Post by Otaku on Feb 13, 2008 12:57:39 GMT 8
Japanese whalers going broke
By Lauren Willians
February 13, 2008 12:00am
JAPAN's whale killers are going broke and have been forced to slash prices because no one wants to eat their growing mountain of whale meat.
The farcical truth of Japan's whaling industry was exposed yesterday by Japanese media reports that the Institute for Cetacean Research is struggling to repay $37 million in government subsidies.
The report came as Japanese embassy officials made a stern protest in Canberra over the Australian Government's release of shocking whaling photographs.
Making a stand: EU unites against slaughter
The ICR, responsible for Japan's lethal "research operation", is flooding Japan with cheap whale meat that it cannot sell, according to the reports in respected newspaper Asahi Shimbun.
Meat and other parts of whales killed during ICR "scientific research" in the southern ocean is sold to a private fisheries company Kyodo Senpaku, which manages the sale of whale meat in the Japanese market.
But while ICR has consistently increased the number of whales it kills - by 30 per cent between 2005-2006 - there has been no increase in demand for whale meat or products domestically.
Greenpeace Australia Pacific whales campaign director Rob Nicholl said yesterday the losses were further proof that there was no market for whale meat in Japan.
"It's standard economics. There is an oversupply. They've had to reduce the price but they still can't get rid of the stuff," he said.
Japanese embassy officials yesterday met with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to protest the public release of photographs of the slaughter of whales in the Southern Ocean.
Japan has consistently argued a case for scientific whaling and last week accused the Australian Government of "misleading" the public by releasing the photographs.
Both parties called for calm yesterday, but DFAT representatives maintained their position that the whaling program is unnecessary on scientific grounds.
A DFAT spokesman said, while the photographs were "disturbing, they were in no sense misleading".
"If whaling in the Southern Ocean ceased there would be no need for either the monitoring and surveillance operation or the release images," the spokesman said.
www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23203576-5001021,00.html?from=public_rss
By Lauren Willians
February 13, 2008 12:00am
JAPAN's whale killers are going broke and have been forced to slash prices because no one wants to eat their growing mountain of whale meat.
The farcical truth of Japan's whaling industry was exposed yesterday by Japanese media reports that the Institute for Cetacean Research is struggling to repay $37 million in government subsidies.
The report came as Japanese embassy officials made a stern protest in Canberra over the Australian Government's release of shocking whaling photographs.
Making a stand: EU unites against slaughter
The ICR, responsible for Japan's lethal "research operation", is flooding Japan with cheap whale meat that it cannot sell, according to the reports in respected newspaper Asahi Shimbun.
Meat and other parts of whales killed during ICR "scientific research" in the southern ocean is sold to a private fisheries company Kyodo Senpaku, which manages the sale of whale meat in the Japanese market.
But while ICR has consistently increased the number of whales it kills - by 30 per cent between 2005-2006 - there has been no increase in demand for whale meat or products domestically.
Greenpeace Australia Pacific whales campaign director Rob Nicholl said yesterday the losses were further proof that there was no market for whale meat in Japan.
"It's standard economics. There is an oversupply. They've had to reduce the price but they still can't get rid of the stuff," he said.
Japanese embassy officials yesterday met with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to protest the public release of photographs of the slaughter of whales in the Southern Ocean.
Japan has consistently argued a case for scientific whaling and last week accused the Australian Government of "misleading" the public by releasing the photographs.
Both parties called for calm yesterday, but DFAT representatives maintained their position that the whaling program is unnecessary on scientific grounds.
A DFAT spokesman said, while the photographs were "disturbing, they were in no sense misleading".
"If whaling in the Southern Ocean ceased there would be no need for either the monitoring and surveillance operation or the release images," the spokesman said.
www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23203576-5001021,00.html?from=public_rss