Tag Archives: International Whaling Commission
Fresh fin whale meat is auctioned for the first time in decades in Japan
Meat from fin whales caught for the first time in nearly 50 years off Japan’s northern coast fetched up to more than $1,300 per kilogram (2.2 lbs) at auction Thursday, as officials try to keep the struggling industry alive. Japan’s Fisheries Agency this year added fin whales to its list of three whale species that can be legally hunted as the country expands commercial whaling along its coast. Japan resumed commercial whaling within its exclusive economic zone after withdrawing from the International Whaling Commission in 2019. The IWC designated the fin whale as a species for protection from overhunting in 1976. On Thursday, some 1.4 tons of fresh meat from several fin whales caught off Japan’s northern main island of Hokkaido was auctioned at the Sapporo fish market and the Kangei Maru’s home port of Shimonoseki. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:21
Japan Fisheries Agency proposes allowing commercial catching of fin whales
Japan’s Fisheries Agency on Thursday proposed a plan to allow catching fin whales in addition to three smaller whale species currently permitted under the country’s commercial whaling around its coasts. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, whose electoral district is traditionally known for whaling, said his government supports sustainable use of whales as part of Japan’s traditional food culture and plans to promote the industry. “Whales are important food resources and we believe they should be sustainably utilized just like any other marine resources, based on scientific evidence,” Hayashi told reporters. “It is also important to inherit Japan’s traditional food culture.” more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 11:11
California crabbing rules a concern says North Coast fisherman
Local crab fisherman Mike Cunningham said he’s spoken with fishermen across the West Coast who take issue with the new rules. “We always look to avoid entanglements with whales,” Cunningham said. “The biggest problem (with the new rules) is that they are talking about closing massive areas to fishing. You could have an entanglement problem near Monterey, and the director (of Fish and Wildlife) could close the waters from Monterey up past Humboldt.” There are six fishing zones along the state’s coast. “The director now has the authority to do anything at any time,” Cunningham said. “Now, sometimes, it may just be a fleet advisory or warning, but it could go all the way to closing the entire coast to crab fishing.” The new rules stem from a lawsuit filed against the state by the Center for Biological Diversity, settled in 2019, >click to read< 19:48
What’s behind Japan’s support of whaling?
Japan has for decades been steadfastly defiant about hunting whales despite widespread anger, including from key allies like the United States. After roughly 30 years of what it has called scientific research whaling, which saw several hundred minke whales taken annually in the Antarctic and North Pacific, Japan in December announced it would leave the International Whaling Commission(IWC) and resume commercial whaling on July 1. >click to read< 14:21
Japan to pull out of IWC to resume commercial whaling
Japan has decided to pull out of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), officials told AFP on Thursday, as Tokyo reportedly gears up to resume commercial whaling activity next year. Such a move would spark international criticism against Japan over whale conservation and deepen the divide between anti- and pro-whaling countries. “We are considering all options” including the possibility of withdrawal from the 89-member IWC, Fisheries Agency official Yuki Morita told AFP. Another official at the foreign ministry confirmed “all options are on the table but nothing formal has been decided yet”. >click to read<17:10
Pro and anti whaling nations brace for battle in Brazil
Pro- and anti-whaling nations are set for a showdown when the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meets in Brazil from Monday as Japan leads an assault on a three-decade old moratorium on commercial whale hunting. Tokyo heads into the biennial meeting as chair of the 88-nation body determined to shake-up what it says is a dysfunctional organization mired in dispute and unable to make key decisions. But Japan’s package of proposals, entitled “The Way Forward,” has left conservationists seething even before delegates have taken their seats at the 67th IWC meeting in the Brazilian surfing resort of Florianapolis. >click to read<17:59
Feds review annual bowhead whale quotas for Alaska Native hunters
Federal officials are reviewing annual catch limits for 11 Alaska Native communities whose subsistence hunters are authorized to harvest bowhead whales. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says the public has until Sept. 14 to comment on quotas for a six-year period to begin in 2019. The International Whaling Commission, which has final say on quotas for subsistence harvesting of large whales, meets next in Brazil in 2018. click here to read the story 10:46
Australian Government ‘disappointed’ as minke whale slaughtered in our waters – Why the Hunt Goes On
