Japan and Iceland exploit a provision in the International Whaling Convention that allows whales to be killed for scientific purposes. These “scientific” whaling programs result in whale meat sold in supermarkets and restaurants in both countries.

Perhaps the clearest signal of the real motives behind whaling has come from Japan’s own Fisheries Minister who called whales “the cockroaches of the sea” and promotes products such as whale blubber ice cream and whale burgers.

Needless cruelty and pain
Some whales continue to live up to an hour after being speared with an explosive harpoon, which is supposed to provide “instantaneous” death. Others are shot full of bullets to be finished off, feeling the agony of multiple gunshot wounds before slowly dying.

Whaling also presents grave conservation risks. Any hunting of so-called “abundant" species also puts endangered species at risk. History has proven that attempts to put sustainable limits on whaling result in hunted species being reduced to extremely low numbers.

In the name of greed, not science
The painful killing of whales does not benefit science, whales or people. Research conducted in this manner is completely unnecessary, as other humane methods for collecting identical data already exist.

In fact the IWC has clearly stated it does not need information obtained by killing whales and that Japan's scientific whaling data is "not required for management".

Meat from endangered and protected whales is widely available in Japanese and Korean markets, according to DNA research supported by IFAW. This research reveals the truth - legal whaling is providing a cover for the illegal hunting of, and trade in, endangered species. The research also reveals that there is inadequate regulation and policing of illegal whaling.

 

IFAW needs your help to expose illegal trade in whale products, transform the “scientific” whaling model to one that is ecologically sound, and promote whale watching instead of whaling. Please join us!

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