There have been reports, including from the BBC, that there is a glut of whale meat in Japan and that whale meat is being fed to dogs.
Dr. Hiroshi Hatanaka from Japan’s Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR) responded yesterday with a media release:
“The way in which this story has been spun by anti-whaling lobbyists through naive journalists who didn’t check their facts demonstrates the lack of objectivity that some media have when it comes to whaling,” the ICR’s Director General Dr. Hiroshi Hatanaka said today.
This is an indictment on western media who do not question the information they receive on whaling and instead further reinforce falsehoods and wrong assumptions. It is the public that loses through receiving false information,” he said.
The particular sale of whale meat for pet food referred by the journalists was carried out by a company near one of the traditional small-type whaling bases on the Boso Peninsula, south east of Tokyo. This was sold as a jerky-type product and was made from less than 100kg of a batch of Baird’s Beaked whale, which the processor received from a local whaling company.
Baird’s Beaked whale is not one of the species regulated by the International Whaling Commission and is not included in the ICR’s research programs. The sustainable management of this particular species of whale is regulated by the Government of Japan’s Fisheries Agency.
“The whale meat used for the pet food was ‘hyakuhiro’ – the small intestine of the whale commonly referred to as tripe – and other cheaper cuts that are not utilized for human consumption,” Dr. Hatanaka said. Similarly, a small percentage of whale by-products from the research programs, ie some leavings after processing, that are not utilized for human consumption are also processed for the pet food market. This accords with the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) where it states that whales taken under the research provisions “shall so far as practicable be processed”.
“As with other meat industries, such as cattle and sheep slaughtering for instance, not every part of the whale – intestines, some organs, etc – is appropriate for human consumption and these parts are processed for the pet food market.”
“To suggest, as these groups have done, that fine cuts of whale meat from Japan’s research programs is being turned into pet food because Japan has a glut of it is not true,” Dr. Hatanaka said.
The distribution of frozen whale meat from the research programs is highly regulated. The price range that Japanese consumers are expected to pay is set by the Government and the supply to the market is kept under tight control and drip fed to ensure that whale meat is available in selected areas throughout the entire year.
“Demand always exceeds supply. At any given time, there will be an amount of whale meat in storage to ensure supply is always available. Japanese are not losing their taste for whale, and if left to market forces, the price of whale meat would increase considerably and reach consumers at unaffordable prices,” Dr. Hatanaka said.
“The fact that the price of whale meat is well regulated by the Government means it is also affordable for some schools to reintroduce it as a protein-rich lunch option for pupils.”
The wholesale price of minke whale red meat is set at a fixed price of 1950 Yen per kilogram. The whale meat from the western North Pacific research is available to the public from mid-December onwards.
Dr. Hatanaka said anti-whaling lobbyists are told when the catch reaches storage and coincide their public relations campaign to falsely allege the augmented supplies mean whale meat is not in demand because there is a large amount of it.
“Obviously our stocks of whale meat increase when we start selling the by-products from the North Pacific after Government approval in December and again when selling by-products from the Antarctic in July. It is at these times that supplies of whale meat are at their highest,” Dr. Hatanaka said.
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*The original BBC News story has been updated and changed. If anyone has a copy of the original story quoting the conservation groups could they please email it to me.
And I should have checked ‘my facts’ before posting last Saturday.
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD is a critical thinker with expertise in the scientific method.
Just received this comment and link:
See Melbourne Age: http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/japanese-pets-do-eat-whale-meat/2006/02/16/1140064205104.html
This is the best The Age could do from the press statement issued yesterday by the ICR.
It is concerning that Baird’s beaked whales are not included in any scientific research program, as the beaked whales are some of the least known large vertebrates on the planet.
I believe the conservation group who were reporting on the dog food issue was the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS). I have the original article if you are still interested. As for Dr Hatanaka’s reply, did anyone expect anything different? Hey, what happened to that sun bear story?
