disappearing whales

Disappearing Whales: Korea's Inconvenient Truth

2012

CONTENTS

Introduction 2

Regulations 4

Market and consumption 5

Economics of whale meat 7

The way forward 9

ACRONYMS

IWC International Whaling Commission

CRI Cetacean Research Institute

KCG Korea Coast Guard)

CITES Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora

IUCN International Union for Conservation of Nature

©Greenpeace / Malcolm Pullman

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Introduction

As a party to the International Whaling Commission (IWC),

South Korea has banned whaling since 1986 and neither

scientific whaling nor subsistence whaling is practiced.

Domestic sales of whale products, however, are allowed

if the whale is accidentally caught and killed in a fishing

gear (bycatch) and Korea reports about 80 whales a year

taken as bycatch. Korea and Japan have the highest

bycatch of whales in the world, almost 10 times larger

than the bycatch of countries like Australia, the US and

South Africa. There is a substantial illegal whaling industry

and the IWC estimates that the number of whales being

sold annually in Korea is double the number that could be

accounted for by bycatch.1

Commercial whaling by Koreans began in 1946, after

the national liberation, by those who had worked for the

Japanese company under the Japanese colonisation. At

the beginning, Fin whales were mainly caught, but Minke

whales became the major target through the 1960s and

1970s since stocks of larger whales were depleted. 2

Rough figures of whale catch are shown in the table 1

Table 1. Large whale catch by Korea, 1910-1980 3 4

DecadeLarge whales caught per year

(mostly fin whales)

1910-19 250

1920-29 180

1930-39 160

1940 0

1941-45 130

1946-49 60-100

1950-59 90-100

1960-69 56

1970-80 24

©Greenpeace / Cris Toala Olivares

©Greenpeace / Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert

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Year Minke Fin* Bryde Grey

1962 170 82 0 0

1963 291 55 0 2

1964 384 88 0 3

1965 247 19 0 4

1966 301 22 0 5

1967 335 21 0 0

1968 316 28 0 0

1969 386 35 0 0

1970 715 25 0 0

1971 730 25 0 0

1972 767 2 0 0

1973 882 4 0 0

1974 566 52 0 0

1975 561 13 0 0

1976 494 0 43 0

1977 1033 0 26 0

1978 1018 0 34 0

Table 2. Large whale catch shifting to different species 5

The shift to catching minke whales, as catch of large whales declined can be seen in the figures below. Hunting of

the Korean gray whale continued even after it was almost extinct in Korean waters.

There are around 35 cetacean species inhabiting Korean waters with an estimated population of 90,000-100,000,

most of which are small cetaceans. The most abundant baleen whale in Korea is the minke whale because the other

species were depleted by commercial whaling. Most minke whales in Korean waters belong to a threatened sub

population called the J stock and is classified as a protected stock by the IWC.

In July 2012, the Korean government announced at an IWC meeting that it would start scientific whaling and this

aroused fierce opposition within the meeting and from the around the world.

Korea’s announcement was particularly controversial because research on whales and other cetaceans around the

world is done by non-lethal means. The only current exception to this is Japan and their research program in the

Antarctic has been characterized by the IWC with the words ‘not required for management’. Only whaling nations have

ever undertaken lethal research and it is widely seen as commercial whaling in disguise. The information that the IWC

needs in order to set quotas, should a decision to set quotas be made, can all be obtained by non-lethal methods.

The basic method used is a vessel survey. A ship sails though ocean and observers log whales seen. This leads to a

population estimate which is the basis for a quota.

At the 2012 IWC, the Korean government claimed that the minke whale population in the north

Pacific has recovered and needs to be hunted, but there is no scientific evidence for such a claim. No

agreed estimate for this population exists because not enough sightings data has yet been collected.

Data collected so far by Korean government scientists indicates a decline of 5 – 7% a year and although

this data does not show the population is actually declining, because there is not yet enough data for

a firm population estimate, it undermines claims the population has recovered.6

Although whales eat fish they are not the cause of decreases in fish sizes or stocks, after all whales

and fish have existed in the oceans at high levels of abundance for millions of years. The decline of

fisheries is due to human activities and overfishing by industrial fleets. We need to reduce fishing to

sustainable levels and reduce fishing capacity.

* indicates that a few other large whales such as sei and humpback or unidentified large whales are included.

