Institute of Cetacean Research
The Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR, Japanese日本 鲸类 研究所, Nihon geirui Kenkyujo, dt "Japanese Cetacean Research " ) is a Japanese non-profit organization, which of scientific inquiry and the industrial fishing of whales is dedicated to. It was founded in 1947 as a foundation Geirui Kenkyujo (鲸类 研究所, Eng. Whale Research Institute), which in turn was founded in 1941 from the Nakabe Kagaku Kenkyujo (中部 科学 研究所, Eng. Nakabe Scientific Research Centre) emerged.
The Whales Research Institute received its data from the commercial whaling of Japan until 1986, the International Whaling Commission set quotas for all commercial whaling to zero, and this was followed by the founding of the Institute of Cetacean Research. The Institute took over the entire whaling fleet in the country and leads the whaling continues; partly for scientific purposes to justify the commercial activities.
The ICR has the whaling fleet with the company Kyodo Sempaku KK (共同 船舶 株式会社, dt as: "Ship cooperation " ) chartered, Japan's largest operator of whaling ships. Once in April 2006, five large companies got out of the investment in the operator, the ICR itself took over a part of its portfolio.
Criticism
From whaling opponents is the ICR complained that only a circumvention of quotas handle to whaling for research purposes and to continue commercial whaling will operate. One of the indications is the sale of whale meat to fish markets, which covers part of the expenses of the ICR. The opposite is that whale meat will demand only low in Japan and thus from the whaling no profit could be beaten. It is estimated that the ICR annually requires approximately 10 million euros in subsidies from the Japanese government. In addition, prescribed by the regulations of the International Whaling Commission ( IWC), the meat must be used absolutely of trapped whales for scientific purposes. Another clue the enemy is the size of the fleet and its focus on the meat processing, for example with factory ships as the Nisshin Maru.
The President of the Scientific Committee of the IWC, Arne Bjorge, though says that the Japanese contribution to the Cetacean Research is also not negligible. Whaling opponents complain, however, that the ICR could demonstrate quantitatively few insightful research results and would thus these results in an unequal relationship with the killing of thousands of whales. Critical also be manifested twenty members of the Scientific Committee of the IWC: "Few significant for the IWC findings can only be determined by whaling, so it seems impossible to represent the killing of animals on this basis. "
The ICR replies critics that the moratorium by the IWC 's own interpretation served the purpose of temporarily suspend commercial whaling, were collected until more data about whales. According to Joji Morishita from Japan ICR fulfill only the order to advance the whale research. Also, the ICR have the goal of ensuring the survival of the whales. This position meets with incomprehension, as some of the hunted species such as the fin whale, are threatened with extinction due to various reasons. The whale stocks can not recover what is the true background of the moratorium therefore.