21 comments deleted from this thread as one or more readers of this blog considered one or more of the comments offensive, highly offensive or off topic.
Jennifer 8.36pm
If whale truly was highly sought-after (high demand v’s the restricted harvest that Japan can get away with) then the left over bits and bobs would likely be used for people not pets eg whale bits soup, whale flavoured instant noodles, hotdogs with whaley chunks, udon noodles with poached whale blowholes, whale jerky for those ski-slope hunger pangs, whale and bonito flakes for your miso, whale bonbons, whale fat lip gloss and dry skin moisturiser, etc etc. Gee hope I’m not giving marketing ideas to the ICR!
I did click through from the original BBC story to the Jap pet food site and it had pics (from memory) of juicy looking fresh slices of tender whale for salivating pampered puppies, but that could just be marketing and the puppies are actually getting the less attractive cuts. It didn’t look like offal. Really though, the whale offcuts should go to deprived orcas in captivity.
Hatanaka made an incongruous point when he said “left to market forces, the price of whale meat would increase considerably and reach consumers at unaffordable prices”. If the meat prices were unaffordable, demand would drop and hence so would the price until it was affordable (if market forces, then price equilibrium where D = S). I think what he actually meant was that they’re subsidising whaling to artificially lower the sales price of whale meat to push a nationalistic agenda. That is, to encourage a ‘cultural’ practice, promote whale to kids at school (foster product take-up at a young age to maximise consumer loyalty) and then make a show of nationalistic independence by defending that cultural practice against international attacks.
As for which whales go to which stomachs, I read that some researchers bought whale sold as ‘minke’ , some of which tests determined was larger, more vulnerable species, not minke. (But none of us here can vouch as to whether that report is accurate or inaccurate).
I have no problem with low level harvesting of whales provided it is sustainable. I think harvesting should be limited to those nations that have traditionaly harvested whales as the resource is very limited.
Australia’s economic interest is however in whale conservation since whale watching is a great tourist attraction.
Why don’t you admit it, thinksy, you provided the first point of contact for a massive beat up based on breathtaking ignorance of the meat consumption business. Your people can’t even tell the difference between sushi and offal. As if beef mince in dog food indicated a lack of demand for beef. But then, any pretext will do for a propagandist.
Little wonder that you lept at the opportunity for defamation.
Ian whatever you think excuses your foul behaviour, go ahead. Your conduct becomes you.
No further reply to your childish jibes.
Friends,
Speaking of by-products, in this neck of the woods there’s a large factory that takes hogs and turns them into bacon, etc. It’s a point of pride with them that one way or another, everything from each animal gets used. Sure, some goes for cat/dog food. All the blood is used as well, some of it for “natural” colorant in women’s lipstick. They *used* to say that they used “everything but the squeal” but that isn’t entirely true any more. A couple years ago a rock band came to the factory and recorded the squeals of the pigs to add to the album’s sound track. So all in all, I guess I’d be more alarmed if they killed whales only to, say, dump them in a landfill somewhere. As for the qualities of whale meat, I’ve heard it’s greasy and fishy-tasting. Which isn’t real appealing, but then, in Japan they eat dried minnows as a snack food. Head, guts and all, so I guess that’s pretty efficient overall, but hey, it’s their cuisine, not mine. Probably one of the reasons why they keep saying Westerners can’t understand Eastern ways. Now people like to express concern that whales are “intelligent mammals,” but so are pigs. Me, I’d rather eat bacon. But I don’t see that means I should tell the Japanese they can’t have whale.
Schiller.
Those little dried fish, in Malaya and Indonesia they call them “ikan bilis” and you fry them with peanuts and other stuff for a tasty snack, “ikan bilis sambol” They are just another form of anchovy; we call them “whitebait” and fried whole with some salt, lemon and beer are great. Over in NZ they go crazy over whitebait.