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Regulations

A) Domestic laws, regulations, or policies on

whaling and whale meat trade

In accordance with the IWC moratorium, Korea

banned whaling for all cetacean species in 1985.

Sometimes whales are accidentally caught in fishing

gear and drown - this is referred to a bycatch.

Fishermen are only allowed to sell bycatch when

they find a dead animal and live whales must

be released. But despite reporting 80 cases of

entanglement per year, Korea has never reported

even a single case of a live whale being freed from

entanglement and released. Countries with much

smaller bycatches than Korea regularly report such rescues. All bycatches are required to be reported to the Korea

Coast Guard (KCG) 7 and the police are required to inspect the carcass to ascertain whether it was drowned or

deliberately killed.

The government recently reviewed its regulations and changed them in January 2011 and introduced measures

intended to better manage whale meat distribution such as:

- DNA sampling of auctioned bycatch and confiscated meat from illegal whalers,

- The issuing of Cetacean Trade Certificates

Under the new regulations, the distributors must hold a Cetacean Trade Certificate for each whale traded. A copy of the

Certificate and the DNA sampling results must be submitted to the Cetacean Research Institute (CRI) in order to build up

a database, intended to provide the ground for detecting any illegally sourced whale meat on the market.

But the new measures don’t seem to be working well. A review after one year of implementation found that although

the KCG issued Certificates for total of 1,140 whales and small cetaceans (26 illegally caught whales included) only

362 certificates have been received by the CRI, leaving a huge gap in efforts to identify illegally sourced products.8

B) Relevant international agreements, treaties, or organisations to which Korea is a member

Korea has been a party of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW), administered by the IWC,

since 1978,9 and it has banned directed whaling since 1986 when the IWC moratorium on commercial whaling came

into effect. Korea has been a party to CITES since 1993, and has prohibited international trade in cetacean species

listed in the CITES Appendix I, which includes the minke whale.

©Greenpeace / Natalie Behring

@HAN Jeonghee

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Market and consumption

A) Whale species on the market

Minke whales find their way onto the market via accidental catch or illegal whaling. Other species are sold occasionally

when there is supply but most whale meat that is found in whale meat restaurants is described as minke whale. Large

baleen whales like the minke are preferred due to their taste and sell at much higher prices than small cetacean species

that are widely referred as ‘dolgorae (dolphins or porpoises)’ by the locals. For that reason, even small cetacean meat is

called ‘gorae (whale) gogi (meat)’ initially when it is sold, and the seller would answer whether it is ‘minke’ or ‘dolgorae

gogi’ only if the specific species is questioned.

Baker, C. S., et al. (2006)10 shows molecular (DNA) monitoring results from nine market sampling surveys in Korea

between 2003 and 2005. The table below shows which species are sold on the market, on what proportion.

Table 3. DNA MONITORING RESULTS FROM MARKET SAMPLING SURVEYS IN KOREA 2003-2005

※ Because minke and other baleen whales are much larger than small cetaceans they account for over 95% of the meat sold.

Identified speciesNumber of products where

the species is found

Baleen whales

Minke whale (north Pacific stock) 230

Bryde’s whale 4

Humpback whale 3

Baleen whale sub-total 237

Small cetaceans

Stejneger’s beaked whale 1

Cuvier’s beaked whale 1

Blainville’s beaked whale 2

Bottlenose dolphin 3

Risso’s dolphin 2

Common dolphin 33

Pacific white-sided dolphin 5

False killer whale 16

Killer whale 3

Short-finned pilot whale 2

Unidentified dolphin 2

Harbour porpoise 2

Finless porpoise 48

Small cetacean sub-total 120

Total 357

@HAN Jeonghee

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B) Market size and structure

The market is not controlled in a systematic way, making it

impossible to fully assess the data on market structure as well as

supply and demand of whale products. However, it was estimated

that approximately 50 specialty restaurants are in the whale meat

business with half of them in Ulsan, consuming about 150 tonnes a

year (assuming 1 Minke yields a tonne of meat, approximately 150

Minke whales), according to a briefing on the whale meat market reported to a special meeting prior to the 2005 IWC

annual meeting.11 12 In the last couple of years, with active support from local government, ‘whale tourism’, including

dolphin shows, the whale watching boat trip and whale festival, has drawn tourists to the region (estimated number of

visitors of whale tourism was over 200,000 in 2009), which ironically stimulated whale meat consumption as a local

delicacy, reflected in the increased the number of restaurants.13

There are three types of retailers: specialty restaurants, restaurants selling other foods but dealing in whale meat on

demand, and small stalls clustering together in conventional markets in Pohang and Busan. Specialty restaurants sell

mainly Minke whales. It is said that non-specialty restaurants selling whale meat as an extra purchase whale meat

from neighboring specialty restaurants on demand from customers and therefore the quantity dealt with by this type of

retailers is not considered significant. Small stalls deal with both Minke whales and small cetaceans.

