Sperm whale meat

The largest animal in the world sank into the icy abyss, a harpoon in her heart. Iwao Isone, the gunner, watched from the prow of the whaling boat rolling in the Antarctic swell as the metre blue whale descended, taking with it all the rope he had. Unlike many other whales, the blue sinks when it dies and its immense weight tested the rope until Isone thought it would break. The whale, one of the largest ever caught, was raised and harvested for its flesh, oil and wax. A gunner for 44 years, Isone has killed 3, whales, including 20 blues, of which only a few thousand remain of an original population of more than , Now Isone, who advises Japanese authorities on whaling, thinks commercial exploitation should resume as other species recover since a ban was introduced.

Whales are particularly vulnerable to environmental contaminants, including organochlorines—such as polychlorinated biphenyl PCBs , dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane DDT and dioxin—and heavy metals, such as methylmercury. Each of these environmental contaminants tends to accumulate in the bodies of top predators, including sperm whales, orcas, pilot whales, and false killer whales. The most contaminated whale meat has come from those species that are fish or mammal eaters such as dolphins, porpoises, sperm whales, and beaked whales. Baleen whales, such as minkes, feed lower on the food chain, and their tissues generally contain lower levels of contaminants.

The little, red, bloodless strips of flesh seem so innocuous. Layered, one on top of each other, with a little cress garnish on a spotless white plate, they are just a light snack. But this Japanese dish, served up with soy sauce in the Tokuya restaurant in Osaka, is at the centre of one of the most extraordinary battles that has ever circled the globe.

Whale meat , broadly speaking, may include all cetaceans whales , dolphins , porpoises and all parts of the animal: muscle meat , organs offal , skin muktuk , and fat blubber. There is relatively little demand for it, compared to farmed livestock, and commercial whaling , which has faced opposition for decades, continues today in very few countries mainly Iceland , Japan and Norway , although whale meat used to be eaten across Western Europe and colonial America. Vincent and the Grenadines mainly on the island of Bequia , in a couple of villages in Indonesia and in certain South Pacific islands. Like horse meat , for some cultures whale meat is taboo, or a food of last resort, e.