9月10日，国际捕鲸委员会(IWC)大会在巴西开幕，日本在当天便递交了关于“解禁对部分鲸种进行商业捕捞”的提案。日本人对鲸的消费量常年持续减少，为什么此次却如此坚定地想要重启商业捕鲸呢？本期Quriosity带您一探究竟。
Japan's determined bid to return to commercial whale hunting was rejected by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) on Sep 14th in a tense vote that left the 72-year old organisation at a crossroads.
9月14日，国际捕鲸委员会（以下简称IWC）投票否决了日本重启商业捕鲸的提案。这场激烈的投票把这个有着72年历史的组织置于发展的“十字路口”。
Japan's vice-minister for fisheries Masaaki Taniai said he "regretted" the vote's outcome, and threatened Tokyo's withdrawal from the 89-member body if progress could not be made towards a return to commercial whaling.
日本渔业部副部长谷合正明（音译）表示，他对投票结果“深表遗憾”。他同时威胁称如果日本无法在恢复商业捕鲸方面取得进展，日本将退出IWC，不再成为89名成员国中的的一员。
"If scientific evidence and diversity is not respected, if commercial whaling is completely denied ... Japan will be pressed to undertake a fundamental reassessment of its position as a member of the IWC," he said.
“如果（IWC）不尊重科学证据和生物多样性，如果商业捕鲸被完全否定……日本将重新对我们作为IWC一员所处的位置进行根本性的评估。”他说。
Japan's IWC commissioner Joji Morishita declined to comment when asked if this would be Japan's last appearance at the IWC, an organisation which he has chaired for the past two years. His term ended on Friday.
当问及这是否是日本最后一次出席IWC时，已在IWC 任职两年的日本专员森下襄二（音译）拒绝作出评论。他的任期将在周五结束。
Minutes after the meeting he told AFP that differences with anti-whaling nations were "very clear" and Japan would now plan it's "next steps".
就在会议后不久，他告诉法新社日本和反捕鲸的国家之间的分歧“十分分明”，并且日本将计划采取“下一步行动”。
Japan had sought consensus for its plan but had been forced to push the proposal to a vote "to demonstrate the resounding voices of support" for a return to sustainable whaling for profit, said Taniai.
谷合正明说, 为了恢复以营利为目的可持续捕鲸，日本已就其计划寻求一致意见, 但被迫将提案付诸表决 "以示支持呼声的存在"。
Pacific and Caribbean island nations as well as Nicaragua and several African countries, including Morocco, Kenya and Tanzania, voted with Japan, as did Asian nations Laos and Cambodia. Korea abstained.
太平洋和加勒比群岛国家、尼加拉瓜，以及包括摩洛哥、肯尼亚、坦桑尼亚在内的几个非洲国家给日本文投了赞成票；而亚洲国家老挝、柬埔寨和韩国则投了弃权票。
The dismissed proposal said the sanctuary would provide a safe haven for whales, increasing their numbers and preventing the "severe exploitation" of their population by foreign whaling fleets.
这项遭到否决的提案中提到保护区会给鲸类提供安全的庇护场所，增加种群数量，防止由于他国捕鲸船队对鲸鱼种群造成的“严重破坏”。
02
Glenn Inwood, of Opes Oceani, a company that analyses developments in the use of ocean resources, says there is no longer much of an economic or political case for Japan remaining in the body.
Opes Oceani是一家分析海洋资源利用发展的公司。该公司的Glenn Inwood表示，无论从经济上还是政治上来讲，日本都没有留在IWC的意义了。
"Japan invests tens of millions of dollars each year into its whaling activities but gains very little from the IWC despite being its biggest benefactor," said Inwood.
Inwood说：“日本每年在捕鲸活动上投入数千万美元。作为最大的投入国，日本从国际捕鲸委员会那里获得的收益却少之又少。”
The Japanese have hunted whales for centuries and see it as a cheaper alternative source of protein. They currently hunt under a commission provision that allows killing whales for research purposes.
几个世纪以来，日本人一直在捕鲸，并将其视为蛋白质的便宜替代品。目前，他们根据委员会的规定进行捕捞鲸鱼，只将其用作研究目的。
The number of whales Japan kills each year is now capped at 333, about a third of the number it used to kill before the International Court of Justice ruled in 2014 that its program wasn't scientific in nature.
现在，日本每年捕鲸的数量上限为333头，大约是2014年前的三分之一。2014年，国际法院裁定日本的捕鲸行为在本质上不具有科学性。
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Demand for change
亟待改变
While the Japanese political class eagerly seeks a restart to commercial whaling, much of the public doesn't seem to have strong opinions on the issue itself.
日本政界正急切寻求重启商业捕鲸，但普罗大众却似乎对此事并没有强烈的看法。
"Actually many (regular) people don't have any interest in whales or whaling now in Japan," Nanami Kurasawa of the Iruka and Kujira(dolphin and whale) Action Network (IKAN) told CNN.
“日本海豚与鲸类行动网”成员千川南美告诉CNN记者：“在如今的日本，很多普通民众实际上对鲸鱼或者捕鲸没有任何兴趣“
Kurasawa said that eating whale is also becoming "less and less popular."
她还说，食用鲸肉的人“正在变得越来越少”。
According to Aimee Leslie, global lead for cetaceans and marine turtles for WWF, the number of people in Japan who regularly eat whale meat is very small.
根据世界自然基金会鲸鱼和海龟全球领导者艾梅莱斯利的说法，在日本，经常食用鲸肉的人数非常少。
In 2013, nine of 10 Japanese said they hadn't bought whale meat in the past year, leading to thousands of tons of the meat being stockpiled, according to a survey commissioned by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).
