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Norway seeks to export whalemeat!
Eyes lucrative Japan market for export of "toxic" blubber to Japanese consumers, paving way for bigtime future whaling trade
Norway is making big noises about beginning to export whale blubber. This would take the world further down the road towards unrestricted commercial whaling, which is what decimated the worlds whales in the first place.
Several nations have been mentioned as possible markets, but the reality is that on this planet the only culture which actually wants to eat this stuff, AND is willing to pay big money for it is (drum roll) Japan.
Norway certainly doesnt want to eat it. It has been reported to be full of PCBs and other bioaccumulating toxins. The Norwegians eat the meat, which is much lower in contaminants. They have been warehousing the blubber for several years. In Japan, labeling laws are so loose that toxic whalemeat is sold to consumers with no warning label.
The possible import of toxic whale blubber has been publicly protested by scientists and activists within Japan, but Japan has a tradition of ignoring activists.
Why should conservationists care, if these whales are dead anyway? Because the influx of whale tissue from Atlantic minke whales would help cover up illicit imports of other whales into Japan, and because such trade would directly violate IWC and CITES rules which protect endangered whales and other species. If this trade is allowed, anything goes. The whalers know this very well.
Moreover, there is a perversion of science being attempted here. The world was apalled when the conservation group Earthtrust demonstrated in 94 that Japan was awash in illegal meat from endangered whale species, and this remains largely true today. Norway and Japan are discussing a "DNA Registry" to provide a seemingly scientific justification for bilateral trade but are resisting the unbiased DNA testing of the IWC. Theyd like the deal to stay between Japan and Norway.
This recalls all too closely the "bilateral deal" between Japan and the former USSR, which was supposedly only an exchange of observers on one anothers whaling ships from the 50s to the late 70s but which turned out to be the biggest piece of "organized crime" in whaling history. Most of the worlds remaining blue, fin, and humpback whales lost their lives in this conspiracy hundreds of thousands of endangered whales - all while under "IWC protection".
Whether Japan would actually risk international condemnation now by violating CITES for a relatively small quantity of rancid Norwegian blubber, is a good question. History has shown that it is never wise to underestimate Japans gall, or what it is willing to have its citizens eat.
But with the U.S. backing down to the whalers on all fronts and the IWC powerless, it may be that the whales were never truly saved at all.
Visit out "Cry Out" section NOW and send an electronic letter directly to Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.
And if you can, contribute now to the Greenpeace Foundation Anti-whaling campaign!
