698 MARINE PRODUCTS OF COMMERCE 



that food or hormonal (breeding) factors may at times reduce palatability. It is 

 also true that the species with predominantly glyceridic oils in the blubber and 

 meat are the most palatable (they are most similar in this respect to oior domestic 

 animals). However, the blubber of the sperm, which may have a wax content of 

 65 to 85 per cent, is also eaten in Japan. 



Treatment of the Carcass. The small carcasses of dolphins and porpoises can 

 be hauled out and treated like large fish or fresh beef. 



For the larger species the Norwegians employ both small-type and large- 

 type whaling methods. The former method utilizes principally 25- or 35-foot minke 

 whales. These are hauled on the deck of the small hunting boats and flensed; the 

 meat is iced. Sometimes they are delivered to a larger ship. 



In large-type whaling, sei and finback whales and some blue and humpback 

 whales are used. Only the chest and tongue are inflated after death to prevent 

 possible dissemination of bacterial organisms in the meat from ruptures in the 

 intestines and from the opening of the belly wall to cool the body. The carcass is 

 towed to a station where it is hauled out and flensed as usual; the top longissimus 

 dorsi muscle along the spine is stripped, and large chunks of it are carted away 

 in clean hand trucks. The meat never touches the deck. After the whale has been 

 turned over, the other back muscle is similarly disposed of. Then, after the dis- 

 articulation of the ribs and evisceration, the inner backstrap muscles, the ilio 

 psoas, are chopped in place and carted away. The throat, tail, and other muscles 

 are used for fox food. All meat is trimmed, cut into large slices, and iced for 

 delivery to the local markets. For distant delivery the meat is quick frozen. 



In the Antarctic it has also been found desirable to slit the belly wall to cool 

 the carcass, and to have the carcass hauled to the mother ship by a tow boat so 

 that the time elapsed between death and butchering is shortened. The meat is 

 cut into chunks and frozen on board, then transferred to a refrigerator ship. 



The Japanese also salt a good deal of whale meat in the Antarctic for home 

 consumption. Transfer at sea of the fresh meat to the refrigerator ship is effected 

 by dumping the large chunks down a canvas tube into a lighter alongside, where 

 it piles on rope nets that are hoisted up by the other ship. The meat is washed 

 in sea water before salting or freezing on the refrigerator ship. 



Cutting the body wall to allow sea water to cool the carcass enables it to be 

 held from 18 to 24 hours after death without serious deterioration. Otherwise, 

 12 hours seems to be about the limit despite the latitude of capture and tem- 

 perature of the water; the thick blubber insulates the flesh and allows autolysis 

 and bacterial decomposition to proceed at much the same rate anywhere. How- 

 ever, the cooling of the body by sea water definitely slows decomposition. 



Cutting the carotid arteries and the jugular veins at one side of the throat in 

 front of the flipper helps to bleed the meat and gives a lighter-colored product, 

 but it is not considered effective in prolonging preservation. Soaking the meat in 

 cold brine for 24 hours helps to remove the blood, and also improves the flavor. 



Lillie (1949) claimed that the regular use of whale meat for human consump- 

 tion would become an economic necessity, and that the explosive harpoon ruined 

 the meat for such purposes by rupturing the intestines and disseminating bacteria 

 through the meat via the blood stream. He advocated the use of the electric 

 harpoon as the only economical and humane way to kill a whale. His views have 

 not been adopted yet, but it is very likely that the electric harpoon will become 