The Federal Government has this morning condemned Japan after one of its ships was caught whaling in the waters off Antarctica. Anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd released photos showing a dead minke whale on the deck of the Nisshin Maru ship in the Australian whaling sanctuary. It appears the death was playing out at the same time as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s weekend meeting with Malcolm Turnbull in Sydney, at which the ABC reports whaling was ‘mentioned’, but focused on trade and defence. Japan is a signatory to the International Whaling Commission’s moratorium on whaling in force since 1986. But it exploits a loophole allowing whales to be killed for the purposes of “scientific research”. Read the story here What are the issues behind Japan’s whaling programme, and why has compromise been so difficult? Isn’t whaling banned? Not quite. The International Whaling Commission (IWC), which regulates the industry, agreed to a moratorium on commercial whaling from the 1985. But it did allow exceptions, enough for Japan to hunt more than 20,000 whales since. Read the story here 11:28
Japanese whaling back in focus as battle lines harden at IWC meeting
Pro- and anti-whaling nations clashed during a key meeting Monday where Japan sought to ease the 30-year-old moratorium on commercial hunts while others pushed for creation of a whale sanctuary in the Atlantic Ocean. Host Slovenia urged compromise for the sake of the marine mammals — some species of which were hunted to near extinction — but member states of the International Whaling Commission soon split into familiar factions. Japan, which conducts a yearly whale hunt in the name of science, which its detractors say is for meat, insisted that stocks of some species have recovered sufficiently to make them fair game. These included the Southern Hemisphere minke whale, Japan’s IWC commissioner, Joji Morishita, told journalists on the conference sidelines. “Many species can actually stand a limited take,” he said. Read the story here 14:04
Controversial whale sanctuary to be voted on at the International Whaling Commission
A whale sanctuary in the South Atlantic covering an area as big as India and Russia together: This is the proposal presented by Argentina, Gabon, South Africa, Uruguay and Brazil at the 65th meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Slovenia, which runs from October 20 to 28. A heated debate between some 80 pro- and anti-whaling nations will lead tomorrow (25.10.2016) into voting on whether to give the green light to the proposal, or reject it once again – it happened in 1998. Japan, Iceland and Norway have been the three main countries blocking the sanctuary due – environmentalists say – to their commercial interests. These three nations have used legal loopholes and controversial arguments to keep hunting whales, even in existing sanctuaries. If the new sanctuary proposal is accepted, the immediate question following the hurrahs will be how to really protect whales there from countries that continue to insist on whaling. While the moratorium for commercial hunting from 1985 largely improved the protection of whales, threats such as by-catch or pollution were left out of the agreement. Whale sanctuaries are intended to fill that gap. Read the story here 13:12
Whalers in crosshairs at International Whaling Commission huddle
More than 80 nations square off in Slovenia next week over the fate of the world’s remaining whales, facing a multitude of perils from meat hunters and ship strikes to getting snared in fishing gear. The stage is set for heated debate, as the 88 members of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) are deeply divided along pro- and anti-hunting lines. The biggest bones of contention are Japan’s yearly whale hunt in the name of science, which critics insist is for dinner tables instead, and a proposal for a South Atlantic sanctuary to protect the majestic marine mammals. Hunting nations Japan, Norway and Iceland are traditionally pitted against much of the rest of the world at the biennial IWC meetings, which seek to balance issues of national sovereignty, subsistence rights and culture with conservation of Earth’s natural bounty. For environmentalists, it is an issue of cruelty as well. Read the story here 08:19
Japan confirms plan to resume sustainable whale hunt
Joji Morishita said the whole debate about whether or not Japan should be killing the mammals had long since moved away from science and into politics. Japan believes the world’s whale population, especially the minke stock, is sizeable enough to accommodate a return to sustainable whaling, putting it at odds with campaigners and anti-whaling nations. “If you keep on like this, I worry that a country which has international political power could impose its standards and ethics on others,” he said, calling it “environmental imperialism”. Read the rest here 13:28
Whaling opponents and pro-whaling nations, led by Japan, remain at odds
Diplomats were preparing for one last push to find a compromise capable of bridging the divide between whaling nations and their opponents at the biennial International Whaling Commission summit in Slovenia. Read the rest here 11:09
Nations square off at International Whaling Commission conference
The commission’s 65th meeting kicked off in Slovenia with a vote of 46 to 11, with three abstentions, in favour of Greenland’s proposed 207 kills per year from 2015 to 2018, with conservationists fearing much of the meat meant for aboriginal subsistence was actually being sold. “More than 800 whales were condemned today just in the Greenland vote,” Wendy Higgins of the Humane Society International Shut up Read the rest here 19:51
