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.
©Greenpeace / Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert
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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]