It is expected that many, if not all, these whales will be slaughtered before day’s end in what is known as a drive hunt. Japanese drive hunts are regulated at the local level by Prefectural governments. Wakayama Prefecture’s drive hunt season for pilot whales runs between September 1 and April 30th. These pilot whales will therefore be taken outside that period which may constitute a violation.
Pilot whales (as well as Baird’s beaked whales and Risso’s dolphins) are also hunted by fishermen in Taiji in Small Type Whaling (STW) hunts. These hunts are conducted up to 50 miles offshore using harpoons mounted on small fishing boats (<50 tons). The national government (Fisheries Agency) sets the quotas, seasons and regulations for STW hunts. This spring, Taiji will not undertake a STW hunt of pilot whales because its STW vessel has been sent to Kushiro, a whaling city in Hokkaido, instead to participate in the annual hunt of up to 120 minke whales.
This hunt is part of Japan’s so-called scientific whaling program in the North Pacific (JARPN II). The Fisheries Agency permits 60 minke whales to be hunted in the coastal waters of Ayukawa in Miyagi Prefecture, and 60 more to be killed each autumn off Kushiro in Hokkaido. The vessels used are STW vessels sent from other towns. Following the devastation of Ayukawa by the recent tsunami, the spring hunt has been relocated to Kushiro and sought an additional vessel from Taiji. The Japanese press reports that after its partcipatiion in the spring minke hunt off Kushiro, the Taiji vessel will hunt Bairds beaked whales in Hokkaido and Chiba prefectures before returning to Kushiro for the autumn minke hunt. It will not return to Taiji until much later this year.
According to Japan’s Fisheries Agency, the national 2011 STW quota for short-finned pilot whales is 36 whales with a fishing season from May 1 through August 15 and September 1 through 30th. We are trying to verify the specific quota for Taiji. WDCS suspects that, in the absence of the STW boat, the national government may somehow have permitted Taiji’s STW pilot whale quotas to be taken in the drive hunt instead.
Killing cetaceans is a year-round business in Japan, considering the overlapping seasons of the drive hunts, STW hunts and the hand-held harpoon hunts which target other dolphin and porpoise species offshore, as well as its two so-called scientific whaling seasons.
WDCS will seek action to address any violation of regulations that might have occurred with today’s drive hunt.
What you can do!
1. Immediately contact the local authorities in Taiji and request the release of the pilot whales currently being held for slaughter!
TAIJI FISHING COOPERATIVE
3167-7 Taiji
Wakayama, 649-5171 Japan
Tel: +81-735-59-3517
Fax: +81-735-59-3018
Email: [email protected]
GOVERNOR OF WAKAYAMA PREFECTURE
Mr. Yoshinobu Nisaka
Tel: +81-73-432-4111
Fax: +81-73-432-9500
E-mail: [email protected]
2.Contact the highest political and diplomatic authorities in the US and Japan to call for an end to the drive hunts for good!
PRIME MINISTER OF JAPAN
Prime Minister Naoto Kan
1-6-1 Nagata-cho
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo. 100-8914 JAPAN
Tel: +81-3-5253-2111
Website: http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/index-e.html
Online comment form #1: https://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/forms/comment_ssl.html
MINISTER OF FISHERIES
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
Masahiko Yamada
1-2-1 Kasumigaseki
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo. 100-8950 JAPAN
Tel: +81-3-3502-8111
Fax: +81-3-3502-8220
Website: http://www.maff.go.jp/e/index.html
Contact form: https://www.contact.maff.go.jp/maff/form/114e.html
EMBASSY OF JAPAN IN WASHINGTON D.C.
Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki
2520 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.
Washington D.C. 20008-2869
Tel: (202) 238-6700
Fax: (202) 328-2187
E-mail: [email protected]