Hi Jennifer,
Six Japanese whaling ships have set sail for their annual hunt in south Atlantic. Japan's fisheries agency says the fleet has a target of 850 minke whales and 10 fin whales.
As usual we are waiting for the annual outcry from anti-whaling countries against this hunt in the Southern Oceans Sanctuary.
So why does Japan support whaling? Here's an analysis from a Japanese political scientist: http://www.csun.edu/~kh246690/whaling.pdf .
Best regards,
PS. We have a heatwave in Sweden this weekend, temperaure about 10C.
Hi again Rune,
OK, your clarification makes some sense of Ellingsen's statements in Fiskeribladet. I was a bit confused by his statements:
1)" The expanding whale hunt is the best thing that has happened to increase the quality of the whale meat..."
and this IMO contrary statement
2) " It's not necessary to kill 1800 animals to increase the quality... we need a shift in regime (or should I say management?).
Ellingsen's is the biggest whale meat proceesing factory in Norway and the management states it is necessry to increase the quality of the whale meat that reach the market, if not it would have " fatale" consequences for the future demand of whale meat.
Please, correct me if I misunderstood this article in Fiskeribladet.
Hei Rune,
Thanks for the explanation as I am not very familiar with this terms, I have only heard about them regarding cod fisheries. Need to study the dynamics you mentioned...
BTW, how is Lofotshval running?
Hi Ann,
The TAC will certainly continue to be set in numbers. With respect to the vessel quotas, there's been a discussion. It's conceivable to have TAC in numbers and vessel quotas in tonnes. The main argument put forward for vessel quotas in tonnes is that the effect would likely be an average of smaller whales harvested. In general the meat quality from smaller whales (up to about 1200-1500 kg) is considered to be of better quality than the old cows (e.g. 2500 kg).
When the whalers fetch the same price per kilo meat, when sold to the processors, whether it is a small or a big whale, it's not surprising that the big whales are not simply ignored. In particular so in a situation with pretty small fixed vessel quotas.
Since the vessel quotas have increased, this is not the biggest problem now. Also the average size is going down.
When maximum vessel quotas with significant over-allocation is used, one can acieve the same dynamics as with vessel quotas in tonnes.
No offense, just a clarification of terms used:
Fixed vessel quota: When you add up the vessel quotas, the amount equals the TAC.
Maximum vessel quota: When you add up the vessel quotas, the amount is higher than the TAC.
Rune Frøvik
High North Alliance
"WDCS"
That's the group that tried to tell everyone that the Japanese are turning good whale meat from JARPA into pet food, isn't it. Deceptive indeed.
http://david-in-tokyo.blogspot.com/2006/05/iwc-2006-whale-meat-stock-pile-and-pet.html
"Environmental Investigation Agency"
That's the group who recently tried to characterize the minke whale hunt from JARPN II as "killing almost every whale in sight" isn't it. Veeeery deceptive indeed.
http://david-in-tokyo.blogspot.com/2006/08/whaling-jarpn-ii-fleet-returns-only-eai.html
The real problem I have with these groups is that they are so full of crap that I'm not sure when - if ever - to take them seriously. These days I don't bother, as is probably the case with many others as well. And if they do actually have something worth hearing, that's a shame...
Libby,
It seems like not only minkes are intentionally caught in nets, in Taiwan it is also believed that pink dolphins are illegally caught in nets and are seriously threatened.
There seems only to be left about 120...
Pollution of the sea is another reason of the decline...
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/39080/story.htm
Hi Rune,
It is not from Greenpeace that I have heard this story...
This is a quote from a joint work by WDCS, HSI and Pro wildlife regarding underreporting and the current talks on the draft RMS.
Excerpt from the document:
" In the mid 1970 , when only a small fraction of Norwegian whaling operations was covered by national inspectors , the senior Norwegian scientist at IWC argued that quotas should limit the weight, not the number, of whales hunted.
According to his statements, Norwegian whalers often reported two small whales as one big whale."
[ Carter,N& Thonton,A, (1985); Pirate whaling 1985 " Environmental Investigation Agency (ed), London)
http://www.hsus.org/web-files/PDF/RMS_confidence_report.pdf
OK thanks Rune for the clarifycation...
However, one more point...
I read in Fiskeribladet that Ellingsen's whale meat processing factory, wanted back the old system with quotas limited by tonnes. As I understood it , I might be wrong in this case, Ellingsen's stated that the meat of small, young minkes would fetch a better market price .
As it is today in Norway the whalers sell the big whales to the processers and keep the small better quality whales fof consumption for themselves.
http://www.fiskeribladet.no/default.asp?lesmer=1145
He also stated it should be enough to hunt 1000 smaller minkes than the today's quota of 1800 minkes.
It seems like the whalers ignore to kill the smaller minkes today and concentrate on big animals...
Finally, reading the Norwegian fisheries media , it seems like some of you want back the old system with quotas limited by tonnes...
Ann: "Norway, according to a seniot IWC scientist whalers often reported two small whales as one big one."
My understanding is that if this happened, it was mostly the other way round when the vessel quota was set in tonnes. The reason being that meat from smaller whales would fetch better prices, according to the old whalers. Perhaps in the relatively short period without a water tight control scheme and vessel quota in individual animals, it was as you have been told.
Rune Frovik
High North Alliance
Last I saw (IWC 56) there was suggestion that the J-stock is actually increasing.
That was in the annual report though, I'm not sure what the SC actually said.
At any rate, as I keep saying, it's time for the IWC to pull off the blindfold and take it's fingers out of it's ears and do it's job.