The Sea Shepherd founder was arrested for sailing in Faroese waters as part of Operation Bloody Fjords in 2023 against the “massacre” of cetaceans in the archipelago.
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![A minke whale is caught by a whaling ship in Kushiro Port, Hokkaido, Japan, on Aug. 22, 2022. (SHINJI HIRAMUKI/AP/SIPA / SIPA)](https://www.francetvinfo.fr/pictures/NfPfKVhKDYDF6Jpo_fb9ILxyYa8/0x136:3236x1957/432x243/2024/07/23/sipa-ap22599432-000001-669f6e068b4da713337193.jpg)
On one side, the whalers. On the other, the whalers. The arrest on Sunday, July 21, in Greenland of Canadian activist Paul Watson, founder of the NGO Sea Shepherd and the foundation that bears his name, has put the spotlight on a controversial practice: whaling. In the past, the oil from the animal fueled oil lamps, while the meat fed isolated populations in the inhospitable lands of the far north or the starving inhabitants of a Japan destroyed by war.
The launch in May of a brand new Japanese ship dedicated to this hunt, the Kangei Maruraises the question of the resumption of a practice decried by the general public, increasingly sensitive to animal suffering and the protection of marine ecosystems. And increasingly inclined to support Paul Watson, who risks extradition to Japan. But what does international law say on this subject?
A moratorium on commercial whaling in place since 1986
To regulate whaling, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) was created in 1946. Faced with populations then decimated by fishing, but also by collisions with ships, the organization, which brings together 88 countries “strives to promote the recovery of depleted whale populations (…)”. From a legal point of view, the IWC relies on the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, which regulates three types of whaling: whaling for commercial purposes, aboriginal whaling practiced by indigenous communities, particularly in Alaska or Siberia, and whaling for scientific purposes. Over the years, the IWC limited the number of species that could be hunted for sale on the shelves, before effectively imposing a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986 by setting a zero quota for the number of whales that could be killed for this purpose.
However, Japan, Norway and Iceland continue to practice commercial whaling. “For the few remaining whaling nations, whaling, while now in need of control and sustainability, remains a legitimate activity on a par with other forms of sustainable exploitation of marine resources,” explained in 2020 the British lawyer Malgosia Fitzmaurice, professor of public law at Queen Mary University of London, in an article discussing the possibility of advancing the regulation of whaling (PDF).
The IWC also recognises the existence of two sanctuaries (one in the Indian Ocean, the other in the Southern Ocean), but failed to have the creation of a sanctuary in the South Atlantic adopted, in the face of opposition from 25 countries, including Japan, Russia, Iceland and Norway.
Japan, against the international community
Before being arrested in Greenland, Paul Watson was heading aboard his foundation’s ship toward the Northwest Passage, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The mission: to intercept the Kangei Maru, a factory ship recently built by Japan in the North Pacific and used by the Kyodo Senpaku company. With its impressive dimensions, this brand new giant of the seas embodies the country’s ambitions in terms of whaling. : 113 meters long, 21 meters wide and weighing 9,200 tons. The country, the main market for whale meat, left the IWC in 2019, with the intention of resuming commercial whaling near its coasts. Since then, “Within its waters, Japan has absolute authority over the management of living species, including whales.“, explained Australian international law professor Donald Rothwell in June, quoted by CNN.
A member of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) from its inception, Tokyo has long used the fact that the IWC authorizes the hunting of cetaceans for scientific purposes to circumvent the moratorium. Two years after it came into force, in 1988, Tokyo obtained exemptions under the “research missions” in Antarctica and the northeast Pacific.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) finally ordered Japan in 2014 to recall its whaling ships operating in the Antarctic, following a referral by Australia. The country is violating “moratoria on commercial whaling and floating factories, as well as a ban on commercial whaling in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary,” the ICJ said.
In the years since, Tokyo has continued to advocate for exceptions to the IWC moratorium, arguing a question of “Food Safety”. However, consumption of cetacean meat has collapsed over the years (it now stands at around 2,000 tonnes per year, whereas it was 200 times higher in the 1960s).
In Iceland and Norway, commercial whaling is losing momentum
Although both countries are members of the IWC, Iceland and Norway engage in commercial whaling.In response to the moratorium, Iceland resumed commercial whaling of the fin whale and the minke whale (also called “minke whale”) in 2003. Only the hunting of the blue whale, which is completely banned by the commission, is also prohibited.
In 2020, due to the lack of profitability for this increasingly controversial activity, one of the two Icelandic whaling companies permanently hung up its harpoons. And while the remaining whaling company, Hvalur, received a license from the authorities in June to kill 128 fin whales, itIn recent years, Icelandic whalers have rarely managed to meet their quotas. In 2023, 24 fin whales were hunted out of a possible 209. That year, the hunt was suspended for two months (out of the three-month season) following a government investigation that found the explosive harpoons used violated the country’s animal welfare laws.
Thus, over the last two decades, the Icelandic tourism industry, particularly whale watching tours, has boomed to the point that the need to protect the whales appears far more profitable than hunting them.
In Norway, too, whale hunters are struggling to meet the quotas granted by Oslo, and the number of vessels engaged in this activity continues to decline. In 2021, 575 cetaceans were caught, less than half of the authorized quotas, by the 14 vessels still operating in Norwegian waters.