Japan auctions fin whale meat first time in 50 years

Fresh fin whale meat was auctioned in Japan on Thursday for the first time in nearly five decades, fetching prices of over $1,300 per kilogramme (2.2 lbs), as officials strive to sustain the struggling whaling industry, reports AP.

This year, Japan’s Fisheries Agency included fin whales among three other whale species eligible for legal hunting, as the nation broadens commercial whaling within its waters. Japan resumed commercial whaling in 2019 after withdrawing from the International Whaling Commission (IWC), which had protected fin whales from overhunting since 1976.

Officials cited stock surveys indicating sufficient recovery of fin whale populations in the North Pacific. During this season, 30 of the 60 allowed fin whales were caught, alongside a combined quota of 379 minke, Bryde's, and sei whales.

Kyodo Senpaku Co., Japan’s sole large-scale whaling fleet operator, invested 7.5 billion yen ($49 million) in a new 9,300-ton whaling ship, the Kangei Maru, to demonstrate its commitment to the industry.

On Thursday, 1.4 tons of fresh fin whale meat from Hokkaido were auctioned at the Sapporo fish market and at Shimonoseki, the Kangei Maru's home port. In Shimonoseki, 250 kilograms (550 lbs) of tail meat, a prized delicacy called onomi, reached the highest price of 200,000 yen ($1,312) per kilogram, according to the city’s fishery promotion department.

“Larger whales are said to have better taste, so fin whales might be more delicious than other types, though I’ve never tasted it,” said Ryo Minezoe, a Shimonoseki city official.

Japan’s whaling industry has faced longstanding controversy and criticism from conservationists. However, protests have diminished since Japan shifted from contentious Antarctic “research whaling,” often perceived as a guise for commercial hunts, to domestic commercial whaling.

Last year, Japan’s whalers caught 294 minke, Bryde’s, and sei whales, amounting to less than 80% of the quota and fewer than what was caught in earlier Antarctic and Pacific hunts. Industry officials attribute the declining catch to climate change, while critics suggest overhunting as the root cause.

Nanami Kurasawa, leader of the conservationist Dolphin & Whale Action Network, opposes hunting fin whales. She warns that fin whales nearly went extinct due to past overhunting and urges more comprehensive studies on their populations in Japanese waters. Whalers prefer larger whales for efficiency, but Kurasawa argues that a thorough investigation of stocks is necessary.

Historically, whale meat was a vital protein source for Japan’s malnourished population post-World War II, peaking at 233,000 tons in 1962. However, consumption has plummeted to around 2,000 tons annually, as other meats replaced whale in diets. Officials aim to increase this to 5,000 tons to sustain the industry.

Experts are sceptical about demand for whale meat in modern Japan, where it is neither affordable nor widely consumed. Nobuhiro Kishigami, a professor and expert on indigenous whaling at Osaka’s National Museum of Ethnology, noted that whale meat is mostly eaten in whaling towns, while it remains expensive and rarely consumed in Tokyo or elsewhere.

“It’s more of a delicacy than a daily staple,” Kishigami said. “If it’s not accessible, tasty, and reasonably priced, it won’t sell. Without substantial government subsidies, sustaining the industry as a business would be extremely challenging.”