SHIMONOSEKI, Yamaguchi Prefecture--The aging Nisshin Maru, a relic of Japan’s whaling tradition, has finally retired after playing a central role in research and commercial operations for more than 30 years.

It will be replaced by a modern vessel next year, but lackluster demand for whale meat suggests the industry that drew condemnation from around the world faces an uncertain future.

A large crowd that included the families of the crew members gathered at the wharf, where they waved their hands in welcome and cheered loudly as the ship returned to its home port here for the final time on Nov. 4.

“(The Nisshin Maru) encountered many troubles due to its age, but it held up well until the end,” said its captain, Akihiro Kitajima.

Converted from a pelagic trawl boat, the factory ship first led a whaling expedition that lasted from 1991 to 1992.

It was called a “moving processing factory” because the whales caught by catcher boats could be butchered on board and the meat frozen for preservation.

In total, 17,072 whales, such as sei and Antarctic minke whales, have been flensed and cut up in the Antarctic Sea, the Northwest Pacific Ocean and waters around Japan.

Up until the 1970s when mainly European nations, along with the United States, began to view whales as a “protected” species, the mammals caught for their oil, bones and meat were widely considered an abundant “resource.”

As anti-whaling sentiment grew stronger, the International Whaling Commission decided to slap a temporary ban on commercial whaling in 1982.

In response, Japan embarked on a “research whaling” program in the Antarctic Sea in 1987 and in the Northwest Pacific Ocean in 1994 to gather data on the rise in whale stocks.

The meat from the whales caught was later sold for food.

Australia and other countries blasted the research whaling as “illegal commercial whaling.”

The Nisshin Maru was frequently targeted for sabotage by the Sea Shepherd and other anti-whaling groups. Some crew members were injured.

Masateru Ishida, a former Nisshin Maru crew member, recalled an encounter with the Sea Shepherd.

Ishida, 46, said he was hit by a strong odor, as if yogurt had curdled, when he went out on deck and found discolored butyric acid sticking to the hull.

“Violence is unacceptable,” said Ishida, who now lectures at the National Fisheries University. “I was catching whales to bring delicious whale meat to tables. I was a pure fisherman.”

But in 2014, the International Court of Justice ordered the suspension of Japan’s research whaling after taking issue with Tokyo’s claim it was killing whales for scientific purposes.

Japan withdrew from the IWC in 2019 and resumed commercial whaling in its exclusive economic zone.

But since then, the whaling industry has remained stagnant.

In addition to Kyodo Senpaku Co., the whaling company that owns the Nisshin Maru, four organizations are engaged in commercial whaling. Those entities are based in Abashiri, Hokkaido; Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture; Minami-Boso in Chiba Prefecture; and Taiji in Wakayama Prefecture.

They are all struggling to survive in an increasingly tough business environment.

The Fisheries Agency permits the hunting of three large whale species: minke, Bryde’s and sei whales.

But minke whales have become hard to find, and the catches last year were half the maximum limit.

In 2024, the Fisheries Agency plans to add one species to the list of whale species that can be caught if its ocean stocks are deemed to be plentiful.

Fin whales are considered the most likely candidate, but an official decision will be made at the agency’s deliberative council.

The Kangei Maru, the successor to the Nisshin Maru, has improved freezing and storage technology as well as sanitation features, such as being able to process whale carcasses indoors.

“No other whaling ship in the world is as large and state-of-the-art as this one,” said Hideki Tokoro, the president of Kyodo Senpaku. “It will be able to supply whale meat for 30 years.”

The company has already started to bolster demand for whale meat with the opening of five Kujira (whale) Store outlets this year that feature whale meat vending machines in and around Tokyo and Osaka.

Construction of the Kangei Maru will cost 7.5 billion yen ($50 million), placing a heavy burden on Kyodo Senpaku, which reported a net profit of 150 million yen on sales of 3.16 billion yen in fiscal 2022.

(This article was written by Masayuki Shiraishi and Hironori Kato.)