Dolphin meat - Who eats dolphin meat?

First up, dolphin meat (イルカ肉) is pretty bizarre even by Japanese standards, and second, Taiji is a hurting fishing town smack dab in the middle of nowhere that's gotten a lot of bad press thanks to The Cove.

 http://www.thecovemovie.com/FAQRetrieve.aspx?ID=37078

Who eats dolphin meat?

Much of the dolphin meat sold around Japan is actually mislabeled or sold as counterfeit whale meat from larger a whale, which sells for far more money than dolphin meat. Hundreds of samples of dolphin meat tested from around Japan has all been shown to be toxic and far exceeds their own ministry of health recommendations. Some internal organ meat for sale at the Okura markets near Taiji was analyzed to have 5000 times more mercury than the health advisory of 0.4 ppm.

The oceans around industrialized countries such as China, Japan and the United States is some of the most polluted in the world and the dolphins residing in those waters are some of the most toxic in the world. For instance, if fish has more than 2 ppm (parts per million) of PCB’s, the EPA requires that it not be fit for human consumption. Bottlenose dolphins off the East Coast of the United States can have up to 6800 ppm and if one washed up on the shores it would be eligible for clean-up as a super-fund site.