TOKYO — Japan on Monday resumed commercial whale hunting after a hiatus of more than 30 years, defying calls from conservation groups to protect animals once hunted to the brink of extinction. Now whalers, who have long depended on government subsidies for their survival, face the much tougher challenge of defying basic economic reality: the market for their product is declining while labor costs across the nation are on the rise. Japanese production of whale meat peaked in 1962, and the taste is generally preferred by an older generation. As commercial whaling ships prepared for the start of the season, officials in the port cities of Shimonoseki in western Japan and Kushiro in the country’s far north predicted the new era of whale hunting would bring economic benefits to their constituents. “The restart of commercial whaling is a cause for great celebration,” Shimonoseki’s mayor, Shintaro Maeda, told reporters last week, adding he was looking forward to promoting the city’s efforts “across the whole nation.”

Source: International New York Times July 01, 2019 16:00 UTC