The two minke whales that were harpooned are the first to be killed by Japan for commercial purposes in more than 30 years.

Commercial whaling was banned in a 1986 International Whaling Commission moratorium. However, Japan withdrew from the International Whaling Commission in December and resumed commercial hunting in its territorial waters and economic zone despite international outcry.

A fleet of five whaling boats departed the northern port of Kushiro on Monday. A separate deep-water fleet was scheduled to leave from the southern port of Shimonoseki the same day.

The Japanese Fisheries Agency published quotas on Monday for the next six months of commercial whaling. Officials insist that they will engage in sustainable practices.

For July 1 to December 31, the permitted catch is 227 whales (52 minke whales, 150 Bryde's whales and 25 sei whales). Before Japan's withdrawal from International Whaling Commission, it caught 596 whales with a "scientific research" special permit in the 2017-18 whaling season, according to the commission. </s> Whaling ships set sail on Monday from Japan as the country resumed commercial hunts for the first time in decades after withdrawing from the International Whaling Commission.

Five ships from whaling communities around the country left port in northern Japan's Kushiro with their horns blaring and grey tarps thrown over their harpoons.

Japan's decision to withdraw from the IWC was slammed by activists and anti-whaling countries, but the resumption of commercial hunts has been welcomed by Japanese whaling communities and the departure from Kushiro was celebrated with a send-off ceremony.

"My heart is overflowing with happiness, and I'm deeply moved," said Yoshifumi Kai, head of the Japan Small-Type Whaling Association, addressing a crowd of several dozen politicians, local officials and whalers.

"This is a small industry, but I am proud of hunting whales. People have hunted whales for more than 400 years in my home town."

Whaling vessels will also leave Monday morning from other ports including in Shimonoseki in western Japan.

The country's Fisheries Agency said Monday it had set a cap for a total catch of 227 whales through the season until late December.

The quota includes 52 minke, 150 Bryde's and 25 sei whales, the agency said.

"I'm a bit nervous but happy that we can start whaling," 23-year-old Hideki Abe, a whaler from Miyagi region in northern Japan told AFP before leaving.

"I don't think young people know how to cook and eat whale meat any more. I want more people try to taste it at least once."

Whaling has long proved a rare diplomatic flashpoint for Japan, which says the practice is part of the country's tradition and should not be subject to international interference.

As an IWC member, Japan was banned from commercial hunts of large whales, though it could catch small varieties in waters near its coastline.

But it also exploited a loophole in the body's rules to carry out highly controversial hunts of whales in protected Antarctic waters under the banner of "scientific research".

Activists said the hunts had no scientific value, and Japan made no secret of the fact that meat from whales caught on those hunts ended up sold for consumption.

With its withdrawal from the IWC, Tokyo will now carry out high-seas whale hunting off Japan, but will end the most controversial hunts in the Antarctic. </s> TOKYO (AFP) - Japan is withdrawing from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and will resume commercial whaling next year, a government spokesman said on Wednesday (Dec 26), in a move expected to spark international criticism.

“We have decided to withdraw from the International Whaling Commission in order to resume commercial whaling in July next year,” top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters.

“Commercial whaling to be resumed from July next year will be limited to Japan’s territorial waters and exclusive economic zones. We will not hunt in the Antarctic waters or in the southern hemisphere,” Mr Suga added.

The announcement had been widely expected and comes after Japan failed in a bid earlier this year to convince the IWC to allow it to resume commercial whaling.

Tokyo has repeatedly threatened to pull out of the body, and has been regularly criticised for catching hundreds of whales a year for “scientific research” despite being a signatory to a moratorium on hunting the animals.

Mr Suga said Japan would officially inform the IWC of its decision by the end of the year, which will mean the withdrawal comes into effect by June 30.

Leaving the IWC means Japanese whalers will be able to resume hunting in Japanese coastal waters of minke and other whales currently protected by the commission. But Japan will not be able to continue the so-called scientific research hunts in the Antarctic that has been exceptionally allowed as an IWC member under the Antarctic Treaty.

The withdrawal means Japan joins Iceland and Norway in openly defying the IWC’s ban on commercial whale hunting. It is certain to infuriate conservationists and anti-whaling countries such as Australia and New Zealand, and deepen the divide between anti- and pro-whaling countries.

Japan has hunted whales for centuries, and their meat was a key source of protein in the immediate post-World War II years when the country was desperately poor.

