Japan suspends humpback whale hunt

Japan has suspended its first humpback whale hunt in seas off Antarctica since the 1960s. They dropped the planned taking of 50 humpbacks which have been off-limits to commercial hunting since 1966 at the behest of the United States , the chair of the International Whaling Commission, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura. The suspension will last a year or two but there will be no changes to Japan 's stance on their other research whaling.

Japan's scientific whaling research program kills a total of 1,000 whales  a year in the Pacific ( mostly minke whales) . The country has wrestled with the IWC for years to overturn its 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling, and recently has called for a normalization of the group to return to its original mission of managing sea resources, rather than banning whaling.

The decision was cheered by anti-whaling nations with reservations as there is no credible justification for the hunting of any whales, however this should be the first step towards ending all whaling in the Southern Ocean, not just one species for one season.

As much as we are rejoicing at this latest news here at the Marine Connection we must not forget that this good news only applies to humpback whales - Japan still plans to kill as many as 935 minke whales and up to 50 fin whales in the Antarctic in what the Fisheries Agency says is its largest-ever scientific whale hunt.

Commercial hunts of humpbacks which were nearly harpooned to extinction in the 20th century were banned in the Southern Pacific in 1963, and that ban was extended worldwide in 1966.