Would you eat dolphin or whale meat caught off the coast of Japan ? Eeeek no friggin' way !
In case you are not familiar with the annual cetacean slaughter in Taji Japan please watch the movie "The Cove."
The Japanese eat cetaceans contaminated with mercury and PCBs.
We all must know that the waters of Japan are certainly radioactive, and that the fish in those waters are radioactive. How many pounds of fish dose one adult dolphin consume in one day ?? Are cetaceans getting inhalation exposure as well ? After all they are living in the contaminated water and they do get some sea water in their blow holes each time they breath.
Fact :
An average dolphin eats about 2-4% of their body weight each day. An adult male typically eats about 20 pounds of fish, while a nursing mother can eat upwards of 40 pounds of fish daily!
Q. How would radioactive sea water and fish, impact a dolphin species, or dolphin meat ?
A. I don't know, but we can examine the mercury and PCBs that are present then try to add in some 200 or more isotopes, from Fukushima, and we end up with some pretty friggin ugly looking meat to eat !
Q. How many cetaceans are killed during the hunting season ?
A. No one knows for sure, but you can reference my link below to see an estimate. The Japanese fisherman look at it like pest control they want to kill the cetaceans, because they consume too much fish ! What ? Yeah read up on this subject and see for yourself.
Fact:
from Wikipedia *
In June 2008, AERA, a Japanese weekly journal, reported that the whale and dolphin meat sold in Taiji contained 160 times higher level of mercury and hairs of 8 men and women had 40 times higher, based on a research conducted by the National Institute for Minamata Disease (NIMD).
and
Japan's National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, however, reports that the mortality rate for Taiji and nearby Koazagawa, where dolphin meat is also consumed, is over 50% higher than the rate for similarly-sized villages throughout Japan.[14]
My comment, well if Japan is not concerned about the mortality rate of eating Mercury and PCB contaminated fish even after the study shows mortality rate over 50% higher, then do you think they are going to do anything at all about the radiation that may also be in the cetacean meat this year ? What does this tell us about the government of Japan ? Ric O'Beary a dolphin campaign director stated this on his website:
Japanese officials are worried that we keep exposing the horrors of the Cove, documenting the sale of poisonous dolphin meat, and pressing the government NOT to use earthquake and tsunami rebuilding funds for massive subsidies to the whale and dolphin killers.
Imagine that ! They need supporters to help block the Japanese Government from using funds designated for earthquake and tsunami rebuilding, to subsidies the slaughter of cetaceans. Eeeek this is so friggin creepy to me something just in humane and disgusting in every way for ALL in the mammals. Especially the mammals that slaughter and eat these precious animals.
My comments on this subject. If you decide to watch the movie The Cove be ready to feel sick to your stomach even with the directors sensitive editing to hide the outright disgusting act of beating the animals to death, it is pretty horrific. Isn't it enough that the species are suffering from ocean pollution ? Do we really have to coral them together and use inhumane efforts to kill them ? Why would any meat eater, in their right state of mind want to eat this tainted meat ?
In case you are wondering I am a vegetarian and an activist when it comes to killing the cetaceans. Even if you are NOT a vegetarian and are NOT an activist, you should be concerned about this. The killing season starts September 1st and lasts for seven months. Daily slaughters in the cove of Taji Japan.
BTW a lot of that tainted meat makes it way to the US for consumption. It is illegal in the US to consume cetacean meat but it does end up in sushi. Look it up for yourself to see.
*http://savejapandolphins.org/take-action/frequently-asked-questions
What species do they kill and how many?
