As 2018 drew to a close, Japan used the cover of the holiday season to confirm that it will quit the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and 鈥渞esume鈥� commercial whaling.
Of course, Japan has never really stopped. Since a ban on the practice came into force in 1986, Japan continued supplying its whale meat market under the guise of 鈥渟cientific鈥� whaling, slaughtering more than 15,000 animals in the intervening years.
This supposed research has been repeatedly discredited, both by scientific panels set up by the IWC and by international courts and conventions.
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What has changed is that Japan now says it will withdraw from the Southern Ocean and hunt whales only in its own waters. That is welcome news for whales in the high seas, which will no longer be pursued for science that nobody respects and products that nobody needs.
It is good news for legitimate science, too. The only whale science to take place in the Antarctic under the auspices of the IWC from next year will be non-lethal research via the multi-nation Southern Ocean Research Partnership. Japan鈥檚 departure will allow that work to continue without being overshadowed by a discredited programme.
Japan鈥檚 announcement comes while its whaling fleet is killing whales in the Southern Ocean. Given it says it will end its Antarctic whaling when its withdrawal from the IWC comes into effect at the end of June, there is no reason for it to continue its 鈥渟cientific鈥� slaughter now. Instead, it should immediately withdraw its whaling fleet. The International Fund for Animal Welfare, where I work, expects conservation-minded members of the IWC to be demanding no less.
Catch limits
Of course, Japan鈥檚 announcement is bad news for whales in Japanese waters. The country claims it will set catch limits in accordance with methods adopted by the IWC. What is more likely is it will develop its own version of the IWC method, one designed to produce catch quotas that meet domestic market needs and political imperatives, not the IWC鈥檚 sustainability criteria. It will be important for the international community to scrutinise these plans carefully when more detail is revealed.
Neither is this announcement good news for the rule of international law. Withdrawing from the IWC runs counter to Japan鈥檚 generally supportive attitude towards multilateralism. Having failed to persuade members of the IWC to lift the moratorium on commercial whaling, it seems officials in Tokyo view withdrawing from the commission as a face-saving way out of Japan鈥檚 controversial high-seas whaling activities.
Perversely, it could be good for the IWC. Without Japan holding it back, the commission can get on with the urgent whale conservation work that most of its members would like to see it focus on.
While details of Japan鈥檚 commercial whaling plans are yet to emerge, the end of high-seas whaling is good news for our ocean planet, and a historic milestone in the long-running campaign to save the whales.
Whatever path Japan takes, it will ultimately need to reconcile itself to the emerging worldwide consensus for whale conservation in the 21st century. Its departure from the IWC could bizarrely turn out to be the beginning of a brighter future for whales.
