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Whales caught near Japan found contaminated with mercury
FUKUOKA, 16th February 2002
Kyodo
High levels of mercury were found in the meat of five sperm whales caught in the sea near Japan, preventing the meat from being sold to consumers, research institute officials said Saturday.
More than three times the level of mercury allowed by the government was detected in the meat of the whales caught as a part of Japan's research whaling in the northwestern Pacific Ocean in fiscal 2000, officials of the government-commissioned Institute of Cetacean Research said.
As a result, the approximately 16-tons of meat were frozen and preserved instead of being shipped to markets, they said, adding it was the first time that whale meat could not be shipped for consumption due to high-mercury levels.
According to the Tokyo-based organization, 40 minke whales, five sperm whales and 43 Bryde's whales were captured as part of Japanese scientific whaling in the northwestern Pacific Ocean in fiscal 2000.
A private research institute in Ehime Prefecture, commissioned by the institute to analyze the whale meat, found the average mercury level in the sperm whale meat was about 1.47 ppm, far exceeding the provisionally set environmental standard of 0.4 ppm, while the figure in the minke whale meat was only 0.21 ppm.
Japan targeted minke whales as part of its research whaling in the northwestern Pacific Ocean from fiscal 1999, and included sperm whales and Bryde's whales from fiscal 2000.
The International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling stipulates that all possible efforts should be taken to process the meat of whales caught for scientific purposes for consumption. Such whale meat is usually distributed to each prefecture depending on past record of consumption.
"We expected a high level of mercury, to some extent, as whales including sperm whales, which feed on fish or cuttlefish, tend to accumulate chemical substances in their bodies compared with whales that feed on krill," an official of the Institute of Cetacean Research said."
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