But consumption has declined significantly in recent decades, with much of the population saying they rarely or never eat whale meat. </s> This article is more than 2 months old

This article is more than 2 months old

Japanese fishermen have set sail to hunt whales commercially for the first time in more than three decades after Tokyo’s controversial decision to withdraw from the International Whaling Commission.

Five vessels, their harpoons concealed beneath tarpaulins, left Kushiro in northern Japan on Monday morning. At around the same time, three whaling boats left Shimonoseki in south-western Japan.

The first whales were brought ashore hours later: two grey minke whales. One of the animals, more than eight metres long, was hoisted from a ship onto a truck and driven to a warehouse where whalers lined up to pour ceremonial cups of sake over its body – a ritual to purify and celebrate the catch.

“Today is the best day,” said Yoshifumi Kai, head of the Japan Small-Type Whaling Association. “It was worth waiting for 31 years.”

The five Kushiro vessels will together kill 227 whales through to late December, according to the fisheries agency, which had delayed announcing the quota until the conclusion of the G20 summit in Osaka on Saturday. The quota includes 52 minke, 150 Bryde’s and 25 sei whales, the agency said.

The hunts are likely to spark criticism from environmentalists and anti-whaling countries, but whaling officials were in celebratory mood.

Kai, a senior fisheries official in Taiji – whose annual dolphin hunts have caused an international outcry – added: “This is a small industry, but I am proud of hunting whales. People have hunted whales for more than 400 years in my home town.”

Japan was the target of international criticism for using a clause in the IWC’s 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling to conduct “research” whale hunts in the Antarctic.

Meat from the hunts was sold on the open market, prompting claims that they were a cover for commercial whaling.

After 30 years, Japan prepares to resume commercial whaling Read more

Late last year Japan announced it would leave the IWC, frustrated by its failure to convince other members to support a return to “sustainable” commercial whaling.

Japan’s whalers killed 333 minke whales during their final “research” expedition to the Antarctic, which ended in March. In previous years, however, they slaughtered almost 1,000 whales a year, amid confrontations on the high seas with the marine conservation group Sea Shepherd.

Fishermen from Abashiri, Taiji, Ishinomaki and Minamiboso – all towns with a whaling tradition – will take part in the commercial hunt in Japan’s exclusive economic zone. Japan will no longer send fleets to the Antarctic every winter following its official withdrawal from the IWC on Sunday.

“I’m a bit nervous but happy that we can start whaling,” Hideki Abe, a 23-year-old whaler from Ishinomaki, told Agence France-Presse just before the fleet departed.

“I don’t think young people know how to cook and eat whale meat any more. I want more people to try to taste it at least once.”

Fisheries officials are hoping that the resumption of commercial whaling will spark renewed interest in whale meat among Japanese consumers.

“From today, I’d like the whalers to catch whales by observing the quota and aim for revival of the whaling industry,” the fisheries minister, Takamori Yoshikawa, said at a ceremony in Shimonoseki, according to the Kyodo news agency.

While a return to whaling for profit has long been a cause celebre for conservative politicians, Japanese consumers have lost their appetite for whale meat, which can be served deep-fried or raw as sashimi.

Domestic consumption of whale meat was about 200,000 tonnes a year in the 1960s, when it was an important source of protein in the postwar years, but has slumped to less than 5,000 tonnes annually in recent years, according to government data.

Tokyo’s withdrawal from the IWC ended its most provocative expeditions, in protected Antarctic waters, and while it sparked a firestorm of criticism, some campaigners say it is the first step towards the end of Japanese whaling.

Patrick Ramage, the director of marine conservation at the International Fund for Animal Welfare, said the resumption of commercial whaling “will not magically increase market demand”.

“The palates of the Japanese people have moved on,” Ramage said. “They have lost their yen for whale meat, even as their government has spent billions in taxpayer yen trying to prop up this economic loser. What we are seeing is the beginning of the end of Japanese whaling.” </s> TOKYO: Japan is withdrawing from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and will resume commercial whaling next year, a government spokesman said Wednesday (Dec 26), in a move expected to spark international criticism.

The announcement had been widely expected and comes after Japan failed in a bid earlier this year to convince the IWC to allow it to resume commercial whaling.

"We have decided to withdraw from the International Whaling Commission in order to resume commercial whaling in July next year," top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters.

"Commercial whaling to be resumed from July next year will be limited to Japan's territorial waters and exclusive economic zones. We will not hunt in the Antarctic waters or in the southern hemisphere," Suga added.

