Japanese whalers yesterday brought ashore their first catches as they resumed commercial hunting after a three-decade hiatus, brushing aside criticism from activists who say the practice is cruel and outdated.
Five vessels set sail under gray morning skies from Kushiro, Hokkaido, with their horns blaring and gray tarps thrown over their harpoons.
By yesterday afternoon they were back with their catch: two gray minke whales.
Photo: AFP
The hunts come after Japan decided to withdraw from the International Whaling Commission (IWC), a move slammed by activists and anti-whaling countries, but welcomed by Japanese whaling communities.
“Today is the best day,” said Yoshifumi Kai, head of the Japan Small-Type Whaling Association, as the whales were hauled ashore. “It was worth waiting for 31 years.”
One of the whales, more than 8m, was hoisted from a ship onto a truck and driven to a warehouse. Inside, whalers hosed it down with water and then lined up to pour ceremonial cups of the Japanese liquor sake over it — a ritual to purify and celebrate the catch.
Vessels left from other ports, including in Shimonoseki in the west of the country, and whalers and government officials hailed the resumption of the hunts.
“I’m a bit nervous, but happy that we can start whaling,” 23-year-old Hideki Abe, a whaler from the Miyagi region said before leaving from Kushiro. “I don’t think young people know how to cook and eat whale meat anymore. I want more people to try to taste it at least once.”
“This is a small industry, but I am proud of hunting whales,” added Kai in a ceremony before the boats left from Kushiro. “People have hunted whales for more than 400 years in my home town.”
As an IWC member, Japan was banned from commercial hunts of large whales, though it could catch small varieties in waters near its coastline.
However, it also used a provision for scientific research to carry out controversial hunts of whales in protected Antarctic waters.
With its withdrawal from the IWC, Tokyo will carry out whale hunting off Japan, but will end the most contentious hunts in the Antarctic.
The Japanese Fisheries Agency yesterday said it had set a cap for a total catch of 227 whales through the season until late December — 52 minke, 150 Bryde’s and 25 sei whales.
Humane Society International slammed the resumption of commercial hunts.
“This is a sad day for whale protection globally,” head of campaigns Nicola Beynon said, accusing Japan of beginning a “new and shocking era of pirate whaling.”
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