AMAZON.COM’s UNPALATABLE PROFITS: Cashing in on the killing of whales in Japan

In December 2011, a search for ‘whale’ on www.amazon.co.jp yielded 147 whale products for sale. Many of these products originate from great whales, namely fin, sei, minke and Bryde’s whale, which are all protected species under the moratorium on commercial whaling established by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in 1986. These whale species are also afforded the highest level of protection by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which prohibits international trade. Despite this, a number of companies were selling endangered fin whale, imported from Iceland, through Amazon Japan.

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