Tokyo has repeatedly threatened to pull out of the body, and has been regularly criticised for catching hundreds of whales a year for "scientific research" despite being a signatory to a moratorium on hunting the animals.

Suga said Japan would officially inform the IWC of its decision by the end of the year, which will mean the withdrawal comes into effect by Jun 30.

Leaving the IWC means Japanese whalers will be able to resume hunting in Japanese coastal waters of minke and other whales currently protected by the IWC.

But Japan will not be able to continue the so-called scientific research hunts in the Antarctic that it has been exceptionally allowed as an IWC member under the Antarctic Treaty.

The withdrawal means Japan joins Iceland and Norway in openly defying the IWC's ban on commercial whale hunting.

Japan has hunted whales for centuries, and their meat was a key source of protein in the immediate post-World War II years when the country was desperately poor.

But consumption has declined significantly in recent decades, with much of the population saying they rarely or never eat whale meat.

Whale hunting has become a rare thorny subject in Japan's otherwise largely amiable foreign policy, with international opposition only serving to make conservatives dig in deeper in support of the tradition.

In September, Tokyo sought to convince the IWC to allow it to resume commercial whaling, arguing that stocks of certain species were now sufficient to support renewed hunting.

But the bid failed, with strong opposition from anti-whaling nations - led by Australia, the European Union and the United States.

Japan's vice-minister for fisheries Masaaki Taniai said after that vote that Tokyo would be "pressed to undertake a fundamental reassessment of its position as a member of the IWC".

Ahead of the announcement, activist groups warned Japan against the withdrawal.

"This is a grave mistake which is out of step with the rest of the world," said Sam Annesley, executive director at Greenpeace Japan.

Paul Watson, the founder of the anti-whaling activist group Sea Shepherd, also said in a statement that Japan would be declaring itself "a pirate whaling nation" by withdrawing from the IWC.

The IWC, established in 1946 to conserve and manage the world's whale and cetacean population, introduced a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986.

Tokyo has long exploited a loophole allowing whales to be killed for "scientific research" and says it is trying to prove the population is large enough to sustain a return to commercial hunting.

It makes no secret of the fact that meat from the expeditions ends up on dinner tables, and argues that stocks of certain whales are now sufficient to allow commercial hunts to resume.

"There have been no concessions from countries who only place importance on the protection of whales," Suga said.

"At the IWC general meeting in September this year, it became evident once again that those supporting the sustainable use of whale stocks and those supporting protection cannot co-exist, leading us to this conclusion." </s> TOKYO — Japan announced Wednesday that it is leaving the International Whaling Commission to resume commercial hunts for the animals for the first time in 30 years, but said it would no longer go to the Antarctic for its much-criticized annual killings.

Japan switched to what it calls research whaling after the IWC imposed a moratorium on commercial whaling in the 1980s, and now says stocks have recovered enough to resume commercial hunts.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Japan would resume commercial whaling in July "in line with Japan's basic policy of promoting sustainable use of aquatic living resources based on scientific evidence."

He added that Japan is disappointed that the IWC — which he said is dominated by conservationists — focuses on the protection of whale stocks even though the commission has a treaty mandate for both whale conservation and the development of the whaling industry.

"Regrettably, we have reached a decision that it is impossible in the IWC to seek the coexistence of states with different views," he said.

Suga said the commercial hunts would be limited to Japan's territorial waters and its 200-mile (323-kilometer) exclusive economic zone along Japan's coasts. He said Japan would stop its annual whaling expeditions to the Antarctic and northwest Pacific oceans, noting that non-signatory states are not allowed to do so.

The IWC imposed the moratorium on commercial whaling three decades ago due to a dwindling whale population. Japan switched to what is calls research whaling, but the program was criticized as a cover for commercial hunting since the meat is sold on the market at home.

The environmental group Greenpeace condemned the Wednesday's announcement and disputed Japan's view that whale stocks have recovered, noting also that ocean life is being threatened by pollution as well as overfishing.

"The declaration today is out of step with the international community, let alone the protection needed to safeguard the future of our oceans and these majestic creatures," Sam Annesley, executive director at Greenpeace Japan, said in a statement. "The government of Japan must urgently act to conserve marine ecosystems, rather than resume commercial whaling."

Australia's government, often a vocal critic of Japan's whaling policies, said in a statement that it was "extremely disappointed" with Japan's decision to quit the commission.

However, New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters joined Australia in welcoming Japan's withdrawal from the southern ocean. Japan was the only country with an ambition to return to commercial whaling in the Antarctic Ocean.