Some years ago in France (near Bordeaux) I was served raw sardine for brekkie. I had no idea how to prepare it so Madame showed me, a quick flick of the knife fileted the flesh onto bread and butter, very tasty. The sardines were about 4″ long and the flesh was pink.
But anyway, when I did my stint at the meatworks in Cairns (now long closed after costly union action) a lot of the meat was downgraded due to bruising or disease, the DPI would inspect each body and mark the areas for removal. If a beast fell off the hook from the kill floor to the knocking box the whole body was wasted. Or if some bush bull tried to demolish the race to the kill box. They were a pretty wild bunch of workers on the kill floor.
The gist of Dr Hatanaka’s statement is that the green beat up on whale meat was all a load of tripe.
A single tenuous piece of information was blown up and moulded to conform to their ideological position. And in so doing, the entire green movement have exposed their complete ignorance of even the most rudimentary attributes of the food processing industry in general, and the whaling industry in particular. Yet, they continually hold themselves out as being experts in this field.
But then, they may have an excuse, it must be hard to get a clear picture when one has so much egg on one’s face.
Ian, you’re nuts.
The central contention is that the market doesn’t exist for the quota’s Japan is taking.
Dr. No is saying that pet food is made from whatever. Not the point.
There is a tremendous amount of whale meat sitting in freezers, unsold and unwanted, yet they kill more and more, and are now trying to force-feed it to school children.
Apparently the research being conducted is on the nature of Japanese Fishermen’s psychopathology.
“Demand always exceeds supply. At any given time, there will be an amount of whale meat in storage to ensure supply is always available. Japanese are not losing their taste for whale, and if left to market forces, the price of whale meat would increase considerably and reach consumers at unaffordable prices,” Dr. Hatanaka said.”
Think of the pure insanity of this statement, given Japanese logic in abiding by the IWC regs to utilize all the whale.
Japanese people like whale so much the ICR is refusing to sell it to them so that they will continue to want it, and be able to buy it at a lower price despite more and more people wanting more and more whale.
Anybody who buys this argument is stupid enough to be interested in the polar ice cap I have listed on E-Bay.
Didn’t Greenpeace pics show whale offcuts etc coming out of the factory ship, ie not being kept for use for people or pets?
Schiller, are the pigs that are used for human consumption at risk of extirpation or extinction? Much is known about their population numbers, breeding cycles etc. Also, pigs are killed more quickly and humanely than whales. It is highly controversial and unproven that industrial whaling activities can be sustainable, plus whale populations are facing additional pressures (eg krill stocks, pollution, warming waters, ship strikes, sonar etc) and there’s much we don’t know about their lifecycles, social order, breeding and recovery cycles.
The Japanese don’t show much restraint: they’re continually pushing for higher quotas, extended whaling seasons, the lifting of sanctuaries and the moratarium and harvesting the more vulnerable species. They refuse to recognise Australia’s territorial waters and they whale in a sanctuary against international consensus. They’ve admitted to using their aid to influence developing countries to vote in line with Japan’s whaling interests and now they admit to holding prices at an artificially low level. There is very little that can be said in support of Japan’s whaling activities.
Officials to public: Eat more whale
02/14/2006
The Asahi Shimbun
The government wants the public to eat more whale meat to reduce the bloated stockpile and to prevent a rise in international criticism against the nation’s whaling program in the name of research.
The excess stock stems from the expanded catch of whales in the northwestern area of the Pacific Ocean, coupled with sluggish demand among consumers.
The whale meat stock soared to 4,800 tons at the end of August, before falling to 3,511 tons at the end of December. The stockpile was between 600 tons and 700 tons in 1998.
Fisheries Agency officials say the mounting stockpile could fuel anti-whaling nations’ arguments that Japan should reduce the number of whales it hunts or terminate the whaling program altogether.
The agency plans to develop new sales channels and reduce prices to lift consumption.
“There are a large number of consumers who want to eat whale meat,” said an official.
The agency says whale meat is difficult to sell at major supermarket chains because they usually deal only with products of a certain quantity.
