-  japan
 -  norway
 -  IWC
 -  trade
 -  subsistence whaling

Whale meat and blubber in storage facilities in Norway awaiting export to Japan. © Greenpeace

The Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) currently lists all the great whales on its Appendix I, under which the international trade in whale products is prohibited. Japan and Norway are both lobbying aggressively, to downlist whales from Appendix I to Appendix II, thereby reopening trade. They were unsuccessful during CITES meetings in 1994, 1997 and 2000, but are expected to intensify their efforts in 2002. In early 2001, the Norwegian government announced that it would allow the export of whale meat and blubber to Japan, even though such trade is prohibited under CITES. Norway has been preparing for such a move for some time. Greenpeace has documented tonnes of frozen blubber, each block carefully wrapped and labelled in Japanese, stored in Norwegian industrial freezers, waiting for export.

A resumption of international trade in whale products would have dire implications. Pirate whalers will have an even greater incentive to hunt whales covertly, as it will become easier for them to smuggle illegal whale meat into Japan. Even with the current trade ban in place, illegal whale meat from both abundant and endangered species of whales is regularly discovered on sale in Japan. Already, as a result of Norway's plan to export whale meat and blubber, Norwegian whalers are pressing the Norwegian government to increase their quota and allow them to hunt other whale species in addition to Minke whales.

In Norway, at least seven seafood companies have applied for licenses to export whale products. If Norway goes ahead with the export of whale products, other countries could follow their lead delivering the most serious blow to whale populations in decades.

Research reveals that whale blubber stored in Norway awaiting export to Japan is unfit for human consumption. The samples of whale blubber studied by independent scientists in Germany are contaminated with various halogenated-organic contaminants such as PCBs, DDT and brominated flame retardants.

The Fisheries Agency of Japan has applied to the Trade Ministry for permission to import whale meat from Norway, but as yet no shipments have been made.