tradition and allocate an ASW quota. As Australia expressed in the deliberations
surrounding Makah whaling, it rather hoped for a long-term phasing out of whaling
than a resumption of it. In other words, even though the Makah have a legal right to
conduct whaling, the overall wish to phase out whaling activities worldwide may
constitute a normative obstacle to this right. Moreover, just because an aboriginal
people has a history of whaling does not mean that its national government presents a
Needs Statement in the first place and thus opens the door for an allocation of a
quota. The case of the Ainu in Japan stands exemplary in this regard. As we have
seen in Chap. 3, apart from the coastal whaling tradition in Japan, also the indigenous Ainu have hunted whales and seals since time immemorial.
Several issues coalesce in the question of why the Ainu, despite their whaling
tradition, have not been recognised as ASW under the IWC. First and foremost,
domestic politics play a role. The Ainu have struggled to be recognised as an
indigenous people for decades and only in 1997 their status as an indigenous
minority was accepted. Only since 2009, however, the Ainu’s status within Japan
is officially that of an indigenous people, after Japan has signed the UN Declaration
on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) of 2007.
17 Since then, however, the
relationship between the Ainu and the Japanese government has not improved, but
has been marked by tensions. Negotiations between the Ainu and the Fisheries
Agency concerning Ainu whaling have thus far been unsuccessful and therefore a
Needs Statement from Japan concerning Ainu whaling has never been submitted.
With Japan’s withdrawal from the IWC, Ainu whaling might come into being, based
on domestic law. Notably, throughout the IWC’s history—as reflected in the
Commission’s annual reports—there has never been any reference to the Ainu.
This means that a discourse on Ainu whaling, or even Ainu ASW, does not exist
in the Commission. The Japanese government has thus not chosen to use this avenue
to reopen whaling for human consumption in its domestic waters.
Instead, Japan has tried to introduce a different category, which essentially aligns
itself with the ‘needs’ associated with ASW: Small-Type Coastal Whaling (STCW).
After all, some coastal communities have a long-standing history of whaling, the
most well-known of which is the dolphin and pilot whale drive in the town of Taiji in
Eastern Japan. Before the moratorium, Taiji whalers also set out to hunt baleen
whales, particularly minke, that were passing through the coastal waters of Japan.
The Taiji whale hunt dates back several hundred years and has played an important
socio-economic and cultural role in the community and in the region. After the
moratorium, Taiji and other coastal whalers no longer had the chance to go after
large whales despite their long-standing tradition and, arguably, their need for whale
meat. In order for these communities to continue whaling, the Japanese government
has since the late 1980s continuously argued for a whaling category between
commercial whaling and ASW. While essentially the same line of argumentation
as for aboriginal whaling, STCW naturally did not include an ethnic dimension, but
17 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 107th Plenary Meeting,
13 Sept 2007.
5.3 The International Whaling Commission, Whaling and Whales
107
surrounding Makah whaling, it rather hoped for a long-term phasing out of whaling
than a resumption of it. In other words, even though the Makah have a legal right to
conduct whaling, the overall wish to phase out whaling activities worldwide may
constitute a normative obstacle to this right. Moreover, just because an aboriginal
people has a history of whaling does not mean that its national government presents a
Needs Statement in the first place and thus opens the door for an allocation of a
quota. The case of the Ainu in Japan stands exemplary in this regard. As we have
seen in Chap. 3, apart from the coastal whaling tradition in Japan, also the indigenous Ainu have hunted whales and seals since time immemorial.
Several issues coalesce in the question of why the Ainu, despite their whaling
tradition, have not been recognised as ASW under the IWC. First and foremost,
domestic politics play a role. The Ainu have struggled to be recognised as an
indigenous people for decades and only in 1997 their status as an indigenous
minority was accepted. Only since 2009, however, the Ainu’s status within Japan
is officially that of an indigenous people, after Japan has signed the UN Declaration
on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) of 2007.
17 Since then, however, the
relationship between the Ainu and the Japanese government has not improved, but
has been marked by tensions. Negotiations between the Ainu and the Fisheries
Agency concerning Ainu whaling have thus far been unsuccessful and therefore a
Needs Statement from Japan concerning Ainu whaling has never been submitted.
With Japan’s withdrawal from the IWC, Ainu whaling might come into being, based
on domestic law. Notably, throughout the IWC’s history—as reflected in the
Commission’s annual reports—there has never been any reference to the Ainu.
This means that a discourse on Ainu whaling, or even Ainu ASW, does not exist
in the Commission. The Japanese government has thus not chosen to use this avenue
to reopen whaling for human consumption in its domestic waters.
Instead, Japan has tried to introduce a different category, which essentially aligns
itself with the ‘needs’ associated with ASW: Small-Type Coastal Whaling (STCW).
After all, some coastal communities have a long-standing history of whaling, the
most well-known of which is the dolphin and pilot whale drive in the town of Taiji in
Eastern Japan. Before the moratorium, Taiji whalers also set out to hunt baleen
whales, particularly minke, that were passing through the coastal waters of Japan.
The Taiji whale hunt dates back several hundred years and has played an important
socio-economic and cultural role in the community and in the region. After the
moratorium, Taiji and other coastal whalers no longer had the chance to go after
large whales despite their long-standing tradition and, arguably, their need for whale
meat. In order for these communities to continue whaling, the Japanese government
has since the late 1980s continuously argued for a whaling category between
commercial whaling and ASW. While essentially the same line of argumentation
as for aboriginal whaling, STCW naturally did not include an ethnic dimension, but
17 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 107th Plenary Meeting,
13 Sept 2007.
5.3 The International Whaling Commission, Whaling and Whales
107