The Japanese company, which practices commercial whaling, has begun construction of a new “factory ship” which will be able to skin harpooned cetaceans in the waters off the archipelago, but also as far as Antarctic. Proponents of this controversial hunt hope to keep the “whaling culture” alive in the country.
Japan already had a factory ship, the Nisshin Maru, which was used in the “scientific” whaling campaigns conducted for several years in Antarctica and which resulted in the harpooning of more than 10,000 whales. This 130-meter ship, built more than 35 years ago, in the midst of an international moratorium on hunting, will be replaced by a new $60 million boat to be operated by the company Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha.
“If we don’t build a new factory ship, we won’t be able to pass on the whaling culture to the next generation,” company president Hideki Tokoro pleaded this week during a press briefing covered by several journalists. media. This type of boat is equipped with equipment that allows the carcasses of whales killed by harpoon ships to be hoisted on board, which are used to supply the factory ship.
If it is for the moment planned to continue commercial whaling only off the Japanese coast (in the “exclusive economic zone”), the company is formal: his ship could be at sea for more than three months and travel on more 13,000 kilometers.
If we don’t build a new factory ship, we won’t be able to pass on the whaling culture to the next generation.
This means that it would theoretically be possible to carry out hunting campaigns in the waters surrounding Antarctica, where coveted species are found, mainly the minke whale. “We want to contribute to Japan’s food security,” argued Hideki Tokoro, adding that the ability to go hunting elsewhere in the world could be useful in times of “food insecurity”.
However, several countries are opposed to the Japanese aims, including Australia, where the cetacean observation industry is very important.
“Moratorium”
Commercial whaling was revived in 2019, after Tokyo’s decision to leave the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in December 2018. This organization has a mandate to ensure the protection of cetaceans, several species of which have been decimated by commercial whaling in the past. There has also been an international moratorium on commercial whaling since 1986.
Before relaunching commercial whaling, Japan had previously tried, in vain, to convince the other member countries of the CBI to revive this industry. The country hunts three species, including the sei whale, a species classified as “endangered” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s red list, and the Bryde’s whale, whose precise population status is unknown.
Iceland also conducts commercial whaling, in contravention of the international moratorium. However, it is planned to end it in 2024. It should be noted that the market for the meat of the fin whales that will be harpooned is limited to Japan, and it is becoming difficult to sell the meat on this export market.
This year’s Icelandic hunting campaign could be disrupted by activists united around Paul Watson, who founded the animal rights organization Sea Shepherd. The latter has promised, as he has done for several years in Antarctica, to come between the whalers and the whales with a new ship and funds from donations from well-wishers.
Finally, Norway also pursues commercial whaling. The country claims that it is “legal and sustainable”, despite the international moratorium and uncertainties about the state of whale populations.
For the climate
Norwegian researchers, on the other hand, published a new study last week which tends to show that whales play a positive role in the fight against the climate crisis.
Scientists from the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research actually looked at the concentration of nutrients in whale droppings before they dissolve in seawater. land,” the organization summed up in a statement.
The approximately 15,000 whales that migrate each summer to the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, in the Arctic, release around 600 tonnes of excrement on the surface of the water every day, at a rate of around 40 kg per animal. These daily droppings release, according to the study, about 10 tons of phosphorus and seven tons of nitrogen, essential nutrients for the growth of phytoplankton, these microscopic algae which, by photosynthesis, absorb carbon dioxide to transform it into oxygen.
The scientists concluded that whale droppings contribute 0.2 to 4% of the daily primary production of phytoplankton in the Svalbard region. “It’s positive for the climate,” noted the head of research, Kjell Gundersen, quoted by Agence France-Presse.
A study published in 2019 by the International Monetary Fund had already found that protecting whales in the world’s oceans was part of an effective strategy to combat the climate crisis.