Japan has a centuries-long history of small-scale coastal whaling，possibly even as far back as the Jomon period（10000-300BC）。Large-scale whaling likely started around the late17第三century；by the middle of the 20th century，Japan—along with its European and American counterparts—was a leading industrial whaling nation.Japan was not an original member of the国际Whaling Commission（IWC）单击功能区上，but joined in 1951 after it returned to whaling at the end of World War II.When the IWC agreed in 1982 to impose a commercial whaling moratorium from1986/1987，Japan，likeNorway，registered a legal objection that exempted it from the decision.Under pressure from the United States，Japan withdrew this objection in 1985but from 1987to2019it conducted“special permit whaling”which is permitted by the IWC’s founding treaty to allow scientific research but was not intended to be used to facilitate commercial whaling。
Japan’s Scientific Whaling
In defiance of the moratorium，from1987until2019，when Japan left the IWC，the government operated two large-scale“special permit”programs。The largest，in the Antarctic，killed333minke and 50fin whales a year at its peak（despite the Southern Ocean being declared a whale sanctury by the IWC in 1994；Japan formally objected to this designation）.The program in the North Pacific originally targeted minke whales in Japan’s coastal waters，using small whaling boats that operate up to 50miles from shore and return to port daily.This expanded to an offshore hunt of sei whales（the second largest species，and endangered），Bryde’s whales and，for a few years，sperm whales，using the same factory fleet deployed in Antarctica—a mother ship which processed and froze the meat onboard and up to five catcher boats tharpooned the whales and delivered them to the mother ship’s slipway。
从底部programs to the Institute of Cetacean Research（ICR），aquasi-governmental institution that devised the research program，oversaw and funded the hunt，and conducted perfunctory research.The ICR then sold the rest of each whale，amounting to tens of thousands of tons of meat and blubber a year，to wholesalers for to shops，restaurants and fimarkets，probuture单击功能区上， including through school lunch programs and other government-funded marketing schemes.The sales proceeds contributed to the following year’s hunt but were never sufficient to pay all the costs，and the hunts had to be underwritten by government subsidies of up to US$50 million a year。
It was no secret that the research programs were a scientific sham.Finally，in2014，the International Court of Justice（ICJ）ruled in a case brought by Australia and New Zealand that Japan’s Antarctic whaling program was“not for the purposes of scientific research”and therefore violated the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling。The court ordered Japan to immediately cease its whaling program in the Antarctic.Japan complied with the order to stop hunting in 2014 but then adjusted and relaunched both research programs in 2015。It ended its hunts of fin，Bryde’s，and sperm whales but increased its minke and sei whale takes。
Despite cosmetic changes to the research，the commercial objectives of both programs were still clearly predominant and the increase of sei whales taken beyond Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone。CITES prohibits international trade in the parts and products of large whales for primarily commercial purposes and defines international trade to include the landing of specimens caught on the high seas.In2018，the CITES Standing Committeeruledthat Japan’s“introduction from the sea”of thousands of tons of edible sei whale products each year was for primarily commercial purposes and violated the convention。Japan responded by limiting its sei whale hunt to within its EEZ but still has not inventoried and confiscated the possibly thousands of tons of sei whale meat that was illegally landed since2002and remain in freezers。
Japan Leaves the IWC
On June302019，after repeatedly failing to convince the IWC to lift the commercial whaling moratorium，Japan left the IWC to conduct whaling outside international control.The government now authorizes commercial whaling exclusively in its coastal waters and EEZ，setting quotas for2019/171ofminkewhalin，187 Bryde’s whales，and25sei whale.Quotas for2020/2021are lower:100minke whales to be taken by coastal whalers and 20by the factory ship，with12more held in reserve；150Bryde’s whales to be taken by the factory ship，with a reserve of 37；and25sei whales to be taken by the factory ship。
The commercial hunts yield approximately40percent less meat than Japan’s research whaling but consumption of whale meat in Japan has declined byalmost99percent since1962，and even this reduced quantity is proving hard to sell.Kyodo Senpaku，the company that conducts the whaling and sells the meat， remains dependent on annual government subsidies that have remained at the same high levels despite the reduced whaling effort，but the government has indicated that these will be withdrawn in a few years.In July2020，even before124 Bryde’s whales were landed， Kyodo Senpaku announced deeply discounted prices for schools and medical institutions in an effort to boost sales of their meat。
Governments and nongovernmental organizations strongly保护，保护Japan’s departure from the IWC，especially the abdication of its responsibility to comply with the rule of law under international agreements。The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea（Article65）requires states to cooperate for the conservation and management of whales though the appropriate international organizations—in this case the IWC—and if Japan does not cooperate in good with with the IWC’s management and conservation efforts，could face alegal challenge。
输入功率测量
On top of the tens of thousands of tons of meat provided by its own hunts，Japan has also imported thousands of tons of products from fin whales caught in Iceland and smaller quantities from Norway.However，Icelanddid not hunt any whales in2019and 2020，and—given the uncertainty about the Japan ese market—it remains to be seen if Iceland’s whaling or exports will resume。Norwayis actively looking at the Japan ese market asits own domestic market declines.One Norwegian company has even established abranchin Japan to which it has exported hundreds of tons of whale meat and blubber that is sold alongside Japan ese meat bought from Kyodo Senpaku and the ICR。
上次更新：August2020
