Tokyo

The endangered Asian population of the grey whale could be threatened by Japanese proposals to downgrade the level of protection offered to the larger northeastern Pacific population, wildlife conservationists and researchers have warned.

Unkind cuts: despite a hunting ban, grey whale meat may still be ending up in shops.

Concern has been heightened by an analysis of whale products in Japanese shops, which showed that some of the meat on sale came from grey whales. The legal commercial hunting and trading of whales ended in 1986, although Japan is still allowed to hunt whales for research purposes.

Japan's Fisheries Agency wants to downlist three whale populations — the South Antarctic and northwestern Pacific Minke whale and northeastern Pacific grey whale. It plans to table the proposals at the eleventh meeting of the Convention for International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which starts next week in Nairobi, Kenya.

The agency says the proposals are based on research by the International Whaling Commission, which showed that the populations of these species are abundant. For example, the American grey whale population now totals more than 22,000. But, conservationists point out, the Asian population is estimated at no more than 100 individuals.

According to researchers from the University of Auckland, DNA analysis of the products on sale in Wakayama prefecture, on Japan's Pacific coast, showed that they came from a grey whale. But the researchers could not specify which population the DNA came from — northeastern Pacific, American or Asian.

“The haplotype match could be explained by the low genetic diversity among grey whale populations,” says Scott Baker, leader of the University of Auckland team. He explains that variation among Asian grey whales is low because of the small population size, whereas the ‘bottleneck’ — a period of reduced population size — caused by hunting of the American grey whale is thought to account for the lack of variation in the current population. “But the absence of a comparative genetic study between the two populations makes it difficult to draw any conclusion at this stage.”

Past requests from researchers for tissue samples or genetic data from stranded whales killed by accident have been turned down repeatedly by Japanese authorities. Some link this to Japanese regulations that allow the local use of meat from whales stranded or entangled in fishing gear regardless of their protective status.

The team believes it is possible that the products came from an Asian grey whale found floating in the Sea of Japan near the northern island of Hokkaido in 1996. Although the whale was reported as being ‘stranded’, a later investigation revealed that it had been harpooned, with a 5–6 metre section of its tail expertly severed.

“It is possible that the products originate from long-term stockpiling of whales killed before 1986,” says Baker. “But if they prove to be derived from the Hokkaido whale, the practice of stockpiling applies to illegal products, and the meat is being sent to places which could hardly be described as ‘local’.

“Either way, undocumented and possibly illegal products from endangered species are turning up in the commercial market, and allowing trade in products from the American population should not be considered until this lack of transparency is solved.”

The Fisheries Agency insists its proposed downlisting of the three whale species is not intended to lead to a resumption of trade in whale meat, but rather to pursue appropriate management of the species based on scientific findings.

But Naoko Nakamae, the Japanese representative of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, says such a move would put the Asian stock of grey whales at risk. “Unless the Japanese authority decides to make its data available to all, differentiating the two populations will remain impossible,” she says.