After 30 Years, Japan Officially Resumes Commercial Whaling

Although the withdrawal from the IWC has proven very controversial, Japanese fishermen view it as a way of resuming an age-old tradition.

People’s taste for whale might be waning, however. Back in the 1960s, domestic consumption of whale meat was about 200,000 tons a year, but has now declined to about 5,000 tons.

Although commercial whaling was banned by an IWC moratorium in 1986, Japan has exploited a loophole to continue hunting whales for “scientific research” while selling the meat.

And Japan isn’t alone in its controversial whaling practices. Iceland recently announced its intention to ignore the IWC whaling ban by allowing 2,000 whales to be hunted over the next five years. Norway also ignores the moratorium and has continued its commercial whaling campaigns.

This article was updated on July 1, 2019.