Japan Plans To Add Cylinder Whale Species To Commercial Hunting List

JAKARTA - Japan plans to add a new type of whale species to its commercial hunting list, after deciding to resume the activity after previously being suspended for more than three decades, a government spokesman said Thursday.

Japan continued commercial whaling in its territorial waters and exclusive economic zones in 2019, after withdrawing from the International Whale Fishing Commission (IWC).

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said the Fisheries Agency had been garnering opinion from the public since Tuesday on plans to start hunting for fin whales, despite criticism from anti-fishing countries and conservation groups.

Hayashi said the Japanese government would continue to promote whaling and take the necessary diplomatic steps.

"The Pope is an important source of food and must be used sustainably, based on scientific evidence," Hayashi said, quoted by Reuters.

"It is also important to inherit the traditional food culture in Japan," Hayashi explained.

The government's latest plans regarding commercial hunting have come under fire from conservation groups.

"Targeting fin whales is a very destructive practice, for killing an important part of the marine ecosystem for food products that are no longer desirable or needed by the public," Lloyd Gofton, managing director of the Blue Planet Society told ABC News.

Consumption of whale meat in Japan is an affordable source of protein during years of malnutrition after World War II.

Consumption peaked at about 230,000 tonnes in 1962. However, whales were quickly replaced by other meat and their supply had fallen to about 2,000 tonnes in recent years, according to statistics by the Fisheries Agency.

Japanese officials want to increase it to around 5,000 tonnes, to keep the industry going. This drew criticism from Greenpeace.

"The Japanese government talks about commercial whaling, this is completely different from the traditional subsistent hunting practiced by indigenous peoples around the world," said Greenpeace Australia's chief investigator Nelli Stevenson.

"The indigenous people have balanced their concern for the environment in traditional ways to meet the food needs of their community for generations," he continued.

Previously, Japan had allowed the capture of whale species Bryde, Minke and Sei. Fisheries said Japan captured a total of 294 Minke, Bryde and Sei whales over the past year.

It is known that Japan as a member of the IWC stopped commercial whaling in 1988.