TOKYO, Japan: Meat from fin whales, caught legally for the primary time in practically 50 years, was auctioned in Japan on December 12, fetching costs as excessive as US$1,300 per kilogram.
The auctions, held in Sapporo and Shimonoseki, mark a major second as Japan expands its industrial whaling operations.
The auctions included 1.4 tons of recent fin whale meat from whales caught off Hokkaido. In Shimonoseki, the prized tail meat, referred to as “onomi,” fetched the very best worth at 200,000 yen ($1,312) per kilogram.
“We hear the larger the whale, the better the taste, so I assume fin whales are more delicious than other kinds of whales, though I never had a chance to taste it and cannot compare,” mentioned Ryo Minezoe, a metropolis official in Shimonoseki.
Japan’s Fisheries Agency added fin whales to the listing of species that may be legally hunted earlier this yr, citing a restoration within the inhabitants within the North Pacific. Thirty fin whales had been caught this season, half of the annual quota of 60. Japan’s mixed catch quota for minke, Bryde’s, and sei whales is ready at 379.
The resumption of fin whale looking has drawn criticism from conservation teams. Nanami Kurasawa, head of the Dolphin & Whale Action Network, argued that fin whales had practically gone extinct attributable to overhunting many years in the past, and extra analysis is required to make sure sustainable practices.
Japan resumed industrial whaling in 2019 after withdrawing from the International Whaling Commission, which had designated fin whales for defense in 1976. The transfer adopted years of controversy over Japan’s Antarctic “research whaling,” broadly seen as a guise for industrial looking.
Whale meat consumption in Japan has declined sharply since its post-World War II peak of 233,000 tons in 1962. Today, provide hovers round 2,000 tons yearly, and officers intention to spice up it to five,000 tons to maintain the business.
However, consultants query the viability of the whaling business. Whale meat is costlier than different meats, and demand stays restricted. “This is supposed to be business, and without large government subsidies, I think it would be challenging for it to be sustainable,” mentioned Nobuhiro Kishigami, an ethnology professor in Osaka.