Are the people of Japan still consuming whale meat at such a large scale that the product needs to be imported from other countries, or is this just a cover up for the real reasons whales are being slaughtered?
Iceland’s lone whale crusader Kristjan Loftsson is attempting to ship around 2,000 pounds of whale meat to Japan despite the limited market for the meat and opposition at home and abroad to the bloody trade.
As we all know, Japan still goes whaling in the Southern Seas Whale Sanctuary every year with the alleged purpose of “research”. The left over meat is said to be sold in the country and feed to public school children for lunch BUT if this is the true case, why do they have tons and tons on frozen whale meat that is not being used or consumed? Why do they still want the whale meat from Iceland? Is it the meat that they want or is it something else? The popularity of whale meat in Japan has declined tremendously trough the years. The youth prefers to eat a burger Vs the old whale meat. Chicken has become more popular than whale meat!
Read about whale meat consumption in Japan here, http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/oceans/whaling/ending-japanese-whaling/whale-meat-in-japan/ Mahalo Green Peace nice write up.
Whales body parts and organs such as liver, blubber, mothers milk and more are still used for DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS AND MAKE UP. The meat is the least desirable part of the whale since in Japan, truthfully, no one eats it any more! The good eating whales are hard to get and they are expensive. Minke’s whale meat, they ones hunted in the southern sea, is the least desired of all whale meats, so why would they want to eat the meat? They don’t. Meat sits in warehouses frozen, wasted!
The entire pretext of “research” goes out the window when the whaling fleet comes home full of whale body parts and make millions of dollars at the expense of our environment and the creatures we love.
While the majority of commercial whaling nations abided by the 1982 whaling moratorium, Norway, Japan and Iceland used loopholes to continue hunting, seemingly just for meat. In fact, the whaling nations were quietly using the cover of their ongoing hunts to research and develop new uses for whale oil and other products to “reinvent” the whale for new markets.
Whale meat is used for feeding live stock and farmed fish. Japan, Norway and Iceland are leading the way and profiting from their hunts, finding another niche for the whale meat in animal feed.
That’s one of the problems with eating farmed fish, while you think you are contributing to the restoration of our environment you are actually contributing to its devastation. Always ask yourself what are the feeding the farmed fish? Soy pellets? Fish pellets? Whale pellets?
OIL and minerals in the southern seas… what?
The unexplored and wild souther seas are home of plenty treasures… Oil is GOLD and so are our minerals. Could it be possible that Japan is using the “Whale research program” to anchor themselves in the south and claim rights to the precious oil once its found?
What about all that slowly melting ancient good old fresh water down there, are they gonna claim rights to that as well?
About the riches of Antarctica, read here,http://www.coolantarctica.com/Antarctica%20fact%20file/science/threats_mining_oil.htm
Please read this detailed document on the use of whale organs, blubber and by products here, http://www.wdcs.org/submissions_bin/trade_report_201006.pdf Learn those names and codes for the cosmetics and supplements and READ all labels on the products YOU BUY. Don’t be a part of this, if its smells fishy then it is! Know your sources, be pro active. Its the best you can do to help.
Aloha
Oriana