehouses in 2009."

Japan's government and regulatory agencies are inclined to maintain the cultural and historical status quo, but as younger generations begin to view whale consumption differently from generations past, that is producing some harsh economic realities that the industry will need to confront.

This provides a window of opportunity for delicate, non-combative diplomacy exercised by conservation groups, international agencies and individual countries. These forces have an opportunity to discuss with Japan the merits of sustainability, tighter fishery (and whaling) management, and perhaps work together on economic issues like shifting more resources towards developing, say, more environmentally efficient aquaculture.

Make no mistake, there is a tremendous opportunity here and there are even forces within Japan that are pressuring for a change. Some local governments are looking into establishing restricted or limited fishing as a means of maintaining sustainability of both the industry and marine species.

"The decision to call back the Japanese whaling fleet is based on low whale meat consumption locally, and other evidence that shows the industry is not sustainable," Prof. Toshio Katsura, marine biologist at Mie University told IPS.

But our response now must be a judicious one. Japan's whaling industry has sustained a serious blow this season and rather than gloat, we must carefully negotiate with the country's old guard, who are still very much in power both politically and commercially, to find ways to save face and set a new course in marine resource management.

Read the IPS article on Japan's whaling policy.