Meat from endangered whales said on sale in Japan
Date: 17-May-02
Country: JAPAN
Author: Elaine Lies
Vassili Papastavrou, a campaigner with the International Fund for Animal Welfare, said analysis of samples had shown that a wide variety of whale meat on the market besides minke, one of the few types that can be officially offered for sale.
Speaking just days ahead of the start of the main meetings of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in south-western Japan, Papastavrou said the discovery showed that only a compete ban on whaling would keep endangered species safe.
"It's very easy to show that due to insufficient regulation of the whale meat market in Japan, any whaling - even on abundant species - puts endangered species at risk," he said.
Furious debate is certain over this and other topics at the five-day IWC meeting in the old whaling centre of Shimonoseki, 825 km (490 miles) southwest of Tokyo, starting on Monday.
Japan says its supports protecting endangered species, but says others, such as the minkes, are numerous enough to hunt in what it calls scientific whaling. Japan stopped commercial whaling in 1986 but began this "research" whaling a year later.
The meat from these hunts ends up on store shelves and restaurant tables, to the fury of environmentalists who speak of endangered species and the slaughter of intelligent mammals.
SEI ADDED TO HUNT LIST
Japan's northern Pacific fleet hopes to take 150 minkes in the coming season, a rise of 50 from last season, along with 50 Bryde's whales, 50 sei whales and 10 sperm whales. Japan also has a quota to take around 400 Antarctic minkes a year.
Only the meat from these hunts is allowed to be sold for food, but anti-whaling groups say other varieties frequently appear on Japanese store shelves.
"Humpback whale meat has been found, finback whale meat has been found, and sei whale meat has been found," Papastavrou said at a news conference.
The 12-17 metre (39-55 ft) pointed-snout sei whale, which is considered vulnerable by environmentalists, has been added to Japan's whaling programme for next season.
"After eight years of DNA analyses, gray whale meat has been found on the marketplace, almost certainly coming from the Western Pacific population of gray whales that only numbers about 100 individuals," Papastavrou said.
"So even the loss of one animal makes this population more likely to head towards extinction," he said.
Even some minke populations are far from safe, he added.
"The minke whales in the Sea of Japan are extremely endangered and threatened with extinction," he said.
"About 41 percent of the samples obtained on the Japanese market and analysed according to DNA fingerprinting techniques are from this particular population of whales."
Whale meat was a staple in Japan in the dark years just after World War Two, but whale is now an expensive, gourmet food that is rarely eaten.