David @ Tokyo

Yesterday I voiced some initial suspicion over claims from groups such as Greenpeace that "Iceland has no market for whale meat".

In support of this claim they state the fact that "In Iceland only 1.1% of the population eat whale meat once a week and 82% of 16 to 24 year olds have never eaten it"

This doesn't really tell us much at all, in fact. An important question is whether whale meat is actually available to be eaten in the first place. We have to remember that Iceland stopped commercial whaling quite some years ago, and only recommenced scientific whaling in 2003. Only small numbers of whales have been taken during the time, meaning supply would be limited to a few hundred tonnes, anyway.

My suspicions seem to have even more solid ground, after I noticed a news report in the Japanese media (my translation):

"An Iceland Fisheries Ministry spokesperson said on the 18th in response to questions from Kyodo Tsushin that the whale meat supplied from Iceland's resumed commercial whaling operation "will be mostly consumed domestically", and acknowledged that there were no plans to export the products to Japan or other markets.

The spokesperson stated that "as a result of whaling groups employing marketing staff, domestic consumption of whale meat has increased by 4 times over the past 3 years", expressing the view that the meat could be sold domestically.

With regard to the quota for fin whales, which is classified as endangered by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), the official stated that "In the North Atlantic the species numbers 25,800. The level of resources can be maintained".

I wonder if it is foolish to believe the Iceland Fisheries Ministry instead of Greenpeace on these matters?

UPDATE: November 8, 2006
Iceland and Japan are now reported to be in negotiations related to resuming trade in Fin whale products (source).

Labels: Iceland, Japanese media perspective, whale meat market, Whaling