Japanese Fisheries Agency official and longtime IWC negotiator Hideki Moronuki said Japan would use the IWC's method to carefully determine a catch quota, but declined to give an estimate.

Japan has hunted whales for centuries, but has reduced its catch following international protests and declining demand for whale meat at home. The withdrawal from the IWC may be a face-saving step to stop Japan's ambitious Antarctic hunts and scale down the scope of whaling to around the Japanese coasts.

Japan slashed its annual quota in the Antarctic by about one third after a 2014 International Court of Justice ruling that the country's research whaling program wasn't as scientific as Japan had argued. Japan currently hunts about 600 whales annually in the Antarctic and the Northern Pacific.

Fisheries officials have said Japan annually consumes thousands of tons of whale meat from the research hunts, mainly by older Japanese seeking a nostalgic meal. But critics say they doubt commercial whaling could be a sustainable industry if younger Japanese don't view the animals as food.

Suga said Japan would notify the IWC of its decision by Dec. 31 and remains committed to international cooperation on proper management of marine life even after its IWC withdrawal. </s> TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan will withdraw from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and resume commercial whaling from July, it said on Wednesday, abandoning a decades-old campaign to persuade the commission to allow it to hunt whales commercially.

The announcement drew criticism from anti-whaling groups and others, with Australia saying it was “extremely disappointed” and New Zealand regretting the resumption of the “outdated and unnecessary” commercial killing of the ocean mammals.

Japan’s commercial whaling will be limited to its own territorial waters and its exclusive economic zone, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, who made the announcement at a news conference after a cabinet decision on Tuesday.

“From July 2019, after the withdrawal comes into effect on June 30, Japan will conduct commercial whaling within Japan’s territorial sea and its exclusive economic zone, and will cease the take of whales in the Antarctic Ocean/the Southern Hemisphere,” Suga said in a statement.

“The whaling will be conducted in accordance with international law and within the catch limits calculated in accordance with the method adopted by the IWC to avoid negative impact on cetacean resources,” he said.

Japan’s decision followed the IWC’s latest rejection of its bid to resume commercial whaling at a September meeting, which Suga said showed it was impossible to bridge the gap between whaling advocates and anti-whaling members.

The decision - an unusual step for Japan, which stresses multilateralism in its diplomacy - sparked swift criticism.

“The declaration today is out of step with the international community, let alone the protection needed to safeguard the future of our oceans and these majestic creatures,” international conservationist group Greenpeace said.

“As the chair of the G20 (Group of 20) in 2019, the Japanese government needs to recommit to the IWC and prioritise new measures for marine conservation.”

New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters welcomed Japan’s decision to halt whaling in the Southern Ocean, but said he was disappointed with the decision to resume commercial whaling in its exclusive economic zone.

“Whaling is an outdated and unnecessary practice. We continue to hope Japan eventually reconsiders its position and will cease all whaling in order to advance the protection of the ocean’s ecosystems,” Peters said in a statement.

Australia urged Japan to return to the IWC “as a matter of priority”, its environment minister, Melissa Price, said in a statement.

“The Australian Government is extremely disappointed,” Price said. “Australia remains resolutely opposed to all forms of commercial and so-called ‘scientific’ whaling.”

Japan has long defied such protests to conduct what it calls scientific research whaling, having repeatedly said its ultimate goal was to whale commercially again.

In 2014, the International Court of Justice ruled that Japan should halt its Antarctic whaling.

Japan suspended its hunt for one season to re-tool its whaling programme with measures such as cutting the number of whales and species targeted, but resumed hunting in the 2015-2016 season, capping its Antarctic catch with a quota of 333 whales annually.

Japan has long maintained that most whale species are not endangered and that eating whale is part of its culture.

It began scientific whaling in 1987, a year after an international whaling moratorium began.

Much of the meat ends up on store shelves, even though most Japanese no longer eat it. Whale consumption accounted for 0.1 percent of all Japanese meat consumption, according to the Asahi newspaper.

Influential lawmakers in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party whose constituencies include whaling communities have long lobbied for a resumption of commercial whaling. Abe’s own electoral district includes Shimonoseki, a whaling port in western Japan. </s> TOKYO, Japan– Japan has announced its withdrawal from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) next year, and will resume commercial hunting in its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone from July.

It will also cease whaling activities in the Antarctic Ocean, according to an official statement released Wednesday, and hunt species with so-called “healthy” population numbers.

