The Mercury Wrinkle

Commercial Whaling Will Drive Some Crazy

A better argument against whaling, rather than anything the current Australian government is mounting might be mercury poisoning. This report says that people hailing from a town that thrives on the whale harvest had mercury counts at 63ppm which is in excess of the WHO's own line of 50ppm.

Some people were even found with mercury counts as high as 139ppm, and the Health Department in Japan has issued a warning against eating dolphin more than twice a month. Mind you this is a widespread problem through out the fisheries world. A lot of carnivorous fish such as shark, marlin and swordfish have high concentrations of mercury, as do things such s killer whales.

Most of the mercury in the ocean actually comes from coal fire. And Australia's main export is coal. So maybe Australia should continue exporting coal to add mercury to the sea so that the whales are too poisonous to eat. Go Australia!