Turtle Eggs, Abalone and Dolphin - These Are A Few of my Favourite Things!

Believe it or not, Dolphins, Turtles and Abalone are delicacies in certain regions of the world and have been eaten for thousands of years. It may not be your idea of a tasty treat - but does that mean we should disparage the traditions and preferences of those who do? If we examine some of the statistics surrounding these food choices we will have a better idea of how it affects the sustainability of these species, as it has been reported that they face extinction through over harvesting.

Turtle Eggs

These eggs come from sea turtles, which has been on the endangered species list for a number of years. Prized as both a delicacy and an aphrodisiac by some cultures, the capturing and selling of these eggs can net a small fortune (if sold to the right people)! A sad fact is, that even though a female sea turtle can lay 100 eggs at a time, only one in one thousand eggs will go on to produce an adult. Now consider that recently, at a highway checkpoint in southern Mexico, police confiscated 9,000 eggs from a group of seven men. These men intended to sell the eggs. But through just that one incident, how many adult turtles have we lost? If you extrapolate, and consider the ramifications, are we any closer to saving the sea turtle, never mind increasing it's numbers?

Along the coast of Mexico - around Acapulco - 59 sea turtles washed up dead on the beach, apparently all victims of fishing nets used by the local fishermen. When the practice of eating turtle eggs was first practiced in China, a country who still prizes these things, it was thousands of years ago when the population of people was not so great and the numbers of sea turtles was many more than there is now. Couple that with the difference in the harvest and you can appreciate that it probably didn't have a detrimental impact at that time.

However, with the enormous growth in the population and the methods and numbers of eggs harvested, not only in China but as a whole worldwide, it is easy to see how the turtles have been depleted to near extinction.

Abalone

Abalone is shellfish, which can net a pound of meat - outstrips the best calamari you can find and was sold on the black market to restaurants and buyers as far a field as China and Hong Kong. Once there was a thriving colony of abalone on the west coast of America, north of San Francisco. As far back as 1996 limits were imposed on the number of Abalone you could harvest in the season. The government limited the harvest of Abalone to four a day and no more than 28 during the entire season.

Divers are not allowed to use breathing apparatus to assist them during the “hunt”. Precautions were taken but unfortunately this did not stop a team of poachers. They poached over fifty thousand pounds of Abalone in one season, with a value of a half million dollars.

The colony near San Francisco is virtually exhausted and no more fishing for Abalone are allowed by the authorities. In southern California, where they allowed scuba gear to be used and commercial harvesting was legal, the colony of Abalone became extinct in the 1970's. Today you can buy farmed abalone and that is what is served in the restaurants.

Beds around Australia are plentiful and the farming of abalone began as long ago as the 1950's in Asia where once it was so rare it was only eaten by kings and the very, very rich. There is only one commercial farm for the rearing of red abalone in North America and that is near Halifax, Nova Scotia, which produces 800,000 Abalone, each of which takes 8 yrs to grow.

Dolphin

Japan and Peru are just two areas where dolphin meat is considered a delicacy. In a coastal town west of Tokyo, fishermen use metal poles to drive the dolphins into quiet coves where they are speared and clubbed to death. They catch approximately 20,000 dolphins annually. In a campaign to stop the slaughter, researchers have shown that people who eat the dolphin meat have levels of mercury as much as 10 times higher than the recommended level. Consumers of Dolphin meat place themselves at serious health risk, if the practice isn't stopped. Ten years ago laws were passed in Peru, to make all killing of Dolphins illegal, but the taste for the meat keeps the black market alive.

Fisherman use wooden rowboats to harpoon the Dolphins. After dragging them into the boat, the Dolphins are dispatched by means of clubbing - all the while still alive and screaming. Dolphin meat is used for Muchame - a salty delicacy that brings in a decent income for the fishermen who supply meat to the black market. One dolphin can provide as much money as a teacher or police officer may earn in a month - not a sum to be sneezed at. While the numbers of dolphins being slaughtered has dropped dramatically since it became illegal there are still over a thousand killed along the coast of Peru annually.

Today, after so many animals have already gone extinct, we are still privileged to have so many marine animals roaming our oceans. We have to consider ourselves lucky, as we had the chance to see and eat them. Let us give our children the same opportunity – to see nature as it was intended – alive, wild and free!