TOKYO, June 24 (UPI) -- Beached whales should be made available for processing, a report produced by a Japanese Fisheries Ministry panel has recommended.
The interim report compiled by the panel, which is headed by Kinki University Professor Seiichiro Ono, suggested the best way to deal with beached baleen whales is to process them into meat and use the remaining parts as raw material for other products.
The Mainchi Shimibun newspaper reported Tuesday under current rules, beached whales must be returned to the sea while they are still alive. When they die, their carcasses must be incinerated or buried.
The panel argued these operations are "too costly and dangerous," citing the vain attempt to rescue more than a dozen sperm whales beached in Oura in January last year cost $525,000 (62 million yen). Only one of the 14 beached whales was rescued.
At the time, there were strong arguments in favor of processing the dead whales to cover rescue costs.
