Japan’s starts first commercial whale hunt in more than 30 years
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Five small ships sailed out of harbour on Monday in Japan’s first commercial whale hunt in more than three decades.
The decision has aroused global condemnation and fears for the fate of whales.
The ships, which are set to be joined by vessels from the southern port of Shimonoseki, will spend much of the summer hunting for minke and Baird’s beaked whales.
Japanese whaling ships are leaving a Kushiro Port to begin a commercial whale hunt for the first time in 31 years, Japanese northern island of Hokkaido, 01 July 2019, after Japan withdrew from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) on 30 June 2019. Photo: EPA-EFE/JIJI PRESS
Japan has long said few whale species are endangered, and news in December that it was leaving the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to resume hunting was the culmination of years of campaigns by industry supporters and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose constituency includes a city that has long whaled.
A minke whale is hauled up to bring on a truck at a Kushiro Port, Japanese northern island of Hokkaido, 01 July 2019 after resuming commercial whaling. Japan withdrew from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) on 30 June 2019 and began commercial whale hunt for the first time in 31 years. EPA-EFE/JIJI PRESS
Japan began whaling for scientific research a year after a 1986 ban on commercial whaling, aiming to gather what it called crucial population data, but it abandoned commercial whaling in 1988.
Critics said the programme was simply commercial whaling in disguise, after the meat of animals taken in scientific whaling ended up on store shelves and in restaurants.
This year’s quota, including minkes, sei whales and Bryde’s whales, was about 220.
