Withdraw from IWC & resume commercial whaling
Government Policy
In Effect
December 25, 2018
Summary
On 25 December 2018, Japan’s Cabinet announced and the Chief Cabinet Secretary published a “Statement by the Chief Cabinet Secretary on Japan’s Withdrawal from the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) and Resumption of Commercial Whaling,” specifying that Japan would withdraw from the IWC and resume commercial whaling in July 2019. On 26 December 2018, Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs formally notified the ICRW depositary of withdrawal, effective 30 June 2019. From 1 July 2019, Japan resumed commercial whaling in its territorial sea and exclusive economic zone (EEZ), simultaneously ceasing Antarctic and high-seas North Pacific research whaling programmes (JARPA II and JARPN II) that had operated since 1987 under Article VIII (“special permit”) provisions of the ICRW.
The Cabinet statement specified that commercial whaling would be conducted within Japan’s territorial sea and EEZ, that catch limits would be calculated using IWC methodology, and that Japan would continue participation in other international fisheries organisations. For the 2019 commercial season, the Fisheries Agency of Japan set catch quotas of 52 minke whales, 150 Bryde’s whales, and 25 sei whales (total 227), with five whaling vessels receiving operating permits. Updated quotas for 2019–2020 covered 171 minke, 187 Bryde’s, and 25 sei whales (total 383). Actual catches have remained below quota: 294 minke, Bryde’s, and sei whales were reported caught in 2023 against a 379-whale combined quota. In 2024, Japan expanded the commercial whaling species list to include fin whales for the first time in several decades, extending the scope of the domestic commercial framework. Japan is not a member of the IWC as of 2026; IWC oversight no longer applies to Japan’s domestic commercial whaling. Kyodo Senpaku Co., Ltd. is identified in media reports as the principal commercial whaling company operating under the post-withdrawal framework.
Background Context
Japan was a member of the IWC from its founding; it joined the commercial whaling moratorium (adopted 1982, effective 1986/1987) after initially lodging an objection but withdrawing it under diplomatic pressure in 1985. From 1987, Japan conducted large-scale research whaling under ICRW Article VIII in the Antarctic (JARPA, later JARPA II) and North Pacific (JARPN, later JARPN II), taking several hundred whales annually. In 2014, the International Court of Justice ruled in Whaling in the Antarctic (Australia v. Japan; New Zealand intervening) that Japan’s JARPA II programme did not meet the Article VIII “scientific research” requirements, which prompted programme revision but not cessation. Japan tabled proposals at IWC67 in 2018 to establish a Sustainable Whaling Committee permitting some commercial whaling of abundant stocks; these were rejected by the required three-quarters majority. The 2018 Cabinet statement framed withdrawal as a response to the IWC’s failure to reconcile conservation with sustainable use and as a refocusing of whaling activities within Japan’s own maritime zones. The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), and Iruka & Kujira Action Network (IKAN) have monitored and published analyses of Japan’s whaling policies throughout this period.
System Impact
Direction
Expands Exploitation
Type
Alters Legal Basis
Significance
High
The Cabinet statement was published on 25 December 2018; the formal ICRW withdrawal notification was transmitted to the depositary on 26 December 2018. Withdrawal took effect on 30 June 2019. Commercial whaling in Japan’s territorial sea and EEZ began on 1 July 2019. The Fisheries Agency set initial commercial quotas (227 whales in 2019) and issued operating permits to five whaling vessels. Japan’s Antarctic (JARPA II) and North Pacific high-seas (JARPN II) research whaling programmes terminated as of the withdrawal. Quotas have been adjusted annually; catches in 2023 were 294 whales against a 379-whale combined quota. In 2024, Japan’s Fisheries Agency added fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) to the list of species that can be hunted commercially in coastal and EEZ waters, with the first commercial fin whale meat auction in decades reported by the Seattle Times and other outlets. As of 2026, no domestic court rulings or legislative changes have halted the post-2019 commercial whaling framework; Japan remains outside the IWC.
Anticipated Effects
If the domestic commercial whaling framework continues to operate as established, Japan will continue to set annual quotas and issue operating permits for commercial killing of large whale species within its territorial sea and EEZ, without IWC oversight or constraint.
If species scope continues to expand beyond the 2019 initial list (as demonstrated by the 2024 fin whale addition), total commercial whale catches could increase beyond current levels, subject to fleet capacity and market demand.
Whether total large whale catches under the domestic commercial framework will return to or exceed levels taken under the historical Antarctic and North Pacific research programmes is not established in available sources.
Significance Rationale
Assigned Expands Exploitation (impact direction) because the primary structural effect of the Cabinet decision is the removal of the IWC commercial whaling moratorium as a legal constraint on Japanese whaling and the establishment of a domestic commercial whaling framework as a permanent legal basis — enabling explicit commercial killing of large whales in Japanese waters under government quota and licensing, where the prior system operated under a research-permit fiction subject to international oversight. The 2024 addition of fin whales to the commercial quota confirms the expansion trajectory of the domestic commercial framework.
The Antarctic and high-seas research whaling programmes ceased simultaneously, producing a geographic redistribution and reduction in total catches compared to the research programme peak. This is documented and acknowledged. However, the dominant structural effect for SE’s system-documentation purpose is the legal constitutive change: Japan permanently removed itself from IWC jurisdiction and established a domestic commercial whaling system with no upper bound set by international treaty. Total catches are currently below historical research-programme peaks but the domestic framework’s capacity to expand (through quota increases and species additions) is now unconstrained by international oversight.
Assigned Alters Legal Basis (impact type) because the primary mechanism is the withdrawal from the ICRW — removing international treaty constraints — and the Cabinet decision establishing domestic commercial whaling authorisation under Japanese law, changing what is legally permitted for Japanese whaling operations.
Assigned High significance because Japan was the world’s largest whaling nation under the research programme; the IWC withdrawal is the most significant single development in international whaling governance since the 1986 moratorium; it affects multiple large whale species across Japan’s EEZ; and it permanently restructures Japan’s legal relationship with the international whaling regulatory system.
The scale change is transitional: Antarctic and high-seas research whaling contracted while a domestically-focused commercial whaling system was established; total catches have remained below historical research-programme peaks but the domestic commercial framework has expanded species scope with the addition of fin whales in 2024, and long-term trajectory is not established in available sources.
Within The System
Key Actors
The Cabinet of Japan took the decision; the Chief Cabinet Secretary made the public announcement on 25 December 2018. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs transmitted the formal IWC withdrawal notification. The Fisheries Agency (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries) sets commercial whaling quotas and issues operating licenses. Kyodo Senpaku Co., Ltd. is the principal commercial whaling company. EIA, AWI, and IKAN have documented and responded to the development. The IWC lost Japan as a member as of 30 June 2019.
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