Front Page

Requiem for the humpback whale

— PHOTO: AFP

BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS: A Japanese whaling ship harpoons a whale off Antarctica, in this file picture.

TOKYO: Japan is set to break a decades-old moratorium on hunting the humpback whale when its largest ever scientific whaling programme sets sail for the South Pacific on Sunday.

Japan’s whaling fleet will leave for the South Pacific with orders to kill up to 50 humpbacks — the first known large-scale hunt for the whales since a 1963 moratorium put them under international protection.

The lead ship’s operator said on Saturday the fleet was scheduled to sail from Shimonoseki. The ships, led by the 8,030-tonne Nisshin Maru, will embark on their largest scientific whale hunt ever in the South Pacific. They will also take up to 935 Antarctic minke whales and up to 50 fin whales.

But it is Tokyo’s plans to hunt the humpback — a favourite among whale-watchers for its distinctive knobby head, intelligence and out-of-the-water acrobatics — that has triggered condemnation from environmentalists. “These whales don’t have to die,” said a Greenpeace spokesman. “Humpbacks are very sensitive and live in close-knit pods. So even one death can be extremely damaging.”

Humpback whales were hunted to near-extinction four decades ago. They have been off-limits since 1963 except for a small number caught under a subsistence whaling programme by Greenland and the Caribbean nation of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Last year they caught one humpback each, according to the International Whaling Commission.

The former Soviet Union also hunted humpbacks until 1973 in defiance of the ban, though it is disputed how many were killed.

Scientists say humpback whales are complex creatures that communicate through long, complex “songs.” Measuring 40 to 48 feet and weighing 25 to 40 tonnes, they are extremely acrobatic. Often they throw themselves out of the water, swim on their backs with both flippers in the air, or slap the water with their tail or flippers.

The American Cetacean Society estimates the global humpback population at 30,000 to 40,000, about a third of levels seen before modern whaling. The species is listed as “vulnerable” by the World Conservation Union.

But Japanese officials insist that both humpback and fin populations — estimated at up to 60,000 — are back to sustainable levels. “Humpback whales in our research area are rapidly recovering,” said Hideki Moronuki, the whaling chief at the Japanese Fisheries Agency. “Taking 50 humpbacks from a population of tens of thousands will have no significant impact whatsoever.” He says killing whales allows marine biologists to study their internal organs. Ovaries provide vital clues to their reproductive systems, earwax indicates age, and stomach contents reveal eating habits.

Meat from Japan’s scientific catch is sold commercially, as permitted by the IWC, but Japanese officials deny that profit is a goal. They argue that whaling is a Japanese tradition dating to the early 1600s, and has pushed unsuccessfully at the IWC to reverse the 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling.

Environmentalists criticise Japan’s research programme as a pretext to keep the whaling industry alive, and have long campaigned for an end to the winter catch in the Southern Ocean and a mission in the North Pacific that kills about 100 minke whales a year.

Scientists note that humpbacks migrate to the southern seas from breeding grounds around the world.

“Some of the breeding grounds are not recovering to the same extent as others,” said Ken Findlay, a whale biologist at the University of Cape Town who has studied the mammals for nearly two decades. “While the catch may be small, we’re not sure where they come from. That’s a real concern.”

Environmentalists are critical also of the methods used by Japan’s fleet to harpoon them. Ships sometimes chase wounded whales for hours.

The new hunt is certain to renew Japan’s angry standoff with anti-whaling forces. Greenpeace and the animal rights activist group Sea Shepherd have said they would track Japan’s hunt in the South Pacific.

Japan accuses such activists of “environmental terrorism.” After the last Antarctic hunt, the government released video images of protesters launching smoke canisters from a Sea Shepherd ship and dropping ropes and nets to entangle Japanese ships’ propellers.

“We call them terrorists because they engage in blatant terrorism,” Mr. Moronuki said. “We don’t want violence... all Japan wants is to find a sustainable way to hunt a very precious marine resource.” — AP

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu