Whale meat
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 whale meat, compared to farmed livestock. Commercial whaling, which has faced opposition for decades, continues today in very few countries (mainly Iceland, Japan and Norway), despite whale meat being eaten across Western Europe and colonial America previously.[2] However, in areas where dolphin drive hunting and aboriginal whaling exist, marine mammals are eaten locally as part of a subsistence economy: the Faroe Islands, the circumpolar Arctic (the Inuit in Canada and Greenland, related peoples in Alaska, the Chukchi people of Siberia), other indigenous peoples of the United States (including the Makah people of the Pacific Northwest), St. Vincent and the Grenadines (mainly on the island of Bequia), some 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.g. in times of war, whereas in others it is a delicacy and a culinary centrepiece. Indigenous groups contend that whale meat represents their cultural survival. Its consumption has been denounced by detractors on wildlife conservation, toxicity (especially mercury), and animal rights grounds.
Whale meat can be prepared in various ways, including salt-curing, which means that consumption is not necessarily restricted to coastal communities.
Environmental impact[edit]
In 2008 the pro-whaling interest group High North Alliance suggested that the carbon footprint resulting from eating whale meat is substantially lower than that of beef. Greenpeace responded that "The survival of a species is more important than lower greenhouse gas emissions from eating it."[43] Many organizations, including Greenpeace and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, have criticised the whale trade for preying on endangered species, as studies have shown an alarming decrease in whale populations, which may significantly affect oceans and its foodchains, therefore, it may affect lives in the foreseeable future.