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In October 2009, a man and two women walked into a renowned Los Angeles restaurant called The Hump and ordered some sushi. This seemingly innocuous act was the start of a fascinating chain of events that would involve hidden cameras, genetic sequencing, a few arrests, and the first solid proof of an illegal international trade in whale meat.<\/p>\n
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The man in question was Charles Hambleton, a keen diver and assistant director of\u00a0The Cove<\/em>, an Oscar-winning documentary that exposed the annual killing of\u00a0dolphins in a Japanese national park. Hambleton had heard that The Hump was serving whale meat and decided to investigate.<\/p>\n Hambleton ordered an \u201comakase meal\u201d, a challenging assortment of different meats chosen by the chef, only offered to the \u201cadventurous\u201d and priced at a hefty $800. Sure enough, the platter included four strips of whale sashimi. The receipt said as much, but Hambleton wanted proof. When the waiters and chef weren\u2019t looking, he slipped a sample of the meat into a plastic bag and sent it to\u00a0Scott Baker from Oregon State University.<\/p>\n By sequencing the meat\u2019s DNA, Baker confirmed that it came from an endangered\u00a0sei whale. In fact, the meat was an exact genetic match to products bought in Japan in September 2007. The whale in question must have been killed in those years during one of Japan\u2019s controversial \u201cscientific hunts\u201d. From there, its meat had been illegally exported to the US, flouting a strict ban on the international trade of whale meat.<\/p>\n Together with\u00a0Cove<\/em> director Louis Psihoyos, Hambleton took his evidence to officials from theNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). When the duo returned to California to attend the Academy Awards, they conducted their final stings. Psihoyos says, \u201cCharles and I did two more operations to buy whale meat from the same restaurant with federal officials watching so we could establish a chain of custody.\u201d The Hump was forced to close its doors a few weeks later. On 10 March 2010, federal prosecutors filed criminal charges against both the restaurant and its chef.<\/p>\n