Whale meat hits Japanese market

Nearly 2,000 tons of whale meat went on sale across Japan last week.

Sales, expected to reach $32 million, will go toward financing more whale hunts, which Japan calls “research” whaling.
The meat comes from 440 minke whales killed in the Antarctic during the hunting season that ended in March.

Japan stopped commercial whaling in 1986 after the International Whaling Commission imposed a moratorium on the hunt, but began its research whaling the following year.

Most of the meat ends up on store shelves and restaurant tables.

Whale meat sells for US$22 a kilogram. About 270 tons of the 1,929 tons of whale meat will be made available for local use in Japan to keep alive the whale-eating tradition among young people more used to Western food.

Some 1,000 tons of whale parts, such as internal organs and skin, will be sold for canning or other processing.