Japan's commercial whaling activities could soon expand to include fin whales, government officials announced last week.
The fin whale is the second-largest whale species on Earth, after the blue whale . Fin whales are named for the distinctive fin that protrudes from their lower back, and they can grow up to 85 feet long. They are found across all the world's oceans. In the first half of the 20th century, however, fin whale populations nose-dived due to commercial whaling and they are still recovering from the shock, according to the International Whaling Commission , which regulates modern whaling practices.
On May 9, officials announced that Japan could start hunting fin whales soon."Whales are important food resources and should be sustainably utilized, based on scientific evidence," Yoshimasa Hayashi, Japan's minister for foreign affairs, said at a news conference. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists fin whales as vulnerable to extinction globally, although the species was still listed as endangered as recently as 2018 and is considered as such under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. However, there is insufficient data to pinpoint the status of local populations in the North Pacific, according to the IWC.
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