Whale On the Plate

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There will be plenty to process when Kyodo Senpaku's fleet returns this month. Japan has in recent years steadily upped the number of whales it harpoons around the Antarctic, despite repeated condemnations from the IWC. The group last year voted against the country's plans to expand its quota; Japan has done so anyway. This year its "scientific" expedition is scheduled to haul in 1,240 whales, mainly minkes, but also 100 sei whales, 10 sperm whales and 10 fin whales, all of which are endangered. That's twice as many as were taken in 2000, more than even the number hauled in by Norway, which simply ignores the moratorium. Next year Japan plans to bag 50 humpbacks, the endangered giants famous for their spectacular breaches and eerie subaqueous songs. Stanford University cetologist Stephen Palumbi says their addition to the scientific catch will confound attempts to monitor poaching through the dna testing of meat, a method that has proved remarkably effective in recent years.

Frustrated by Japan's defiance of the IWC--and the nation's insistence on hunting in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary around Antarctica--Greenpeace led a campaign this year to boycott goods sold by companies with a stake in Kyodo Senpaku, including Nippon Suisan Kaisha, better known as Nissui. The $4.3 billion conglomerate owns Gorton's, one of the largest suppliers of frozen seafood in the U.S. Late last month Kyodo Senpaku abruptly announced that Nissui and four other firms that held a stake in the company would donate their shares to "public interest" corporations, including the ICR. The firms involved insist that the boycott had nothing to do with their decision. But their withdrawal effectively ends corporate Japan's engagement in whaling.

The government isn't backing down. Japan's official line is that its culture is entwined with whaling. Some Japanese communities have a long tradition of hunting whales, but the meat wasn't eaten widely until the lean years after World War II, when it provided an abundant supply of protein during chronic food shortages. The average Japanese was eating only 13 oz. of the meat annually by 1980, seven years before the IWC moratorium took effect.

Still, while most Japanese may not care for the meat, many object to calls to stop whaling. "I couldn't care less if I don't eat another whale until the day I die," says Kenji Yamashiro, 35, a systems engineer in Tokyo. "But I don't like to be told what I can or can't eat by anyone other than my doctor."

Above all, Japan's stance on whaling stems from concerns about what it considers the excessive regulation of marine resources--a crucial issue for a country that consumes a third of the world's catch of tuna. Japan has repeatedly been accused of overfishing. "If we allow whaling to be banned on the basis of unscientific reasons and value judgments," says Moronuki, "the [restrictions] may extend to other fisheries as well."