First arrests in South Korea whale poaching case

Yahoo News 18 Mar 08;

Marine police said Tuesday they have arrested a boat skipper and two others in connection with South Korea's largest-ever whale poaching case.

They were the first arrests since police broke a whale poaching racket in January this year, confiscating more than 50 tonnes of minke meat in the largest seizure of its kind in the country.

News reports said that since a crackdown on whaling began last year, the price of whale meat had soared in the southeastern city of Ulsan, where dozens of restaurants cater to consumers of the meat.

The 47-year-old skipper and the two sailors were charged with poaching whales at least three times between May and August last year.

In January, police raided two warehouses in Ulsan, where the refrigerated meat from about 60 minke whales was found in boxes. Around 70 people including fishermen, distributors and operators of 46 whale meat restaurants have since been questioned.

Whale meat can be legally sold in South Korea if the mammals are caught by accident in fishing nets in what is known here as a "bycatch."

Each bycatch must be reported to the government, with marine police inspecting the whales to determine whether they were caught accidentally or deliberately.

Intentional catches are punishable with a jail term of up to three years or a fine of 20 million won (21,000 dollars).

Fishermen report accidentally snaring 200 whales every year. But with minke whales fetching 35 million won each (37,000 dollars), environmentalists say fishermen have a powerful incentive to hunt the mammals.

They suspect about 400 whales are caught annually and consumed in South Korea, with only half reported to authorities.

South Korea makes arrests in illegal whale trade ring
Reuters 18 Mar 08;

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean police have arrested three fishermen who are suspected of running a ring that traded in illegal whale meat, a coast guard official said on Tuesday.

South Korea prohibits commercial whaling and can send poachers to jail for up to three years. It allows the trade in whales caught accidentally by fishing crews or in whales that have washed up dead near its shores.

The arrest last week of the captain of a fishing vessel and two crew members followed the seizure of 50 tons of whale meat worth an estimated 800 million won ($788,600), said the coast guard official in the eastern city of Ulsan, which is home to scores of restaurants that serve whale meat.

The price of whale meat has as much as doubled due to the crackdown, South Korea's largest daily newspaper, the Chosun Ilbo, said based on a survey it did of the market.

"The investigation is affecting prices," said one local whale-meat restaurant owner who added she is paying roughly 50 percent more.

Conservation groups said despite the crackdown, illegal whaling still thrives because the accidental catch loophole offers a convenient excuse that is hard for authorities to verify and eateries are willing to pay large sums for the creatures.

Neighbor Japan, which considers whaling a cultural tradition, has drawn international criticism for what it calls a scientific whaling program that typically kills hundreds of whales. Japan agreed to an international moratorium on whaling that was set in place in 1986.

($1=1014.4 Won)

(Reporting by Lee Jiyeon, writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)