Why a new Japanese whaling ship is good news for animal welfare campaigners
- Top whaling firm Kyodo Senpaku is pouring US$54 million into a new mother ship to replace its ageing Nisshin Maru
- But with the Japanese losing their appetite for whale meat and the government slashing subsidies, the expense could help sink an industry already heading for bankruptcy, campaigners believe
After years of thinly disguised commercial whaling under the pretence of scientific research, Japan withdrew from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in 2019 and immediately permitted its fleet to operate commercially in domestic waters.
Last year, the government subsidised the industry – at taxpayers’ expense – to the tune of 5.1 billion yen, despite whale meat sales netting less than half of this in return, at just 2.5 billion yen.
The whalers’ financial situation worsened in April, when Kyodo Senpaku, one of the main whaling firms, was informed that after receiving 1.3 billion yen last year for “the development of fishing grounds and technological innovation”, the subsidy was being slashed to a loan of 340 million yen that would have to be repaid.
Nevertheless, the company announced after a shareholder meeting in June that it was going ahead with the construction of a new whaling ship to replace the ageing Nisshin Maru – although the 6 billion yen being spent on the ship is less than half of the initially proposed budget of 15 billion yen.