Japan's whale meat turns up in foreign sushi bars
Source: Agencies |
April 16, 2010, Friday
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WHALE meat from Japan is illegally being served at sushi restaurants elsewhere, including one in South Korea last year, a study suggests.
Scientists from Oregon State University's Hatfield Marine Science Center in the United States performed DNA tests on whale as part of a project monitoring sources of whale meat offered for sale since 1993. The findings show that whale meat from Japan's scientific whaling program is becoming part of an illegal international trade - and ending up on diners' plates.
Meanwhile, the International Whaling Commission is considering legitimizing limited commercial whaling as a way of controlling it. Environmentalists fear that could open the door to more illegal trade.
Whale researchers estimate 3,000 whales are killed for meat each year.
"Since the international moratorium, it has been assumed that there is no international trade in whale products," said Scott Baker, associate director of OSU's Marine Mammal Institute and lead author of the study. "But when products from the same whale are sold in Japan in 2007 and in Korea in 2009, it suggests that international trade, though illegal, is still an issue."
The study looked at 13 pieces of whale sashimi from a restaurant in Seoul, South Korea. Four were from an Antarctic minke whale, four from a sei whale, three from a North Pacific minke, one from a fin whale and one from a dolphin.
Scientists from Oregon State University's Hatfield Marine Science Center in the United States performed DNA tests on whale as part of a project monitoring sources of whale meat offered for sale since 1993. The findings show that whale meat from Japan's scientific whaling program is becoming part of an illegal international trade - and ending up on diners' plates.
Meanwhile, the International Whaling Commission is considering legitimizing limited commercial whaling as a way of controlling it. Environmentalists fear that could open the door to more illegal trade.
Whale researchers estimate 3,000 whales are killed for meat each year.
"Since the international moratorium, it has been assumed that there is no international trade in whale products," said Scott Baker, associate director of OSU's Marine Mammal Institute and lead author of the study. "But when products from the same whale are sold in Japan in 2007 and in Korea in 2009, it suggests that international trade, though illegal, is still an issue."
The study looked at 13 pieces of whale sashimi from a restaurant in Seoul, South Korea. Four were from an Antarctic minke whale, four from a sei whale, three from a North Pacific minke, one from a fin whale and one from a dolphin.
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