THE Japanese government has come under widespread international criticism for its decision to resume commercial whaling. Since 1986, the International Whaling Commission has effectively banned the hunting of whales, although Japan and other whaling nations, including Norway and Iceland were allowed to hunt ‘for scientific purposes’ some species of these undersea leviathans, that were not considered to be endangered.
Japan has now also withdrawn from the IWC and, even though it is geographically very far from the North Atlantic, joined the North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission which, besides Norway and Iceland, is also made up of Greenland and the Faroe Islands.
While the IWC’s with its now-88 members, including landlocked countries such as Laos, the Czech Republic, Austria and Hungary, has expressed its disappointment at Tokyo’s decision, environmentalist organizations Greenpeace and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WFF) have reacted with predictable fury. There has been only a grudging welcome for the announcement that Japan will confine its whale-hunting to its territorial waters and “economic zones”. Until now, Japanese whaling factory ships have been sailing around the world, particularly in Antarctic waters, killing whales for what were generally accepted as specious ‘scientific purposes’. This has led to angry confrontations with Greenpeace anti-whaling vessels
Tokyo argues that whale meat is part of its culinary tradition and it wants to allow Japanese customers to eat it if they wish. However, this claim is dubious. Since the limited ban of whaling was introduced 32 years when some species had been hunted almost to extinction, whale meat consumption in Japan has plummeted. If this really were the prized delicacy the government claims, how can it explain the large stocks of frozen whale meat currently held in its warehouses? However, it is possible of course, that once a steady supply of choice whale cuts again becomes available, consumers will re-embrace the food.
Nevertheless, the Japanese claim that whale-hunting and consumption is part of their culture, deserves respect. In the Faroe Islands, high up in the North Atlantic, there is an annual whale hunt in which the dead animals are hauled up into a bay and cut up by all the locals, who share out every part of the carcass.
Environmentalists have posted gory footage of the sea running red with the animals’ blood and young children happily taking part in the butchery. But the Faroe Islanders, who for centuries were isolated from normal trade patterns, insist that whales, together with hunted sea birds, represent, even now, staples in their daily survival. They also make the telling argument that though they kill these creatures, it is in their own interests to also protect them in order to make their hunting sustainable. They have absolutely no interest in the extermination of these species.
There is of course a difference between hunting for profit on a massive commercial scale and hunting for survival. Some environmentalists accept this variation, applauding Inuit seal hunting while backing the Canadian ban on clubbing to death of doe-eyed baby seals for their pelts. But then again, is there not some lazy cultural imperialism in the likes of Greenpeace and the WWF and their many individual financial supporters? Should they really be seeking to dictate the eating traditions of countries that choose not to embrace their cuddly, feel-good, and possibly vegetarian, values?
