Japan’s North Pacific hunt starts

Four ships, including a factory storage vessel, have set sail from Japan for its annual whale hunt in the North Pacific in defiance of the moratorium on commercial whaling imposed by the International Whaling Commission in 1982. The expedition, which will last four months, will hunt 160 minke whales, 100 sei, 50 Bryde's and 10 sperm whales northeast of Japan. The hunt, which is claimed to be for scientific research, will provide thousands of tonnes of meat for sale to Japan’s domestic market.

The market for whale meat in Japan is diminishing rapidly, despite the addition of several new species. Bryde’s whale meat (on which hunting resumed in 2000) has fallen to almost half its value that year, while minke meat has plummeted by two thirds in the same period. Meat from sei whales – newly hunted in 2002 and once the most prized - has fallen by almost a third since hunting resumed. In 2005, sei meat was sold for less than minke meat. Japan has resumed fin whale hunting in Antarctica this year and will start targeting humpbacks next year in the hope of increasing interest in whale meat.

To help empty its warehouses and attract a new generation of whale consumers, the Japanese government subsidises the sale of tonnes of whale meat to lunch programmes in hundreds of schools across Japan. This year the government has hired a new PR company to market whale meat to new consumers. Despite the fact that the hunt is claimed to be for scientific research.

Source: WDCS