The Japan government Fisheries Agency issues 23,000 permits to kill dolphins, porpoises and other small whales annually throughout Japan. The numbers killed in Japan varies from year to year. (In 2007, for example, 13,107 dolphins and small whales were reported killed in Japan waters. These numbers do not include the large whales killed by Japan under so-called “scientific” whaling permits in the North Pacific and Antarctic Oceans.) The number of dolphins killed has been decreasing in part due to successful efforts by the Save Japan Dolphins Campaign and other organizations to reduce sales of dolphin and whale meat in Japanese markets. The other reason the kill rate is going down is that the Japanese fishermen are killing off dolphins, and there are simply not as many left to kill. About 1,200 to 1,800 of these are killed in the so-called dolphin drive hunt in Taiji, also known as “drive fishery.” The rest are killed with hand-held harpoons from small boats at sea.
The targeted dolphin species include:
Striped dolphins
Bottlenose dolphins
Pantropical spotted dolphins
Risso’s dolphins
Pilot whales
Rough-toothed dolphins
Pseudo orcas
Pacific White-sided dolphins
Baird's beaked whales
Dall's porpoises
IMHO the people against this slaughter are not crazy nut head vegans ! This is cruel act, and it has ill effects on the species populations, and the people that consume this meat.
Reminder !
Highly radioactive, and mercury beyond 1,000 times that of tuna, dolphin and whale meat will be available starting tomorrow in Japan.
Yes, you can buy this mammal meat in Japan.
(the six month daily Taiji slaughter must be stopped)
Another one of the secrets we are finding out about Japan, and it's disrespect for human and mammal species, that are endangered and cunning brutal slaughter.
Black market, this meat by the way ends up right here in the US as well.
I actually had whale twice in
I actually had whale twice in the last month. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite as tasty as I hoped. It has a fairly mild taste, and its fat has a texture not unlike styrofoam.
Would you eat dolphin or whale meat caught off Japan?
What's wrong with irradiated food? Fish will be able to sit on shelves for years without any cooking!!! That way you won't need reactors to make electricity to run the freezers. Think positively.
forgot this fact....op
Cetacean meat topic.
Mercury in Japan's whale meat. - Free Online Library
"These levels are a thousand times greater than the worst samples that we get in predatory fish in the United States," says Charles Santerre, an environmental toxicologist at Purdue University. "With a tuna steak, you might get one part per million of mercury. This problem in Japan is in a different league altogether."
DNA analysis shows whale meat found in Los Angeles Sushi
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100413202638.htm
ScienceDaily (Apr. 14, 2010) — An international team of Oregon State University scientists, documentary filmmakers and environmental advocates has uncovered an apparent illegal trade in whalemeat, linking whales killed in Japan's controversial scientific whaling program to sushi restaurants in Seoul, South Korea, and Los Angeles, Calif.
bump and thank you
bump
Thank you for this info and
Thank you for this info and links. Many of us live for sushi in the LA area. There is a lot of outstanding competition, and excellent restaurants to partake. After Fukushima, we stopped partaking. Family and friends still do. This link will cure them of that, tuit suite.
Sushi L A area from op
Believe me I have been to all the best sushi places in LA. Before I became a vegan I lived in LA and ate sushi at least once a week. I stopped after a patient in the doctor's office I worked at had a enormous parasite removed from his gut. He was a Japanese man who ate a ton of sushi. The doctors said most likely it came from the sushi.
I was shocked to see the sushi house The Hump noted in this article for selling whale meat from Japan. The whales are killed under the guise of "scientific study."
I used to eat at The Hump a lot.
Would you eat Shamu? The ethics of sampling whale in Iceland
By Laura Bly, USA TODAYUpdated 12/20/2011 3:44 PM
Like many travelers, I'm convinced that one of the best ways to explore a local culture is through its traditional foods. And in Iceland, that ethos can translate to some controversial choices - including my $15 minke whale appetizer at Reykjavik's Grill Market restaurant.
