Oscar Winners Try to Keep Whale Off Sushi Plates Options

[tcotrel]

EXCERPT


Oscar Winners Try to Keep Whale Off Sushi Plates


By JENNIFER STEINHAUER
Published: March 8, 2010

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — It is sport among black belt sushi eaters here to see just how daring one’s palate can be. But even among the squid-chomping, roe-eating and uni-nibbling fans, whale is almost unheard of on the plate. It also happens to be illegal.

Yet with video cameras and tiny microphones, the team behind Sunday’s Oscar-winning documentary film “The Cove” orchestrated a Hollywood-meets-Greenpeace-style covert operation to ferret out what the authorities say is illegal whale meat at one of this town’s most highly regarded sushi destinations.

Their work, undertaken in large part here last week as the filmmakers gathered for the Academy Awards ceremony, was coordinated with law enforcement officials, who said Monday that they were likely to bring charges against the restaurant, the Hump, for violating federal laws against selling marine mammals.

“We’re moving forward rapidly,” said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the United States attorney for the Central District of California. Mr. Mrozek declined to say what charges could be brought against the restaurant, but said they could come as early as this week.

In the clash of two Southern California cultures — sushi aficionados and hard-core animal lovers — the animal lovers have thrown a hard punch.

“This isn’t just about saving whales,” said Louie Psihoyos, the director of “The Cove,” a documentary that chronicles eco-activists’ battles with Japanese officials over dolphin hunting. “But about saving the planet.”

The sushi sting actually began in October, when the documentary’s associate producer and “director of clandestine operations,” Charles Hambleton, heard from friends in the music industry that the Hump, a highly rated sushi restaurant next to the runway at the Santa Monica airport, was serving whale.

Mr. Hambleton, who has worked as a water safety consultant on Hollywood movies like “Pirates of the Caribbean,” created a tiny camera for two animal-activist associates to wear during a monster session of omakase — a sushi meal in which the chef picks all the dishes.

Video of their meal shows the two activists, both vegan, being served what the waitress can be heard calling “whale” — thick pink slices — that they take squeamish bites of before tossing into a Ziploc bag in a purse.

The samples were sent to Scott Baker, associate director of the Marine Mammal Institute at Oregon State University. Professor Baker said DNA testing there revealed that the samples sent to him were from a Sei whale, which are found worldwide and are endangered but are sometimes hunted in the North Pacific under a controversial Japanese scientific program. “I’ve been doing this for years,” Professor Baker said. “I was pretty shocked.”

The whole thing

The Hump

(IMG:http://www.rightnation.us/forums/style_emoticons/default/crybaby.gif) I want my whale!!!!! (IMG:http://www.rightnation.us/forums/style_emoticons/default/crybaby.gif)

This post has been edited by tcotrel: Mar 10 2010, 12:09 AM

[cobalt-blue]

EXCERPT


“This isn’t just about saving whales,” said Louie Psihoyos, the director of “The Cove,” a documentary that chronicles eco-activists’ battles with Japanese officials over dolphin hunting. “But about saving the planet.”

Then do us all a favor and go take a header into a wood chipper. That would save us all having to listen to you yammer while you add more CO₂ to the air.

[cirej2000]

It's not easy to do. Rosie has a blood sugar issue and when she eats sushi...the sugar that her body produces from the rice causes her to pass out from a glucose OD.

[Howsithangin]

Then do us all a favor and go take a header into a wood chipper. That would save us all having to listen to you yammer while you add more CO₂ to the air.

Sorry, I"m with them. Whale hunting should stop. Now. Cetaceans are semi-sentient. It serves no purpose to hunt them, esp. to serve up as a "delicacy" to useless wastes of cellular material known as Holllywood celebrities! (IMG:http://www.rightnation.us/forums/style_emoticons/default/redhot.gif)

Harpoon Rosie O'Donnell or Michael Moore if you wish to attack something large and dangerous.

This post has been edited by Howsithangin: Mar 10 2010, 04:17 AM

[cobalt-blue]

Sorry, I"m with them. Whale hunting should stop. Now. Cetaceans are semi-sentient. It serves no purpose to hunt them, esp. to serve up as a "delicacy" to useless wastes of cellular material known as Holllywood celebrities! (IMG:http://www.rightnation.us/forums/style_emoticons/default/redhot.gif)

Harpoon Rosie O'Donnell or Michael Moore if you wish to attack something large and dangerous.

