He sold seal WHAT? to Koreans????!!

From the Anchorage Daily news (I don't know how Ice missed this), how do you think they harvest these?

St. Paul man faces prison, fine for selling seal oosiks

GUILTY PLEA: He had been a signer of an agreement to manage depleted species.

By MEGAN HOLLAND
mholland@adn.com

Published: June 20, 2007
Last Modified: June 20, 2007 at 04:16 AM

A former president of the St. Paul Island Tribal Government who co-signed an agreement to protect northern fur seals pleaded guilty Tuesday to illegally selling seal oosiks to a Korean health store in Anchorage.

Michael Richard Zacharof, 49, was a signer on a National Marine Fisheries Service agreement in 2000 to help manage the depleted species.

"He was one of the folks who negotiated to help Alaskan Natives take advantage of an opportunity, but he turned around and did something illegal," said Andrea Steward, assistant U.S. Attorney. "It makes it especially offensive for those involved with the program."

Zacharof faces up to one year in prison and a $20,000 fine for violating the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Oosiks are the penis bones of seals and walrus. Under the marine mammal act, Alaska Natives are allowed to harvest seals for subsistence and to create artworks and handicrafts for sale from other parts of the animals, including oosiks. But it is illegal for Natives to sell raw, unworked oosiks to non-Natives.

Prosecutors say Zacharof sold 100 raw oosiks to Lotte Health International, owned by Yong Taik Chung, in 2005.

Zacharof is expected to be sentenced this fall.

Chung was also charged with illegally buying, then reselling the oosiks for about $100 each. In May, he pleaded guilty to two felony charges. He also agreed to cooperate with authorities and testify against those who sold him the illegal wildlife products, said his lawyer Brent Cole on Tuesday.

Chung's store on Fourth Avenue, now called Lotte Market, was selling legal wildlife parts, such as reindeer antlers. But it was also selling illegal wildlife parts, like the seal parts and black bear gall bladders, prosecutors said.

Investigators first uncovered the illegal trade in 2004 and 2005, when they intercepted two packages of gall bladders and oosiks in Massachusetts and traced them back to Chung's business. From there, the seal parts were traced back to Zacharof.

The seal penis bones, also known as seal sticks, are considered aphrodisiacs, Steward said: "In this instance, I believe it was for Korean medicinal purposes. My understanding was that it's similar to a Viagra product."

The bear gall bladders are also used for medicinal purposes, she said.

Zacharof headed the seal hunt from which the parts were taken. And, as is traditional in his Native community of 500 in the Pribilof Islands, the meat was divided among community members, said his lawyer, assistant federal defender M.J. Haden.

She said the seals were taken for their meat and the oosiks would just have been thrown away if Zacharof hadn't sold them.

Chung is scheduled for sentencing in July.

"He's never had any problems in his life, hardly even a speeding ticket," said his attorney, Cole. "This has been a very difficult time for him."

Chung also agreed to a $15,000 fine and to take out a full-page ad in the local Korean newspaper to apologize to the community, Cole said.

The northern fur seal population has continued a marked decline this decade, federal biologists said earlier this year. Remote points of land in the Bering Sea are the breeding grounds for more than half the world's population.