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Japan's whale meals

A meat glut after boosting catch

TOKYO: Japan has enticed children with whale burger school lunches, sung the praises of the red meat in colourful pamphlets, and declared whale hunting "a national heritage." But Tokyo has been caught in a striking dilemma: by rapidly expanding its much-criticised whaling programme, Japan now kills more of the mammals than its consumers care to eat.

The result is an unprecedented whale glut. Prices — once delicacy-high — are plunging, inventories are bursting, and promoters are scrambling to find new ways to get Japanese to eat their whale. "I have to admit prospects for whale demand don't look good at the moment," said a merchant at Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market. His company has slashed whale meat prices by 25 per cent, but its freezers are still stacked with it.

Growing inventories

The plight is not unique. Some 1,035 tonnes of the meat hit the market in Japan last year, a 65 per cent increase from 1995, the Fisheries Agency says. And sluggish demand means inventories have almost doubled in five years to 2,704 tonnes in 2004.

In the same five-year period, the average price of whale plunged almost 30 per cent, to 2,560 yen (about Rs. 960) a kilogram in 2004.

But the glut has not stopped the harpoon guns. Tokyo plans to kill — under a research programme — some 1,070 minke whales in 2006, over 400 more than last year and more than double the number it hunted a decade ago. Japan will also hunt 10 fin whales, and a total of 160 Bryde's, sei and sperm whales, a fisheries official said.

The International Whaling Commission banned commercial whaling in 1986 but approved limited hunts for research purposes a year later. Opponents have called Japan's hunts merely a way for it to dodge the ban.

Tokyo says its programme is needed to establish reliable information on whale populations and habits — data that Japan says can only be gleaned by killing them.

The Government, which distributes the meat, and uses profits to fund further research, is scrambling to promote whale-eating and secure new distribution channels. "Is it OK to eat whale meat? Of course it is," reads a public relations pamphlet, titled `Delicious Whales,' distributed by the government-affiliated Japan Whaling Association. "Even if we capture 2,000 whales a year for 100 years, it's OK because whale numbers are growing," it says.

But the association acknowledges that whale is a hard sell. The meat was considered a rich source of protein in the lean years after defeat in the Second World War, but people moved on to other meats — notably beef — as they became more affluent.

Some local governments have started to tackle the challenge by promoting whale meat in school lunches. Wakayama, a prefecture with a strong whale-hunting tradition, has been aggressive in getting youngsters to indulge, introducing whale meals at 270 public schools in 2005. Nutritionists have developed child-friendly whale dishes.

AP

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