There have been reports, including from the BBC, that there is a glut of whale meat in Japan and that whale meat is being fed to dogs.
Dr. Hiroshi Hatanaka from Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR) responded yesterday with a media release:
"The way in which this story has been spun by anti-whaling lobbyists through naive journalists who didn't check their facts demonstrates the lack of objectivity that some media have when it comes to whaling," the ICR's Director General Dr. Hiroshi Hatanaka said today.
This is an indictment on western media who do not question the information they receive on whaling and instead further reinforce falsehoods and wrong assumptions. It is the public that loses through receiving false information," he said.
The particular sale of whale meat for pet food referred by the journalists was carried out by a company near one of the traditional small-type whaling bases on the Boso Peninsula, south east of Tokyo. This was sold as a jerky-type product and was made from less than 100kg of a batch of Baird's Beaked whale, which the processor received from a local whaling company.
Baird's Beaked whale is not one of the species regulated by the International Whaling Commission and is not included in the ICR's research programs. The sustainable management of this particular species of whale is regulated by the Government of Japan's Fisheries Agency.
"The whale meat used for the pet food was 'hyakuhiro' - the small intestine of the whale commonly referred to as tripe - and other cheaper cuts that are not utilized for human consumption," Dr. Hatanaka said. Similarly, a small percentage of whale by-products from the research programs, ie some leavings after processing, that are not utilized for human consumption are also processed for the pet food market. This accords with the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) where it states that whales taken under the research provisions "shall so far as practicable be processed".
"As with other meat industries, such as cattle and sheep slaughtering for instance, not every part of the whale - intestines, some organs, etc - is appropriate for human consumption and these parts are processed for the pet food market."
"To suggest, as these groups have done, that fine cuts of whale meat from Japan's research programs is being turned into pet food because Japan has a glut of it is not true," Dr. Hatanaka said.
The distribution of frozen whale meat from the research programs is highly regulated. The price range that Japanese consumers are expected to pay is set by the Government and the supply to the market is kept under tight control and drip fed to ensure that whale meat is available in selected areas throughout the entire year.
"Demand always exceeds supply. At any given time, there will be an amount of whale meat in storage to ensure supply is always available. Japanese are not losing their taste for whale, and if left to market forces, the price of whale meat would increase considerably and reach consumers at unaffordable prices," Dr. Hatanaka said.
"The fact that the price of whale meat is well regulated by the Government means it is also affordable for some schools to reintroduce it as a protein-rich lunch option for pupils."
The wholesale price of minke whale red meat is set at a fixed price of 1950 Yen per kilogram. The whale meat from the western North Pacific research is available to the public from mid-December onwards.
Dr. Hatanaka said anti-whaling lobbyists are told when the catch reaches storage and coincide their public relations campaign to falsely allege the augmented supplies mean whale meat is not in demand because there is a large amount of it.
"Obviously our stocks of whale meat increase when we start selling the by-products from the North Pacific after Government approval in December and again when selling by-products from the Antarctic in July. It is at these times that supplies of whale meat are at their highest," Dr. Hatanaka said.
............
*The original BBC News story has been updated and changed. If anyone has a copy of the original story quoting the conservation groups could they please email it to me.
And I should have checked 'my facts' before posting last Saturday.
The Japanese whaling in the cause of "research" is Bull___. these Japanese whaling expeditions of fleets of ships that go out and have a target to kill close to 1,000 whales is a facade to kill whales to support the Japanese fishing industry. Wales eat alot of fish - the Japanese among others kill the whales so they can also deplete the ocean of fish. Get reall, see the light - it is SO DAMN OBVIOUS WHAT IS GOING ON AND NO ONE in the japanese government admits to the permanent ecological damage. - Once again, rape the earth for profit
No, I am definately not Thinksy! I have just returned from a workshop in Adelaide on Australian cetacean research. Senator Campbell was supposed to be there, but thankfully had better things to attend to. This workshop covered many aspects, including some mention of the Japanese JARPA II project in the Antarctic. There was a talk on east Australian humpbacks where a female had been resighted numerous times since 1994 with calves. The reseachers could get life history, migration and pod association data from her. One photographic resight was from a JARPA cruise in the Antarctic, which is great as it gives us an idea of where some of these animals feed. It is strange to think that here the Japanese have managed to add to a pretty amazing story of a known individual whale, but in a couple of years may be the cause of demise of that individual because they want to conduct lethal research on humpbacks. Of course this ramble by me could be interpreted as emotionally biased babble, but it does put another slant on things. I believe 60 Minutes this Sunday has a story about the Japanese whaling programs.
Full support to Mike's post. The Norwegians have shown restraint, have a long cultural history of whaling and they whale in proximity to their own country.
I posted above a relevant newspaper article and I hope others gained from reading it. The Japanese comments on free markets don't add up as I said above. It seems like demand isn't as robust as they'd like it to be. End of thread for me.
One of the most relevant issues in this whole debate is the willingness of the Japanese and Icelanders to completely disavow an organization they willingly joined.
Remember, Japan was a part of the IWC when commercial whaling was banned. Yet, rather than accept the judgments of the partners they took on willingly, they exploit a loophole intended for minor projects and use it to continue the same commercial whaling they accepted a ban on as a member of the IWC.
At least Norway had the integrity to say "we don't accept this and won't play by it."
Japan has been struggling to join the UN Security Council. Given the way they have behaved within the IWC, the WTO, the WGC, the IMF and every other international organization, one must wonder what immoral shenanigans they will try and pull if allowed to sit at the big boys table.
Can we get back to the relevant discussion about whale meat and sales of whale meat.
And Ian, we had some discussion here about those using a 'nom de plume' at another post and thread (click here https://climatelab.com.au/blog/archives/001174.html ) and I have accepted the arguments put. And ask you and others now respect those who choose to use a pen name.
Also Libby is not Thinksy and it is unfair, misleading and wrong to suggest otherwise.
Waving the white flag again?
Here we go again, anonymous non-person. Spare us all the boorish spittle.
Restricted by the moratorium? Anything like the current moratorium that the Japanese ignore?
"marginal return to historical consumption levels" requires mental acrobatics indeed.
Your calculations are based on daft assumptions again. I'm not Libby. There's an equal probability that you're a furry green muppet. You should apologise to Libby (her real identity) for that brainless and groundless accusation.
You read it yourself in the IHT/Asahi article:
"The government wants the public to eat more whale meat to reduce the bloated stockpile"
"sluggish demand"
"mounting stockpile could fuel anti-whaling nations' arguments"
"The agency plans to develop new sales channels and reduce prices to lift consumption."
If it was as easily defensible as you like to make out, they wouldn't be promoting consumption and worrying about excessive stockpiles.
There is a substantial probability (0.3+) that Libby and Thinksy are one and the same under different emails. The JIT question was answered above. But should also point out that local harvesting of non-regulated species would not even appear in the inventory.
The conversion of live weight to dressed meat weight is based on the conversion for cattle, sheep etc. I added a bit more in my example above to adjust for the larger size of the animal. It is consistent with my experience with fish where head, guts and bones account for half the live weight. It is an approximation and I would welcome a more accurate number from a reliable, identifiable source.
And the variation in stocks is directly attributable to the lower harvest of animals in the 1990's. And far from presenting evidence of a glut in 2005, the change in stocks is more consistent with a significantly undermet demand in the face of supply restrictions in the past.
You can try all the spin you want but it is a fact that Japanese consumption was much higher in the past and supply was restricted by the moratorium. To now have the gall to then suggest that a marginal return to historical consumption levels constitutes a "glut" is testimony to the extraordinary mental acrobatics that the anti-whaling people will stoop to.