快猫短视频

JAPAN鈥橲 annual scientific catch of whales is disguising an undocumented trade
in meat from accidentally caught and possibly poached whales, claim researchers.
According to a new analysis of whale meat in the country, if the trade continues
it could drive a unique subgroup of minke whales in the Sea of Japan to
extinction.

Sale of whale meat is legal in Japan if it comes from frozen stockpiles, from
the annual catch of around 500 minke whales which the government is allowed to
kill for scientific study, or from 鈥� bycatch鈥濃�攚hales killed accidentally
by fishing gear or ship strikes. Most of the scientific catch are Antarctic
minke whales, but around 100 a year belong to a subgroup of North Pacific minkes
called the O stock. Neither is considered to be endangered.

However, another subgroup of North Pacific minkes that live in the Sea of
Japan, the J stock, number fewer than 2000. Of the 25 whales killed as bycatch
by Japan each year, 15 come from the Sea of Japan. Therefore, no more than 15
per cent of the North Pacific minke whales on the Japanese market should be from
the J stock.

But the new report claims the proportion is double this. From 1993 to 1999, a
team of marine biologists led by Scott Baker of the University of Auckland and
Stephen Palumbi of Harvard University enlisted local collaborators to buy whale
meat in Japanese markets and restaurants. After analysing the mitochondrial DNA
of 574 samples, the researchers conclude that nearly a third of the North
Pacific minke whales on the market came from the J stock. They estimate that
these unreported catches could tip the balance for the J stock, driving the
number of mature females beneath critical levels in less than a century
(see Graph).
鈥淭he population is in serious trouble,鈥� Palumbi says.

Japanese and Korean scientists who heard the report at the International
Whaling Commission鈥檚 Scientific Committee meeting in Adelaide last week remained
unconvinced. Joji Morishita, a Japanese delegate to the IWC, told New
快猫短视频 that similar studies by the Japanese government have failed to
find any unreported catches. 鈥淎ll the so-called suspicious whale meat is
accounted for by stockpiles or bycatch,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t would be fair to say that
the conclusions [of the new analysis] are not wholeheartedly accepted,鈥� says IWC
secretary Ray Gamble.

But Frank Cipriano, one of the report鈥檚 co-authors who attended the meeting,
points out that the Japanese surveys always send fisheries agents who are likely
to be recognised by sellers and who themselves may be biased. 鈥淚t鈥檚 in their
interest to find nothing,鈥� says Cipriano.

Morishita says the Japanese Fisheries Agency is developing a stricter system
of bycatch monitoring that will include DNA testing and should eliminate any
real or perceived reporting problems. Under the new system, sellers of
unregistered meat would be prosecuted.