Whaling Away On Japan

Last week, Australia released graphic pictures of minke whales caught by a Japanese hunt in the Antarctic. It is believed that the pictures, taken by Australian customs officers tracking the hunt, show a harpooned mother and calf being dragged from the sea. Japan denied that claim and called the pictures "emotional propaganda".

"To claim that this is in any way scientific is to continue the charade that has surrounded this issue from day one," said Australian environment minister Peter Garrett. Japan had planned to kill up to 900 minke whales during the current season.

Japan's whale research is conducted by the Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR), a privately-owned, non-profit institution. The institute receives its funding from government subsidies and Kyodo Senpaku, a for-profit company which handles processing and marketing of the "by products". Kyodo Senpaku, a consolidation of earlier commercial whaling departments of Japanese fisheries, sells roughly US$60 million worth of whale products each year. ICR's whaling research program costs $4.6 million per year.

According to the ICR's website, the objectives of Japan's whale research are as follows:

1. Estimation of biological parameters to improve the stock management of the minke whale,
2. Examination of the role of whales in the Antarctic marine ecosystem,
3. Examination of the effect of environmental changes on whale populations,
4. Examination of the stock structure of minke whales to improve stock management.

When someone keeps talking about "stock management", it seems to me that the ultimate goal is the harvesting of animals, not their preservation. In addition, the ICR claims that the number of minke whales to be taken each year is the smallest number required to obtain statistically valid results. The International Whaling Commission estimates that the mink whale population currently stands at 761,000. To obtain a 95% confidence level (with a confidence interval of 4%), the necessary sample size would be 600-- far less than the 900 whales sought by Japan. Hmmmm . . .