Japan Kills First Fin Whale Despite Global Condemnation

Japan just announced that it killed its first fin whale in years.

The whale, which was 64 feet long and weighed 55 tons, was caught off Iwate Prefecture by a whaling company called Kyodo Senpaku. Japan is one of very few countries that ignore international rules surrounding the hunting of whales. Fin whales, which are the second-largest animal on Earth — the blue whale is the largest — are considered by International Union for Conservation of Nature to be “vulnerable to extinction.”

The announcement comes just a few weeks after Captain Paul Watson was arrested in Greenland on an international warrant issued by Japanese officials.

Watson believes that his arrest was related to Japan’s intent to restart whaling outside of Japanese waters with the help of a new vessel called the The Kangei Maru, which serves as an on-water processing plant for other smaller whaling ships.

“Although Japan has operated in violation of the ICJ [International Court of Justice] ruling for several years, they ceased Antarctic high-seas whaling in 2016 and now only hunt whales within their territorial waters,” The Captain Paul Watson Foundation (CPWF) said in a press release at the time of Watson’s arrest. “CPWF suspects that Japan intends to resume high-seas whaling in the Southern Ocean and North Pacific by 2025, and believes the reactivation of the Red Notice against Captain Watson is politically motivated, coinciding with the launch of the new factory ship.”

In May, 2024, fin whales were added to the list of of species that can be caught in Japan.

“The country’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries announced that they would allow the hunting of 59 fin whales, along with its existing quotas for minke whales, Bryde’s whales, and sei whales,” IFLScience explained.

Japan defended its decision to add fin whales to the list by saying that their numbers have rebounded in the North Pacific to the point where they can be sustainably hunted. That statement, however, has been largely panned by most experts.

“The fin whale is the second largest animal on earth. Putting it in the gunsights in 2024 is a big mistake for Japan, for whales, and for the international community working to protect them. We call on Japan immediately to withdraw this indefensible decision,” Catherine Bell, Director of International Policy at the International Fund for Animal Welfare, said in a statement sent to IFLScience. “There is no humane way to kill a whale at sea and we have profound concerns about the welfare implications of this proposed hunt. Japanese whalers have not killed fin whales since 2011 and current harpoon operators may have no experience in killing a species that is significantly bigger – longer and heavier – than the largest species they currently hunt. Harpoons are usually not effective at killing whales on impact, leading to a slow and painful death.”

A few years ago, Japan withdrew from the International Whaling Commission (IWC), a worldwide panel that seeks to regulate the whaling industry. Eighty-eight countries are members, but Iceland, Norway, and Japan are not and still actively hunt whales. Japan was a member until 2019, when it withdrew and quickly resumed hunting whales.