据国际动物福利基金会（IFAW）委托进行的一项调查显示，2013年，10名日本人中有9人表示他们在过去一年中没有购买鲸肉，导致数千吨肉被储存。
In another survey of Japanese people released in 2014, only 4% of respondents said they ate whale meat occasionally, compared to 37% who said they didn't eat it at all.
据2014年发布的针对日本人的另一项调查显示，只有4％的受访者表示他们偶尔会吃鲸肉，而37％的受访者表示他们根本不吃鲸肉。
Leslie told CNN that the diminishing market for whale meat in Japan means that it is only government subsidies that keep the industry alive.
莱斯利告诉美国有线电视新闻网，日本鲸肉市场的减少意味着只有政府补贴才能使这个行业保持活力。
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Loophole
漏洞
Japan already hunts whales each year despite the worldwide moratorium, utilizing a loophole in the law that allows for killing the mammals for scientific research.
尽管全世界都暂停了捕鲸，但因为法律允许捕杀哺乳动物进行科学研究，所以日本仍然利用该法律漏洞每年捕杀鲸鱼，
For years the research loophole was the government's last-ditch effort to keep the moribund whaling industry alive, but supporters got a boost in 2017 when the Abe administration enshrined continued research whaling, with a view to reviving commercial whaling, into law.
多年来，捕杀哺乳动物用于研究的漏洞是政府为停滞不前的捕鲸业带去活力所做的最后努力，但在2017年，安倍政府为了恢复商业捕鲸而将持续的鲸鱼研究纳入法律，这一举动给捕鲸支持者带来很大支持。
The current research program -- NEWREP-A -- is scheduled to last until the 2026-27 hunting season.
当前一项名为NEWREP-A的研究项目，计划将持续到2026-27的捕猎季。
Under the program, a maximum quota of 333 minke whales are marked for slaughter each year, according to an information sheet from Japan's Fisheries Agency and Ministry of Foreign Affairs -- almost 4,000 whales over the duration of the program.
在项目实施的过程中，每年最多有333头小须鲸被标记为屠宰对象。据日本渔业署及外交部的一张信息表显示，大约有4000头鲸鱼会在项目实施的期间遭到屠宰。
In justifying the slaughter, the authors of the sheet maintain there are "no other means than lethal methods, at this stage" to obtain age data on the minke population. It claims having accurate data of this kind is necessary for estimating the age-at-sexual-maturity (ASM) of the whales, which gives a better read on the health of whale populations.
信息表的撰写者坚称为了获取小须鲸种群的年龄数据，“眼下除了杀生别无他法”，来为这种屠宰行为进行辩护。信息表中声称，获取此类精确的数据对于估计鲸鱼的性成熟年龄至关重要，从而更好地展现鲸鱼种群的健康状态。
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Part of Japanese culture
日本文化的组成部分
Supporters of eating whale meat say that it is an important part of Japanese heritage, and accuse western critics of cultural imperialism.
食用鲸鱼肉的支持者称，这是日本文化遗产中重要的一部分，并指责了西方评论员的文化帝国主义思想。
Shinrato Sato, 47, the second-generation owner of a Japanese casual izakaya restaurant in the Tokyo district of Shinjuku, which features cuisine from the Sanriku coastline of the Tohoku region said that Japan's cultural connection with whaling goes back 4,000 years.
47岁的佐藤信浓（Shinrato Sato）是东京市新宿地区一家日本休闲居酒屋的第二代店主，这家店以东北（Tohoku）地区三陆（Sanriku）海岸线的菜肴为特色。佐藤说，日本与捕鱼业之间的文化纽带可以追溯到4000年前。
He considers eating the giant mammals to be Japan's "precious culinary culture." He said whale remains a popular choice on his menu at his restaurant. "The older generation find it melancholic and begin to talk about their childhood school lunches while younger people are reminded that the whale meat is OK to eat," said Sato.
他认为吃巨型哺乳动物在日本是一种“珍贵的烹饪文化”。他表示鲸鱼在他的餐厅仍然很受欢迎。 “老一代人对于禁止捕鲸感到十分遗憾，他们开始怀念他们童年时的学校午餐，那时，吃鲸肉是被允许的。”
"We're waiting for the day that we can catch whales without shame. If the whaling resumes and these products come to the supermarket, the price will fall and people might feel little more familiar with eating whales," he added
“我们希望有一天，捕鲸不再是一件羞耻的事。如果人们重新开始捕鲸，超市开始供货，那么鲸肉的价格就会下降，人们对鲸肉就不会那么有距离感。”他补充说道。
Sato said that Japanese whalers "will and should" control resources sustainably, and would "not overfish."
佐藤表示日本捕鲸者“将会并且应该”以可持续的方式控制资源，并且“不会过度捕捞”。
But not everyone agrees. Willie Mackenzie, oceans campaigner at Greenpace, told CNN that many countries have similar histories, but that the practice has "been left there (in the past) for the most part."
然而，并不是每个人都同意这个观点。 Greenpace的海洋工作从事者Willie Mackenzie向CNN表示，许多国家都有和日本类似的历史，但这种文化习俗“大部分都被留在了过去”。
According to Mackenzie there are other reasons that the Japanese want to regain the right to hunt whales.
据Mackenzie所说，日本人想重新获得捕鲸权其实还有其他原因。
"There are different considerations too on the impact of regulating any one thing -- it could lead to other things, like fishing, being regulated."
“他们会也会考虑到重获捕鲸权对于其他领域监管问题的影响。比如，这可能使得捕鱼业受到监管。”
