Bowhead whales - No connection to the incident.

Foreign Minister McCully has raised the alarm to anti-whaling protesters that ships of Japanese origin will be armed to the teeth, and cautions activists to keep an eye out.

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whale meat

If you have your tongue set on eating some whale meat tonight, you may consider heading off to Ulsan. There has been a sharp increase in the number of local restaurants in this major city over the past year, they now tally over 100, the city government reported this past Sunday.

The number of restaurants has climbed nearly four hundred percent since last year, and the it is the city with the most since the International Whaling commission placed a worldwide halt on commercial whaling back in 1986.

The officials of the city have said that minke whale is the hottest item on the menu. However, hunting whales for commercial purposes is outlawed around the globe, that is of course unless they are caught “accidentally” in fishermens’ nets.

Korea specifically is one of the countries in the world which is the most strict when it comes to the enforcement of the laws which protect endangered species.

Nonetheless, a lot of “accidents” occur, and whale meat continues to be a traditional local delicacy in the city. These whales will sell for anywhere from 25 million won ($21,000) and up, when the supplies are low and the demand is high. On the black market, an illegally caught whale will go for somewhere in the 16 million won ($14,000) range.

The illegal trading of these endangered species is the main reason these restaurants can give you those delectable whale dishes on their menus. Many environmental groups are crying foul, and are pushing for more monitoring and higher penalties for illegal hunting of whales.

That being the case, you can expect to see many more “accidental” catches, and many more dishes to come.

Most IWC* member countries accidently kill whales, e.g. by unintentionally ramming into them with motorized vessels or by using fishing methods that may entangle and suffocate these air-breathing mammals as accidental by-catch. While this type of accidental deaths is reported from most member nations, Japan and South Korea have an inordinate amount of accidental by-catchs, says Professor Scott Baker, associate director of the Marine Mammal Institute at Oregon State University.

By analysing the DNA of whale-meat products sold in Japanese markets, Baker, a cetacean expert, and Dr Vimoksalehi Lukoscheck of the University of California-Irvine, found that meat from as many as 150 whales came from the coastal population. Japan’s scientific whaling program only targets whales from open ocean populations, but whales accidently killed outside the program are allowed to be sold.

Humpback Whale

Japan and South Korea are the only countries that allow the commercial sale of products derived from whales killed as accidental by-catch and the sheer number of whales represented by whale-meat products on the market suggests that there might be something fishy about these allegedly accidental kills.

They DNA study showed that nearly 46 percent of examined Minke whale products came from a coastal whale population, which has distinct genetic characteristics, and is protected by international agreements. In addition to minke whales, Baker and Lukoscheck also found DNA from Humpback whales, Bryde’s whales, Fin whales, and Western gray whales.

“The sale of bycatch alone supports a lucrative trade in whale meat at markets in some Korean coastal cities, where the wholesale price of an adult minke whale can reach as high as $100,000,” Baker said. “Given these financial incentives, you have to wonder how many of these whales are, in fact, killed intentionally.”

In January 2008, Korean police launched an investigation into organized illegal whaling in the port town of Ulsan, reportedly seizing 50 tons of minke whale meat.

Japan has asked the IWC, who is holding its annual meeting this week, to allow a small coastal whaling program in Japanese waters. This request is something that professor Baker says should be scrutinized carefully because of the uncertainty of the actual catch and the need to determine appropriate population counts to sustain the distinct stocks.

Baker and Lukoscheck have presented their findings to the IWC commission and the study will also be published in a forthcoming issue of the journal Animal Conservation.

* International Whaling Commission

Norway, one of the two countries that openly defy the IWC ban on commercial whaling, has suspended this year’s whale hunt mid-season after catching less than half the quota of 885 whales. The suspension coincides with this week’s annual IWC meeting in Portugal, but is not linked to the meeting or any adjacent negotiations. Instead, a lack of demand in the Norwegian distribution chain is cited as the reason behind the surprising deferment.

“The number of whales killed so far is enough to meet the known demand,” said Willy Godtliebsen, head of sales at the Norwegian Fishermen’s Sales Organisation (NFSO). “They may resume the hunt later if new buyers turn up.”

According to NFSO marketing director Lise Mangseth, the suspension is an effect of the current financial crisis. The financial situation has dissuaded processing plants from freezing and stocking the meat the way they normally do, in order to save money.

“More generally, [the suspension is due to] organisational problems rather than a problem of demand,” Mangseth said. “The whalers are such small actors and the volumes from the hunt are so limited that the distribution chains don’t really want to invest in their product and there are no marketing campaigns as there are for other food products“.

