Seminar on Commercial Whaling in Japan

Minke whale underwater. /Photo by Len Jon on Flickr.

The Hatfield Marine Science Center’s research seminar continues with a talk on the "Five Years Past since the Resumption of Commercial Whaling in Japan." It occurs on Thursday, Oct. 26, at 3:30 p.m., in the Gladys Valley Marine Studies Building auditorium at HMSC (2030 S.E. Marine Science Dr. in Newport).

This is a hybrid event; use this link to join via Zoom.

The speaker is Akamine Jun, a Professor in the Graduate School of Social Sciences, Hitotsubashi University.

About the talk:

"In 2021, Professor Akamine Jun sailed with the Japanese whaling fleet as an observer.  In this presentation, he will provide an account of that voyage, while detailing the current state of Japanese whaling and whale-meat consumption.  Since its controversial withdrawal from the IWC (International Whaling Commission) on June 30, 2019, Japan has annually taken 25 Sei whales, 187 Bryde’s whales, and 167 minke whales.  The presentation will first examine the major changes that have taken place sine Japan ended its Special Permit Whaling (or Research Whaling) that lasted 31 years from the 1987/88 Antarctic season until 2019.  The total supply of whale meat has since decreased by around 1,000 metric tons compared with the Special Permit Whaling period. 

The second part of the presentation will detail the current commercial whaling of Bryde’s whales by the last remaining factory ship, Nisshinmaru (8,030 gross tons)  . The presentation will lastly investigate recent changes of consumption patterns of whale meat in Japan, where demand for lean meat is increasing and demand for traditional blubber and intestines is decreasing.  This has led to increased whale meat imports from Norway and Iceland expansion."