Defiant whalers becoming the endangered species

AYUKAWA in northeastern Japan may not have much by way of culture and history, but it certainly makes the most of what it does have.

It has declared itself the Town of Whaling. Next to the port is a shopping centre where visitors can buy whale bone jewellery and cuddly whale toys, and dine on whale sushi and whale curry.

Troupes perform whalethemed dances at the annual Whale Festival, while stalls sell dishes of fried whale meat. The local Buddhist temple has an obelisk commemorating the spirits of whales. A multimedia museum is housed in a whaleshaped building with displays of whale skeletons, harpoons and a whaling ship, and videos on the history of whaling and its revival as an industry of the future.

Three years ago, amid intense controversy and international criticism, Japan walked out of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), the body that imposed a worldwide ban on the hunting of whales.

Released from its strictures, Japanese whalers carried out commercial whaling for the first time in more than three decades. The remaining fleet of five privately owned coastal whaling boats, as well as one large whaling company, have been allowed to go out hunting. Two of the boats are based in Ayukawa.

After Japan submitted to the IWC ban in 1988, a loophole permitted ‘‘scientific whaling’’, in which the government paid for ‘‘research’’ into whale numbers – a thinly veiled pretext to keep the industry alive.

As a commercial proposition, however, whaling is fraught with difficulty.

The cold, dangerous life of a whaler has little appeal for the young – the age of whale hunters is rising. Mysterious changes in the ocean and patterns of marine life have made finding whales more difficult than ever.

In the years since commercial whaling resumed, the coastal boats have failed to reach their permitted quota of 120 whales a season. And even when the meat is ready, few Japanese are interested.

After World War II, whale meat was an important source of protein, served regularly as part of school dinners. In the wealthy Japan of the 21st century, however, it competes with a vast range of foods.

In 1962, about 200,000 tonnes of whale meat was sold nationally. In 2016, the figure was 3000 tonnes, compared with 2.6 million tonnes of pork and 2.4 million tonnes of chicken.

Whaling communities are trying to promote the image of whale meat as sophisticated haute cuisine. But there is no sign that this will transform the meat’s image any time soon.

With high costs and low demand, the industry relies on subsidies, estimated by Junko Sakuma, an independent whale industry researcher, at about NZ$66 million a year.

Many Japanese environmental campaigners, however, welcome the return to commercial whaling for a simple reason: it has actually led to fewer whales being slaughtered, and it promises to kill off the industry within a generation.

‘‘The government took up commercial whaling to save face,’’ Sakuma said. ‘‘Antipathy from foreign countries made them stronger. It’s best to remain quiet and not fuel the argument.’’