High Supply Low Demand
Ever seen the movie The Cove? Well if you haven’t, here’s the gist [SPOILER ALERT] the Japanese every year corral thousands of dolphins into a cove and either ship some out to join the entertainment industry, or they are killed for their meat. This movie put the Japanese whaling industry under a microscope. The Japanese still participate in whaling activities and sell the meat for the people of Japan to eat.
However, recently the Japanese whaling industry seems to be in a bit of a jam recently. The reason being is not from environmentalists, but from the Japanese people themselves. They’re just not eating as much whale meat anymore, and with the low demand for whale meat the industry could start to go down a downward slope.
Research is showing that with the lack of whale meat buyers over the past ten years, the meat is just piling up in the freezers. More than 2,300 Minke whales worth of meat is sitting in freezers while whalers still plan to catch another 1,300 whales per year. Some say that due to all the activism that going on has an effect as to why people are not consuming as much whale meat as they have in the past. Will this put an end to the Japanese whaling industry, no one knows, only time will tell.