One year after 'Cove' Oscar, activists shift tactics

As with other mammal hunting and even most fishing, Japan should establish size limits in addition to number limits for taking of dolphins. No young should be taken. And drive kills should be prohibited as cruel. Sea Shepherd video taken this year shows the claim that current killing techniques are nearly instantaneous is a lie.

Japan should prohibit the capture of wild dolphin. They should follow the trend of most of the developed nations of only allowing captively bred dolphins to fulfill the needs of the industry. Although I am against dolphin captivity except for rehabilitation, I think this would be a reasonable step in the right direction.

Nearly half of all wild dolphin captured die in their first year in captivity and those that survive last only 8 years on average. There is no need to capture wild dolphins for the dolphinariums. Ther is sufficient captive breeding stock.

As was said why truly is Taiji singled out when they only catch about 10% annual quota. Stop Taiji and other villages will pick up the slack and start drive-fishing again, too lucrative not to.

Very good and well written article that covers all sides and gives a lot more background info than most articles about this issue.

Zenny11; it is mostly about the method of killing, not the amount.

stevecpfc.

I don't know how the other 90% are being killed. Anyone got any info?

Traditions are not always good and as we move on so some traditions that fall by the wayside. BTW, there has never been a tradition of selling to aquariums and such like.

"...unwanted foreign pressure on their traditions,..."

"With Taiji’s fishermen unlikely to bend to foreign pressure..."

So himehentai: How do you respond when the "foreign pressure" becomes domestic Japanese pressure? Keep blaming foreigners?

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paulinusa - 1 hairdresser hardly equates "domestic Japanese pressure."

the only reason Taiji is in the thick of all this is NOT because they are hunting & killing dolphins, its because of the inhumane brutally savage way they go about it, change that aspect & the world wud soon forget Taiji, pretty simple really

I think that as long as the village believes that this is culturally important to them they will not give it up without a fight. No matter what people say to them and it will only stop when the gov. steps in creates a law that outlaws this practice.

I am talking about the killing of dolphins not the selling part. If this creates such a problem then they should lower the number of dolphins killed to a some what reasonable level. 2000 sounds kind of much, don't you think?

Taiji is the last village in Japan to use drive killing. It is hardly cultural when: a) it relies on power boats and b) so few people do it. Dolphin capture is not traditional either. It is a new phenomenon.

Dalton was not referring to drive kills, he was referring to dolphinariums. If Taiji were so proud of drive kills why do they go to great lengths to conceal it and lie about how humane it is?

This myth of "it's our culture" needs stamping on. If it's your culture, don't do it in secret. Sell tickets, so we can all ooh and aah about how ancient and unique you are, the way you like it. Oh goodness me, your leaves change colour in Autumn - how wise you must be. Why fan my brow, you scare hundreds of magnificent animals over a period of hours before brutally slashing them to death and letting them wallow in a sea of their own blood - what a barbarian I am for failing to appreciate it.

As was said why truly is Taiji singled out when they only catch about 10% annual quota. Stop Taiji and other villages will pick up the slack and start drive-fishing again, too lucrative not to.

Good point, I doubt most of the villagers support dolphin-hunting anyway.

If it's your culture, don't do it in secret. Sell tickets, so we can all ooh and aah about how ancient and unique you are, the way you like it.

Yeah, you do that =/

"I’ve come to realize, you can’t show up with a big stick and tell them what to do,” said Ric "

what an arrogant ....

Dolphin capture is not traditional either. It is a new phenomenon.

Are you saying they weren't catching dolphins and selling them to overseas aquariums in the 1500's and 1600's? But they must have been! It's their tradition, after all!

On a more serious note, if they make so much money from the live dolphins and so little from the meat, then why don't they just herd them into the shore like they do now, sell the ones the aquariums want, and let the rest go. That way, they get the money, they keep their "tradition" of the hunt, the aquariums get the dolphins, and there's no slaughter. Surely that would be a solution that would satisfy most people.

sell the ones the aquariums want, and let the rest go. That way, they get the money, they keep their "tradition" of the hunt, the aquariums get the dolphins, and there's no slaughter. Surely that would be a solution that would satisfy most people.

It wouldn't satisfy the people who want to see an end to dolphin slavery in shows (O'Barry changed his mind about captive dolphins when one committed suicide in front of him), or the people who want to kill dolphins regardless - last year O'Barry offered to pay the village not to kill the dolphins and was told the villagers wanted to kill them regardless because they were 'pests'.

zenny11

Taiji was singled out because they're the only ones in Japan who do drive kills. I don't agree that other villages would do it if Taiji quit. If others viewed it as a positive thing and a money maker,they would have already set themselves up to compete with Taiji.

