(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

 

Photo: A net traps dolphins herded into a shallow holding cove Thursday near

Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture. The spot is adjacent to the cove where the mammals

were to be slaughtered the following daybreak. BOYD HARNELL PHOTO

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/images/photos2006/nn20061101a3a.jpg

 

Photo: Animal rights activist Ric O'Barry, who once trained dolphins for the

popular 1960s U.S. TV series " Flipper, " holds up a package of dolphin meat at a

supermarket here on Thursday. BOYD HARNELL PHOTO

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/images/photos2006/nn20061101a3b.jpg

 

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