Japan Resumes Hunting Fin Whales
(MENAFN) Japan has resumed hunting fin whales, killing at least 25 for the first time since it withdrew from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in 2019.
The whales were caught in the Sea of Okhotsk, located north of Hokkaido’s northernmost island, and transported to Sendai Port in Miyagi Prefecture on Monday, according to a news outlet.
Out of the 320 tons of fin whale meat harvested, approximately 1.6 tons will be distributed as raw meat to six different markets nationwide, including major cities like Tokyo and Osaka.
Following its departure from the IWC, Japan’s Fisheries Agency added fin whales to its commercial whaling species list last year, setting a hunting quota of 60 whales for 2025.
Japan officially restarted commercial whaling in July 2019 after more than six decades of IWC membership. This move came after the IWC rejected Japan’s request in September 2018 to renew commercial hunting of certain whale populations considered plentiful.
Although Japan halted commercial whaling in 1988, its fleets continued operating in international waters under the guise of "research purposes." This practice drew widespread international condemnation as a thinly veiled attempt to sustain commercial whale hunting.
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