Whaling in Japan - Opposition

Opposition

Anti-whaling governments and groups have strongly opposed Japan's whaling program. Greenpeace argues that whales are endangered and must be protected. The Japanese government claims that it strongly supports the protection of endangered species, and the scientific whaling is essential to gather information about the status of the various populations. It further claims that the scale of the research is such that it does not affect the stock of the species. The 1985 IWC estimate put the Southern Hemisphere Minke whale population at 761,000 (510,000 – 1,140,000 in the 95% confidence estimate). A paper submitted to the IWC on population estimates in Antarctic waters using CNB gives a population of 665,074 based on Southern Ocean Whale and Ecosystem Research Programme (SOWER) data.

Research methodology has come under scrutiny as it has been argued that non-lethal methods of research are available and that Japan's research whaling is commercial whaling in disguise. The Japanese claim that the accuracy of tissue and feces samples is insufficient and lethal sampling is necessary.

In 2002, the World Wildlife Fund published an open letter to the Japanese (in both Japanese and English text) in the New York Times signed by a group of international scientists, stating their assertion that "Japan's whale 'research' program fails to meet minimum standards for credible science." They accused Japan of "using the pretense of scientific research to evade its commitments to the world community." Signatories to the letter included Sylvia Earle (former Chief Scientist of the NOAA), Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara (former President of the European Cetacean Society) and Roger Payne (founder of the Ocean Alliance).

In Volume 53, No. 3 of the journal Bio Science, twenty members of the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission confirmed "that the signers of the open letter correctly summarized criticisms made by researchers very familiar with Japanese scientific whaling", and that "so little of any significance to IWC management can be obtained only from whaling catches that it is impossible to justify killing animals on this basis."

A 2006 episode of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's popular science show Catalyst, which strongly argued against whaling, reported that of the 18 year JARPA I program, which lethally obtained samples from 6800 whales, less than 55 peer-reviewed papers were produced, of which only 14 were claimed on the program to be relevant to the goals of the JARPA program, and that only four would require lethal sampling. Some of the research includes a paper named Fertilizability of ovine, bovine, and minke whales spermatazoa intracytoplasmically injected into bovine oocytes. Joji Morishita of JARPA has said the number of samples was required in order to obtain statistically significant data. More detailed list of Scientific papers presented to IWC up to 2005.

Sea Shepherd contests that Japan, as well as Iceland and Norway, is in violation of the IWC moratorium on all commercial whaling.

Anti-whaling campaigners claim that the Japanese public does not support the government for its whaling policy. However, all the major political parties from the right wing LDP to the Japanese Communist Party do support whaling. The meat ends up at Tokyo's famed Tsukiji fish market and other high-end restaurants. People previously involved in the industry have reported rampant meat embezzlement.

Japanese fisheries companies have expanded abroad and endured pressure from partners and environmental groups. Five large fishing companies transferred their whaling fleet shares to public interest corporations in 2006. In 2007, Kyokuyo and Maruha, two of Japan's four largest fishing companies, decided to end their sales of whale meat due to pressure from partners and environmental groups in the US.