The International Whaling Commission has established a worldwide moratorium on commercial whaling
since 1986.
Yet, several members of the IWC, including Japan, continue this practice.
So, is Japan illegally hunting whales?
Well, in 1925 the League of Nations decided that whales were being over-exploited, due
to the demand in World War 1 for whale oil in munitions and waterproofing.
Today, the International Whaling Commission is the biggest government overseer of global
whaling practices.
And they have over 80 member states.
In the 1960s, 66,000 whales were killed in one year alone.
Today, after decades of overhunting, 7 out of 13 great whale species are considered endangered
or vulnerable.
It wasn’t until 1986 that a moratorium was established to protect the dwindling whale
population.
Two Nordic countries objected to the moratorium and continued to hunt commercially.
Others continued thanks to various loopholes.
For example Native Alaskans could still kill whales for consumption under the aboriginal
sustenance clause.
And Japan, until 2014, claimed an exemption for scientific research.
However, Japan’s scientific exemption has been scrutinized under accusations that they’ve
been selling whale meat commercially.
In 2014, a United Nations court ordered Japan to immediately stop hunting whales in the
Antarctic region.
However, they continue to hunt in other parts of the world.
The Japanese government has noted that whaling has long been a part of their culture, and
acknowledged that they would likely continue despite the controversy.
In 1976, Japan’s Minister of Agriculture said “We ask that the flame of the whaling
industry will not be put out and that you do your best to secure Japan's food supplies.”
Japan relies on stockpiled whale meat to make up their emergency food supply quota.
And they say that the species they most often hunt, the Minke (MIN-key), is not endangered.
Japan’s scientific researchers also allege that they make key discoveries about the changing
marine ecosystems through tests on deceased whales.
Japanese researchers are currently petitioning the UN and the IWC to withdraw their new restrictions.
Although it seems Japan will continue whaling practices, continued pressure from anti-whaling
groups and other politicians has led to an overall lower hunting rate than in the past.
And as public awareness about marine wildlife endangerment increases worldwide, whales are
slowly making a comeback, despite this hunting.
Although a lot of species are still endangered, there are some making a big comeback.
To learn about three of these resilient animals, check out this interesting video from DNews!
There’s a link in the description to that full video.
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