“In its long history, Japan has used whales not only as a source of protein but also for a variety of other purposes,” the statement said. “Engagement in whaling has been supporting local communities, and thereby developed the life and culture of using whales.”

The move to resume commercial whaling drew criticism from conservation groups and governments.

“The declaration today is out of step with the international community, let alone the protection needed to safeguard the future of our oceans and these majestic creatures,” said Sam Annesley, executive director at Greenpeace Japan. “The government of Japan must urgently act to conserve marine ecosystems, rather than resume commercial whaling.”

Australia called Japan’s decision to withdraw from the IWC “regrettable” and urged Japan to return to the convention as a “matter of priority,” in a statement released Wednesday.

Commercial whaling was banned under a 1986 International Whaling Commission moratorium. But Japan has used a loophole to continue hunting whales legally since 1987 for what it claims is scientific research.

Iceland and Norway object to the moratorium and continue to hunt whales commercially without relying on science as an excuse.

In September 2018, the majority of member nations at the IWC annual symposium in Brazil approved a non-binding resolution stating that commercial whaling was no longer a valid economic activity, or needed for scientific research.

While the Japanese political class has sought the resumption of commercial whaling activities, campaigners say eating whale is becoming “less and less popular.”

“Actually many (regular) people don’t have any interest in whales or whaling now in Japan,” Nanami Kurasawa of the Iruka and Kujira (dolphin and whale) Action Network (IKAN) told CNN. </s> Japan has resumed commercial whaling after 31 years, meeting a long-cherished goal of traditionalists and angering conservationists.

Japan’s six-month notice to withdraw from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) took effect on Sunday, and yesterday whaling boats embarked on their first commercial hunts since 1988, when Japan switched to so-called research whaling.

As the boats left port, whalers, their families and local officials in two major whaling towns, Shimonoseki in south-western Japan, which is prime minister Shinzo Abe’s electoral constituency, and Kushiro in the north, celebrated the fresh start, hoping for a safe return and a good harvest.

“We hope commercial whaling will be on track as soon as possible, contribute to local prosperity and carry on Japan’s rich whale culture to the next generation,” deputy chief cabinet secretary Yasutoshi Nishimura told reporters in Tokyo.

The mother boat Nisshin-maru and two support boats will travel as far as the 200 nautical mile limit to catch minke, Bryde’s and sei whales. Five other smaller ships will stay closer to the coast but also hunt minkes, in addition to Baird’s beaked whales and dolphins that they used to catch under an IWC loophole.

Whales caught in coastal waters are expected to be brought back for fresh local consumption at any of six local whaling hubs that are mainly in northern Japan but include Taiji, a town also known for dolphin hunts because of the documentary film The Cove.

Whale meat caught further off the coast will be frozen and distributed for wider consumption.

The Fisheries Agency said the catch quota of 227 whales is fewer than the 333 that Japan hunted in the Antarctic in recent years.

Under the “research hunts”, which were criticised as a cover for commercial hunts as the meat was sold on the market, Japan at its peak caught as many as 1,200 whales.

The research whaling programme lost money for years – 1.6 billion yen (£11.8 million) in the last year alone.

While the resumption of commercial whaling is condemned by many conservation groups, others see it as a face-saving way to let the government’s embattled and expensive whaling programme gradually succumb to changing times and tastes.

Despite the massive attention and political support from ruling party politicians, whaling in Japan involved only a few hundred people and accounted for less than 0.1 per cent of total meat consumption in 2017.

Hideki Moronuki, a Fisheries Agency official and a chief negotiator at the IWC, said the fate of commercial whaling depends on whether whale meat is widely accepted by consumers since it will not be getting as much subsidy as it used to get.

“The future of commercial whaling depends on how popular whale meat can be,” he said.

“Whale meat is a traditional food in Japan and I would like many people to try and develop taste for it, especially younger people.”

Ultimately, the resumption of the traditional whaling may end up saving both huge government subsidies and the lives of many whales, experts say.

“What we are seeing is the beginning of the end of Japanese whaling,” said Patrick Ramage, director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare. “It is a win-win solution that results in a better situation for whales, a better situation for Japan, a better situation for international marine conservation efforts and is therefore to be welcomed.”

The quota for this season’s catch, planned for release in late June, was withheld until yesterday apparently to avoid criticism during the Group of 20 summit that concluded over the weekend in Osaka.
Japan resumes commercial whaling after 30 years following the country's withdrawal from the International Whaling Commission. At least 227 whales are expected to be killed through to December.