Norwegian Whaling Expertise

(Opinion piece from the Nippon Keizai Shinbun, 4 Feb 2008. Translated by Paul Bartels) 

Japan's scientific whaling vessels continue to encounter obstruction, while western environmental groups strengthen their stance against whaling. The object of Japan's scientific whaling program is to undertake objective investigation of the whales' ecosystems.

Over-fishing has resulted in a decline in whale populations which has lead to a ban on commercial whaling. Japan now only conducts scientific whaling, but anti-whaling countries and environmental groups oppose all whaling.

What is the history behind the emergence of such opposing viewpoints?

The history of whaling is long.

Wall paintings in caves in northern Norway reveal that small whales were hunted from boats as early as 2200 B.C. In the 11th century in what is now northern Spain, the Basques used harpoons to conduct large scale coastal and offshore whaling. Whale meat was used for food and oil rendered from the blubber used in lamps while the baleen from baleen whales was for frames in umbrellas and clothing.

In the 17th century in the age of sail, ships from England and Holland ventured into the Arctic waters in search of whales. In Japan, harpoon whaling began in the 17th century, before progressing to whaling by herding whales into nets. Towards the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate, American whaling vessels appeared in Japanese waters. Indeed, American whalers ranged over the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans, harvesting whales to use in everything from candle wax to machine oil. It is even said that when Admiral Perry's black ships arrived in Uraga in Shinagawa to open Japan to the west, it was to ensure a resupply port for the whaling fleet.

But it was the arrival of Norwegian whaling techniques in the middle of the 19th century that truly revolutionized whaling. It was Norwegian whalers who pioneered the use of cannon mounted on the bow of steamships to harpoon whales before hauling them aboard. It was the use of steamships combined with harpoon cannon that allowed Norwegian ships to harvest large, fast swimming whales, such as blue whales.

Juro Oka, from Yamaguchi-ken, established Japan Enyo Fisheries (later to become the Japan Maritime Whaling Division) in 1899 and introduced modern whaling to Japan.
According to "The History of Antarctic Whaling" (Morikuni Itabashi, Chuko-shinsho Press), Norway sold Japan whaling cannon but would not instruct whalers in their use. Norwegian gunners belonged to a Medieval-style guild  and were loathe to pass on the secrets of the trade. Because of this, Japan Enyo Fisheries employed a Norwegian staying in Nagasaki to instruct them in the techniques.

Progress in whaling also includes a history of declines in the whale population. Depletion of local stocks lead Basques to expand from coastal to offshore whaling and forced England and Holland to send their fleets to the Arctic to secure their catch. Norwegian whaling techniques spurred a further collapse in stocks as countries sent their fleets to the Antarctic, as whaling entered the 20th century.

The use of "mother ships" to render whale blubber into oil on location in the Southern Ocean allowed fleets to catch even greater numbers of whales. Before World War Two, as the decline in global whale populations became conspicuous, the United Nations began to discuss the regulation of whaling. After the war, the International Whaling Commission was established and gradually began to strengthen whaling controls, culminating in a temporary suspension of commercial whaling that continues to this day.

On the basis of its research, Japan aims to recommence whaling of those species whose populations have sufficiently recovered, but realistically, the prospects for realizing this are not good.