(JP) Dolphin kill dogged by mercury, activists

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Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2006

 

Dolphin kill dogged by mercury, activists

 

By BOYD HARNELL

Special to the Japan Times

 

Nearly every day since the first week in September,

fishermen have been driving pods of dolphins into

quiet coves near the village of Taiji, Wakayama

Prefecture, to kill them for their meat, whatever the

mercury content, or sell them to marine parks.

 

Each year, between 2,000 and 3,000 dolphins are taken

in Taiji, a little more than 10 percent of Japan's

dolphin catch. Among the species killed there so far

this season, which runs until March, have been

bottlenose and risso dolphins.

 

Striped dolphins also have been killed in recent

years, but it is not clear if any have been taken yet

this season.

 

In the last two decades, an estimated 400,000 small

cetaceans -- mostly porpoises -- have been killed off

Japan, according to yearly hunting quota data from

fishery co-ops.

 

Some of the dolphins are taken to be sold to dolphin

or marine parks. Demand is high, especially in China

and Taiwan, and one animal will fetch a small fortune.

But most are taken for their meat, which ends up on

store shelves across Japan.

 

Dolphin meat, however, contains dangerously high

levels of mercury. The results of a study posted in

2003 on the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry's Web

site shows 6.6 micrograms of methyl mercury -- a

highly toxic form of mercury -- per gram of meat in

bottlenose dolphins. That level is 22 times greater

than the government's provisional permitted

concentration of 0.3 micrograms per gram of meat.

Samples taken from other species of dolphin and whale

meat also exceeded that level.

 

While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is

authorized to remove from store shelves any product

with 1.0 microgram of mercury per gram or more, the

health ministry only says that when mercury levels

become too high, it is authorized to urge sellers of

dolphin meat to voluntarily restrict trade.

 

The results of a joint study published last year by

the Health Sciences University of Hokkaido, Daiichi

College of Pharmaceutical Sciences and the School of

Biological Sciences in New Zealand are even worse.

Their 2000-2003 study of the Japanese market found one

sample of striped dolphin that had 26 micrograms of

methyl mercury per gram of meat -- 87 times higher

than the permitted level.

 

" The consumption of only 4 grams of this product would

exceed the provisional tolerable weekly intake of M-Hg

(methyl mercury) for someone of 60 kg body weight, "

the report says.

 

Tetsuya Endo, a Health Sciences University professor

who coauthored the study, said methyl mercury is the

form of mercury most likely to cause brain or nerve

damage if eaten frequently.

 

" To be honest, I'm worried about people who eat too

much of it, " Endo said. " It's dangerous. There is a

range in the concentrations (of mercury in meat) and

averages may be low, but a consumer may have bad luck

and get a high-density serving. Japanese people have

their choice of food. Why eat something dangerous? "

 

But for people in places like Wakayama and Shizuoka

prefectures, where dolphin is traditional fare, the

question is " Why not eat dolphin? "

 

Supermarkets cut dolphin meat into 250-gram pieces,

balancing the amount of fat, meat and skin in each

chunk. The meat is sold in packages for about 170 yen

per 100 grams. It is typically cooked in a

miso-flavored stew with burdock, carrots and ginger.

 

A supermarket manager in Mishima, Shizuoka Prefecture,

who spoke on condition of anonymity sees no reason to

stop selling dolphin.

 

" A couple of years ago, I heard something about

mercury levels in dolphin meat being pretty high, " the

manager said. " But there haven't been any regulations

or any ban from the government, and the parent store

hasn't put any restrictions on selling dolphin meat.

If it is really that dangerous, there probably

wouldn't be any shipments in the first place. So I'm

guessing it's OK. "

 

Asked about this year's dolphin cull, an official at

the Taiji Fishery Cooperative Union declined comment.

The government maintains that for most of the

population, the risk is low if dolphin meat is eaten

in moderation.

 

The health ministry said that a 1995-2004 nationwide

study on daily intake of methyl mercury showed the

levels were safe, even for pregnant women, who are at

risk of having children with birth defects if they

ingest too much mercury.

 

However, last November, the health ministry's

Pharmaceutical Affairs and Food Sanitation Council

issued a statement saying it recognized study results

showing that some fetuses' auditory responses were

delayed in pregnant women who ingested mercury, and

urged them to limit the dolphin meat in their diet,

giving maximums for the different species. In the case

of bottlenose, it is 10 grams per week.

 

Health concerns are not the only problem the Taiji

kill has. The annual event has attracted bitter

criticism from animal rights activists worldwide.

Demonstrations against the hunt were held in 28

countries in late September.

 

At one hunting site last week in Taiji, activists

watched as boats pursued several pods of bottlenose

dolphins, slowly moving their crafts closer together,

while crewmen banged poles against their boats to

confuse the encircled dolphins.

 

Once herded into a holding cove and closed in with

large nets, the dolphins swam in circles to protect

the females and any young able to keep up. The young

separated from the group were left to die of

starvation or to be eaten by sharks.

 

The animals were left for one night in the cove so the

stress-related hormones leave their bodies, making

their meat more tender, and skiffs and longboats

arrived at daybreak and herded the dolphins into an

adjacent cove. There, a few were taken out to be sold

to aquariums.

 

Then the longboat crews began to kill the dolphins.

They cut the throats of the remaining dolphins or

stabbed them randomly, a method animal rights

activists call barbaric. Experts, including a former

hunter, have said random stabbing results in

excruciating death that can take as long as six

minutes.

 

On Saturday, 128 bottlenose dolphins and 75 pilot

whales were killed, according to Ric O'Barry, a marine

mammal expert with One Voice, a French-based activist

group.

 

O'Barry, who once trained dolphins for the 1960s U.S.

television series " Flipper, " was visibly upset and

said so many animals were caught that some of them had

to be taken straight to the killing cove because the

holding cove was too small.

 

" This was the most barbaric slaughter I've seen this

year, " he said.

 

Staff writers Jun Hongo and Eric Prideaux contributed

to this report