Footage of Japanese hunting ship killing fin whales

The footage shows dead fin whales being hauled onto the new whaling “mother ship” Kangei Maru, a 9,300-ton vessel launched in May. Workers stand around the carcass and use large knives to carve up the meat. The whale meat is then stored in refrigerated containers on board the ship for shipment to Japan.

“This is the first fin whale catch in Japan’s commercial whaling since 1976, almost half a century ago,” said Masuo Ide, a spokesman for Kyodo Senpaku, calling the animal “the king of whales.”

The male whale, which was harpooned and killed by a smaller vessel on August 1, was 64 feet (19.61 meters) long and weighed at least 55 tons, according to Ide. Four others have been captured since then.

A portion of fin whale meat was served at a business exhibition in Sapporo last week. A wholesaler told local media that the whale meat was “delicious, with no smell.” Kyodo Senpaku plans to hold another tasting event in Tokyo on September 13.

Japan, one of three commercial whaling nations along with Norway and Iceland, this year added fin whales to its hunt list, which already includes minke, Bryde’s and sei whales. Fin whales are the world’s second-largest mammal after the blue whale. They are listed as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and Japan’s decision to hunt them has raised concerns among conservationists.

Japan has hunted whales for centuries, and their meat was an important source of protein in the years after World War II. They resumed hunting for “scientific purposes” after the International Whaling Commission (IWC) banned commercial hunting, and killed hundreds of whales – including some fin whales – in the Antarctic and North Pacific.

However, after years of tension, Japan left the IWC in 2019 and resumed commercial whaling in its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone. Japan has allowed whalers to take a maximum of 376 whales this year, an amount it says is sustainable, including 59 of the estimated 19,299 fin whales in its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone.