14 DAY TRIAL // News from Japan says that, a couple of days ago, the country was visited by a refrigerated cargo vessel traveling to this part of the world all the way from Iceland.
The news caught the attention of environmental group Greenpeace, that says that, at the time it arrived in Japan, the ship was carrying somewhere around 2,000 tons of fin whale meat destined for human consumption.
Greenpeace estimates that, all in all, the whale meat Iceland delivered to Japan this past May 7 is worth about $13 million (approximately €9.35 million).
The environmental group goes on to detail that, now that these 2,000 tons of fin whale meat entered Japan, the country's freezers are pretty much packed.
“Its arrival here has almost doubled the stockpile of unsold whale meat sitting in freezers around Japan,” the conservationists write on their website.
Interestingly enough, it appears that folks in Iceland hunt fin whales not because they too like eating their meat, but only because they want to make a profit by exporting it to Japan.
The trouble is that, according to recent investigations, people in Japan are not exactly big fans of whale meat either. Hence, it would perhaps be best if whalers in Iceland were to embrace another profession and quit slaughtering marine mammals, Greenpeace argues.
“Japan’s whalers are losing money because so few people want their product. The industry can only survive with government support and each year it needs more money,” the environmental group explains.
“The whalers are having to decrease their catch because it is so hard to sell. So it doesn’t make sense that Iceland wants to prolong its exports to this collapsing market,” Greenpeace goes on to say.
The poll that the organization has in mind when it say that whale meat is no longer as popular in Japan as it used to be was carried out last month. Of the people surveyed, 4% admitted to occasionally eating whale meat, and 10% said that they only indulge in such treats on rare occasions.
An impressive 48% explained that, although it was true that they had had whale meat at some point in the past, it had been a while since they last consumed any. What's more, 37% of respondents said that they did not eat whale meat at all.
In light of these findings, Greenpeace, together with other environmental groups, urges that Japan not only put an end to its whale hunts, but also cease to import whale meat from other countries such as Iceland.