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The Publisher
03-14-2010, 04:43 AM
http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2010/03/12/alg_hump_restaurant.jpg

LOS ANGELES - Federal prosecutors filed charges Wednesday against a sushi chef and a Santa Monica restaurant on allegations that they served illegal and endangered whale meat.

Typhoon Restaurant Inc., which owns The Hump restaurant, and sushi chef Kiyoshiro Yamamoto, 45, were charged with illegally selling an endangered species product, a misdemeanor.

According to a search warrant, marine mammal activists were served whale during three separate visits to the restaurant.

Federal labs confirmed the meat came from a Sei whale, an endangered species protected by international treaties, documents said.

Agents also seized some suspected whale meat during a search of the restaurant Friday but are awaiting test results to confirm it was Sei whale, U.S. attorney spokesman Thom Mrozak said.

In October, two activists posing as customers went to The Hump and ordered "omakase," which means they let the chef choose the choicest fresh fish.

They also requested whale and pocketed a sample.

The young women worked with Louie Psihoyos, director of the Oscar-winning documentary "The Cove," to record the meal with a hidden camera and microphone.

"These are endangered animals being cut up for dinner," Psihoyos said. "It's an abuse of science."

Psihoyos took their findings to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which started an investigation.

Activists claim the whale meat came from Japan's scientific whaling program and was illegally exported, but the U.S. attorney's office is still investigating the source of the meat.

Japan kills hundreds of whales in Antarctic waters each year under its research whaling program, which has triggered violent protests by conservationists and caused strong objections by diplomats in recent years.

An attorney for Typhoon, Gary Lincenberg, said the restaurant accepts responsibility for serving whale and will agree to pay a fine.

If convicted, the company could be fined up to $200,000. Court records say agents interviewed Yamamoto, a Culver City resident and a chef at The Hump for the past seven years, and he admitted serving whale to two young women.

Yamamoto's attorney, Mark Byrne, declined to comment on the charges, saying he hadn't had time to review them. If convicted, Yamamoto could face a year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000.

During the October restaurant visit, animal rights activist Crystal Galbraith, 27, and a friend who spoke fluent Japanese racked up a bill of $600, feasting on increasingly exotic dishes to gain the confidence of the waiters and chef.

"It was heartbreaking to eat an endangered animal, but I knew that I was doing it to save" the whales, said Galbraith, a vegan.

"We were there eating for four hours. I felt so full and sick."

The waitress brought out a dish of whale sushi, identifying the whale in English and Japanese, court documents said.

The dish was listed as whale on the check and cost $85.

The team sent samples to Scott Baker, a professor and cetacean specialist at Oregon State University's Marine Mammal Institute, for genetic testing.

The results showed the meat was from a Sei whale, court records said. The Sei whale is a baleen whale found throughout the world's oceans, and known for its graceful and quick swimming and its long, low vocalizations, Baker said.

Fully grown, the mammal is longer than a bus. Eating Sei whale meat is common in Japan, Korea and Norway and among native peoples in Alaska and Canada, but it is illegal to export the meat because of the Sei whale's endangered status.

In late February, when Psihoyos and the rest of his team were in Los Angeles for the Academy Awards, Galbraith and another friend returned to The Hump twice more.

This time, agents from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration sat at the bar and watched Yamamoto at work, court records said.

During the third visit, another agent watched the chef go to his car and retrieve a package wrapped in clear plastic.


source NYDN

The Hump has issued a public apology on their website:

An Apology From The Hump

We write to address the misdemeanor charge recently filed by the U.S. Attorney. The charge against the restaurant is true: The Hump served whale meat to customers looking to eat what in Japan is widely served as a delicacy.

In serving this meat, The Hump ignored its responsibilities to help save endangered whales from extinction and failed to support the world community in its uphill fight to protect all endangered species.

While The Hump cannot undo the damage it caused, it will put into place procedures to ensure that it strictly complies with the laws and becomes a good corporate citizen. We sincerely apologize. We pledge to work hard to re-earn the trust of the public and respect of our customers.

acelockco
03-14-2010, 05:45 PM
I say forget the fines and jail time, I think we should cut them up and serve them on a plate. I bet they would get the message then! :mad2:

The Publisher
03-20-2010, 06:39 PM
As an update to our first story we reported above, "The Hump", the sushi restaurant in Los Angeles we previously reported had been caught serving endangered whale meat will be permanently closed.

"The Hump hopes that by closing its doors, it will help bring awareness to the detrimental effects that illegal whaling has on the preservation of our ocean ecosystems and species," the statement said.

"Closing the restaurant is a self-imposed punishment on top of the fine that will be meted out by the court," the statement said. The restaurant apologized for its "illegal actions."

The restaurant owners have offered that they will make a substantial contribution to ecology organizations that devote their efforts to protecting endangered species including whales.

The Hump has been open for 12 years.

Unfortunately due to the callous actions of the head chef, now people that had been employed by the The Hump will now be jobless.

acelockco
03-22-2010, 11:00 PM
I think they are just trying to use this as a way to get out of being dragged through the mud. I also bet they close the place and reopen a new sushi place before the other one is even closed.

greenturtle
05-01-2010, 04:19 PM
Whale Sushi Restaurant Off The Hook
http://blogs.laweekly.com/ladaily/city-news/whale-sushi-off-hook/

It looks the The Hump, the now-closed Santa Monica sushi restaurant busted for serving endangered whale sashimi last month, is off the hook: The U.S. Attorney's Office on Wednesday asked a federal judge to dismiss charges against the eatery and its sushi chef.

"We're asking for dismissal 'without prejudice' -- meaning we can refile,'' said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office. "This investigation remains open and active.''

We said that when the restaurant issued an apology, vowed to donate cash to environmental groups, admitted wrongdoing and then closed up, that we smelled a plea deal. The U.S. Attorney's Office is not saying there was a deal in place to drop the charges, but it now feels like case closed.

The Hump's parent company, Typhoon (also the name of an adjacent restaurant that serves up exotic Asian fare) and the chef were were each charged in with a misdemeanor count of serving up an endangered species. If convicted the venue and the chef could face fines of $100,000 and $200,000 respectively and as much as a year behind bars.

Federal authorities served search warrants on the eatery after a documentary film crew captured the restaurant serving up whale meat on three occasions.

The Publisher
05-02-2010, 03:10 PM
Unbelievable...thanks for the heads up GT.

acelockco
05-02-2010, 08:48 PM
I think it is time for anyone local to that area to do something.

Not that I am telling anyone what to do, but a nice protest outside of the place would be in order.