One of the interviewed wholesalers said that about 70% of

products sold at these stalls were dolphins or porpoises.

Although exact proportion of Minke whale meat traded for

each type of market remains unknown, a news article reports

that over 90% of bycaught Minke whales are sold in specialty

restaurants.14

Legal sources of whale meat supply include bycatch and

confiscated meat from illegal hunters. Naked eye inspection

by KCG and DNA sampling must be conducted before sales can take place and certificates issued. Profits from bycatch

sales go to the fishermen who found the dead whale and therefore hold ownership. KCG takes care of the sales of

confiscated meat (normally high valued Minke whale) through auction and the money goes to National Treasury. Almost

all Minke whales and some small cetaceans are sold through auction at fisheries cooperatives’ joint markets in order for

sellers to secure a higher price. In fact, the price is determined depending on the size, age, and most of all its freshness

but Minke whales are normally sold for a high price.

@Greenpeace / LIM Taehoon

Fishermen - bycatch

Fishermen - bycatch

Govermment - confiscated from illegal whalers

Illegal catch

Wholesaler

Non-speciattyrestaurant

Stall

End consumer

Specialty restaurant

Some run by

Wholesasler

auction:both Minke and small cetacean

Minke

Minke

Minke Minke

Minke

small cetacean

small cetaceanunlikly but maybe small amountof small cetacean

mainly small cetaceanmainly Minke

confirmed distribution channel

possible, but not confirmed channel

@LIM Tae Hoon

©Greenpeace / Natalie Behring

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Economics of whale meat

A) Legal supply - cetacean bycatch

The table below shows how many minkes and other species (most of them being small cetacean) have been bycaught

between 2000 and 2010.

Table 4. OFFICIAL RECORD FOR THE CETACEAN BYCATCH AND ILLEGAL WHALING IN KOREA 2000-2010

YearCetacean bycatch

subtotalMinke bycatch

Cetacean bycatch

except Minke

Illegally hunted whales

(mostly Minke)15

Total no of

cetacean killed

2000 126 80 46 1 127

2001 485 160 325 4 489

2002 296 89 207 18 314

2003 367 92 275 7 374

2004 263 69 194 9 272

2005 537 107 430 10 547

2006 574 82 492 4 578

2007 663 80 583 20 683

2008 722 81 641 12 734

2009 595 83 512 16 611

2010 770 91 679 13 783

총계 5398 1014 4384 114 5512

source: KCG and IWC progress report

It is shown in the table above that over 80 minke whales are bycaught annually. This makes up 33% of global large

cetacean mortality from bycatch reported to the IWC.16 This high incidence suggests that current laws, which allow

bycaught whale meat to be sold into the restaurant trade, provide a strong incentive for deliberate drowning or killing

by some other means.


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C) Market dynamics

Due to the lack of systematic management of the market,

the accurate trend in supply and demand cannot be

obtained. However, rough trends can be drawn from the

interviews with relevant stakeholders and media reports.

Demand for whale meat dropped with a raise of price

when commercial whaling was banned, leading to the

change in characteristics of whale meat eating from

subsistence to gourmet dining. It is said by restaurant

owners that there has been a stable level of demand

since then and it is gradually growing.

In the last couple of years, the local government has been

actively promoting whale meat consumption through

developing new recipes with whale meat to target a young

generation who are not very familiar with eating whale

meat as part of its whale tourism promotion . Demand for

whale meat has been increasing as more tourists visit the

region and find whale meat marketed as a local delicacy.

Since the new regulations, which set the ground for

exposing illegally traded whale meat in the market, came

into effect at the beginning of 2011 the illegal supply seems

to be shrinking, causing drastic increase of bycatch price

according to a recent media report.23 It says that average

price of Minke bycatch doubled up in 2011 from 30 million

KRW to 60 million KRW per animal, compared to 2010.

