Taiji dolphin drive hunt

The fishing village of Taiji

The Taiji drive hunt of dolphins and other small cetaceans is a dolphin drive hunt that takes place in Taiji, Wakayama in Japan every year from September to March, including pilot whaling, which lasts a month longer. The hunts are argued to be a part of Japanese culture, however, have only started since 1969. Annually, an approximation of 22,000 small cetaceans are killed using the methodology of drive hunting, taking place in the waters of Japan.^[1] The term "Dolphin drive hunting" also known as "the drive fishery," refers to the act of driving or herding cetaceans, specifically into coves, conducted for the following reasons: providing income for local residents, they are seen as pests by local fishermen and are competition in the livelihood of fisheries, a source of meat for human consumption, and locally and internationally provide live cetaceans in the business of marine parks for human entertainment purposes.^[2]

There is a quota set by the government of Japan allowing over 2,000 cetaceans to be slaughtered or captured, and this Japanese hunt is one of the biggest slaughters of dolphins and whales in the world.^[2] The annual dolphin hunt provides income for local residents, and has received international criticism for both the cruelty of the dolphin killing and the high mercury levels of the dolphin meat.^[3]

Season and quota

The season opens on the first day of September, lasting until the last day of February for the "dolphin" (Japanese: iruka) hunt and the end of April for "whaling" (Japanese: gondō; subfamily Globicephalinae, including pilot whales and Risso's dolphins). Taiji was allowed a quota of 1820 drive-hunting catch in the 2016–17 season.^[4]

According to the Japanese Fisheries Research Agency, 1,623 were caught in Wakayama Prefecture in 2007 for human consumption or resale to dolphinariums, and most of these were caught at Taiji.^[5]

History

Residents of Taiji have been refining whaling techniques ever since Wada Chūbei Yorimoto (和田忠兵衛頼元) began the first commercial-scale whaling operations in Japan in 1606. Initially, whales were taken by means of hand harpoons and small boats. After nets were introduced into whaling in 1675, the industry spread throughout Japan.^[6]

Hunting dolphins for commercial purposes in Taiji continues. In 2008, 1,484 dolphins and whales were caught, while fisherman planned to catch around 2,400 in 2009.^[7] Some of the dolphins are sold to aquatic parks, instead of slaughtered, and Ted Hammond is one of the main brokers for Taiji.^[8]

Method

Fishermen killing dolphins using spikes which sever the spinal cord

In Japan, the hunting is done by a select group of fishermen.^[9] When a pod of dolphins has been spotted, fishing boats move into position. One end of a steel pipe is lowered into the water, and the fisherman aboard the boats strike the pipe with mallets.^[10]

This is done at strategic points around the pod, in an effort to herd them toward land. The clamor disrupts the dolphins' sonar throwing off their navigation and herds them towards the bay which leads to a sheltered cove. There, the fishermen quickly close off the area with nets to prevent the dolphins' escape.^[10]

As the dolphins are initially quite agitated, they are left to calm down over night. The following day, fishermen enter the bay in small boats, and the dolphins are caught one at a time and killed. The primary method of dispatch was for a long time to cut the dolphin's throat, severing blood vessels, and death was due to exsanguination.^[10]

The government banned this method and now the officially sanctioned method requires that a metal pin be driven into the cervical region ("neck") of the dolphin, severing its brainstem, which causes it to die within seconds, according to a memo from Senzo Uchida, the executive secretary of the Japan Cetacean Conference on Zoological Gardens and Aquariums.^[10]

According to an academic paper published in 2013 in the Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science titled A Veterinary and Behavioral Analysis of Dolphin Killing Methods Currently Used in the 'Drive Hunt' in Taiji, Japan, those killing methods involving driving a rod into the spine and using a pin to stop bleeding that is used by the Japanese in Taiji creates such terror and pain that it would be illegal to kill cows in Japan in this manner. Several veterinarians and behavioral scientists evaluated the current Taiji Japanese killing method and concluded that "This killing method….would not be tolerated or permitted in any regulated slaughterhouse process in the developed world."^[11]

Environmentalist activities

Environmental and animal rights groups have raised objections to the Taiji dolphin hunt on a variety of grounds, not just for animal cruelty reasons, but for health risks posed by consumption of the dolphin and whale meat (See #Health risks below).

Anti-whaling groups such as Sea Shepherd and Greenpeace insist that whaling is cruel and should be regulated. The Prefectural Government through publicly issued statements emphasize that whale and dolphin hunting are a traditional form of livelihood in Japan, and that, like other animals, whales and dolphins are killed to supply demand for meat. They maintain that methods of killing have become more humane in recent years.^[12][13]

Early awareness activities

Hardy Jones, who founded BlueVoice.org with film star Ted Danson in 2000, has gone to Taiji numerous times to try to stop the capture of dolphins and small whales. His film The Dolphin Defender, produced by the PBS series Nature documents these events. A series of exposés on the Taiji slaughter had been running in the Japan Times since 2005, and journalist Boyd Harnell has gained two Genesis Awards from The Humane Society of the United States in recognition.^[14][15]

Controversy

The hunting of small cetaceans in Japan is known world-wide, although parallels the fact that there are still many Japanese people who know little to nothing that these hunts are taking place so close to them.^[16] Concern is majority through the methodology of the hunt, as actions are viewed as inhumane. An article by National Geographic refers to The Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums decision to no longer support the Taiji hunt. In 2015, it was announced that there would be a ban in the buying and selling of dolphins through the means of this hunt.

