Large scale hunting of Dall's porpoises has taken place in Japanese waters for around 50 years. The average annual kill was between 5-10,000 animals during the 1960-70's, however this shot up to over 40,000 animals after the International Whaling Commission (IWC) implemented its ban on commercial whaling. The ban saved many whale species from certain extinction, but unwittingly resulted in a new hunting threat to Dall’s porpoises when Japan’s whaling companies began to use Dall’s porpoise meat to replace the minke whales they were no longer allowed to hunt. Dall’s porpoises were also traded to the south of Japan where over-hunting of striped dolphins had left a demand for dolphin-type meat.

Today around 15,000 Dall’s porpoises are killed each year in a hand harpoon hunt that has been repeatedly described by the IWC’s Scientific Committee as “clearly unsustainable”.

Since catch records began in the early 1960s, more than half a million Dall’s porpoises have been deliberately killed in Japan’s coastal waters.

This website is hosted by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and Campaign Whale and is dedicated to the campaign to stop the hunt for Dall’s porpoises before they are driven to extinction in Japanese waters. Take action now.