BomboyOnline:
[size=14pt]The dangers of eating dolphin meat[/size]

Eating dolphin meat may seem abhorrent to most Americans, but many cultures around the world include marine mammals in their diets. For instance, people on the tropical island of St. Vincent in the Caribbean can legally hunt and eat dolphins. But these culinary traditions have a health downside: The meat and blubber contain high levels of mercury, which can contribute to disorders ranging from memory loss to seizures.

Much of the mercury pollution in the ocean comes from gold mining. Once in the water, it can be converted to another chemical called methylmercury. Small organisms ingest the mercury and methylmercury; when predators eat those animals, they accumulate even higher levels of the toxic compounds. Because marine mammals are near the top of the food chain, they often carry the most mercury in their tissues.

Researchers studied dolphin consumption in St. Vincent, where about two-thirds of the residents eat marine mammal meat. The team members analyzed meat and blubber from 28 spinner dolphins and 11 Atlantic spotted dolphins that had been caught near the island. They also tested processed unidentified cetacean meat, probably from dolphins or pilot whales, from a market. People usually process the meat by cutting it into pieces and drying it to make a beef jerky-like snack.

The fresh, unprocessed tissue contained an average of 0.92 to 1.57 micrograms of mercury per gram, the researchers report in Marine Pollution Bulletin. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration considers 1 microgram per gram to be the “action level” at which authorities could advise people to cut down on seafood consumption. And the processed meat was far worse — it contained an average of 7.59 micrograms of mercury and 6.05 micrograms of methylmercury per gram of tissue.

The results suggest that dolphin meat could pose a health risk to the people of St. Vincent, the team suggests. If public health officials advise residents to eat less of it, dolphin populations could benefit — but managers will need to make sure that substituting other meats doesn’t create another conservation problem. — Roberta Kwok | 6 November 2014

Source: Fielding, R. and D.W. Evans. 2014. Mercury in Caribbean dolphins (Stenella longirostris and Stenella frontalis) caught for human consumption off St. Vincent, West Indies. Marine Pollution Bulletin doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2014.10.040.

xandy84:
Sometimes, I wish we as a Nigerian and not government can act right. I paI'd on a boat ride to go watch a dolphins in Virginia and both city and state make money by collecting taxes and also creating employment and here we are in Nigeria, killing everything that comes our way. I pray and wish we can start to act right as an individual, community and a nation..

bigtt76:
Pipeline den go blow, people den go kidnap, poor creatures den go kill.... Niger Delta I hail ona all o!

prinsam30:
I can see some comments like, why do they have to kill it? why not take it to the Zoo? why not create an artificial beach or pool? why killing an harmless animal like that?
harmless fish wey u no train from small, I wonder how una dey take reason sef




Shey na crime now make person kill eatable animals chop for this country where almost everything seams to stay Stagnant?


person go do fishing, come catch big fish una say make him go put am for zoo or artificial pool, I tire for una ooooo


see better meat abeg

cnnamoko:
We really need a law in Nigeria to jail people that kill beautiful and rare animals. Goat, cow, snake don finish?

khalhokage:
A friend of mine working at Shell terminal, Ogulagha Focados in Delta state sent these pics to me.

They caught and immediately butchered it for meat.

I didn't know people ate dolphin too o

xandy84:
Sometimes, I wish we as a Nigerian and not government can act right. I paI'd on a boat ride to go watch a dolphins in Virginia and both city and state make money by collecting taxes and also creating employment and here we are in Nigeria, killing everything that comes our way. I pray and wish we can start to act right as an individual, community and a nation..

AgricSalt:


Won't the fishermen earn more if they sold it to conservators?

Somebody like Peter of PSquare for instance will be happy to buy this dolphin and build a tourist pool for it!

khalhokage:
A friend of mine working at Shell terminal, Ogulagha Focados in Delta state sent these pics to me.

They caught and immediately butchered it for meat.

I didn't know people ate eat dolphin too o

lonelydora:
Being Shell workers, they should have been enlightened enough to know that it's a harmless mammal that we hardly see in Nigeria and shouldn't be killed. Why kill it?

Flygeriansteve:


Oga Seun. You see why we need the down vote option on Nairaland. This guy would have had minus likes or votes to show people are repulsed by this brainless comment.

Freiburger:
Mehnnnnn. Killing a dolphin for food?