The Cove

A film titled The Cove (formerly The Rising) was secretly recorded over five years with high-tech video and sound equipment in Taiji. This full-length documentary was funded by billionaire James H. Clark and shows controversial dolphin killing techniques and discusses high mercury levels in Taiji dolphin meat. ^[14]

The film documents how the disclosure of the high mercury level prompted two local assemblymen in Taiji to break ranks and speak publicly of health risks.^[17] But the 2,000 ppm mercury level in dolphin meat that the film gives at one point has drawn criticism for overstating the data on the mercury poisoning hazard.^{[12] [lower-alpha 1]}

Behind The Cove

A film titled Behind The Cove is a documentary offering a rebuttal against the Oscar-winning documentary "The Cove," taken from the other perspective of the Taiji fishermen, including footage of interviews from Japanese whaling officials allowing them to claim their side of the story.^[19] Keiko Yagi is the creator of this film, with the argument that people must respect each other's food culture, and that cetacean meat has been lean meat provided for years in Japanese culture.

Others have argued that this film is questionable, because of its interviews with past whalers, rather than the perspective of concurrent dolphin hunters, or the people engaged in the business of buying and selling small cetaceans for marine park businesses and entertainment.^[19]

Ongoing watch

Since the release of the film, a larger number of activists, mainly non-Japanese, have visited Taiji to protest or film the dolphin hunts. The activists observe and monitor the hunting throughout the hunting season from September until it ends in April. The Taiji fishermen responded by constructing an elaborate structure of tarps to better conceal the drive-hunting activities in and around the cove.^[20]

Activists report that they have been harassed when trying to document the hunts by local supporters of the dolphin fishermen. Although the culling cove is adjacent to Yoshino Kumano Kokuritsu Koen (Yoshino-Kumano National Park), the park is often sealed to visitors by the police during the hunts.^[20] In 2011, a police box staffed with 10 policemen was placed near the cove to prevent conflict between the protesters and the fishermen.^[21][22]

The ongoing question as to whether or not the Japanese will ban the hunt on Taiji Dolphins is still questionable. In May 2015, a vote had taken place in order to stop the buying and selling of Taiji Dolphins in Japan after being made infamous in the documentary, The Cove (film).^[23] The international group World Association of Zoos and Aquariums opposes these drive hunts, and their statement to end these hunts is a huge message from within the industry; however, this message may not be enough to affect the drive hunts.

Focus is on the Buyers

Activist Ric O'Barry, whose work on these dolphin drive hunts has been predominantly featured in The Cove, says that his plans to continue his efforts to end these hunts completely will start through international protests at Japanese embassies and consulates worldwide on the day the next hunting season begins in September.^[23] The next focus will be on who is capturing the dolphins, and the reaction and responding from the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums about dolphins obtained outside of Taiji.^[23]

The problem now is that even though all of the 63 member aquariums and 89 zoos of the Japanese group stop purchasing dolphins, they are still able to be sold and purchased outside of Japan through overseas aquariums; Taiji also owns its own aquarium.

Health risks

Since 2000, researchers such as Tetsuya Endo, a professor at the Health Sciences University of Hokkaido, have found high concentrations of mercury in the whale and dolphin meat sold around Japan. In their studies, Taiji residents who eat dolphin meat had high levels of mercury in their hair.^[24] The Japanese Ministry of Health issued warnings on the consumption of some species of fish, whale, and dolphin since 2003. It recommended that children and pregnant women avoid eating them on a regular basis.^[25]

In June 2008, Aera, a Japanese weekly journal, reported that the whale and dolphin meat sold in Taiji contained 160 times higher levels of mercury, and hairs from eight men and women had 40 times higher levels, based on a research conducted by the National Institute for Minamata Disease (NIMD). The NIMD published the full data of the research online a few days later. It has been pointed out that the amount of methyl-mercury, which causes neurological damage, was not exceedingly high, and the mercury in hair showed rapid decrease since tests carried out by other institutions a few months ago to the same people. The NIMD agreed to help monitor the health of Taiji residents.^[26][27]

In the summer and winter of 2009, hair samples from 1,137 Taiji residents were tested for mercury by the National Institute for Minimata Disease (NIMD). None of the Taiji residents, however, displayed any symptoms of mercury poisoning, according to the Institute.^[28][29] Despite the claim made by Boyd Harnell, the special correspondent to The Japan Times, that the mortality rate for Taiji and nearby Koazagawa, where dolphin meat is also consumed, is "over 50% higher than the rate for similarly-sized villages throughout Japan" using data from Japan's National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, it was revealed that the comparison was not suitable due to the huge gap in the villages' age profile. While Taiji and Kozagawa showed 34.9 percent and 44 percent of the population were over 65 years old, the compared villages showed 21 percent to 27.9 percent.^[30]

In May 2012, NIMD announced the results of further tests. In 2010 and 2011, 700 Taiji residents were tested for mercury in their hair, and 117 males and 77 females who exhibited 10 ppm underwent further neurological tests. Again, no participant displayed any signs of mercury poisoning.^[31] In August 2012, the research project to investigate the health effects of mercury on children was launched by NIMD.^[32][33]

Taiji Twelve

The Taiji Twelve is a term used by anti-dolphin hunting campaigners to describe a group of dolphins captured in a dolphin drive hunt outside of the town of Taiji, Wakayama, Japan in October 2006.^[34] The Ocean World Adventure Park in the Dominican Republic had placed an order for twelve dolphins for the captive swim program.^[17]

Although most of the dolphins captured were earmarked for export, a coalition headed by the Japan Dolphins Coalition's marine-mammal specialist Richard O'Barry, with Earth Island Institute, tried to block their export to the Dominican Republic.^[35] The exportation was eventually cancelled.^[34]

See also

• Dolphin meat in Japanese cuisine
• Whaling in Japan
• Animal welfare and rights in Japan

Explanatory notes

References