Average price of small cetacean has also increased from

3 million KRW to 5 million KRW between 2010 and 2011.

This phenomenon is similar to what happened in 2004

when illegal supply was known to be squeezed due to

strengthened enforcement on illegal whaling prior to the

2005 IWC meeting in Ulsan. It can therefore be assumed

that illegally caught whales account for significant amount

of the market and that strengthened management has a

potential to control illegal whaling.

Year Arrests Whales killed

2009 8* 14

2010 27 18

2011 39 21

B) ) Illegal supply – Illegal whaling

Since whale meat has a legal market and is sold for

high price, some fishermen illegally catch whales or get

involved in organized crime through butchering, delivery,

etc. The KCG cracks down on illegal whaling, but has

limited resources.

Table 4 shows numbers of large whales (mostly minkes)

hunted by whalers. These numbers are only for those

from the arrested whalers - there are many more illegally

caught and distributed whales on the market. The IWC’s

scientists agree that the actual take of minke whales is

double the number reported as being taken in accidental

entanglements. Reports in the Korean media indicate that

total consumption is 400 – 500 whales per year.17 18 so

the illegal take may be much higher than estimated by

the IWC scientists.

It is said in recent years that whaling has become more like

organized crime involving different roles from harpooning

to delivery. The assumption that illegal whaling is taking

place at much bigger scale seems to be substantiated

by the discovery and arrest of illegal whalers and traders

in March 2008 involving 90 Minke, and in June 2010

involving 120 Minke and continued reports to the IWC

every year, including 2012 by the government of Korea

reporting arrests for illegal whaling and seizures of whale

meat.19 20

Table 5. Arrests for illegal whaling in Korea21

* Plus one fisherman who drowned while harpooning a whale

© Greenpeace / Hoya

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The way forward

A) Policy loophole

The Korean government has taken a number of steps to illegal whaling and illegal trade of whale products in recent

years, e.g. collecting DNA sample of all auctioned bycatch and issuing Cetacean Trade Certificate. Although these new

regulations have so far been assessed as ineffective in implementation, this can be improved if the relevant authorities

keep making efforts. While more push at implementation level is needed, there are loopholes in the regulation system

that need to be closed in order to tackle the two main problems: high number of bycatch and significant level of illegal

whaling.

The current system provides local fishermen with incentives to have whale bycatch by giving ownership to the person

who secures the dead whale first. It is likely to encourage fishermen either to regard a dead whale in their fishing nets

as desirable or to disguise deliberate hunting as bycatch by any possible means. There is no way to distinguish whether

a whale is genuinely bycaught or deliberately killed if, for example, a fisherman left a whale to die instead of releasing

it when it is entangled. The current system is not only threatening whale stocks but also tempting innocent fishermen

to become criminals.

B) Recommendations

·The practice of giving dead whales to finders should be ended and dead whales should not be brought to shore.

·Financial incentives should be given to release whales alive when possible.

·There should be mandatory registration for whale meat restaurants so consumption can be better tracked.

·Given the high value of whale meat, penalties for illegal whaling should be increased to deter this sort of crime.

·All the cetacean species listed in CITES Appendix I or II should be formally protected by the Korean government.24

Conclusion

Korea has a domestic law that bans whaling. Korea also has the responsibility to mitigate bycatch as a party to the

IWC. However, it is letting these happen by not implementing its own law properly and by leaving the loopholes to be

abused. The Korean government should strengthen the level of monitoring, control, and the surveillance in order to

implement the relevant policy / law properly. If it cannot control illegal and unsustainable activities in its own water, what

are the chances that it can control its own vessels in distant waters. Korea needs to put the utmost effort to save the

oceans and marine ecosystem that are destroyed by overfishing due to lack of proper management of fishery. And the

effort also needs to be made on the whales in Korea.


