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'The Cove' Team's Sting Operation Revealed

By IDA Editorial Staff

While attending the first evening of DocuDays LA 2010, The Cove director Louis Psihoyos more than hinted that while he and his Oceanic Preservation Society team were in town for Oscar-related events, they were also working on some covert operations with law officials to bust up an illegal ring of some sort. He even told us to keep an eye on the newspapers.

Now we know what he was talking about.

The Oscar-winning crew discovered that popular Santa Monica sushi restaurant Hump, was serving whale. A sting operation involving tiny cameras, surveillance equipment and the whole bit revealed that the restaurant did serve Sei whale, which are endangered, to members of the OPS and several undercover federal agents

A New York Times piece reported that "armed with a search warrant, federal officials on Friday went searching for evidence from the restaurant, including marine mammal parts as well as various records and documents. The possession or sale of marine mammals is a violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and can lead to a year in prison and a fine of $20,000."

“We’re going to look into the allegations and try to determine what is true,” said Hump's lawyer, Gary Lincenberg, in the story. “Until we have done that, I don’t have any other comment.”

In other Cove news, residents of the town of Taiji, Japan featured in the movie weren't necessarily giving Psihoyos and Co. a standing ovation for his win, according to this Associated Press article, entitled "Japan dolphin hunt town shrugs off 'Cove' Oscar."

The town government went as far as issuing a news statement: "There are different food traditions within Japan and around the world," the statement read. "It is important to respect and understand regional food cultures, which are based on traditions with long histories."

Especially angry was Tetsuya Endo, an associate professor at Health Sciences University of Hokkaido, featured in the film. "I feel that they should have declined the award," he said in the story and is considering legal action.