Since 2003, One Voice has been denouncing the massacres of dolphins, particularly in Japan, and their links to the captivity industry. These massacres have not stopped, their just happening more quietly…
Planned massacres
In Japan, September marks the opening of the dolphin fishing season for the villages of Taiji and Futo. Over nearly six months, no fewer than 20 000 dolphins and small cetaceans are massacred in the name of a 400-year old tradition.
The bottle-nose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) and the striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) are two of the ten species available in supermarkets or top of the range restaurants.
Barbaric methods
Fishermen wait for the dolphins along their migratory routes. They then follow them until they are exhausted or batter them with a wall of sound created by banging metal rods together in the water. Once they have been steered together into the shallow waters of an inlet, nets are thrown to prevent them escaping. The fishermen then need only harpoon them to hoist them onto their boats or the banks.
Frightened dolphins signal their despair with heart-wrenching crises that nevertheless leave the fishermen unaffected. Their agony can last hours, during which some of them leap out of the water and suffocate, while their fellow dolphins have their throats cut. The animals are sorted, with mothers and young separated, but they all share the same fate.
A hidden activity
The images of a blood-red sea shot by One Voice’s teams have been broadcast around the world and shocked public opinion. But the Japanese authorities have still not stopped the massacres. To enable them to carry on unhindered, fishermen now try to hide their activities from protestors by covering inlets with sheets. Photographers and other observers are less and less tolerated at these crime scenes.
A massacre serving dolphinariums
One Voice’s investigators who have gone to these locations regularly have observed the recurring presence of dealers or trainers who come to select animals intended for the captivity industry. Ignoring any animals that are too young or have been injured during capture, they will choose the individuals that correspond to the criteria of dolphinariums from around the world who have put in their orders.
At 30 000 dollars for a live dolphin, this is a lucrative trade that over the years has legitimised the massacre of thousands of cetaceans.
Meet unfit for consumption
The dolphin meat market would not be viable without this juicy business as consumption is falling steadily. What’s more, tests requested by One Voice into the quality of this meat in supermarkets have proven the presence of heavy metals in quantities higher than normal. This rate is due to pollution of the food chain, making the meat unfit for consumption.
Species threatened with extinction
Even if most species are not under threat today, they still run the risk if these practices continue. However, it is extremely difficult to find out the official figure for the number taken while the trade in dolphins, either alive or dead, represents a major commercial interest for countries which fish for them. It’s in their interest to stay quiet…
An alternative for fishermen
Stopping the massacres does not mean depriving fishermen of employment. Thanks to their experience, they have amassed immense knowledge over several generations and know where to find them and how to approach them. As elsewhere, where former hunters become eco-guards or tourist guides they can put their knowledge to work to take tourists to sea one of the finest spectacles on Earth: dolphins at liberty…
At 30 000 dollars for a live dolphin, this is a lucrative trade that over the years has legitimised the massacre of thousands of cetaceans.
