1st Edition

Japan's Withdrawal from International Whaling Regulation

Edited By Nikolas Sellheim, Joji Morishita Copyright 2024
228 Pages 21 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

228 Pages 21 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

228 Pages 21 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

This book examines the impact and implications of Japan’s withdrawal from the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW), which came into effect in July 2019. In 1982 the International Whaling Commission (IWC) adopted a moratorium on commercial whaling which has been in effect ever since, despite the resistance of some countries, first and foremost Japan, Norway and Iceland,... Read more

List of Figures

List of Contributors

List of Acronyms

Acknowledgments

Foreword

1 Introduction

NIKOLAS SELLHEIM AND JOJI MORISHITA

2 A Memoir – Japan’s Road to Withdrawal from the International Whaling Commission

JOJI MORISHITA

PART I

Institutional Implications

3 Exit Japan, Exit International Whaling Commission?

STEINAR ANDRESEN AND DAVID AARVIK NESE

4 As One Door Closes, Does Another Open? Assessing the Future of the Protectionist Agenda at the International Whaling Commission Post-Japan’s Withdrawal

CAMERON JEFFERIES AND HEATHER STOCK

5 ‘Opening up a Procedure’: Might the Re-adherence of Iceland to the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling in 2002 Provide an Example for Japan to Follow?

ED COUZENS

6 Spill-over? The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species after Japan’s Withdrawal from the Whaling Convention

NIKOLAS SELLHEIM

PART II

Cultural Considerations

7 Indigenous Whaling After Japan’s Withdrawal from the International Whaling Commission

MALGOSIA FITZMAURICE AND AGNES RYDBERG

8 Canada’s Withdrawal from the International Whaling Commission in 1982 and Restoration of Inuit Bowhead Whaling. Lessons for Japan’s Restoration of Coastal Whaling?

BARRY SCOTT ZELLEN

9 Whales as ‘sacred’ and ‘profane’ in IWC Member State Cultures

NIKOLAS SELLHEIM

PART III

Perspectives

10 Commercial and Institutional Impacts of Japan’s Withdrawal from the Whaling Convention – A Commentary

GAVIN CARTER

11 Whales on the Rise, the IWC Demise and Global Environmental Diplomacy: An Epilogue to the Whaling Wars – A Commentary

JOSÉ TRUDA PALAZZO, JR.

Biography

Nikolas Sellheim is an independent consultant on international conservation law with a specialisation on the IWC and CITES. He is also co-Editor-in-Chief of Polar Record in the Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge, UK. He has published extensively on different conservation regimes and has conducted two post-docs at Kobe University, Japan, and University of Helsinki, Finland.

Joji Morishita is a retired Professor at Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, Japan. Since 2013, he had served as Japan’s Commissioner to the IWC and from 2016 to 2018, he served as the Chair of the IWC.