Japan’s research whaling program started in 1987 by the agency-commissioned Institute of Cetacean Research. Whale meat from the program has been sold for consumption, and the revenue is used for research costs.(IHT/Asahi: February 14,2006)
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200602140159.html
Mike and a non-person called thinksy seem to think that the stocks in Coles’ and Woollworth’s warehouses amount to evidence of a lack of demand for their products. Tell it to their merchandising departments and wait for the belly laughs.
And poor old non-person gets vertigo whenever she strays into hard numbers. If 30 August stock was 4,800 tonnes and 31 December stock was 3,511 tonnes then 1,289 tonnes have been sold in 4 months at an average of 322 tonnes each month.
And that is an annual consumption of 3,867 tonnes which is hardly a “lack of demand” for the product.
And if you people had even a rudimentary exposure to business decision making you would know that the key to making additional sales and reaching the full potential of a market is regualarity of supply. So in the past, many potential customers would not have even been approached by the whale suppliers because they could not guarantee supply to the new retailer.
But keep going folks, the more you talk the more you demonstrate that this is an issue that is entirely within your own head. You just want the Japanese to provide you with palliative treatment at no cost to yourself.
What the .. so why are their inventories so lean and just-in-time then? And they don’t stock roo meat for human consumption as it doesn’t sell.
Hi Ian, Why is Mike referred to by name, but Thinksy as non-person? Just curious.
Hi Jennifer,
Thanks for Sun Bear piece. Snakes in some countries are apparently treated similarly. Sun bears look pretty cute, but they are extremely dangerous animals to work with. Thanks again.
Good question, Phil, and an understandable one. The inventories cannot work on a just in time basis because there is only two hunts each year, one in the northern hemisphere and one in the southern. And the largest hunt is the southern one, hence the seasonal high stock level. Any the shift to a just in time basis would not outweigh the lost scale economies from smaller more frequent hunts.
It is also worth cross checking the numbers. A harvest of 400 odd Minkes at about 8 tonnes live weight would, sans offal and bones, come to about 1600 tonnes of meat, possibly 1800 or more due to the conversion efficiency of larger animals. So if we add in the northern harvest and the unregulated species we end up with current consumption that is approximately equal to past harvest levels.
Now let the truth be your constant companion, grasshopper.
oooo – Done again by the back-o-envelope .. .. argh .. .. et tu Motty.
And if it were Woolies – we would be subject to a Whale Sale – once a year – never to be repeated prices, every cut and dissected bit must go, at liquidation prices, this weekend, no repeats, no rain checks, at the Convention Centre, first come first served with whale, bring the kids and bring the ute – never to be repeated prices.
(Libby – Ian and Thinksy have had a tiff and are not speaking. Jen zapped the text.)
Ian has conveniently ignored the sentence that shows that whale meat stock soared
FROM between 600 tons 700 tons in 1998
TO between 3,511 and 4,800 tons now.
A large increase in whale meat stocks; a large inventory figure of 4000 tonnes and the Japanese setting low prices and school programmes to try to shift the stuff are all highly suggestive of a GLUT.
And Ian what’s your back-of-envelop basis for the weight of whale meat sans offal and bones? Are you using another whales = cows assumption? Or is it based on your experience with trees? And don’t the Japanese set the international benchmarks for JIT delivery?
There is a substantial probability (0.3+) that Libby and Thinksy are one and the same under different emails. The JIT question was answered above. But should also point out that local harvesting of non-regulated species would not even appear in the inventory.
The conversion of live weight to dressed meat weight is based on the conversion for cattle, sheep etc. I added a bit more in my example above to adjust for the larger size of the animal. It is consistent with my experience with fish where head, guts and bones account for half the live weight. It is an approximation and I would welcome a more accurate number from a reliable, identifiable source.
And the variation in stocks is directly attributable to the lower harvest of animals in the 1990’s. And far from presenting evidence of a glut in 2005, the change in stocks is more consistent with a significantly undermet demand in the face of supply restrictions in the past.
