Quote:
Originally Posted by cranks
Let's say there was a small town where 200 people lived off by hunting pandas. They had been doing it for 400 years. And they had families to support.
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Belated, and I really should be quoting Misa here, but this is exactly what they've done in Africa and parts of S. America, turning poachers into game-keepers and trackers.
As for Minke, that's very true, but there still could be big differences between where they hunt and what kind of fish they consume. As I said before, Dolphins are more likely to hunt in shallower coastal water, whereas whales go out to sea to hunt where there's less contamination. Also it could just be the type and location of the dolphins being consumed. Minke meat was recently reported with an average of 0.10ppm mercury level, whereas the dolphin meat supplied from the particular hunt that's causing this controversy has something like 0.50ppm. It's still not enough to give you minamata though. You need to be around 1.0ppm or higher to start getting symptoms i think. But it accumulates in the body over time, so even if you eat a lot of low-mercury fish it'll still build up over time. You can't just metabolize it out naturally.