Cost of new Japanese whaling ship may put an end to cetacean slaughter
Campaigners hopeful cost of building new whaling mother-ship may put bloody industry out of business.
Anti-whaling activists have found cause for hope after it was announced that the cost of replacing Japan’s last whaling mother-ship may be prohibitive.
Whale meat consumption has decreased year-on-year in Japan. Only about half a dozen inshore whaling boats, and one whaling-mother ship, the Nisshin Maru, ply Japanese waters in search of an annual quota of 1,500 tonnes of minke, sei, and Bryde’s whale.
“The number of people who eat whale meat in Japan is decreasing year on year, so it is no longer a viable business,” anti-whaling activist Ren Yabuki of the NGO Life Investigation Agency told SCMP.
“The government should not support the whaling industry with money from taxes because this is a business conducted by private companies who should survive on their own budgets, just like any other Japanese company.”
