In this Japanese cartoon from a pro-whaling site, a man gets slim pickings while the whale gorges himself on fish. Japan estimates the annual global yield of fisheries at 90 million tons and claims whales consume an estimated 440 million tons of marine resources.
Japan says that whales consume five times as much fish as humans.
Most of the catch was to be of minke whales. The decision last fall to include Bryde's and sperm whales in the catch for the first time generated intense criticism around the world. The United States, Britain and other nations, along with environmental groups, have protested that the hunts are merely a disguise for commercial whaling - which the International Whaling Commission banned in 1987. Despite the ban, whale meat is indeed sold in Japan - primarily in pricey specialty restaurants which get their stock from the research program. Last month three Japanese whaling boats returned home with 440 minke whales caught in a five-month hunt in the Antarctic Ocean.