Japan has withdrawn from the International Whaling Commission, and the Japanese whaling fleet has abandoned their so-called “research whaling” to resume commercial whaling for the first time in 31 years. That is the bad news.

There is another way to look at the story, whoever. Japan has withdrawn from Antarctic whaling, is limiting new commercial whaling to Japanese territorial waters and is reducing the number of whales killed by 30 – 75%, depending on how you do the math.

Previously, Japan had allowed roughly 900 whales to be taken in “research whaling.” They often came in with far fewer whales. The last season of research whaling yielded 333 whales.  The new commercial whaling quotas will allow 227 whales to be killed. So, while the resumption of commercial whaling is not good news, the Japanese will be killing fewer whales in a more restricted area, reflecting the continued decline in Japanese whaling overall. 

Japan’s relationship to whales and whaling is complicated.  While supporters claim that whale meat is an important part of the diet and culture, fewer and fewer Japanese are eating less and less whale meat. Where whale meat was a critical source of protein for the Japanese after World War II, the average per capita consumption of whale meat is around 500 grams. In contrast, the Japanese eat 31.6 kilograms per capita of chicken, pork and beef and around 35 kilograms per capita of fish. Overall, the Japanese eat per capita about the same quantity of whale meat as they do horseflesh. 

On the other hand, National Geographic observes that the Japanese are becoming more interested in watching whales than eating them.  It turns out that the business of whale watching in Japan is booming.  

While the news has focused on Japanese whaling, Norway and Iceland continue with commercial whaling. Recently, Norway increased its annual whaling quota to 1,278 whales, while Iceland announced that it will allow 2,000 whales to be killed over five years.