A FORENSIC study of whale meat bought from Japanese markets suggests that either Japan’s scientific whaling programme is taking more animals from a vulnerable population than previously estimated, or accidental “by-catch” of the whales in fishing nets is larger than officially reported.
of the University of California, Irvine, and colleagues bought samples of whale meat in Japan and used DNA analysis to determine in each case not only the species of whale, but also which population it came from. The team found that 250 of the samples came from 201 north Pacific minke whales, 46 per cent…
