SANTA MONICA—Another sushi chef of Santa Monica’s The Hump restaurant has been sentenced for serving endangered Sei whale meat to customers. Chef Susumu Ueda was sentence on May 4.
On May 18, fellow chef Kiyoshiro Yamamoto was fined $5,000 and sentenced to two years probation. Both chefs are required to complete 200 hours of community service. Both chefs were indicted in 2012, but pled guilty in 2014 for their role in selling the meat which is a violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which prohibits the sale or importing of whale meat.
The case got attention in 2009, when associate producer and director of clandestine operations for Academy Award-winning documentary “The Cove” Charles Hambelton heard rumors that the Santa Monica restaurant The Hump was serving whale meat under the guise of fatty tuna.
Ginichi Ohira, who sold the whale meat to Ueda and Yamamoto, has yet to be sentenced. Ohiri, who in 2011 plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of illegally selling marine mammal products is expected to be sentenced on June 23.
