Commercial whaling has resumed today in Japan after more than three decades of prohibition.
The whalers started hunting this morning from the island of Hokkaido, six months after the decision of the Japanese authorities to withdraw from the International Whaling Commission.
Japan still hunts whales for research purposes, but critics of the Japanese program claim that the research was just a front for commercial hunting because the whales caught are sold.
The International Whaling Commission banned commercial whaling in 1986, but countries such as Japan, Norway and Iceland hunt whales under various pretexts, using loopholes in the regulations.
The whaling season usually runs from April 1 to September 30.
According to the Japanese Fisheries Agency, hunters are allowed to catch 227 whales this year.
How much do the Japanese eat whales?
The Japanese don't actually consume a lot of whale. Their meat makes up only about 0,1 percent of the meat consumed annually, which would mean that the average Japanese eats about 40 to 50 grams of whale meat in a year, or about the weight of half an apple.
Although animal protection organizations believe that the demand for whale meals will increase with the legalization of hunting, even they believe that this will not happen so quickly and that greater demand will only come after some time, reports the Index.
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