The Japanese government announced last week that it will allow the catch and kill of up to 59 fin whales commercially, a move heavily opposed by conservation organisations and governments around the world. Fin whales, the world’s second largest whales, remain vulnerable according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, driven to the brink of extinction due to centuries of whaling. The giant mammals can live up to 90 years and are over 25 metres long.

Kyodo Senpaku, Japan’s state-owned high seas whaling company, announced that the first fin whale was caught off the East Coast of Hokkaido, Japan’s northern island, and was a 19.6 m long male weighing 55 tons. The whale was winched onto Kyodo Senpaku’s whaling mother ship, the Kangei Maru a US $47m factory whaling ship, which Japan at the time of its launching in March, declared would only allow for the hunting of smaller bryde’s, minke, and sei whales, though Kangei Maru boasts a low incline slipway and deck long enough to easily haul whales 25 metres long, such as fin whales.

The country that left the International Whaling Commission in 2019, already actively hunts minke, sei, and Bryde’s whales. While fin whale numbers are believed to rise on a global scale, the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species considers the species ‘Vulnerable’.

On July 21st, Denmark arrested Paul Watson in response to a request from Japan, on allegations stemming from his opposition to Japan’s illegal whaling activities in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. Just days ago, Japan issued a formal request for his extradition.

In March 2014 Japan’s whaling programme was deemed illegal at the International Court of Justice in the Hague, a ruling which Japan breached for several years until pausing its illegal high seas whaling, thanks to Watson’s anti-whaling direct action activism and international pressure from Australia and New Zealand.

“Japan continues to flaunt international conservation law and Paul Watson is being punished for Japan’s crimes. Denmark surely realises the political motivation here for this arrest request: Japan needs Paul Watson out of the way so they can resume slaughtering the world’s great whales,” states Locky MacLean, on board the CPWF (Captain Paul Watson Foundation) flagship off the coast of Greenland, which was en route to the North Pacific to oppose the Japanese whaling effort until Mr. Watson’s arrest.

Paul Watson remains in custody in one of the world’s most remote prisons, in Nuuk, Greenland, awaiting a decision by Denmark’s Ministry of Justice on Japan’s extradition request. An outpouring of support calling for Paul Watson’s release has been coming in from around the world, including French President Macron, Film Director James Cameron, Primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall and Dr. Sylvia Earle.

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