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For years, Japan has falsely claimed species and Risso’s dolphins in the IWC-regulated hunt locally. that Abashiri, Ayukawa, Wada and Small Type Whaling operations It is not clear how Japan or the Taiji have a longstanding history of, that were run by local whaling IWC will ensure that products and dependence on, hunting minke companies and shared vessels from the simultaneous hunts are whales in Small Type Whaling (STW) and crew. separated and that meat from operations in their coastal waters – the new hunt is restricted to G It is highly unlikely that the IWC’s a type of whaling characterized by local consumption only. Scientific Committee would the use of small boats (under 50 recommend quotas for the G Any economic hardship suffered tons), hunting small whales on day minke whale populations found by the four towns today results trips. Japan also claims that the off Wada, Taiji and Abashiri. not from the IWC’s 1982 ban on IWC’s ban on minke whaling directly minke whaling, but from falling caused cultural disintegration and G The towns are already hunting demand for whale meat in financial hardship in these towns; minke whales off Ayukawa in Japan, coupled with an over- and that only the IWC could a commercial hunt unregulated supply of meat from its scientific alleviate their problems, by allowing by the IWC. Since 2002, three whaling programmes. Before them to conduct a minke whaling of the four towns have been Japan expanded its scientific operation in their coastal waters. hunting these whales under hunts, the four communities Japan’s scientific whaling The crucial facts that Japan has actually benefited from the programme in the North never presented to the IWC:1 Moratorium because they Pacific (JARPN) from which the monopolized the supply of fresh G Two of the four towns have no products are sold all over Japan. meat from other whale species. history of conducting STW of The same vessels, crews and minke whales in their coastal operators that participate in waters; the other two only JARPN would hunt, land and began 60–70 years ago. process minke whale meat in Ayukawa under the IWC’s new G The four towns commercially proposed hunt at the same time. hunted Baird's beaked whales However, they would only be and pilot whales before the ban. allowed to sell the products from 1. Full details are provided in a separate report They continued to hunt these by WDCS and IKAN available from WDCS Photo © Tim Stenton

Japanese whaling For decades, the IWC was unable to prevent the over-exploitation of whales by unsustainable and unregulated commercial whaling. This led to population declines of over 95% in some species including blue and North Atlantic right whales which are still critically endangered. In 1982, the IWC finally adopted a Moratorium on commercial whaling which came into effect in 1986/7. Although most whaling nations complied with the decision, Japan continued large scale commercial whaling through a loophole in the IWC’s founding treaty which permits whales to be killed for scientific research. Japan’s two so-called ‘scientific whaling’ operations in Antarctica (JARPA) and the North Pacific (JARPN) have expanded relentlessly since the early 1990s, killing hundreds of whales from five different species each year and providing thousands of tonnes of whale meat to Japan’s domestic market. C W I Japan also permits smaller scale hunts for small whales, dolphins and porpoises in its coastal e h t r waters, unregulated by the IWC. Although some parts of Japan have a centuries-long history o f e of hunting in coastal waters, these particular operations, known as Small Type Whaling (STW), c i o h are a relatively new phenomenon; starting only in the early 20th century, and only officially c e s

l licensed by the Government of Japan to kill minke whales since 1947. a f A g n i l a h W e p y T l l a m S

4 Japan’s Small Type Whaling Last century, Japan’s Small Type Whaling (STW) operations, targeting mainly Baird’s beaked whales, Risso’s dolphins and pilot whales as well as some minke whales, ran parallel to its large scale, high seas hunts of minkes and other great whales. However, when the Government started to encourage the use of bigger whaling vessels to participate in its larger commercial hunts after World War 2, many owners of STW boats sold their whaling vessel licenses to big whaling companies and terminated their STW operations. By the time the commercial whaling moratorium came into effect, all remaining Small Type Whaling companies had their head offices in Abashiri (Hokkaido Prefecture), Ayukawa (Miyagi Prefecture), Wada (Chiba Prefecture), or Taiji Despite Japan's claims that all four (Wakayama Prefecture). These companies towns have a long history of small were always commercial (i.e. for-profit type minke whaling, only Abashiri operations), maintaining salaried employees and Ayukawa actually have a and paying local taxes. sustained history of these hunts In response to the Moratorium, four of the last nine STW vessels stopped operating, leaving five ships operated by eight companies. However, since the Moratorium, each of the four towns has maintained STW hunts for short-finned pilot whales, Risso’s dolphins and Baird’s beaked whales in their coastal waters. Despite Japan’s claims that all four towns have a long history of minke whaling, only Abashiri and Ayukawa actually have a sustained history of hunting minke whales in STW operations in their coastal waters (from 1933 for Abashiri, from 1948 for Ayukawa). There are no records of Taiji and Wada ever having hunted minke whales in STW operations in their coastal waters although they are believed to have provided vessels to hunts in other areas on a short term basis. In 2002, Japan expanded its scientific whale hunt in the North Pacific to target coastal minke whales. The Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR) which oversees Japan’s so-called ‘scientific whaling’, agreed commercial contracts with Japan’s Small Type Whaling Association to provide vessels and crews to participate in two hunts; off Ayukawa in the spring, and off Kushiro (not an STW town) in the autumn. The ICR buys each whale from the whaling companies at a set price and then sells a proportion of the fresh meat at a lower, subsidized price under a ’public quota’ to the Small Type Whaling towns (and some other towns around 2 Japan), which are permitted to sell minke whale meat. 2. For example in 2002, an ICR press release In contrast to the STW towns’ other hunts using their Small Type Whaling vessels, this minke confirmed that the 50 whaling activity does not take place in their coastal waters, but is a cooperative, centralized minke whales caught by effort many miles from their home port. Each April to June, one vessel each from Wada and STW yielded 84.3 tons, of which 12.06 tons of Taiji travel hundreds of miles to Ayukawa to hunt 60 minke whales up to 50 nautical miles meat “were sold at offshore. Each September to December, the same vessels, plus one vessel from Ayukawa, Abashiri, Kushiro, travel to Kushiro to hunt 60 more minke whales. Ayukawa, Wada, Taiji”.

MSTW vessels, Ayukawa MSTW port of Taiji MPilot whale MWhale meat in restaurant MSTW vessel

Photos: © WDCS/Nicola Hodgins (centre), all others © IKAN Cultural disintegration and financial hardship – exposing the truth. Japan has long claimed to the IWC that the four towns had to give up longstanding Small Type Whaling of minke whales in their coastal waters as a result of the Moratorium and continue to suffer economic and social hardship as a direct result. It argues that each town needs to conduct minke whaling in its coastal waters to ensure its recovery. Our research challenges this: G Although Taiji and Wada have no recorded history of conducting STW for minke whales in their coastal waters, today all four towns benefit from contracts with the ICR to participate in so-called ‘scientific’ minke whaling and buy meat from that hunt. G Interviews with local people suggest that Wada actually has a greater interest in maintaining its hunt of Baird's beaked whales than starting up a minke whaling operation. G Whaling is now of little importance, either culturally or financially, to Abashiri which does not even have its own active STW vessel. It shares ownership of a vessel based in Ayukawa which travels to Abashiri once a year to take its quota of four Baird’s beaked whales. G STW is commercial whaling. A recent merger of companies that owned and operated several of the STW vessels created a single whaling, processing, marketing and distribution company based in Ayukawa. G Although production by STW dropped to a third as the Moratorium came into effect, there was a period of strong financial recovery beginning in 1990 as STW monopolized the supply of fresh whale and dolphin meat in Japan. However, this growth reversed from 2000, coinciding with the dramatic expansion of Japan’s scientific whaling programmes, a change in the law to permit sale of fresh meat from bycaught whales, and the growth of stockpiles of whale meat. Any economic hardship still suffered by the STW communities today results from being out-competed by Japan’s own large scale high seas whaling; not the 20 year old moratorium from which they actually briefly Any economic hardship still benefited. suffered by the STW communities If the Government of Japan was serious about the needs of the results from being out-competed four towns and the ability of whaling to resolve their problems, by Japan's own large scale, high it could have addressed the matter itself, rather than asking the seas whaling IWC. It could have allowed them to reap greater benefits from JARPN under their ICR contract, including giving them the right to keep more of the meat or sell it commercially. That Japan has chosen not to do this suggests either that its claims were untrue, or that the Government does not in fact have their best interests at heart. P h o t o : © H a l S a t o C W I e h t r o f e c i o h c e s l a f A g n i l a h W e p y T l l a m S

6 The IWC’s new proposal The compromise proposal before the IWC would award the four STW towns a five year minke whaling quota, for local consumption only, in return for Japan voluntarily reducing its scientific whaling programme in Antarctica. It does not specify where the whaling would take place, or what is meant by ‘local use’. Japan has claimed for years that the STW quota it sought from the IWC would be a non- commercial operation although it was unclear how the STW company whose vessels and crew already participate in Japan’s North Pacific scientific whaling operation on a commercial basis could afford to expand their operations for free and make no revenue from meat sales. It now appears that the IWC has dropped any pretence that a new STW quota would be a non-profit operation which raises serious legal questions about the impact on the Moratorium of adopting this proposal. Furthemore, since meat sales under the compromise proposal would be restricted to ‘local use’ only, the towns may be worse off than they are now under contract to JARPN which is unrestricted by quotas, subject to no international regulation and allows meat sales all over Japan. Moreover, since Japan is making no commitment to reduce its hunts under JARPN, the IWC will have to deduct those ‘scientific’ minke whale catches from any catch limit it sets under the compromise proposal, effectively ‘capping’ the potential of the new operation. The IWC needs to agree a robust management scheme (including Observation, Inspection and Catch Documentation Schemes and a diagnostic DNA Register) to ensure that all products (not just meat) from minke whales hunted under the new proposal are: G physically separated from the products of whales hunted under JARPN (including from the Kushiro component) which are also currently distributed to the four STW towns; G only distributed “locally” (once that is defined); G kept out of Wada, Taiji and Abashiri’s processing and distribution channels for the products of small whales and dolphins from their local hunts which are sold nationally.

Conclusion WDCS and IKAN conclude that Japan’s longstanding demands for a whaling quota are largely unsupported by fact. Accordingly, we are deeply concerned that the proposed ‘deal’ to give Japan the legal right to conduct minke whaling in its coastal waters in return for some voluntary reduction of its Scientific Whaling Programme in the Antarctic would be unenforceable in practice. It may also bring no tangible benefit to the towns. We believe that the compromise proposal being considered by the IWC is based on a false choice perpetuated by Japan for years that was never intended to benefit the four towns but is meant to re-legitimize Japan’s commercial whaling and overturn the IWC’s Moratorium. www.wdcs.org WDCS is the global voice for the protection of whales, dolphins and their environment. Offices in Argentina, Australia, Germany, UK and USA.

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