In Tajii, Japan, approximately 500 dolphins were driven into a cove Tuesday. The dolphin-gathering is part of the community's annual dolphin hunt, in which up to 250 of the highly-intelligent marine mammals will be slaughtered for meat or sold into captivity.
While most of Japan and a large portion of the international community condemn the eating of dolphin meat, in Wakayama Prefecture - where Tajii is located - dolphin is a delicacy. The Wakayama Prefecture Government permits the hunting of 2,026 small porpoises and dolphins - including 557 bottlenose dolphins - during a hunting season stretching from September to March.
Since the beginning of the hunt, environmental advocates the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has been monitoring the situation and providing live-streaming of videos of the captured dolphins. The video display the dolphins splashing around frantically, desperate to reach other members of their pod. Sea Shepherd has raised concern that the dolphins have not eaten in four days and appear to be injured.
Sea Shepherd has alleged that five separate pods of dolphins have been driven into the cove, where the dolphins will "face a violent and stressful captive selection process. Babies and mothers will be torn from each other's sides as some are taken for captivity, some are killed, and others are driven back out to sea to fend for themselves."
"They tighten up the nets to bring each sub-group together then the skiffs push them toward the tarps. Under the tarps in the shallows is where the trainers work with the killers to select the 'prettiest' dolphins which will sell and make the best pay day for the hunters," said Sea Shepherd.
The situation has won the scorn of United States Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy, who tweeted on January 17, "Deeply concerned by inhumaneness of drive hunt dolphin killing. USG opposes drive hunt fisheries."
According to the World Wildlife Fund, several species of dolphin - including the Yangtze Finless Porpoise, Hector's Dolphin and the Irrawaddy Dolphin - are either vulnerable to the risk of being endangered or are currently endangered. While the Bottlenose Dolphin has recovered after tuna-fishing methods were improved to prevent entanglement, dolphin populations worldwide are generally felt to be insufficient to support mass hunting.
"It is reprehensible that the Taiji dolphin hunters are killing dolphins for human consumption, because all dolphin meat is toxic - up to 5,000 times more toxic than allowed by the World Health Organization," Louie Psihoyos, director of the Tajii dolphin-hunting expose "The Cove," told the Guardian.
"The hunters claim they are poor and need the meat to feed their families, but who would feed poison to their children and parents? The dolphin hunters make up to US$200,000 for each captive dolphin so they are anything but poor. They also claim they are family men, but they have just massacred a whole pod full of families."
Per tests conducted by BlueVoice.org in 2008, dolphin meat has been found to mercury and heavy metal levels in excess of 1,600 times the safe consumption levels for humans. Consumption of large concentrations of mercury can impair neurological functions, leading to vision, hearing and coordination problems.
Despite this, the Japanese government defends the practice as tradition. In an online response to the "The Cove," the Wakayama Prefecture said that "The Taiji dolphin fishery has been a target of repeated psychological harassment and interference by aggressive foreign animal protection organizations."
"Taiji dolphin fishermen are just conducting a legal fishing activity in their traditional way in full accordance with regulations and rules under the supervision of both the national and the prefectural governments. Therefore, we believe there are no reasons to criticize the Taiji dolphin fishery."
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
