.comment-link {margin-left:.6em;}

David @ Tokyo

Perspective from Japan on whaling and whale meat, a spot of gourmet news, and monthly updates of whale meat stockpile statistics

6/22/2009

 

Only half of Americans against whaling?

Poll result:
Animal Planet today released the results of a national Online Zogby Interactive poll of 3,412 Americans ...

... Slightly more than half (53%) said it is not ethically or morally right to kill whales, with 20% disagreeing and 27% unsure.
Interesting. I would have thought that the numbers would be more heavily against whaling (by default), however generally speaking I believe that most people in most countries really don't care much about whaling.

 

First Iceland fin whale catches in 2009

Interesting story from IcelandReview:

Representatives of Japanese companies who plan to import the Icelandic fin whale meat were present during the processing; carrying their own knives to taste the meat and to grade the different cuts.

“They were always with us in the old days and will probably stay for the summer,” Loftsson said.

Commercial anti-whaling industry groups have been constantly trying to tell the west, and sympathetic Iceland officials, that there is "no demand" for Icelandic whale products in Japan (e.g. this).

This revelation that Japanese representatives are on the ground in Iceland tells a different story, one that is consistent with what I think is the case.

Labels: , ,


6/21/2009

 

Whale meat inventory update - April 2009

Here's the April inventory statistics update from the usual source.

Not much time again at the moment, will maybe add more commentary later.

April 2009 outgoing stock: 369 tons


April 2009 incoming stock: 767 tons


April 2009 end-of-month inventories: 4,800 tons


April 2009 top inventory regions


Region
Stockpile size at
month end
Stockpile size at
previous month end
Movement
Tokyo city wards3,0232,912+111
Ishinomaki592601-9
Shimonoseki463123+340
Funabashi304310-6
Nagasaki117134-17
Sasebo5248+4
Hakodate45?n/a
Kushiro?48n/a


Graph: Inventory ratio


Graph: Annual volumes


Graph: Monthly volumes


Graph: Outgoing stock (cumulative)


Graph: Incoming stock (cumulative)



Graph: Regional whale meat inventories

Labels:


6/05/2009

 

By-caught minke goes for 5 million

A local Japanese newspaper has a report of another by-caught minke whale.

My summary translation is below.
On the 2nd of June, a minke whale exceeding 7 metres in length, which had been caught in a fixed fishing net, was landed at the Kesennuma city fish market. People gathered around the whale that was laid across a pier to touch and take photographs with it.

The 7.35 metre bull whale weighing 4.7 tons had been transported there from the coast off Ofunato city in a large truck. A large fisheries company in the city succeeded in the bid to purchase the whale, paying 5,470,000 yen.

The company that bought the whale has plans to process it at their factory an then ship the fresh products down south to Sendai. Sales by Kesennuma city wholesalers and the "Uminoichi" market are also planned.

The last minke whale to be landed in Kesennuma fish market was on April 25. An operator of the fishing company that owns the boat which brought the whale to shore said "I hear that whales are increasing out at sea but I've no recollection of one being caught in June before".

According to the ICR in Tokyo, minkes can grow in excess of 10 metres, making this catch a medium sized one.

It seems there is a quite a large variation in prices of by-caught whales, just going by the news media reports. This one seems to have fetched a relatively hefty price. The condition of the whale probably plays a role, but I also wonder how often the buyers can away with a bargain purchase when the market is thin.

Labels: ,


Archives

June 2004   July 2004   August 2004   September 2004   October 2004   November 2004   December 2004   January 2005   March 2005   April 2005   May 2005   June 2005   July 2005   August 2005   September 2005   October 2005   November 2005   December 2005   January 2006   February 2006   March 2006   April 2006   May 2006   June 2006   July 2006   August 2006   September 2006   October 2006   November 2006   December 2006   January 2007   February 2007   March 2007   April 2007   May 2007   June 2007   July 2007   August 2007   September 2007   October 2007   November 2007   December 2007   January 2008   February 2008   April 2008   May 2008   June 2008   July 2008   August 2008   September 2008   October 2008   November 2008   December 2008   January 2009   February 2009   March 2009   April 2009   May 2009   June 2009   July 2009   August 2009   September 2009   October 2009   November 2009   January 2010   February 2010   April 2010   May 2010   June 2010   July 2010   August 2010   September 2010   February 2011   March 2011   May 2013   June 2013  

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?