Yahoo News 14 Apr 10;
PARIS (AFP) – Whale meat sold secretly at a sushi restaurant in Los Angeles and another in Seoul can be linked to Japanese whaling, a trade that would breach global rules on protected species, scientists said Wednesday.
Japan carries out whaling under what it says is a programme of scientific research, although it does not hide the fact that the meat is later sold in Japanese shops and restaurants.
But trading this meat is not allowed with countries that have signed provisions protecting whales under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
The allegation is made in a genetic study published in Biology Letters, a peer-reviewed journal by the Royal Society, Britain's academy of sciences.
Its authors include activists who went undercover last year to acquire whale meat at a restaurant in Los Angeles called The Hump and another, unnamed, restaurant in the South Korean capital.
Caught in a massive media glare and investigation by the local authorities, The Hump has since closed down. Its owners face up to a year in prison and a 200,000-dollar fine, and its chef a fine of up to 100,000 dollars.
The new study confirmed that strips of raw meat purchased at The Hump had identical DNA sequences to sei whale meat previously bought in Japan in 2007 and 2008.
"Since the international moratorium on commercial (whale) hunting (in 1986), there has been no other known source of sei whales available commercially other than in Japan," said lead author Scott Baker, a professor and associate director of the Marine Mammal Institute at Oregon State University.
Thirteen whale products were also purchased on two occasions in June and September 2009 at the Seoul restaurant, said the paper.
Four came from an Antarctic minke whale, four from a sei whale, three from a North Pacific minke, one from a fin whale and one was from a Risso's dolphin.
The DNA profile of the fin whale meat genetically matched meat that had been bought in Japanese markets in 2007.
"Since the international moratorium, it has been assumed that there is no international trade in whale products," Baker said in a press release.
"But when products from the same whale are sold in Japan in 2007 and Korea in 2009, it suggests that international trade, though illegal, is still an issue.
"Likewise, the Antarctic minke whale is not found in Korean waters, but it is hunted by Japan's controversial scientific whaling programme in the Antarctic. How did it show up in a restaurant in Seoul?"
In addition to marine biologists, the study's authors include Louie Psihoyos, director of the Oscar-nominated documentary movie "The Cove," portraying the annual killing of dolphins in a Japanese bay.
Baker said he had filed a request to the Japanese government for access to a DNA register of caught whales in order to help genetic tracking of illegally-traded whale meat.
Under CITES, whales are listed on Appendix 1, which means they cannot be traded internationally for commercial purposes.
Japan, Iceland and Norway maintain "reservations" on the trading of some whales under Annex 1. However, these exceptions do not allow trading with countries that do not hold CITES "reservations," which include South Korea and the US.
Japan's Fisheries Agency announced on Monday it had killed 507 whales in its latest annual hunt in Antarctica, compared with 680 last year and a target of 850.
It blamed the fall on clashes at sea with a militant environmental group, Sea Shepherd.
Japanese whalers blame Sea Shepherd for smallest catch in years
Fleet of ships returns home with 507 whales, short of 935 target, and says conservation group sabotaged hunt
Justin McCurry, guardian.co.uk 13 Apr 10;
Japan's whaling ships have returned from the Southern Ocean with their smallest catch in years, prompting the fleet's leader to blame harassment by the Sea Shepherd marine conservation group for the shortfall.
The Nisshin Maru, the fleet's mother ship, returned to Tokyo harbour yesterday with just 507 whales, a little over half the target catch of 935, according to the fisheries agency. The haul of minke whales and a single finback was well down on last year's catch of 680.
The fleet said Sea Shepherd's attempts to sabotage the hunt had deprived it of 31 days' whaling.
The annual confrontation between the two groups reached its height in January with the sinking of Sea Shepherd's high-tech powerboat, the Ady Gil, after a collision with the Shonan Maru 2 harpoon boat.
The speedboat's skipper, Peter Bethune, later boarded the Shonan Maru 2 to carry out a citizen's arrest of the captain and hand over a £2m bill for the destruction of the Ady Gil. The 45-year-old New Zealander could face a lengthy prison term after being indicted by Japanese authorities on five charges, including trespassing and assault.
The whalers used water canon and a sonic crowd control device to deter Sea Shepherd, whose crew responded by hurling rancid-butter bombs.
The whaling fleet's leader, Shigetoshi Nishiwaki, said he was "furious" with Sea Shepherd for preventing it from reaching its quota during the five-month season.
"They say they protect the sea, but they don't care about leaking oil or leaving pieces of a boat behind," he said, in a reference to the stricken Ady Gil.
This winter's catch fell one short of the total for 2006-7 season, when the fleet returned home early after a fire broke out aboard the Nissin Maru.
Japan is permitted to slaughter the whales for "scientific research" thanks to a clause in the International Whaling Commission's 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling.
As the commission prepares to meet in Morocco in June, Japan has proposed scaling back its Antarctic hunts in return for permission to step up its coastal whaling activities.
Australia, which opposes the move, has threatened to take Japan to the international court of justice unless its ends its annual hunts in the Southern Ocean, in the Antarcatic region.
The whale wars will continue in Japan with the resumption of the trial of two Greenpeace activists charged with theft and trespassing while investigating alleged embezzlement by the whaling fleet. Toru Suzuki and Junichi Sato could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison if found guilty. A ruling is expected in June.
Greenpeace said yesterday it had called on Japanese authorities to reopen an investigation into its allegations of widespread corruption in the programme.
"Our initial allegations have been repeatedly upheld by industry insiders," Sato said. "It is time for the cover-ups, the lies, the corruption and the squandering of taxpayers' money to end."
The group said negligible demand for whale meat in Japan had created a 4,455-ton stockpile, adding that this year's catch would send another 1,800 tons into frozen storage.
