Japan's 2026 commercial whaling season is underway. This year, 412 whales have been authorized for slaughter — including 58 fin whales, the second-largest animal on Earth, currently listed as Vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The first whale meat from this season is scheduled to arrive at port on June 7.

Japan withdrew from the International Whaling Commission in 2019 — the body that enacted a global moratorium on commercial whaling back in 1986 — specifically so it could resume killing whales for profit. Nearly 40 years after that moratorium took effect, Japan, Iceland, and Norway remain the only nations still conducting commercial whale hunts.

And demand for whale meat in Japan is so low that the government needs to subsidize the industry to keep it alive. Public exhibitions are being planned at multiple ports this year just to boost sales.

This is not sustenance. This is not tradition. This is a commercially failing industry propped up by government money — slaughtering some of the most intelligent, emotionally complex, and socially bonded animals on the planet.

Whale watching and marine ecotourism generate far greater economic benefits for coastal communities than whaling ever will. There is no scientific, economic, or ethical justification for this.

We're calling on the Japanese government to immediately halt the 2026 whaling season and end commercial whaling for good.

Photo:  Getty Images