Whaling Subsidies Cost Japanese Taxpayers $378 Million: Study
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The Japanese government is propping up the nation’s whaling industry with millions of dollars a year in taxpayers’ money, revealed research by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) this week, despite weak demand for whale meat domestically and little scientific value to its so-called “research.”
The Japanese government is propping up the nation’s whaling industry with millions of dollars a year in taxpayers’ money, revealed research by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) this week, despite weak demand for whale meat domestically and little scientific value to its so-called “research.”
The study, based largely on data from Japan’s own statistics bureau, demonstrated that whaling had been unprofitable for more than two decades; forcing the government to hand out more than $378 million in subsidies since 1987, with 2011 costs around 2.28 billion yen ($28.55m).
Entitled “The Economics Of Japanese Whaling”, the new study also showed that consumption of whale meat among the Japanese public was down to around 1 percent of its peak in the early 1960s; while stockpiles of unsold whale meat have increased to nearly 5,000 tons – more than four times more than what it was 15 years ago.
“Whaling is an economic loser in the 21st century,” said IFAW Global Whale Programme Director Patrick Ramage. “Here it is, for the first time, in black and white.”
[quote]“IFAW’s report proves conclusively that Japan’s cruel whaling industry is dying in the water while Japanese taxpayers are being forced to foot the bill. This cruel, outmoded industry is in the red,” he added.[/quote]According to Discovery News, the Japanese whale hunt presently underway in Antartic waters will be further hampered by opposition from the Australian and New Zealand governments.
Australia is demanding that Tokyo withdraw its “research whaling” fleet from the Southern Ocean, arguing that Tokyo’s claims to be hunting whales for scientific research “can not be justified” under the terms of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling.
“Australia has made it clear to Japan on a number of occasions that vessels associated with its whaling program are not welcome. Our embassy in Tokyo has conveyed these sentiments directly to the Japanese government,” said the country’s environment minister Tony Burke in a statement.
The Japanese government though is unlikely to bow to international pressure, despite surveys showing that nearly 90 percent of Japanese have not bought whale meat in the last 12 months; while a further 85 percent were opposed to using money for the hunt.
In 2011, an official from the Japanese Fisheries Agency confirmed that Japan had $29 million from its tsunami relief budget to fund the annual practice.
Related: Japan Admits Using $29 Million From Disaster Fund For Whaling Hunt
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In an interview with The Guardian, Prof Masayuki Komatsu, a former agriculture ministry official who teaches ocean and marine resource policy at the national graduate institute for policy studies in Tokyo, agreed that whaling in its current form was economically unsustainable. He however blamed international authorities for reducing the nation’s annual watch catch, causing unattractive high prices in the market in the process.
“For older Japanese, whale meat is something special that you are happy to pay a premium for,” he said. “But young people have never experienced the taste. It’s not special to them and there are plenty of other sources of protein they can turn to. Japan needs to sell whale meat at a competitive price, similar to that of pork or chicken, and to do that it needs to increase its annual catch.”
Nevertheless, his argument contradicted with the findings of the IFAW’s report, which, for the first time, provided the clearest picture ever of the failing whaling industry.
[quote]”Now is the time for concerned citizens, NGOs and governments around the world to stop bludgeoning the good people of Japan and start helping them migrate from whaling to whale watching – a profitable solution that benefits whales, people and coastal communities in Japan and around the world,” said IFAW’s Ramage.[/quote]
