So I should be doing my uni reading right now, but as usual something is compelling me to learn and learn and learn. I have no one really to talk to about it yet, as I have missed all the Animal Rights society meetings so far, so I thought I will start a blog and see what happens. I just need to vent. And I need to help inform the people around me of whats going on out there, regarding cetaceans, and other marine life in general. I just want people to know. I believe that education is the key to change. I myself cant seem to stop looking at articles, websites, petitions, videos, films, books. It seems to have affected me in some way, and I just wish more and more people would realise the reality of whats happening around them. And I dont even just mean this, I mean in everything. I am in a dilemma at the moment as to what career I want to go in when I graduate- the human rights side or the animal rights side. We shall just have to see how this blog ends up first I guess.
So anyway, research. What have I learned today? I have learnt about the slaughter of dolphins the world over. So I guess I will start with the country that has had the most hype lately- Japan, and in particular a little fishing town called Taiji,Wakayama Prefecture.
Every year, from September to March, the fishermen of Taiji go out on small boats to hunt for dolphins (mainly Bottlenose, Striped, Risso's and Pilot Whales), and drive them into a cove to be sold into the dolphinarium industry or slaughtered. It is called a drive hunt and claims up to 1800 lives a year. The hunt is (apparently) mainly for the dolphin meat, but according to the film 'The Cove' (2009) the majority of Japanese do not eat dolphin meat anymore, so much so that it was even being served up at local schools in order to get rid of the surplus. The amount of mercury in the meat is also at a very dangerous level, and is in fact slowly poisoning the local community and the population who eat it. Have a look at this, from 'The Cove'. So, why do they hunt if there is so little profit to be had in the meat trade? Is it tradition? Well yes in a way, as the Japanese have always been huge contributors to the whale and dolphin hunting industry, even from as early as the 17th C in Taiji. It could also be argued that it is due to over-fishing in the area- they are simply trying to take out the competition. However, the drive has recently been revived and expanded due to the ever-growing dolphinarium industry, and its huge demand for live dolphins.
This is where the money comes from, this is where the supply and demand comes from, and this is why the drive hunt is now such a profitable operation for the people of Taiji and indeed Japan. A live, healthy and relatively attractive dolphin captured in Taiji can reach up to around $300 000 each. That means that even if they only sold two or three live dolphins out of a catch of about thirty or so, they would still make a huge profit. Buyers sent from dolphinariums, sea parks and aquariums from around the world line up on the shore to examine and bid for the best dolphins, while the rest of them are left in the cove overnight, separated from their babies and families, waiting for their fate to come the next morning. The main buyers nowadays are Turkey, Egypt, Dubai, China and even Japan itself. Apparently the US does not buy from Taiji anymore, but Captain Paul Watson, of the Sea Shepherd, believes differently. Check this out.
Those 'lucky' enough to be bought will end up in some swimming pool- sized tank, or as I will discuss tomorrow, an actual swimming pool. The others are murdered using spears and knives, which are meant to be driven into the dolphins' neck, and kill them instantly. However, this is obviously very difficult to implement and supervise, considering it is done by a fisherman surrounded by water holding onto a terrified dolphin thrashing around. In the film 'The Cove', there is clear evidence that this 'humane method' is not the case at all, as dolphins are seen swimming around half-dead and the fishermen look as though they are just stabbing at the water aimlessly and mindlessly. It seems like carnage, and there is no way that the dolphins killed could have been killed humanely or indeed quickly. The footage of the dolphin who escapes and swims towards shore confirms this, as he is cut up and bleeding and eventually drowns, after at least a minute or so. The dolphins are then taken to the processing plant where they are butchered and packaged to be sold as meat. A good video to watch is the undercover footage of the slaughterhouse, by Save Japan Dolphins volunteer Leilani Munter. Some infamous pictures of the drive are shown below.
Photos of a drive boat, the end result, and a dolphin head, from the Taiji drive hunt. (Photos from Goole images).
So, to end this first post, some facts and figures about the Taiji drive hunt:
1. According to Wikipedia, as unpredictable as it may be, the drive of 2007 ended in the killing of 384 Striped Dolphins, 300 Bottlenose Dolphins, 312 Risso's Dolphins and 243 Pilot whales, which is a total of 1,239 cetaceans.
2. The fishermen have a permit from the Japan Gov. and refer to the drive as 'pest control'. This is seems quite dubious and it is as if the Gov. is only backing it due to the huge amount of money it brings into the country, and Taiji, each year.
3. 'The World Association for Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) is the world's largest network of zoos and aquariums around the world. Dolphinariums that have conducted business with the dolphin killers of Japan have been welcomed into WAZA's network, although the trade in these dolphins clearly violates WAZA's Code of Ethics.' From savejapandolphins.org. Also, see here about this issue. It seems almost corrupt.
Anyway, after that I really must do some reading for my lecture tomorrow. But I thought that would be a good starting point as it seems to be one of the greater known issues of cetaceans at the moment. Any comments, thoughts or whatever please say. Thank you :)
Oh and I will be talking about the lives (and deaths) of dolphins in captivity next time.
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