The value of whaling and its spatial heterogeneity in Japan

Abstract As the International Whaling Commission (IWC) has been shifting its attention to the conservation of whales and whale watching, Japan recently withdrew from the IWC to resume commercial whaling. In contrast to the determination of the Japanese government and the whaling industry, how much Japanese citizens value whaling and who particularly values whaling is unclear. In this study, we apply an ordered logit model to a contingent valuation survey to derive willingness to pay (WTP) to continue whaling and WTP to abandon whaling. We associate the likelihood of paying higher amounts with sociodemographic factors. We find that the support for whaling may be unsustainable, as older generations exhibit more support and family households display less enthusiasm. Among the anti-whaling population, female individuals are more willing to pay, and more education leads to a higher WTP for the termination of whaling. We also highlight the spatial heterogeneity of Japanese citizens’ preference for values of whaling and not whaling. In particular, spatially heterogeneous support for whaling can result from local cultural and historical differences in the utilization and consumption of whale resources. Using hot spot analysis, we found that hot spots for WTP to continue whaling cluster in areas that are no longer active in whaling but have a long history of utilizing every part of whale bodies.