Whale On the Plate

Japan steps up efforts to end the 19-year moratorium on commercial whaling imposed by the International Whaling Commission (IWC), its seafood-loving citizens are less and less enthusiastic about tucking into the catch. As a result, trade inventories of the tough, gamy meat have climbed 1,000 tons since the late 1990s, to around 3,000 tons today--about as much as gets eaten annually. The average Japanese, who clearly prefers watching whales to eating them, ingests barely an ounce of the meat each year, compared with 13 lbs. of beef, 22 lbs. of chicken and 79 lbs. of fish.

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