Four whaling boats left Japanese ports at the weekend for coastal waters as the country entered its third commercial whaling season since ending its relationship and formally leaving the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in 2019.
Minke whales will be initially killed within coastal waters of Aomori, Iwate and Miyagi prefectures until early June when a fifth boat will join the fleet and together, heading north are expected to catch some 120 minke whales in waters off the Sanriku Coast and Hokkaido by late October.
As an IWC member, Japan had halted commercial whaling in 1988 but continued catching whales for what it called research purposes even though the meat was subsequently sold to Japanese citizens.
Japan set its whaling catch limit for 2021 at 383, the same as 2020, the species to be slaughtered are minke whales, Bryde’s whales and sei whales. Commercial whaling in offshore waters is also scheduled to start around June this year.
