Norway gets upset about hearing truth about subsidies
So Norway has not liked the information that WDCS and WWF have released on Japanese and Norwegian subsidies to keep the flailing whaling industries alive.
Norway's Fisheries and Aquaculture Industry Research Fund (FHF) has now posted the most recent projects that it is supporting and here is one for June, 2009 and please note that the request came from the minke whalers themselves!
The FHF is giving 77,000 kroner for profiling whale meat at the Oslo Seafood FestivalIt seems that the marketing of whale meat needs the subsidies that Norway claims do not exist. In Tokyo AFP reports that bars and restaurants have sought to lure patrons with an exotic new spread of whale dishes. 'On the menu, alongside local staples such as whale sashimi, were new creations including whale spring rolls, whale bacon and even an Italian cheese whale cutlet -- all served with a dollop of local whaling history.'
The AFP report goes onto note ' ..."Not many people eat whale any more," Tai [Masanobu Tai, the restaurateur leading the promotional drive in the Noge district of the port city of Yokohama] conceded. "Some people come to our restaurants to remember the past. Some people bring their younger colleagues from work to taste whale," Tai said.
A 2008 survey by the Nikkei business newspaper found that only 12 percent of Japanese in their 20s eat whale meat.'
Seems that the punters are not exactly breaking the doors down to get the whale meat thats already on sale 
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