Save the Whales... For Dinner

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If you're blubbering over the prospect of hungry cetacean connoisseurs waiting on shore with carving knives and barbecue grills and using CDs of Songs of the Humpback Whale for bait, you're not alone. Junko Sakurai of Greenpeace Japan doubts officials will make much of an effort to rescue beached whales if they know they can trade them in at the local supermarket. "We have pork, chicken, beef and fish. Why do we need whale?" says Sakurai, although as a member of Greenpeace, she may not be the best judge of the succulent taste of a nicely grilled finback-whale steak.

In any case, whale meat is no longer fashionable among many Japanese, especially the young, so the issue has become less about taste than national pride. "We don't want to be told what to do," says Takanori Nagatomo, chief of the Whaling Section of the Fisheries Agency. Until the whole country decides to go whaleless, Shamu would be wise to steer clear of Japan.