2018/21: Should Japan resume commercial whaling?
Introduction to the media issue
Video clip at right: On December 26, 2018, CBC News televised a report on Japan's decision to leave the International Whaling Commission and to resume commercial whaling.What they said...
'If we give up achieving the sustainable use of marine life resources, including whales, Japan will encounter serious difficulties in food security'
Hideki Moronuki, senior fisheries negotiator of the Japanese Fisheries Agency and Alternate Commissioner to the International Whaling Commission (IWC)
'Today, with climate change, fisheries interactions and bycatch noise in the ocean, there are many other threats [to whale survival]. To add commercial whaling to that now...would be a really unwise step'
Nick Gales, Australia's commissioner to the International Whaling Commission (IWC)
The issue at a glance
On December 26, 2018, Japan announced that it would withdraw from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and recommence commercial whaling by June 30, 2019.
The government's chief spokesperson, Yoshihide Suga, indicated that the country's fleet would confine its whale hunts to Japanese territorial waters and exclusive economic zone (EEZ), adding that its controversial annual expeditions to the Southern Ocean would end.
Japan's decision has met with condemnation from a range of governments, including Australia, and has been similarly opposed by many conservation groups. There has, however, been gratification expressed that Japan will no longer be whaling in the Southern Ocean.
Japan has defended its action as doing no more than responsibly harvesting a renewable food source and has suggested its decision was dictated by the IWC's refusal to allow commercial whaling, despite the IWC's initial purpose being sustainably to manage the whaling industry.