Institute of Cetacean Research

The Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR, 日本鯨類研究所, Nihon Geirui Kenkyūjo) is a Japanese research organization that claims to specialise in "biological and social sciences related to whales" but is widely believed to be a front for commercial whaling. In the past, it killed several hundred whales per year in the name of its 'research', the validity and necessity of which has been called into question. Among its activities, the ICR also used to sell "whale research byproducts" commercially, which environmental groups denounced as commercial whaling in disguise, which is banned by the International Whaling Commission (IWC). In March 2014, the International Court of Justice formally ruled that the ICR's whaling program was not for scientific purposes, as claimed, and ordered Japan to immediately cease its operation. In 2019, the Japanese government resumed commercial whaling, and, in March 2020, the ICR ended its sale of "whale research byproducts", claiming that the institute would only carry out non-lethal research moving forward.

History The Institute of Cetacean Research was founded in 1987. It took over from the Whales Research Institute (founded in 1947), which grew out of the Nakabe Scientific Research Centre (founded in 1941). The New Zealand-based spokesman for the group is the public relations agent, Glenn Inwood. The Whales Research Institute conducted research based on catches from commercial whaling. The International Whaling Commission (IWC) established a moratorium on commercial whaling after 1986. The ICR was established the following year to continue the "scientific research".

Regulations Under the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW), the IWC established a global ban on commercial whaling. Article VIII, Section 1 creates an exemption, however, providing that:

... any Contracting Government may grant to any of its nationals a special permit authorizing that national to kill, take and treat whales for purposes of scientific research subject to such restrictions as to number and subject to such other conditions as [that] Government thinks fit. Further, Section 2 states:

Any whales taken under these special permits shall so far as practicable be processed and the proceeds shall be dealt with in accordance with directions issued by the Government by which the permit was granted. Since its establishment, the institute has been granted annual catch quotas by the Government of Japan to carry out its research. The whale meat, which is by definition a by-product of the research, is sold for domestic consumption in accordance with the convention. From 1988 through the first half of 2011, a total of 13,663 whales have been caught by the ICR under the above exemption for scientific research. Of those, 3,573 whales have been taken in the North Pacific Ocean, and 10,090 have been taken in the Southern Ocean, an area which in 1994 was designated as the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary by the IWC. In March 2014 the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Japan to cease the JARPA II programme stating that its Antarctic whaling was in contravention of the IWC moratoria 10(e) and 10(d).

Research programs

Under its whale research programs, the ICR collected its samples from the Antarctic Ocean and the northwestern Pacific Ocean under special permit from the Government of Japan (JARPA and JARPA II programs). It claims these samples were used for studies related to estimation of biological parameters, resource abundance, elucidation of stock structure, the role of whales in the marine ecosystem, and elucidation of the effect of environmental changes on cetaceans. The ICR also claims to have conducted sighting surveys in the southern hemisphere and the North Pacific to elucidate trends in abundance, density, distribution, and behavior of whales. These surveys include the IWC Southern Ocean Whale and Ecosystem Research (SOWER) program.

JARPA (Antarctic Ocean) The first Antarctic program took place from 1987 to 2005, with the stated objectives of trying to determine mortality rates, whale stock numbers and structure, the role of whales in the Antarctic ecosystem and how environmental changes are affecting whales. The whaling operation alternated between several pre-established areas intending to take 400 or more minke whales per season. In 1997 the IWC scientific committee reviewed the JARPA program and disagreed on whether the ICR's lethal methods were necessary, but it was concluded that the results could potentially allow for an increase in the number of minke whales killed. In the final 2007 review, the committee recognized that progress had been made in identifying stock structure but found problems with the age and mortality rate data and most of the ICR's other data collection and analysis efforts. The commission also noted the catches took place in the IWC established Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary and that improving management of whaling in a sanctuary was unnecessary. The 2007-1 resolution on JARPA was one of several calling on Japan by majority vote to suspend its lethal research.

JARPN (northwestern Pacific Ocean) From 1994 to 1999, the ICR carried out a program in the northwestern Pacific. Its stated goals were to improve knowledge of stock identity, improve implementation simulation trials for North Pacific common Minke whales and act as a feasibility study for a program on feeding ecology. The program called for 100 minke whales to be killed annually. The results were reviewed in February 2000 by the IWC committee, which agreed that the information was useful for management but reached no consensus on whether lethal methods of research were necessary. As with JARPA, the IWC issued resolutions calling for Japan to cease issuing permits for the take of Minke whales citing concerns over the need for lethal methods such as the 1999-3 Resolution on whaling under Special Permit.

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