That's not my problem with them. My problem with them is the idea of "this is about saving the planet". No it's about their pet cause. Personally I could care less about the issue of whaling.
What I do care about is the mindless spouting of garbage about saving the planet. Whaling is illegal because they are an endangered species. These hunts are pseudo-legal, and if they are to be stopped they have to be stopped through legitimate legal pressure on Japan. This restaurant is doing something illegal, and should face the consequences thereof. But don't get preachy about saving the planet. When people start doing that, I just want to shove an angry porcupine up their collective a$$es and then force feed them castor oil.

This post has been edited by cobalt-blue: Mar 10 2010, 04:25 AM

[Howsithangin]

That's not my problem with them. My problem with them is the idea of "this is about saving the planet". No it's about their pet cause. Personally I could care less about the issue of whaling.
What I do care about is the mindless spouting of garbage about saving the planet. Whaling is illegal because they are an endangered species. These hunts are pseudo-legal, and if they are to be stopped they have to be stopped through legitimate legal pressure on Japan. This restaurant is doing something illegal, and should face the consequences thereof. But don't get preachy about saving the planet. When people start doing that, I just want to shove an angry porcupine up their collective a$$es and then force feed them castor oil.

I hate preachiness as much as you do. But I am hot about this particular subject. I view this bunch as akin to a broken clock (e.g., correct twice a day), and this is one of those times. They should, however, have selected more intelligent reasoning besides the "Saving the Planet ®" pablum, I'll agree with that.

[cobalt-blue]

I hate preachiness as much as you do. But I am hot about this particular subject. I view this bunch as akin to a broken clock (e.g., correct twice a day), and this is one of those times. They should, however, have selected more intelligent reasoning besides the "Saving the Planet ®" pablum, I'll agree with that.

That's cool. That was my only beef with them. Like I said, every time I hear someone say, "to save the planet", unless they're wearing a big red S on their chest and can smash asteroids with their bare fists, I just want to tell them to do the planet a favor and commit suicide. That way they won't won't be wasting oxygen.

[Severian]

Meh...if whales are so smart why do they live in igloos?

[De Oppresso Libe...]

Meh...if whales are so smart why do they live in igloos?

(IMG:http://www.rightnation.us/forums/style_emoticons/default/Smoker.gif)

[tcotrel]

EXCERPT

Santa Monica sushi restaurant closes after serving whale meat

A statement on the Hump's website calls the decision a 'self-imposed punishment.' Federal prosecutors have charged the owner and chef with violating the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

7:40 PM PDT, March 20, 2010

SANTA MONICA

Whale meat eatery closes

A Santa Monica sushi restaurant facing federal charges for serving endangered whale meat closed its doors for good Saturday, according to a statement posted on the Hump's website, which called the decision a "self-imposed punishment."

"The Hump hopes that by closing its doors, it will help bring awareness to the detrimental effect that illegal whaling has on the preservation of our ocean ecosystems and species," reads the statement on the restaurant's website.

Phone calls to the restaurant and its attorney were not answered.

The whole thing

(IMG:http://www.rightnation.us/forums/style_emoticons/default/sick.gif) (IMG:http://www.rightnation.us/forums/style_emoticons/default/puke.gif)

[leftcoast, right...]

Eating whales serves no porpoise. And if they're so smart how come they keep running aground on the beaches or winding up in the fresh water rivers and canals? Okay, I think I've got it. Whales are LSD Dumbocrap voters so they need protection.




Save the whales! Harpoon a morbidly obese person!

[Jamescush]

But what about their culture? We have to preserve it right? (IMG:http://www.rightnation.us/forums/style_emoticons/default/huh.gif)

[Ticked@TinselTow...]

Eating whales serves no porpoise. And if they're so smart how come they keep running aground on the beaches or winding up in the fresh water rivers and canals? Okay, I think I've got it. Whales are LSD Dumbocrap voters so they need protection.




Save the whales! Harpoon a morbidly obese person!

Gee, Hannibal, that sounds yummy... (IMG:http://www.rightnation.us/forums/style_emoticons/default/sick.gif)