Japan may have harpooned itself in the foot with its decision to withdraw from the International Whaling Commission and to resume commercial whaling, with fisheries companies here warning that the industry will quickly become economically unviable.
The Japanese government announced earlier this week that it will formally withdraw from the IWC in June and resume commercial whaling after a 30-year hiatus in July.
Coastal communities that have traditionally engaged in whaling have applauded the government’s decision and Toshihiro Nikai, a senior member of the government who represents a constituency in Wakayama Prefecture with a whaling industry, declared the announcement as “a decisive response”.
Leaving the IWC, however, means that Tokyo can no longer exploit the loophole in IWC rules that permitted “scientific whaling”, meaning that the teeming waters of the Southern Ocean are no longer open to its whalers. Instead, Japan will be limited to conducting whaling within its own territorial waters and exclusive economic zone.
“Even if commercial whaling is resumed, it will not be viable as a business”, Hideki Tokoro, a member of the board of whaling firm Kyodo Senpaku Co., told the Mainichi newspaper.
Nippon Suisan Kaisha Ltd and Maruha Nichiro Corp, both of which in previous years carried out whaling in the Southern Ocean, have announced that they will not resume whaling operations.
Officials say that there is little demand for whale meat because so few people now purchase it. In 1962, around 233,000 tons of whale meat were sold in supermarkets and restaurants across Japan; in recent years, that figure has fallen to around 3,000 tons and the industry has only survived because it was heavily subsidised by the government. If those subsidies are no longer available as the whaling is commercial instead of government-sponsored research, then the industry will struggle to survive.
As a result of the lack of interest in the by-product of the “scientific whaling” programme, much of the annual haul has been served in school lunches in whaling communities, while a large portion of the remainder ends up as pet food and thousands of tons from previous years’ hunts are still in cold storage.
Specialist restaurant operators have expressed concern about a sharp rise in prices if the industry is no longer subsidised, while others are worried about a backlash from the international community over the decision.
Tokyo decided to withdraw from the IWC as it had become frustrated at its demands to be permitted to resume commercial whaling – which the government and whaling companies insist are part of the nation’s “food culture” – being blocked.
Environmental groups have proclaimed victory in their campaign for Japan to respect the 19 million-mile whaling sanctuary in the Southern Ocean, although an official of the Humane Society International told The Telegraph that a resumption of commercial whaling in home waters “puts Japan beyond the boundaries of international law and effectively makes Japan a whaling pirate nation”.
In an editorial, the Mainichi newspaper said the government’s decision to leave the IWC “is a misguided move made through a questionable process”, claiming that Tokyo acted without fully examining the impact or carrying out an open and public debate. It added that the decision shows that Japan will walk away from international cooperation and the rule of law when it does not get its own way.