You can try all the spin you want but it is a fact that Japanese consumption was much higher in the past and supply was restricted by the moratorium. To now have the gall to then suggest that a marginal return to historical consumption levels constitutes a “glut” is testimony to the extraordinary mental acrobatics that the anti-whaling people will stoop to.
Restricted by the moratorium? Anything like the current moratorium that the Japanese ignore?
“marginal return to historical consumption levels” requires mental acrobatics indeed.
Your calculations are based on daft assumptions again. I’m not Libby. There’s an equal probability that you’re a furry green muppet. You should apologise to Libby (her real identity) for that brainless and groundless accusation.
You read it yourself in the IHT/Asahi article:
“The government wants the public to eat more whale meat to reduce the bloated stockpile”
“sluggish demand”
“mounting stockpile could fuel anti-whaling nations’ arguments”
“The agency plans to develop new sales channels and reduce prices to lift consumption.”
If it was as easily defensible as you like to make out, they wouldn’t be promoting consumption and worrying about excessive stockpiles.
Here we go again, anonymous non-person. Spare us all the boorish spittle.
Waving the white flag again?
Can we get back to the relevant discussion about whale meat and sales of whale meat.
And Ian, we had some discussion here about those using a ‘nom de plume’ at another post and thread (click here http://www.jennifermarohasy.com/blog/archives/001174.html ) and I have accepted the arguments put. And ask you and others now respect those who choose to use a pen name.
Also Libby is not Thinksy and it is unfair, misleading and wrong to suggest otherwise.
One of the most relevant issues in this whole debate is the willingness of the Japanese and Icelanders to completely disavow an organization they willingly joined.
Remember, Japan was a part of the IWC when commercial whaling was banned. Yet, rather than accept the judgments of the partners they took on willingly, they exploit a loophole intended for minor projects and use it to continue the same commercial whaling they accepted a ban on as a member of the IWC.
At least Norway had the integrity to say “we don’t accept this and won’t play by it.”
Japan has been struggling to join the UN Security Council. Given the way they have behaved within the IWC, the WTO, the WGC, the IMF and every other international organization, one must wonder what immoral shenanigans they will try and pull if allowed to sit at the big boys table.
Full support to Mike’s post. The Norwegians have shown restraint, have a long cultural history of whaling and they whale in proximity to their own country.
I posted above a relevant newspaper article and I hope others gained from reading it. The Japanese comments on free markets don’t add up as I said above. It seems like demand isn’t as robust as they’d like it to be. End of thread for me.
No, I am definately not Thinksy! I have just returned from a workshop in Adelaide on Australian cetacean research. Senator Campbell was supposed to be there, but thankfully had better things to attend to. This workshop covered many aspects, including some mention of the Japanese JARPA II project in the Antarctic. There was a talk on east Australian humpbacks where a female had been resighted numerous times since 1994 with calves. The reseachers could get life history, migration and pod association data from her. One photographic resight was from a JARPA cruise in the Antarctic, which is great as it gives us an idea of where some of these animals feed. It is strange to think that here the Japanese have managed to add to a pretty amazing story of a known individual whale, but in a couple of years may be the cause of demise of that individual because they want to conduct lethal research on humpbacks. Of course this ramble by me could be interpreted as emotionally biased babble, but it does put another slant on things. I believe 60 Minutes this Sunday has a story about the Japanese whaling programs.
The Japanese whaling in the cause of “research” is Bull___. these Japanese whaling expeditions of fleets of ships that go out and have a target to kill close to 1,000 whales is a facade to kill whales to support the Japanese fishing industry. Wales eat alot of fish – the Japanese among others kill the whales so they can also deplete the ocean of fish. Get reall, see the light – it is SO DAMN OBVIOUS WHAT IS GOING ON AND NO ONE in the japanese government admits to the permanent ecological damage. – Once again, rape the earth for profit