Lisa,

Perhaps you'd care to inform your readers about what the figures in your graph actually show?

My analyses of the stockpile movements and trends in supply and consumption, on the other hand, are transparent:
http://david-in-tokyo.blogspot.com/search/label/stockpile%20figures

Oh, do your figures show the average amount of whale meat in stock for each of those years?

In that case, that's a pretty meaningless statistic, because obviously supply of whale meat has increased significantly since 2000.
1) JARPN II research expansion
2) By-catch and stranded whales can now legally be marketed
3) JARPA II research expansion (not shown in your figures)

Supply has increased, thus obviously the average amount of whale meat in stock would be expected to increase.

At the same time, as I transparently show in my analyses, the volumes of outgoing stock have increased significantly in recent times, with outgoing stock volume in 2005 30% up on 2004, and 2006 volume is also up on 2005 (still without 2 months worth of figures).

Also... it's a lie that the majority of the Japanese public "are against" whaling.

Regardless of the desire for a quaint tradition, the Japanese no longer live in the 18th century. So, whether or not they "for" or "against" whaling is immaterial. The point is: Should any semi-nationalized industry be permitted to rape a limited global resource for a very narrow and selfish aim?

Actually David is right. If you want to say that the demand for whale meet is falling, then you need to show that the quantity being sold is falling (if the price is constant), not that the inventory of meat that whaling companies hold is rising.

Inventories are an investment decision by the firm, based on the variable nature of demand. Now graphs on Davids site show the quantity of meat sold rising. If this is true then I don't think we can assume that the Japanese have decided to stop eating whale meat.

Matt - For starters, I wouldn't take an graphs on David's site at face value.

And as you say, "if the price is constant". But government and whaling industry are pushing lower prices as well as new 'distribution channels' (like more whale meat in school lunches).

Whaling, and the price of whale, is about politics in Japan - not economic reality.

David's blog says the consumption of whale meat is around 450 tonnes per month. Current stocks, he says, are 3855 tonnes.

Does that mean, using David's figures, that the whale meat being sold to Japanese people is on average 3855/450
=8 1/2 months old?
Or using the Greenpeace graph above about 102 months old??

Would YOU want to eat meat that was 10 months old?

whale hunting is very bad i do not think it is a good thing to and the people who do it should told not to NOW!

I think that it is very bad to hunt whales and I think it is so bad that I 'm doing a debate on it in my school on next friday. Also when my mother was 22 she did a parichute jump for green peace and I adopted an Orca Whale Called "Havannah" and I've donated my old mobile to WDCS to help keep whales alive!!!! I'M WITH YOU ALL THE WAY GREEN PEACE GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Brilliant idea! Thank you Hanna and good luck with it.

Whaling is mean but think about this, thats the way some japanease people have been brough up they don't know any diffrent. It's their livelyhood and their culture. In a way it's a bit lie telling us not to kill chickens for their meat. It's what we know what we were brought up with they don't try and change our culture so why should we try and change theirs. Everybody always has to poke their nose into everybody elses business, why can't we let them do what they know and we can get on with what we know.

I think every one has a choise, and you can't just say that well, I did it because it's my culture. You have to think of what you do and why you do it - don't just say that it's okay to do just because it's what you've been brought up with, and what you've always have done.

Nobody needs whale meat, we don't need to do whaling, it's cruel and commersial whaling is not a culture. We are not changing the japaneese culture by stopping whaling, and should we just stand there and look when someone else is killing whales and destroying the earth, OUR earth? Should we just stand there and say: well, it's there culture.

Elsa, whale meat food is a part of Japanese culture. Whale meat is needed for Japanese if Japanese are to preserve this part of Japanese culture.

So you are ignoring the truth when you say "We are not changing the japaneese culture by stopping whaling".

Please understand that whaling does not destroy the earth. Whales die all the time. Of natural causes. Death due to humans is also natural. As humans, our responsibility is to make sure we take no more than is sustainable. This is why the research of whale stocks is critical.

Unfortunately, even Japanese government fails to apply the same position consistently to the other marine resources, such as tuna. Like European nations, Japan is not taking a good position on the tuna fishing.

If you want to criticise Japan for supporting overfishing by tuna fishing fleets of Europe and Japan etc, then I support you.

But I don't think Japanese will ever agree in majority to stop even the sustainable exploitation of whales.

Your argument is, "Whales die all the time" so why not harpoon and eat them?

That's pretty thin.

And how many Japanese people eat whale even once per year?

From the Japan Times:

A survey conducted by the Nippon Research Center in 2006 found that 95 percent of Japanese have never eaten, or very rarely eat, whale meat.

Whaling used to be part of European culture as well. But, luckily for the whales, times change.