I see cannned whale meat in nearly every supermarket chain…gathering dust.

please…put down your cafe latte’s and spare a thought for the poor host-less..orphaned..remora’s…what are they supposed to do ?

touche…citizen overoften.

PuyoPuyoさん、

現在の日本は、鯨という種を絶滅させるほど鯨の乱獲をしていません。日本が捕っているミンク鯨は年間100頭でしかないし、絶滅種にも指定されていません。そもそも生態系は、一種を保護するだけでは守られないものではないですか？最近アイスランド政府が商業捕鯨を再開させたのは、鯨類が他の魚を食べ、漁獲量が減る被害を受けているという漁民の苦情の為です。反捕鯨のオーストラリアではカンガルーを少なくとも毎年200万頭から300万頭間引きして食料にしています。それなのに、鯨が増えすぎて他の魚を食っている時に間引きするのはいけない、というのは全然分からない理屈です。なぜ鯨だけが特別なのですか？アメリカ政府も他の国の捕鯨に反対しながら、自国のイヌイット族やマカ族が絶滅種の北極鯨を捕ることを黙認しています。これはダブルスタンダードというものではないですか？

Some people like whale meat, but realistically, it’s just another type of meat. The demand for it isn’t that great, but I think most Japanese don’t see a reason why it shouldn’t be available alongside all the other types of meat that are available. Indeed, many foreigners feel this way too.

The reports of stock of whale meat exploding seems to have started from anti-whaling NGO groups in the west, after their criticism of whale meat as a luxury product for rich salarymen in expensive sushi bars had no effect in the 90’s. At best, the news claims are exaggerated, at worst, the claims are completely misleading and don’t represent the full picture at all. The reports are that sizes of stockpiles have increased - but is that due to decreasing demand? The anti-whaling NGO groups have chosen to interpret it that way, but the economically literate will recognise that another possibility is that supply has increased. Examination of stockpile movements indeed reveals that in recent years that not only has supply increased signficantly (due to expansion in the scope of Japan’s research programmes), consumption has in fact increased significantly as well, although not in step with supply. The pattern is 1) supply increase 2) consumption increases. This has resulted in stockpiles increasing slightly, but they are still bottoming out at lower levels. There was an increase in from 2004 to 2005, but the 2006 level was basically the same as 2005, and further more consumption has increased this year. The higher peak stockpile levels are due more to increases in supply than decreases in demand / consumption.

And still, while supply has increased that doesn’t mean that there is a lot of whale meat available. More than before, yes, but relative to other products whale meat remains scarce. The percentage of total frozen marine products in Japan consists of just 0.5% frozen whale meat stocks. Talk of huge piles of whale meat is thus grossly exaggerated. This is why you don’t see it in that many shops (although apparently Maruetsu has been selling it since last year).

Japanese news media actually contacted Iceland sources about the possibility of export, but were told that the Icelanders believe the majority of the meat will be consumed in Iceland, and they have no plans to export to Japan.

I follow the issue obsessively on my blog, so feel free to keep up to date with what is going on there. I myself have a tolerant and even positive view of whaling, where as I feel very negatively about the anti-whaling campaigns, as they distract us from the real conservation issues that do exist in the world today. Whaling isn’t one of them. By-catch and ship strikes are far greater threats to truely endangered whale species, which are not targetted by the whalers. People in the west have been brainwashed to believe that “whaling = an unsustainable practice” but this is an intellectually bankrupt concept. Whaling in the past certainly was conducted at unsustainable levels, but the reasons for this happening are largely gone. No more demand for oil, and a recognition from government’s in whaling nations that they need to keep manage their markets spotlessly lest they give live ammunition to the anti-whaling groups, who are otherwise firing blanks.