Skip to content
All articles
  • All articles
  • About whales & dolphins
  • Create healthy seas
  • End captivity
  • Fundraising
  • Green Whale
  • Kids blogs
  • Prevent deaths in nets
  • Scottish Dolphin Centre
  • Stop whaling
Dolphin in Brazil helping with fishing illustration

Dolphins and fishermen working together

Kidzone - quick links Fun Facts Curious kids Blogs Fantastic fundraisers Gallery Splish and Splash...
Gray whale (eschrichtius robustus) Gray whale in Ojo de liebre lagoon Baja California.

Why we’re walking for whales to save the world

We've got enormous ambitions when it comes to fighting climate breakdown, and so two members...
Dolphins with keepers in the new Windsor Safari Park. Image: PA Images/Alamy Stock Photo

Three decades on from UK’s last dolphin show, what needs to change?

The UK hasn't had captive whales and dolphins on display for 30 years, but it's...
Fishers' involvement is crucial. Image: WDC/JTF

When porpoises and people overlap

We're funding a project in Hong Kong that's working with fishing communities to help save...
Whale evolution cover

How did whales end up living in the ocean?

Kidzone - quick links Fun Facts Curious kids Blogs Fantastic fundraisers Gallery Splish and Splash...
Fishers chatting

Scottish fishers working with us to reduce risks to whales

Small changes to fishing gear could make a big difference to whales around Scotland, and...

Mindful conservation – why we need a new respect for nature

'We should look at whales and dolphins as the indigenous people of the seas -...
tins of whale meat

How Japan’s whaling industry is trying to convince people to eat whales

Japan's hunters kill hundreds of whales every year despite the fact that hardly anyone in...

Who speaks for the Japanese people when it comes to whaling?

Policymakers should be careful what messages they are listening to coming out of Japan at the moment. I would argue that they should definitely be careful of the proclamations of the Intitute of Cetacean Research (ICR).

The ICR is not the Japanese Government and is definately not representative of the Japanese people.

The Website of the ICR notes that it was founded in October 1987 as a ‘nonprofit research organization’… authorized by the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. The forerunner of the ICR was the Whales Research Institute, founded in 1947 as a offshoot from the ‘Nakabe Foundation for Whale Science’ -established in 1941 by the commercial whaling company Taiyo Gyogyo. It’s these links to the commercial whaling industry that have continued to influence the ICR’s programme and statements ever since.

Current reports suggest that the ICR has been trumpetting that Japan will return to Antarctic whaling in 2015.

Whilst the ICR will, of couse, for its own survival, shout for a return to the Antarctic, it would seem that wiser heads may still be looking carefully at the options open to the Japanese Government since the ICJ judgement.

The Japan Times of the 14th April states that, Many officials, even some in the fisheries circle, were long aware of the problems in the so-called research program. But few, if any, had incentive to fight the pro-whaling lobby: whalers, the whaling division of the Fisheries Agency, whaling-related businesses and powerful lawmakers. For them the ruling virtually takes care of what was long overdue, without anyone losing face.”

The Times goes on to say that, Officials generally agree that the most likely scenario is for Japan to withdraw from the Antarctic….Some hardline lawmakers say Japan should quit the commission and return to commercial whaling. But most officials and experts say such a drastic step would undermine Japan’s efforts to promote the international rule of law, notably when it comes to territorial disputes with China and South Korea.

Perhaps as importantly, questions remain about whether commercial whaling would be economically sustainable, given the declining appetite for whale meat in Japan.”