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In our No. 33 newsletter of January 2006, we estimated that "The amount of the whale meat from the Antarctic Ocean would be about 4,000 tons. " The figure had been calculated based on the number of whales and " the meat amount" per whale in past research whaling.
However, the Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR) recently announced that the total amount of the whale meat in this season was 3, 435.8tons, of which the minke was 3168.7 tons, and the fin was 267.1 tons. Thus the minke was 500 tons lower than our estimation, 3,688t, which had been calculated based on annual data.
Usually, the average amount of the meat per minke is about 4.3 tons, but it was 3.7 tons in this season, decreased by nearly 600kg (14 %). Since nobody has talked about the possible shrinking of the whales, it looks as if some of the meat was dumped in the sea (!).
Stocks reach new peak at the end of October
This graph shows the monthly whale meat stocks from 1997 to October 2010 when stocks reached 5,525 tons, the largest since 1990. But there is more to this than meets the eye. The actual amount of unsold meat may be higher than these figures for 2010 seem to show. Let's take a look at the background by comparing stock figures with production figures.
We are a group of citizens based in Japan committed to the conservation of dolphins and whales. We oppose Japan's whaling activities and, in particular, the recent extension of "scientific whaling" upon which the Fisheries Agency and the fishing industry have insisted. Commercial exploitation of wild species like dolphins and whales may cause serious damage not only to their own populations but also to marine ecosystems.
We submitted a statement opposing Japan's commercial whaling, to the 52nd IWC Meeting held in Adelaide in July, 2000. This statement, supported by 65 Japanese organisations , is attached below.
We feel strong resentment against the embarkation to the North Pacific at the end of July of Japanese whaling vessels to kill sperm, Bryde's and minke whales for "research".
Read more: Please stop "research" whaling in North Pacific Ocean!
We are a citizen's group active in Japan. Our stance is that the consumption of whale meat is not an indispensable part of the Japanese diet.
It is true that in a certain period after World War II, whale meat was an important source of protein for Japanese people. However, as the war-shattered society recovered, the number of people who continued eating whale meat declined sharply. Nowadays, whale meat is typically consumed as a luxury food, a gourmet specialty item, served along with drinks, or presented as a gift.
The Japanese government has insisted to the international community that whale meat is one of the Japan's traditional foods that is indispensable for the nation. Despite this claim, the industry and government has had to run various campaigns domestically to encourage
Recently the Japanese massmedia have hit on a new theory of justifying whaling. "Whales have increased in numbers so much that they eat 3 to 6 times more fish than humans do. Thus whaling is necessary to save the eco-system and as a policy to ensure food supply." The Institute of Cetacean Research which is carrying out research whaling on behalf of the national government's Fishery Agency states in a pamphlett entitled 'The annual food consumption of all whale species in the world's oceans' that whales consume 280 - 500 million tons of food annually. In order to further substantiate this theory, whaling boats left Japan at the end of July, this time adding 50 Brydes Whales and 10 Sperm Whales to the 100 Minke Whales that they had already been taking from the north Pacific Ocean.
Certainly this theory may sound like music to the ears of people in the fishing industry
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