Japan may allow beached whales to be eaten
Date: 13-May-02
Country: JAPAN
The move is likely to raise fresh controversy about Japan's consumption of the giant mammals just a week before the main session of the International Whaling Commission opens in the southwestern Japanese city of Shimonoseki.
The Fisheries Agency will soon set up a group of experts to study ways to "make good use" of the meat and teeth of beached whales, Jiji news agency quoted agency officials as saying.
The group will also consider how to confirm whether beached whales are safe for consumption and how to block poaching under the guise of beaching, it said.
Officials could not be reached for comment.
Mass whale beachings take place frequently along Japan's coastlines but local authorities are required to dispose of the whales without eating them because of health concerns.
In February, 53 melon-headed whales died after becoming stranded on a beach to the northeast of Tokyo, just days after 10 died on a nearby beach.
Cash-strapped local authorities have called for the lifting of the ban on eating beached whales, citing heavy disposal costs.
It cost some 60 million yen ($465,700) to dispose of 14 sperm whales that died after beaching themselves in southwestern Japan in January, Jiji said.
Eating whale meat a tradition in Japan, and whale was a key protein source for the impoverished nation just after its defeat in World War Two.
Much of the whale meat in Japanese shops and restaurants comes from its controversial scientific whaling programme, but limited quantity and high prices have made it an expensive gourmet food that is rarely eaten.
Japan will push for the resumption of commercial whaling at the plenary sessions of the IWC, which start on May 20 and end on May 24.
It believes in protecting endangered species but argues that other species such the minke whale, are numerous enough to be hunted in a controlled way.