Japan Stubbornly Propping Up Moribund Whaling Sector, Which Directly Employs 300 People

[hatrack]

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In 2019, when Japan withdrew from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) – the body that had effectively banned whaling in the late 1980s – Wada rejoiced at the prospect of a return to commercial hunting and at a popular reconnection with a source of food that had sustained coastal communities for 400 years. But here and in other whaling towns in Japan, the resumption of killing whales for profit for the first time in more than three decades has offered little cause for celebration.

While condemnation from conservation groups has eased in the three years since Japan’s fleet exited the Antarctic, the country’s whalers face other obstacles: ageing fishermen and vessels, mysterious changes in cetacean behaviour possibly linked to climate change, and a stubborn refusal among Japanese people to eat enough whale meat to make killing them a profitable venture. While Japan skirted the IWC ban by conducting limited “scientific” hunts in the Antarctic, it had long argued that only a return to commercial whaling would guarantee a stable supply of affordable meat and ignite a revival in consumption. “But all the evidence points in the opposite direction,” says Patrick Ramage, senior director for outreach and programme collaboration at the International Fund for Animal Welfare. “Whether pursued on the high seas under the pretext of science or in coastal waters in pursuit of profit, Japan’s commercial whaling is an economic loser, kept afloat only by government subsidies.”

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Barely 300 people in Japan are directly connected to whaling, while whale made up only about 0.1% of the country’s total meat consumption in 2016, according to government data. About 4-5,000 tonnes of whale meat enter the domestic market every year – the equivalent in volume of about half an apple for every person.

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But Wada’s 30 whale-industry employees are struggling. During last year’s April-October season, they caught just nine whales and have harpooned the same number so far this year. Shoji believes warmer seas may have sent the whales farther north, while more frequent powerful typhoons have confined the town’s two whaling boats to port for days on end. Japan’s commercial whaling industry would grind to a halt without government subsidies of ¥5.1bn (£.033bn) a year, says Junko Sakuma, a freelance journalist and expert on Japan’s whaling economy.

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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/26/japans-whaling-town-struggles-to-keep-400-years-of-tradition-alive

[Beatlelvr]

1. Big fan of Whale Wars

And Sea Shepherd. The Japanese govt seems big on their whaling practices. When the world responded to the big earthquake/tsunami event a few years ago, the govt highjacked $11 million of that relief money and gave it to the whale fleet.

[PATRICK]

2. Why?

I had to dream up a wild fantasy satire to make more sense out of this "tradition" that seems an almost pure(animals not people) example of dedicated evil, that is where an atrocity continues despite ANY rationality- even self-interest.
It is bad etiquette to shamelessly promote my Xmas book here which is a deep attack on whaling. DU Marketplace has it. I figured there is some secret myth cult backing this endeavor which would seem more "logical" in a conspiracy theory sort of way.

[bahboo]

3. seriously Japan, what the fuck....

end this.

[hunter]

4. Whaling is a Japanese version of "rolling coal."

It's not about tradition anymore, it's about offending the liberals.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_coal