conducting whaling. The TV show Whale Wars is a testament (and arguably a
dramatisation) of the conflict in the Antarctic.
The administrative arm of Japan’s research on whales is the Institute of Cetacean
Research (ICR) in Tokyo, which came into being in 1987 and emerged out of the
Whales Research Institute of 1947. Even though the ICR is supposedly a non-profit
organisation, it receives funding from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and
Forestry, whose Fisheries Agency represents Japan at the IWC. Moreover, there are
claims that other funding for ICR’s activities stems from profit-oriented players
within the whaling industry.
9 These claims cannot be independently verified,
however.
Be that as it may, Japan’s whaling programmes have generated a wide array of
scientific publications and the country has been an active contributor to the work of
the Scientific Committee of the IWC. While as such Japan’s research programmes
are not in question, the necessity of killing whales to obtain research results is subject
of the controversy. However, as the ICR makes unmistakably clear, the purpose of
the research conducted particularly in the Antarctic is to show that the sustainable
use of whales is feasible and possible. To this end, Japan considers it necessary to
conduct lethal and non-lethal research.
10 In other words, if the research objective
were a different one, lethal research may not be necessary. Or to put even more
differently, if Japan were to be able to conduct commercial whaling elsewhere, there
would not be a need to show that also in the Antarctic commercial whaling would be
possible. Even though the official Japanese statement on Japan’s withdrawal
11
merely mentions the cessation of Antarctic whaling, the fact that it now can
commercially whale in its own territorial waters and EEZ makes Antarctic research
whaling obsolete.
The question of whether or not scientific whaling is commercial whaling in
disguise is not a mere academic question, but also one with legal significance.
After all, the ICRW clearly allows whaling for “purposes of scientific research.”
12
If whaling was conducted for other purposes, this would mean a breach of the
convention’s provision and would thus be illegal for those parties conducting such
whaling. To fully understand this issue, however, we must now briefly turn to two
other elements in the context of legality of Japanese Antarctic scientific whaling. The
first one is that of whale sanctuaries. Whale sanctuaries are designated areas in which
all forms of commercial whaling are prohibited, irrespective of whether a global
moratorium is in place or not. The first sanctuary was established already in 1979,
thus 3 years before the adoption of the moratorium, and encompasses the entire
Indian Ocean up until 55
South latitude. The second was established in 1994 and is
the one relevant for the controversies surrounding Japanese whaling in the Antarctic
since it is called the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary (SOWS). It encircles the
9 Morikawa (2013)
10 ICR (2011).
11 Prime Minister of Japan and his Cabinet (2018).
12 ICRW, article VIII (1).
5.3 The International Whaling Commission, Whaling and Whales
101
dramatisation) of the conflict in the Antarctic.
The administrative arm of Japan’s research on whales is the Institute of Cetacean
Research (ICR) in Tokyo, which came into being in 1987 and emerged out of the
Whales Research Institute of 1947. Even though the ICR is supposedly a non-profit
organisation, it receives funding from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and
Forestry, whose Fisheries Agency represents Japan at the IWC. Moreover, there are
claims that other funding for ICR’s activities stems from profit-oriented players
within the whaling industry.
9 These claims cannot be independently verified,
however.
Be that as it may, Japan’s whaling programmes have generated a wide array of
scientific publications and the country has been an active contributor to the work of
the Scientific Committee of the IWC. While as such Japan’s research programmes
are not in question, the necessity of killing whales to obtain research results is subject
of the controversy. However, as the ICR makes unmistakably clear, the purpose of
the research conducted particularly in the Antarctic is to show that the sustainable
use of whales is feasible and possible. To this end, Japan considers it necessary to
conduct lethal and non-lethal research.
10 In other words, if the research objective
were a different one, lethal research may not be necessary. Or to put even more
differently, if Japan were to be able to conduct commercial whaling elsewhere, there
would not be a need to show that also in the Antarctic commercial whaling would be
possible. Even though the official Japanese statement on Japan’s withdrawal
11
merely mentions the cessation of Antarctic whaling, the fact that it now can
commercially whale in its own territorial waters and EEZ makes Antarctic research
whaling obsolete.
The question of whether or not scientific whaling is commercial whaling in
disguise is not a mere academic question, but also one with legal significance.
After all, the ICRW clearly allows whaling for “purposes of scientific research.”
12
If whaling was conducted for other purposes, this would mean a breach of the
convention’s provision and would thus be illegal for those parties conducting such
whaling. To fully understand this issue, however, we must now briefly turn to two
other elements in the context of legality of Japanese Antarctic scientific whaling. The
first one is that of whale sanctuaries. Whale sanctuaries are designated areas in which
all forms of commercial whaling are prohibited, irrespective of whether a global
moratorium is in place or not. The first sanctuary was established already in 1979,
thus 3 years before the adoption of the moratorium, and encompasses the entire
Indian Ocean up until 55
South latitude. The second was established in 1994 and is
the one relevant for the controversies surrounding Japanese whaling in the Antarctic
since it is called the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary (SOWS). It encircles the
9 Morikawa (2013)
10 ICR (2011).
11 Prime Minister of Japan and his Cabinet (2018).
12 ICRW, article VIII (1).
5.3 The International Whaling Commission, Whaling and Whales
101