Pricier than premium beef: The murky trade in minke whale meat

A reconstructed image of whale meat purchased from an online shopping mall. [Image generated with ChatGPT]

What kind of meat costs this much?

A single plate — roughly 200 to 300 grams, enough for one or two people — carries a price tag of 180,000 won ($133). That is more expensive than premium Korean beef, long considered the country's most costly cut.

The mystery meat is minke whale. A single animal can fetch up to 100 million won, earning it the nickname "the lottery of the sea."

The steep price makes sense. Catching whales is illegal in South Korea. Only in limited circumstances — such as when an animal dies after becoming accidentally entangled in fishing nets — is the carcass permitted to be sold.

But is all the whale meat currently on the market really the product of such accidents?

Whale meat listed for sale on an online shopping mall. [Naver Shopping capture]

Consumers have no easy way to know. Cases of illegal whale hunting driven by the prospect of high sale prices have recurred repeatedly, making it impossible for buyers to verify the origin of what they purchase.

With illegal catches happening repeatedly, some analysts argue that the volume of whale meat consumed on the market exceeds what could plausibly come from accidental bycatch alone.

Some advocates are now calling for a ban on online sales of whale meat to prevent further abuse.

A review of major domestic online shopping platforms on Wednesday found multiple seafood vendors actively selling minke whale meat, with product listings prominently labeled "domestic" and "wild-caught."

One actively listed product was priced at up to 180,000 won per 300 grams. Calculated per 100 grams, that works out to roughly 40,000 to 60,000 won — about four to six times the average retail price of top-grade Korean beef sirloin, which runs in the 10,000-won range per 100 grams.

Under South Korean law, catching any cetacean is prohibited except for scientific research or rescue and treatment purposes. An exception exists for bycatch — cases where a whale accidentally becomes entangled in fishing gear and dies — in which the carcass may be sold.

The windfalls can be substantial. In July, a minke whale caught as bycatch sold for 71 million won at the Bangeojin Fisheries Cooperative in Ulsan. Prices have gone even higher: a minke whale caught as bycatch off the coast of Samcheok in Gangwon Province in July 2024 sold at auction for 117.31 million won.

A minke whale found dead in a fishing net. [Uljin Coast Guard Station]

The large sums a single whale can command have drawn no shortage of people willing to hunt them illegally.

In July, a boat captain in Pohang was arrested on charges of illegally catching, butchering and transporting minke whales. Investigators found he had moved five animals between April and July, with a combined market value of 350 million won ($259,000). In December last year, seven people were booked on charges of illegal whale poaching.

A 2022 study by researchers at the Korea Coast Guard Research Center found that, given the legal avenue for selling bycatch whales, some operators had gone so far as to illegally modify their vessels and organize systematic hunting operations to profit from whale catches.

Coast guard investigators examine 89 bags of whale meat — equivalent to one animal — seized from a fishing vessel waiting off the coast of Pohang. [Pohang Coast Guard Station]

Korea Coast Guard data show that between 2019 and 2024, roughly 50 to 70 minke whales were consistently recorded as bycatch each year. Bycatch numbers for finless porpoises and common dolphins — both designated as protected marine species whose trade is banned — dropped sharply over the same period, while minke whale bycatch held steady.

Environmental groups argue the pattern is hard to explain by accident alone. They contend that intentional catches of high-value minke whales are being disguised as bycatch, and that illegally caught whale meat is entering the market — pointing to analyses suggesting the volume of minke whale meat in circulation exceeds the officially recorded bycatch figures.

A minke whale found dead during fishing operations off the coast of Gunsan. [Gunsan Coast Guard]

Eight civic groups, including Hot Pink Dolphins and Sea Shepherd Korea, said at a press conference last May that "while catching whales is legally prohibited in South Korea, around 120 whales' worth of meat circulates on the market every year." They added that the country effectively allows even intentional catches to be recognized as bycatch — and the animals sold as food — simply by claiming the whale became accidentally entangled in a net.

A traceability system does exist. Current regulations require sellers of whale meat to record the date and location of sale, the quantity and price, and the buyer's information on a processing confirmation document, a copy of which must be handed to the purchaser.

Buyers who resell the whale meat must retain a copy of that document until the sale is complete. But the system does not automatically make this information visible to end consumers placing orders online.

Naver's shopping platform requires sellers to display the whale processing confirmation document on their product pages under its own internal rules. Other platforms, however, often make it difficult for consumers to access the document at all. And even when the document is disclosed, ordinary buyers have virtually no way to verify that the animal listed on the paperwork is the same one whose meat they actually receive.

A minke whale caught as bycatch at Daejin Port in Goseong-gun, Gangwon Province. [Sokcho Coast Guard Station]

In short, consumers buying whale meat online have no reliable way to determine whether what they are purchasing was legally obtained. Given that consumer demand can serve as an economic incentive for illegal hunting, some are calling for an outright ban on sales.

The coalition of civic groups argued that "the distribution of whale carcasses is a harmful practice that must end immediately, and online sales are an even more serious problem because they deliver whale carcasses by courier to every corner of the country." They added that "as long as online stores continue selling whale carcasses, endangered whales in South Korea will keep being consumed as food."

An Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin — an internationally protected and endangered species — carries two dead calves on its snout in turn as it moves through waters between Gimnyeong-ri and Woljeong-ri in Jeju's Gujwa-eup. [Docu Jeju · Jeju National University Whale and Marine Life Conservation Research Center]

Some developed countries assign no commercial value to bycatch whales at all. The United States, under the Marine Mammal Protection Act enacted in 1972, generally prohibits the buying and selling of the bodies and tissues of whales, dolphins and other marine mammals.

The case for protecting whales goes beyond population numbers. These massive animals travel thousands of kilometers, redistributing nutrients across the ocean as they go — making them an essential component of marine ecosystems.

Even through feeding and excretion, whales bring nitrogen, iron, phosphorus and other nutrients toward the ocean surface, supporting the productivity of phytoplankton and the broader marine food web. It is a reminder that the value of a single whale cannot be reduced to the tens of millions of won its meat might fetch on the market.

woo@heraldcorp.com