Human consumption of whale meat has been denounced by detractors on wildlife conservation, toxicity, and animal rights grounds.
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Whaling is not sustainable. Whales mature slowly, the impact of even a single death will have long reaching effects for the future of that species and, ultimately on the environment as a whole. Unsustainable fuel is consumed by the whaling fleets en route to the Antarctic and other open seas. Also, fuel is consumed by the freezing ship for transporting the byproducts of whaling to the Japanese markets. The blubber and meat of whales in some areas are so highly contaminated with organochlorines such as PCBs heavy metals and pesticides that it would be classified "hazardous" to human health. Organochlorines and heavy metals are known to damage development of children and affect reproduction. Whale droppings are vital to ocean's carbon cycle. Saving endangered baleen whales could boost the carbon storage capacity of the Southern Ocean, suggests a new study of whale feces. Whale feces once provided huge quantities of iron to a now anaemic Southern Ocean, boosting the growth of carbon-sequestering phytoplankton.
Iceman, you are right. Everyone knows you are right. It is both really unhealthy and a sin to eat whale. Its also every bit as bad to eat scallops but no one seems to know or care about that. Why is it so bad to eat scallops? 320 days out of a year a giant beam with spikes all over it is drug across the ocean bed destroying the garden and killing the creatures - even the ones not caught. The ocean garden never has time to recover and we get a hand full of scallops and 10K dead creatures for the effort (the process is reckoned to be 15% percent efficient). But no one freaks out when you put scallops on the menu. This is just one example of many, if you care about the ocean at all your choice of fish is very limited. But then over fishing, species going extinct, and methods of fishing which harm the ocean are just half the problem: That video is just a short intro to the work of Dr. Charles Moore, if you're interested in this sort of thing learn more about what he researches.
Truth is that is some good looking meat. I'd be game to try and do something with it. Remember - Japanese, Inuit, there are peoples who catch and eat whale. I must be palatable . . . . . To Them. I'm serious about trying some - I've cooked a lot of odd ball game meats and pulled most of em' off.
The flavor is what the people are used to - many eat blubber and sea lion - pretty spartan diet if you ask me.
yeah... my wife and went to a new, trendy Boston restaurant many years ago whose whale steaks had attracted much attention. We each ordered a portion, and it was beautiful! Rich, red, thick and (if I remember correctly) well-marbled. Just like a really lovely piece of beef.
We each cut a big bite and chomped down. It tasted just like... cod liver oil.
That bite was our one and only experience with whale meat.
As far as we're concerned, you can leave 'em in peace.
Mike
As for scallops, though... /img/vbsmilies/smilies/licklips.gif
After watching the video of the dolphin swimming to a diver for help to get fishing line cut off a fin there is no way I would consider eating a whale. They are as intelligent as dolphins are.
This made me think about what a whale's diet is like - and here is a quickie search result: http://www.whalefacts.org/what-do-whales-eat/ Makes sense that it would taste on the funky side.
There are several legal and ethical issues that should be considered:
1) Commercial whaling is prohibited by the International Whaling Commission since 1986.
2) The reason for this prohibition of commercial whaling is that whaling nations decimated whale stocks all over the world.
3) CITES (Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species) also prohibits international trade of whale meat.
4) In some countries like the USA it is illegal to posses, transport, or sell marine mammal parts without a special permit (such as the exception made for certain Alaskan native groups).
5) There is no humane way to kill a mammal the size of a city bus.
Unfortunately, curiosity often gets the better of people. For example, up to 40% of the minke whale meat sold domestically in Iceland is consumed by tourists.
Iceland, Norway, and Japan all openly defy the moratorium on whaling that was established by the IWC in 1986.
Native groups in Alaska, Greenland, Russia and elsewhere are given special permission from the IWC in the form of aboriginal subsistence quotas (although this is sometimes abused for commercial use -- particularly by Greenland).
Many species of whale are endangered -- mostly as a result of past commercial whaling.
If the meat was purchased in Iceland or Norway then it is likely from protected common minke whale stocks.
If the meat is from Japan then it could be a wide variety of whale meat because Japan hunts both endangered and non-endangered species including: endangered fin whales, endangered sei whales, vulnerable sperm whales, rare bryde's whales, common minke whales (many from the vulnerable J-stock) and Antarctic minke whales -- also dolphins and rare beaked whales.
