Japan to Resume Commercial Whaling Mon. after 31-Year Hiatus

Tokyo, June 30 (Jiji Press)--Japan is set to resume commercial whaling on Monday, after a 31-year hiatus, in the country's territorial waters and its exclusive economic zones. The move comes after the country withdrew from the International Whaling Commission on Sunday, following confrontation with antiwhaling member countries of the organization, which bans commercial whaling. A challenge is whether the commercial whaling operations will be profitable, as whale meat consumption in Japan has dropped substantially during the 31 years, fishery industry sources said. On Monday morning, a fleet led by the Nisshin Maru, which was used in past research whaling operations mainly in the Antarctic Ocean, is slated to sail from a port in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, western Japan. In months-long operations, the fleet plans to catch minke and sei whales, stocks of which have been confirmed to be sufficient, as well as Bryde's whales. Meanwhile, five small whaling ships will depart from a port in Kushiro in the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido on Monday morning to catch minke whales in coastal waters. They will return from the whaling operations within the day. Meat from whales to be caught in the coastal operations will be put up for auction at fish markets in Kushiro and other places on Tuesday at the earliest, according to the sources. But fishers need to build up know-how on commercial whaling from scratch, after the 31-year suspension, an official of the Fisheries Agency said, adding that they also have to look for good whaling grounds. The whaling industry will receive government assistance for the commercial operations for the time being, but at the same time needs to make efforts so that it can stand on its own feet. Japan suspended commercial whaling in 1988, after the IWC decided a moratorium on the operations in 1982. At the IWC, Japan has long tried to obtain understanding for the whale meat-eating culture in the nation while proposing an appropriate amount of whale catches. But it was unable to narrow the gap with the antiwhaling camp. After negotiations at an IWC general meeting in Brazil in September 2018 broke down, the Japanese government decided at a cabinet meeting late last December to secede from the IWC and resume commercial whaling. END