Japan has auctioned fin whale meat for the first time in nearly half a century. On Thursday, 1.4 tons (1400 kilograms) of fin whale meat caught off northern Japan’s Hokkaido coast were sold at fish markets in Sapporo and Shimonoseki.
The most expensive cuts of the fin whale were sold for prices as high as ¥200,000 ($1,312) per kilogram.
In August, the country announced it would expand its commercial whaling and kill 59 fin whales this year. Japan withdrew from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in 2019 to resume commercial whaling.
“In what is a step backward, Japan caught their first fin whale after five decades this September. They have now brought it to shore. The life of a beautiful fin whale auctioned to the highest bidder,” the ocean conservation movement Captain Paul Watson Foundation said.
“All while Paul languishes in prison, based on an Interpol notice from Japan. The connection is blindingly obvious,” it added.
Canadian environmental, conservation and animal rights activist Paul Watson is still in custody as he awaits a decision regarding his extradition to Japan. The court in Denmark will make a decision this week on whether he will be sent to Japan.
“The real reason I am in this prison is because Japan wants to prevent me from opposing their ambitions to return to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary to continue the illegal slaughter of whales,” Watson said.
Sea Shepherd, the organization Watson founded, reportedly saved over 6,000 whales from Japanese whalers. Despite global opposition, Japan, along with Norway and Iceland, continues commercial whaling.
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