Minke whale, which appears on many restaurant menus in Reykjavik, Iceland, remains one of the country's most controversial foods.CAPTIONBy Laura Bly/USAT
Thinly sliced, dark red and delicious, the fork-tender steak tasted like a sweet if gamey version of filet mignon. But consumption of whale meat, on the rise here since Iceland resumed limited hunting when a 20-year moratorium ended in 2006, continues to generate an emotional debate that shows no sign of ebbing.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare opposes all whaling - including that of the minke, which is not considered an endangered species - because it claims "there is no humane way to kill a whale." Launched in Iceland this summer, the group's "Meet Us Don't Eat Us" campaign estimates that up to 40% of local whale meat is sold to visitors, and encourages them to book whale watching trips in lieu of nibbling "Moby Dick on a Stick."
In September, President Obama initiated potential diplomatic sanctions against Iceland for its commercial whaling, including possible limits on cabinet-level visits to the country. And last month, Iceland's international airport stopped selling minke whale meat to departing tourists after anti-whaling activists pointed out that importation of all whale products is illegal in the European Union, United States and other countries under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
Not surprisingly, Iceland's President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson sees things differently.
During an interview that included his wife's scrumptious version of another Icelandic specialty, cod livers (think faintly fishy foie gras), 68-year-old Grímsson defended his country's centuries-old whaling tradition, noting that whale meat was a dietary staple for most of his generation.
"Utilizing the resources of the ocean has been essential to our survival," says Grímsson, who defends Iceland's management of fish stocks as one of the world's best and finds it "paradoxical" that the United States allows Alaskan Eskimos to kill endangered bowhead whales as a subsistence tradition.
So, do I feel guilty about scarfing one of Shamu's relatives?
It's complicated.
Yes, whales are highly intelligent beings, but so are pigs - and that hasn't stopped me from enjoying pork tenderloin. I've eaten reindeer in Finland and kangaroo in Australia, and although I'd never knowingly order filet of tiger or another on-the-edge-of-oblivion species, the worldwide population of common minke whale is stable and "well above the thresholds for a threatened category," according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. I can understand the whalers' "cultural imperialism" charge, too: Devout Hindus consider cows to be sacred, for example, but don't advocate a world-wide ban on beef.
Readers, what's your view? Would you try whale meat, or do you buy the "meet us, don't eat us" argument?
It is not about the type of animal one eats
OP here.
My post is not about the type of animal I feel comfortable eating, nor is it about criticizing local customs from around the world. Nor is it about the cruelty involved in killing these sea mammals with inhuman practices.
The post is about the "hazards of the meat itself for consumption."
The meat is already tainted with very high doses of mercury and pcbs, and now you get an extra mix of all of the radio active isotopes from Fukushima !
From the OP*
My point is not about what types of animals I feel comfortable eating ! (I am vegetarian by the way)
The point is the dolphin and whale meat contains a huge amount of mercury and pcbs. With the Fukushima crises and Fuku still draining her radioactive juices into the ocean in Japan imagine how "dangerous" this meat is for consumption.
You get all the isotopes, pcbs, and mercury risks as well.
Personally, I don't like to eat "angry food" and that is why I am a vegetarian plus meat just doesn't taste that good, it is all the creams and sauces that mask the flavor. But my post is not about that, it is about the "hazard" that one piece of this tainted meat contains. It can really do some damage to the inside of a human being. No one will be testing this meat for consumption, and in the end these large mammal species will suffer with their population and offspring, and from the constant killing sprees each year.
In some places of the world it is a delicacy to eat insects for example, so ? I am not criticizing local customs with this post but rather pointing out risks, and caution.
Excellent point!
Devout Hindus consider cows to be sacred, for example, but don't advocate a world-wide ban on beef.
====================
Excellent point. The hypocrisy and self-righteousness of the anti-whaling activists is manifest.
No predatory or scavenging
No predatory or scavenging carnivorous species on the planet, from microorganisms to maggots to meerkats to mountain lions, would think twice about feasting on me, or you. Turnabout is fair play. If you're unfortunate enough to be in my sights, on my hook, in my net or on my dinner plate, you are, to coin a phrase, "fair game". Better luck next time, and bon appetit!
The "other" PETA
The "other" PETA - People Eating Tasty Animals