Just days after his film “The Cove” won the Oscar for best documentary, another undercover operation involving the film’s director Louie Psihoyos resulted in federal charges being brought against a restaurant company and one of their sushi chefs for serving illegal whale meat. But this time the crimes weren’t being committed in a secluded cove off the coast of Japan like in the film. The restaurant, the Hump, is located in Santa Monica, just a few miles from where Sunday night’s Oscar ceremonies were held.
In October, two members of Psihoyos’ team posed as customers at the restaurant. On that occasion and two others, the undercover activists were served illegal whale meat, a sample of which was secretly taken from the restaurant and later confirmed as meat from a Sei whale, an endangered species. Typhoon Restaurant Inc., the Hump’s parent company, could face up to $200,000 in fines and chef Kiyoshiro Yamamoto could face up to a year in jail and $100,000 in fines for violating the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act.
Japan kills hundreds of whales each year under it’s research whaling program. But it is illegal to export the meat to the U.S. While activists believe Japan’s research program is where the meat came from, its exact source is still being investigated.
Photo via CBS News