She also claimed that it isn’t unusual for whalers to take a break during the season.

Greenpeace are interpreting the suspension as a sign of waning consumer demands for whale meat.

“If they don’t start the hunt again later this season, 2009 will be the ‘worst’ year for whaling since Norway resumed commercial whaling”, Greenpeace spokesman Jo Kuper said.

Norway resumed whaling in 1993, despite international protests. When Norwegian whalers were asked to suspend their hunt on Tuesday this week, 350 Minke whales had been harpooned since the start of the whaling season in April. Normally, the hunt would continue until October.

Of the 679 whales Japan reported killing during the hunt of 2008/2009, 304 were female. 192 of them were pregnant and four were lactating.

“The four lactating females would each have had a calf that would have starved to death,” said Michael Kennedy, director of the Humane Society International Australia.

The details of Japan’s impact on female whales was contained in what is known as a “Cruise Report”, secretly sent to the IWC’s* scientific committee before the IWC meeting in Portugal this week.

Japan claims that its whaling is legal, scientific research, but many opponents have spoken out against what they see as an unnecessary slaughtering of animals under the guise of science.

“They report they measure the length and weight of the foetus, they measure their eyes and take skin samples from the foetus for what they call genetic studies,” said Kennedy. “It is gruesome, useless information which, if it was even needed, could be found without dismembering a foetus.”

Australian Environment Minister Peter Garrett, who is attending the IWC meeting in Portugal, said Japan had killed more than 13,000 whales in the name of science IWC banned commercial whaling in 1986.

* International Whaling Commission

Australia and New Zealand announced Thursday that they will carry out a six-week long non-lethal whale research expedition in the Antarctic early next year. Dubbing the expedition non-lethal is a direct challenge to Japan’s research program that kills up to 1,000 whales a year.

Iceland and Norway are the only two countries openly defying the IWC ban on commercial whaling; Japan is instead using a lope whole that allows for “lethal research”. Whale meat resulting from the Japanese research is sold for human consumption and many critics claim that this is the real motive behind the program.

In a joint statement, Australia and New Zealand announced their intentions to reform science management within the International Whaling Commission, which holds its annual meeting in Madeira, Portugal, next week, and end Japan’s “so-called scientific whaling.”

“This expedition and the ongoing research program will demonstrate to the world that we do not need to kill whales to study and understand them,” said Australian Environment Minister Peter Garrett.

The expedition aims to increase our knowledge of population structures, abundance, trends, distribution, and the ecological role of whales in the Southern Ocean.

During the latest Japanese hunt, which ended in April, 679 minke whales and one fin whale was killed over a period of five months.

According to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS), Greenland intends to ask permission to hunt a quota of 50 humpbacks over five years. The request will be put forward at an international key meeting on Tuesday where the 40 year long moratorium on whaling will be discussed.

“The WDCS urges member states and the Czech presidency [of the European Union] not to put at risk the EU’s reputation for commitment to the conservation of the world’s whales,” WDCS spokesman Nicolas Entrup said in Lisbon, Portugal.

On Tuesday, the annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) will commence on Madeira, a Portuguese island.

Humpback whale
The humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) is a baleen whale found in all the major oceans (not including the Mediterranean and the Baltic Sea) in a wide band running from the Antarctic ice edge to 65° N latitude. It is known for its knobbly head and its habit of frequently breaching and slapping the water; a practise which has made it especially popular among whale watchers. The purpose of the famous humpback whale song produced by the males remains unclear, but it is believed to play a role in reproduction. This whale song lasts for 10-20 minutes and is repeated for hours at a time.

The introduction of the explosive harpoon in the late 1800s and increasingly better ships made it possible for whalers to drastically accelerate their take, which soon led to a sharp decline in most whale populations, including the humpback whale. An estimated number of 200,000 humpbacks where taken during the 20th century, reducing the global population by over 90% and bringing the North Atlantic population down to a mere 700 individuals. When the ban on commercial humpback whaling was introduced by the IWC in 1966, the global population consisted of an estimated 5000 whales.

Today, the Humpback has made a promising comeback. In 2008, it was moved from the “Vulnerable” section on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and has since then been listed as “Least Concern”, although two subpopulations remain endangered.

According to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), over 50,000 humpbacks can be found in the Southern Hemisphere, while the North Pacific Ocean is home to 18,000-20,000 individuals and the North Atlantic population comprises about 12,000 specimens.

