Fresh fin whale meat is auctioned for the first time in decades in Japan
Meat from fin whales caught for the first time in nearly 50 years off Japan’s northern coast has fetched up to more than $1,300 per kilogram at auction, as officials try to keep the struggling industry alive
TOKYO — Meat from fin whales caught for the first time in nearly 50 years off Japan’s northern coast fetched up to more than $1,300 per kilogram (2.2 lbs) at auction Thursday, as officials try to keep the struggling industry alive.
Japan’s Fisheries Agency this year added fin whales to its list of three whale species that can be legally hunted as the country expands commercial whaling along its coast.
Japan resumed commercial whaling within its exclusive economic zone after withdrawing from the International Whaling Commission in 2019. The IWC designated the fin whale as a species for protection from overhunting in 1976.
Japan said its recent stock surveys confirmed a sufficient recovery of fin whale populations in the North Pacific. Officials said 30 of the whales — half of the quota of 60 — were caught this season. Japan set a combined catch quota of 379 for the three other whale species — minke, Bryde's and sei whales.
The country's only large-scale whaling fleet operator Kyodo Senpaku Co. launched the 7.5 billion-yen ($49-million) Kangei Maru — a 9,300-ton new ship — this year in a show of determination to stay in the industry.
On Thursday, some 1.4 tons of fresh meat from several fin whales caught off Japan’s northern main island of Hokkaido was auctioned at the Sapporo fish market and the Kangei Maru’s home port of Shimonoseki.
In Shimonoseki, where 250 kilograms (550 lbs) of fin whale meat was flown from Hokkaido for the event, the tail meat — a delicacy known as “onomi” — fetched the day’s highest price at
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