Japan to boost whale sales, hoping to whet demand

TOKYO - In an effort to whet an appetite for whale among younger consumers, a new Japanese company is set to expand sales of the meat to include school lunches and some family-oriented restaurant chains.

The move is likely to outrage anti-whaling nations and environmental groups, who have long charged that Japan's programme of what it calls research whaling is really commercial whaling in disguise.

Tokyo, which maintains that eating whale is a treasured cultural tradition, abandoned commercial whaling in 1986 in line with an international ban. It began research whaling the next year and has called for a return to limited commercial whaling.

Much of the meat from Japan's whaling ends up on the tables of gourmet restaurants, but the now-limited supply has made it a pricey delicacy. Young people especially tend to opt for steak and hamburgers rather than raw whale meat or boiled blubber.

To broaden sales of whale meat, a new company has been set up following the return of Japan's whaling fleet last month from a hunt in which the take of minke whales nearly doubled from the previous year.

"Up to now, the amount of whale meat was limited, so ordinary people couldn't really get their hands on it," said Noriyoshi Hattori, director of the Institute of Cetacean Research, which conducts Japan's whaling programme.

He added that Japan was not trying to promote the eating of whale, merely to maintain its traditional culture.

"But if people can eat whale from a young age, they'll become used to it," he said. "We just want people to enjoy whale."

The new company will start business late next month and hopes to sell 1000 tonnes of whale meat over the next year.

Whale up to now has been allocated to each region of Japan and sold through limited channels, but the new firm plans to sell directly to places such as hospitals, companies that provide school lunches, and restaurant chains catering to families.

It also plans to make sales over the internet.

Japan blames whales for declining fish catches. It supports protection of endangered species but argues that others, such as the minke, are numerous enough to be hunted within limits.

Japan's take of whale on its Antarctic hunt that just ended nearly doubled to 850 minke whales. Its vessels also brought back, for the first time, 10 fin whales -- which conservationists say are endangered.

"Given that our take of whale has doubled this past year, it would be difficult to sell it through the routes we have used up to now," Hattori said, adding that school lunch companies would be charged lower prices for the meat.

"We have to preserve this sort of traditional food culture among children."

Greenpeace condemned the new company.

"This isn't just scientific research anymore but clearly suggests commercial whaling," said Junichi Sato, campaign director at Greenpeace Japan. "Especially since they took nearly 1000 whales, including endangered species."

- REUTERS