SHIMONOSEKI, Yamaguchi Prefecture—Japan’s new whaling mothership departed on its first expedition as the country plans to expand its commercial hunts.

The Kangei Maru, the successor to the Nisshin Maru, which retired in November after more than 30 years of operation, left Shimonoseki, its home port, on May 21.

“We will work as one to maintain whaling culture for eternity,” said Hideki Tokoro, president of Kyodo Senpaku Co., the whaling company that owns the ship, during the ship’s departure ceremony.

He said the construction of the Kangei Maru means that offshore, mothership type whaling will not be discontinued.

Under this method, whales caught by smaller vessels are taken to a mothership to be butchered and their meat frozen for preservation.

The Kangei Maru, which is 112.6 meters long, 21 meters wide and has a gross tonnage of 9,299 tons, cost about 7.5 billion yen ($48 million) to build. It carries a crew of up to 100 and boasts a range of 13,000 kilometers, enough to travel to the Antarctic Ocean.

The Kangei Maru embarked on its maiden voyage while Japan’s whaling industry remains in a slump.

Japan produces only about 2,000 tons of whale meat a year, about one-hundredth of the amount it produced in the 1960s.

Kyodo Senpaku, the largest whaling company, which produces about 1,600 tons of whale meat a year, reported an operating profit of 200 million yen on sales of 3.1 billion yen in fiscal 2022.

But the construction cost of the Kangei Maru weighs heavy on the company's finances.

Tokoro said that whale meat has fallen out of favor with the Japanese. He said young people tend to think whale meat has a fishy smell and hard texture.

The Fisheries Agency currently permits the hunting of minke, Bryde’s and sei whales in commercial whaling.

Tokoro expects that the agency’s plan to add fin whales to the list will help improve the company’s bottom line.

Fin whales, a large species, measure about 20 meters and weigh about 42 tons, according to the Institute of Cetacean Research. Some large individuals weigh up to 80 tons.

The hunting of fin whales requires a fleet of vessels led by the whaling mothership, which makes Kyodo Senpaku the only company capable of catching them.

Agency officials said they have confirmed through a survey in the North Pacific Ocean that fin whales are sufficiently abundant to allow hunting.

The plan is expected to be finalized this summer following discussions at the agency’s deliberative council.

This would be the first addition of a new species since Japan resumed commercial whaling within its exclusive economic zone in 2019 after withdrawing from the International Whaling Commission.

However, experts question the Fisheries Agency’s plan.

Masayuki Komatsu, a former agency official who participated in IWC negotiations many times, called it a hasty decision.

“We cannot make a judgment because no scientific study has been published,” Komatsu said.

Yasuhiro Sanada, chief research officer of the Ocean Governance Institute, said he expects negative reactions from overseas government organizations.

“Fin whales, the second largest species after blue whales, are a symbol of marine life,” said Sanada, whose group studies fisheries policies.

“The IWC could deliberate (the agency’s plan) at its meeting this year if the situation calls for it,” he said.

Paul Watson, former captain of the Sea Shepherd anti-whaling group, told The Asahi Shimbun that commercial whaling of fin whales, an endangered species, is illegal and that the group will block any whaling operation outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

Japan started what it calls “research whaling” after the IWC slapped a temporary ban on commercial whaling in 1982.

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

The Sea Shepherd repeatedly sabotaged Japan’s research whaling program in the Antarctic Ocean.

Japan has placed Watson on an international wanted list for assault through the International Criminal Police Organization.

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