Beached whale banquet.After Japan threatened to withdraw from the June International Whaling Commission International Whaling Commission (IWC) An intergovernmental organization created in 1946 to control the rapid escalation of whaling. The original purpose of the IWC was to preserve whale stocks for commercial whalers. meeting in Berlin over its whaling whaling, the hunting of whales for the oil that can be rendered from their flesh, for meat, and for baleen (whalebone). Historically, whale oil was economically the most important. Early Whaling Whaling for subsistence dates to prehistoric times. conservation platform, a Fisheries fisheries. From earliest times and in practically all countries, fisheries have been of industrial and commercial importance. In the large N Atlantic fishing grounds off Newfoundland and Labrador, for example, European and North American fishing fleets have long Ministry panel announced a solution to the mysterious natural phenomenon of beached whales: Eat them. Currently in Japan, as elsewhere, beached whales that are still alive--which is often their condition upon discovery--must be returned to the sea. Deceased beached whales must be buried or incinerated. But the panel's report announces that such solutions are "too costly and dangerous." If whale rescue is deemed too difficult, the panel concludes, the whales should be killed--and murdered at an early stage, so the meat is still edible. Back in early 2002, in a small Kagoshima town, 13 sperm whales beached and died during a single week. Residents arrived armed with chainsaws in order to carve up the remains. Whale skin fetches over [yen] 5,000 per kilogram kilogram, abbr. kg, fundamental unit of mass in the metric system, defined as the mass of the International Prototype Kilogram, a platinum-iridium cylinder kept at Sèvres, France, near Paris. ; tail parts fetch [yen] 10,000 per kilogram, and a whale tail Whale tail is a phrase describing the waistband of a thong or g-string when visible above the waistline of low-rise pants, shorts, or a skirt creating a shape resembling a whale's tail. The appearance of a whale tail is not always intentional. can bring in [yen] 2-3 million. There does appear to be a PR problem here. Simply put, in the face of global criticism fast approaching worldwide rage, Japan seems to be saying: If you can't beat 'em, eat 'em. |
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