Minke whale image from Mad Black CatJapan is not the only nation which, despite not being protein poor, insists on clinging to annual whale hunts as a national ‘right’.
Iceland which resumed commercial whaling in 2006 also vigorously protects its hunts in the face of world-wide calls to desist.
How far removed this right to hunt is from any societal food need or commercial reality is seen in an extract from a 9 July 2009 U.S. diplomatic cable:
¶2. (SBU) Staff members of Hvalur, hf, which is the only company in Iceland with the capability to hunt large whales, told Emboff on July 3 that whaling is providing jobs for 150 to 200 people. However, they admitted they are keeping their fingers crossed that there is a market for the meat and said, otherwise "this is a doomed operation." Since minke meat is the only whale meat consumed and sold in Iceland, the fin meat must be exported to another market, such as Japan. In May, Greenpeace and a local environmental group held a press conference which featured a recorded conversation with the Japanese importer of the Icelandic whale meat who stated he would not be importing any meat from Iceland this year. In late June, the Japanese Charge d'Affaires told Emboff that he didn't believe there was a market for the fin meat in Japan.
¶3. (SBU) Charge d'Affaires met with the Minister of Fisheries on July 9 and strongly protested the renewed whaling, particularly the large number of fin whales hunted. CDA reiterated that whaling is an impediment to agricultural and fish exports to the U.S, particularly to environmentally conscious outlets like Whole Foods grocery store, and underscored the Japanese CDA's belief that there is no market for Icelandic whale in Japan. The Minister responded that this was a sovereignty issue and that Iceland is a coastal nation that is using all its marine resources sustainably. He noted his political party is generally against whaling and the government is redoing the country's whaling laws, which date from 1947. He
also said the government has tasked the University of Iceland Economic Institute to create a cost and benefits report on whaling, which the Minister expects to use to develop a new whaling policy at the end of this whaling season. Regarding the reported absence of a whale meat market overseas, the Minister said that marketing was a private commercial issue which did not concern the government.
In the 2009-2010 whaling season the Iceland Government was reputed to have allowed a total hunt quota of 200 minke whales and 150 fin whales.
In the same year Japan’s stockpile of unsold whale meat was thought to be more than 6,000 tonnes.
The Wall Street Journal on 14 January 2011:
Read the WikiLeaks cables with Japan mentions in regard to Iceland’s whale hunting policies here:
June 10, 2008 cable from the U.S. embassy in Reykjavik
June 13, 2008 cable from the U.S. embassy in Reykjavik
January 30, 2009 cable from the U.S. embassy in Reykjavik
June 10, 2009 cable from the U.S. embassy in Reykjavik
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