Japan has expanded its commercial whaling to include fin whales, the second-largest animal species on Earth; a decision criticised by the Australian government on Thursday.
One of only three countries that hunt whales commercially along with Norway and Iceland, Japan has added the fin whale to its catch list, which already includes minke, Bryde and sei whales.
“Essentially our argument is that there are sufficient stocks of fin whales,” a fisheries agency official told AFP on Thursday, adding that the hunt for 59 fin whales is planned this year.
Fin whales are considered “endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and animal rights activists have been alarmed by Japan’s decision, which had been considered by authorities for months but was made official on Wednesday.
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said in a statement that Australia was “deeply disappointed”.
“Australia opposes all forms of commercial whaling and urges all countries to end the practice,” he said.
The incident comes amid international drama over prominent anti-whaling activist Paul Watson, who was arrested in Greenland last month.
Watson, the 73-year-old American-Canadian founder of the activist group Sea Shepherd, was detained under an international arrest warrant issued by Tokyo.
Denmark’s Justice Ministry – Greenland is an autonomous Danish territory – said on Thursday it had received a formal extradition request from Japan for Watson.
According to the Captain Paul Watson Foundation, he was arrested after landing in Greenland’s capital to refuel in order to “block” Japan’s new whaling factory vessel in the North Pacific.
The Kangei Maru, a 9,300-ton ship that set sail from Japan in May, processes whales caught by smaller vessels and stores the meat for consumption in Japan.
Japan has hunted whales for centuries, and whale meat was a major source of protein in the years following World War II.
It continued to hunt whales for “scientific” purposes even after the International Whaling Commission (IWC) banned commercial whaling, killing hundreds of whales in Antarctica and the North Pacific.
However, after years of tensions that damaged its international reputation, Japan left the IWC in 2019 and resumed commercial whaling inside its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone.
Japan killed 294 whales last year, and says the number is sustainable.
A panel of experts formed by the agriculture ministry said in June that Japanese fishermen should be allowed to hunt fin whales.
Tetsushi Sakamoto, the agriculture minister at the time, called the whales “an important food resource”.
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