The method by which the dolphins are hunted is called oikomi (or “drive fishing”). Early in the morning, a group of boats track migratory dolphins about 1.5km from the coast and drive them in to a cove. They are kept imprisoned in the cove by nets tied across the entrance. Then members of the aquarium industry purchase the best dolphins in order to sell them worldwide, so they can entertain us at zoos and so on. The remainder will be killed by fishermen using sharp spears to stab at the throats of these highly sensitive and intelligent marine creatures.
To highlight this atrocity, director Louie Psihoyos and others made a movie entitled The Cove, which was released on July 31. In the documentary, which is set in Taiji, the place where the largest number of dolphins face this horrible fate (an estimated 2,500 annually), the filmmakers expose this scar on Japan’s dignity for what it is. Images of the sea literally turning red with blood are not uncommon during the dolphin hunting season as is shown in this award-winning movie.
The best thing we can do is to raise awareness of the situation, to educate ourselves on the issue and to spread this information to whoever wants to listen. The fact is, the hunt is inhumane and is in contradiction to all international standards of animal welfare laws and guidelines and it must be stopped.
Hopefully the Japanese government will listen and finally put an end to what even most Japanese think is a totally unnecessary and unthinkable act.
ASEEM KAWATRA
Society for the Advancement of Animal Wellbeing, Taipei
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