The main threats to the humpback whales are today entanglement in fishing equipment, ship collisions, and noise pollution.

The 2009 whaling season has now started in the waters off Iceland.

Iceland and Norway are the only two countries that openly defy the international whaling moratorium; Japan is instead using a loop whole, claiming their whaling to be carried out for scientific purposes.

Former Icelandic fisheries minister Steingrimur Sigfusson said in February that Iceland would make no changes to its whaling quotas of 150 Fin whales and up to 150 Minke whales per year.

“The first batch of meat will be in stores by the weekend,” says Gunnar Bergmann Jonsson, manager of the Minke Whaler Association. He said 50 to 60 per cent of the meat will be sold domestically, while the rest is sold to Japan.

The first whales are usually killed in a bay outside Reykjavik, since whaling is prohibited close to the harbour. The prohibition has been imposed to prevent whalers from disturbing whale watchers, since that may cause damage to the Icelandic whale watching business.

The Icelandic whaling season usually runs from May to late September.

Whale facts
Also known as Little Piked Whales or Lesser Rorquals, Mink Whales prefer icy waters but are found world-wide. Once perceived as one single species, the population has quite recently been recognized as consisting of two distinct species: the Northern Mink Whale, Balaenoptera acutorostrata, and the Southern Mink Whale, Balaenoptera bonaerensis. Together, the two species are believed to form a population of over 1 million Minke Whales world-wide. Balaenoptera acutorostrata is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, while Balaenoptera bonaerensi is listed as Data Deficient since it was recognized as a separate species so recently.

The Fin Whale (Balaenoptera physalus) is also found world-wide, with 40,000-56,000 specimens living in the North Atlantic. Unlike the Mink Whale, the Fin Whale is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Photograph created by Erik Christensen. Taken on the Faroe island not Island.

Japan needed to cede more ground, says outgoing head of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) William Hogarth*, voicing regrets over his failure to design a compromise regarding Japanese “lethal research” on whales.

After a meeting next month in Portugal, Hogarth will step down as both US delegate and head of the world whaling body. While announcing his disappointment in leaving the chairmanship without having resolved the “scientific whaling” issue, Hogarth also said that his efforts brought civility to the IWC, where annual meetings had long been showdowns between pro- and anti-whaling nations.

Norway and Iceland are the only nations that hunt whales in open defiance of the 1986 IWC moratorium; Japan is instead using a loophole in the moratorium that allows for lethal research.

In a series of closed-door negotiations with Japan and other nations lead by Hogarth, Japan allegedly offered to reduce but not end its annual Antarctic whale hunts; an offer which infuriated the neighbouring countries Australia and New Zealand.

Japan accuses Western nations of cultural insensitivity and is currently pushing for the IWC to accept whaling of the coast of Japan, since whaling is a time-honoured Japanese tradition.

One of the highlights of Hogarth’s time as head of the International Whaling Commission was a compromise brokered by him in 2007, in which Japan agreed to suspend plans to expand its hunt to include Humpback whales – a species that haven’t been hunted by Japanese whalers for several decades.

* William Hogarth is a biologist and dean of the University of South Florida’s College of Marine Science.

U.S. and Canadian scientists have documented the first known migration of blue whales from the coast of California to areas off British Columbia and the Gulf of Alaska since the 1965 ban of commercial whaling.

Researchers identified 15 separate cases where Blue Whales were spotted in the waters off British Columbia and the Gulf of Alaska. Four of the observed animals were identified as Blue Whales previously seen swimming in Californian waters, which suggests that Blue Whales are re-establishing their old migration pattern.

The identifications were made by comparing pictures of Blue Whales photographed in the northern parts of the Pacific Ocean since 1997 with photographs of Blue Whales taken off the southern U.S. West Coast. The identity of individual Blue Whales was determined based on dorsal fin shape and pigmentation patterns in skin colour.

The Blue Whale was almost hunted to extinction during the 20^th century and even though commercial whaling has been prohibited (albeit not strictly enforced) since 1965 the populations are having a hard time recovering. Blue Whales are still listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and no more than roughly 5,000 to 12,000 Blue Whales are believed to remain in our oceans, with 2,000 of them living of the U.S. West Coast.

The migration research was conducted by scientists from Cascadia Research Collective in Washington State, NOAA’s* Southwest Fisheries Science Center in California, and Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans. You can read the full article in the most recent issue of the journal Marine Mammal Science.

* The United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)