If the meat is from Alaska or Canada then it is likely endangered bowhead whale -- also possibly beluga or narwhal in Canada.
From Russia or Greenland it could be minke, bowhead, endangered gray whale or humpback whale -- also possibly beluga or narwhal.
In South Korea whales caught 'accidentally' as bycatch in fishing nets are also utilized for commercial sale -- most likely to be minke whale.
yeah... my wife and went to a new, trendy Boston restaurant many years ago whose whale steaks had attracted much attention. We each ordered a portion, and it was beautiful! Rich, red, thick and (if I remember correctly) well-marbled. Just like a really lovely piece of beef.
We each cut a big bite and chomped down. It tasted just like... cod liver oil.
That bite was our one and only experience with whale meat.
As far as we're concerned, you can leave 'em in peace.
Mike
As for scallops, though... /img/vbsmilies/smilies/licklips.gif
When did this happen and what is the name of the restaurant? Importing, possessing, transporting, or selling whale meat in the USA has been illegal since the passage of the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act.
Aside from the legal and ethical considerations, one should understand the potential health risks of consuming whale or dolphin meat before eating it.
Depending on the animal, even a single serving could contain unhealthy levels of contaminants.
Any chemical waste that can bioaccumulate in these animals can also be present in their meat and blubber -- from DDT derivatives to PCBs, mercury and much more.
Toothed whales tend to be worse due to the type of prey they consume (they eat fish at the same trophic level that people do) and waters they inhabit.
For example, in 2010 scientists found cadmium, aluminum, chromium, lead, silver, mercury and titanium in samples taken from sperm whales -- the highest levels of these contaminants ever seen in any marine mammal.
Dolphin meat sold for human consumption in Japan has repeatedly been tested and found to have levels of mercury that far exceed safety standards.
Pregnant women are advised in the Faroe Islands, with a long history of hunting and consuming cetaceans, to avoid eating pilot whale meat completely due to the risk of mercury and PCB contamination which is potentially harmful to a developing fetus.
When did this happen and what is the name of the restaurant? Importing, possessing, transporting, or selling whale meat in the USA has been illegal since the passage of the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act.
When did this happen and what is the name of the restaurant? Importing, possessing, transporting, or selling whale meat in the USA has been illegal since the passage of the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act.
Yup. Save the whales, then kick back and let everything else get poisoned and destroyed. And if you bring up similar demerits within other food industries you can be sued to death via the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_libel_laws
What type of fish are sustainable and toxin free? I feel like I should know more about this. I only know talapia, trout, grouper (I think), and some salmon.
I treated it just like a steak: Cut into ~ 6 oz portions. Marinade in milk over night. Season s+p and leave it like that for about 10 minutes. Pat dry and sear on flat top. Repose, finish cooking and serve.
I've eaten whale 3 times, the only time it was (barely) palatable was when it was sliced paper thin and then smoked.
Its like dolphin meat sold as tuna. Dolphins and whales are two of the most intelligent animals on this planet in tune with human beings. So why slaughter, cook and eat an intelligent specie similarly intelligent
To us? Its just so bizarre how anyone can think of eating like our own kind.
Dolphin meat and tuna meeat are quite different and even can be detected by eye. A bigger problem is wholesalers pushing off Amber Jack as Dolphin(looks almost similar. Amber Jack is large oily fish used a lot for chum.
I asked a legitimate question considering it's illegal to sell whale meat in the USA.
A prominent restaurant was shut down in Santa Monica a couple of years ago when the Feds were tipped off that whale meat was being served there after being illegally smuggled in from Japan.
The confiscated meat was from an endangered sei whale. That concerns me as it should anybody who doesn't approve of illegal wildlife trade and poaching.
Yup. Save the whales, then kick back and let everything else get poisoned and destroyed. And if you bring up similar demerits within other food industries you can be sued to death via the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_libel_laws
What type of fish are sustainable and toxin free? I feel like I should know more about this. I only know talapia, trout, grouper (I think), and some salmon.
"When did this happen and what is the name of the restaurant? Importing, possessing, transporting, or selling whale meat in the USA has been illegal since the passage of the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act."
Eating whale or dolphin meat who are mammals like humans. To me its like eating another human being, our own kind.
Whoever eats an intelligent mammal has to be very sick, demented and uneducated individuals, who cannot think beyond the plate of meat they eat. Are we living in the 21st century or Viking age?
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