Archives for May 18, 2008

On Thursday the ABC ran a story from Greenpeace entitled Greenpeace says whalers stealing meat
by North Asia correspondent Shane McLeod:

In Japan, environmental group Greenpeace says it has uncovered evidence of widespread theft of whale meat from the country’s scientific whaling program.

Greenpeace has intercepted a box of whale meat it says was illegally taken off the the whaling ship the Nisshin Maru by a member of its crew.

Spokesman Junichi Sato says the meat could be worth thousands of dollars on the black market.

“This is the valuable part of the whale,” he said.

“It’s made into whale meat bacon, which has a high value.”

The whalers responded with a media release ‘NISSHIN MARU CREW GIVEN WHALEMEAT FOR FAMILIES’:

Nisshin Maru crew members are given a certain amount of whalemeat to take home to their families, Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha in Tokyo, Japan, said today in response to Greenpeace Japan claims.

“The gifting of whalemeat to Nisshin Maru crew members is a time-honoured tradition in recognition of the hard work these men do spending many months a year away from their children and wives,” the President of Kyodo Senpaku, Mr Kazuo Yamamura, said today.

“Our sailors spend four months of the year away from their families and are attacked by environmental terrorists while working, so providing a gift of whalemeat for them on their return home is just a little extra we can do for these men.

“It is a sad day when Greenpeace denigrates our crew for being given a few kilos of whalemeat,” Mr Yamamura said.

Then the ABC reported in an article entitled Company accuses Greenpeace of whale meat theft on May 17, 2008, that it might have been Greenpeace who actually did the stealing:

A Japanese trucking company has told police that Greenpeace Japan has stolen whale meat, a day after the conservation group accused whalers of embezzlement.

Seino says a box of cargo was taken by Greenpeace from its branch office in the city of Aomori in north-east Japan.