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©Greenpeace / Paul Hilton

1 IUCN statement at http://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/iucn_position_on_scientific_whaling_in_korea_13_july_2012.pdf2 Anonymous. (2005). “Whaling Industry of Korea.” 2007, Jangsaengpo Whale Museum.3 Doopia cited from http://100.naver.com/100.nhn?docid=730601, accessed on 27 Feb 2012.4 'The History of Modern Whaling', J.N Tonnessen and A.O. Johnsen, 1982, IBSN 0-905838-23-85 'The History of Modern Whaling', J.N Tonnessen and A.O. Johnsen, 1982, IBSN 0-905838-23-86 IUCN statement at http://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/iucn_position_on_scientific_whaling_in_korea_13_july_2012.pdf7 Kim, Z. G. (1999). "By-catch of Minke whales in Korean waters." Journal of Cetacean Research and Management

1 (Suppl.): 98-100.8 Hankook Ilbo, 21 Feb, 2012. Accessed on 28 Feb 2012 from http://news.hankooki.com/lpage/society/201202/

h2012022115421921950.htm9 IWC (2007). “IWC Member nations and commissioners.” Retrieved 2 May, 2007, from http://www.iwcoffice.org/

commission/members.htm.10 Baker, C. S., Lukoschek, V., et al. (2006). Incomplete reporting of whale, dolphin and porpoise ‘bycatch’ revealed

by molecular monitoring of Korean markets. Animal Conservation 9: 474-482.11 Jeong, J. R. and G. C. Hwang (2005). Whaling, resume or not? Dong A Daily.12 Mok, S. G. (2006). Catch whaler!, Hankook Daily.13 Ulsanpress (2010). Lifting whaling ban to stop the side effect of illegal whaling, 11 Jul 2010, Ulsanpress (local media),

ROK. Retrieved 18 Oct 2010 from http://www.ulsanpress.net/news/articleView.html?idxno=56869.14 Jeong, J. R. and G. H. Lee (2006). Whales of East sea, scared of fishing nets. Dong A Daily. 15 Confiscated and provided as legal supply to the market16 IWC (2009). Report of the Scientific Committee, Annex J: Report of the working group on estimation of bycatch and

other human-induced mortality. Retrieved 6 Dec 2010 from http://iwcoffice.org/_documents/sci_com/SCRepFiles2009/

Annex%20J%20-%20Final-sq.pdf.17 Kim, Ma Seon (2010), War against illegal whaling in order to secure whaling quota from the IWC., BusanIlbo (regional

media).18 MBC (2010). Illegal whaling rampant… fishermen calling for culling, 28 July 2010, MBC (National media), Republic of

Korea. Retrieved on 4 Nov 2010 from http://imnews.imbc.com/replay/nwtoday/article/2667595_5782.html.19 SBS (2008). Illegally killed and sold whale meat for 90 whales caught by the police, 18 Mar 2008, SBS (national media),

Korea. Retrieved 26 Oct 2010, from http://news.sbs.co.kr/section_news/news_read.jsp?news_id=N1000391267. 20 KCG (2010). Round up of a gang of whalers and whale meat distributors on the East coast. Media briefing, Retrieved

7 Nov, 2010 from http://www.korea.kr/newsWeb/pages/search/search.jsp?dquery=%EB%8F%99%ED%95%B4%EC

%95%88+%EC%9D%BC%EB%8C%80+%EB%B0%8D%ED%81%AC%EA%B3%A0%EB%9E%98+%EB%B6%88%EB%

B2%95%ED%8F%AC%ED%9A%8D&collection=&chk=true.21 Compiled from information provided to the IWC by the government of Korea.22 PR from local government NamGu, “It’s not difficult to taste ‘whale meat’”, http://www.ulsannamgu.go.kr/namgu/

namgu04_10.php?gubun=view&brdId=bodo&bNo=2233&page=11&case=&sear=&deptCode=&type=23 Kookje Shinmun (2012), Lotto of the sea, skyrocketing price of whales, 19 Feb, 2012, Accessed on 28 Feb 2012

from http://www.pusannews.co.kr/news2011/asp/newsbody.asp?code=0500&key=20120219.99002114645. 24 Ministry of Environment has its own list of endangered fauna and flora (including mammal, avian, reptile, amphibian,

fish, insect, and invertebrate species), but cetaceans are not included here. However, the Ministry defines ‘internationally

designated endangered species’ as the species on the Appendix I, II, and III of the CITES, and all the large whales are

on Appendix I.

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www.greenpeace.org/korea cover photo ©Greenpeace / Walter Obiol

Written by HAN Jeonghee For inquiries, contact [email protected]

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