“I’m trying to get a grass-roots movement going in Japan. I’ve come to realize, you can’t show up with a big stick and tell them what to do,” said Ric O’Barry,

-“A lot of foreigners are helping us, but if we don’t do something on our own, this problem won’t be resolved,” said Yoshiko Wada, 33, a hairdresser who has visited the town six times.

--“If we can’t shut down aquariums in our own countries, how do you go to the Japanese and ask them to do that here?” said Michael Dalton,

So you have a handfull of out-of-work, Hollyweird types, who are hoping to remain in the public eye by invading and harrassing workers in another country. And a hairdresser.

Even O'Barry has finally realized that NO countries citizens want to be harrassed into doing the bidding of foreigners. I suppose it's only a matter of time before the glass bottles of buteric acid start to be thrown at the fishermen. Their nets and equipment has already been sabotaged.

the hunts generate far more money from selling live animals. Bottlenose dolphins sold for meat typically go for several hundred dollars, while prime live animals sell for about $10,000 domestically and much more abroad. In the year ending in March 2010, 79 dolphins were exported from Japan for 277 million yen ($3.38 million), the government says.

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the fishermen of Taiji are not very good in math. Dead ones go for a few hundreds, live ones fetch thousands. Helloooooooooooo, capture them alive, sell at higher price, use the extra proceeds to buy better seafoods ( or even Kober beef !! ) for the village. Everyone happy, how hard is that ??

Arrestpaul,

While there may only be a handful of VOCAL Japanese against the drive kills, there are only two dozen fishermen in the WHOLE country doing it. Doesn't seem worth the bad will. If they are so proud of it, why do they hide it under tarps and blocking access to public areas?

Shrkb8 - While there may only be a handful of VOCAL Japanese against the drive kills, there are only two dozen fishermen in the WHOLE country doing it. Doesn't seem worth the bad will. If they are so proud of it, why do they hide it under tarps and blocking access to public areas?

Probably to protect themselves from any objects that might be thrown at them.

Unwanted foreign pressure is still unwanted foreign pressure. I'm sure that the hairdresser and the smattering of foreign protesters will try their best to force the fishermen to bow down to their animal-rights beliefs.

Some points...

Judging by videos and comments I've seen of her, and her exceptionally rude use of the Japanese language, Yoshiko Wada is probably not a Japanese citizen. Or at least did not grow up in Japan.

This 2010/11 season was actually the first time live capture sales exceeded meat sales. Attributing the entire $3mil captive industry to Taiji is extremely misleading when aquariums often do their own business, including "rescues" that can be sold to -- say -- the Vancouver Aquarium which Sea Shepherd regularly hold fundraisers.

So Ric is going to try a "grassroots" movement AFTER demonizing the entire country, not just the city of Taiji, and pulling that stunt in the November meeting to get more media attention for himself ??? Hmmm, yea, I don't think that'll get much traction.

"elaborate tarp structures" ... reads like the author is desperate to make it sound much more than just tarps.

So far the biggest showing of Japanese anti-whalers was 5 girls that showed up in January. It's funny seeing how the press attempts to make 5 ants, not even enough for an ant hill, into a mountain.

If they only sold 79 why don't the make the quota something like 100....instead of 20,000. It is all about GREED. Nothing more or less.

Dalton was not referring to drive kills, he was referring to dolphinariums. If Taiji were so proud of drive kills why do they go to great lengths to conceal it and lie about how humane it is?

Because idiots like the SS and their moronic followers go and harrass them.

Mr.Dog,

sea Shepherd, Eyes on Taiji, and Taiji Action Group have abided by all Japanese laws. How can they harass? All they do is show the world what is happening. If the 24 Taiji fishermen were proud of their trade, no tarps would be necessary.

"I’ve come to realize, you can’t show up with a big stick and tell them what to do,” said Ric "

The only thing that I can say to that is a quote from C.S. Lewis:

Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. — C.S. Lewis

@scotch 17

"AFTER demonizing the entire country"

can't let this one by without a challenge, please post a comment by O'Barry that "demonizes" the whole country. Mr. O'Barry has been very clear that this campaign is not against the Japanese people as a whole, but the 26 fisherman engaged in the drive hunts.

"One of the things I have emphasized in our campaign to Save Japan Dolphins is that the killing of dolphins is done by a small minority of the Japanese people – certainly fewer than a thousand fishermen and others throughout Japan are engaged in some way in killing, butchering and selling dolphins and whales.

I think it is wrong, as some organizations have done, to call for a boycott of Japan because of the kills. The Japanese people are not at fault."

from O'Barry's blog

also from the Save Japan Dolphins blog

"I really love the country of Japan and the Japanese people. My horror and staunch opposition to hunting dolphins has nothing to do with the vast majority of the Japanese people, most of who still do not know that dolphins are killed in the most savage manner possible. They are told lies by their government, and do not have the resources we do in the US to counter those lies.

Our approach, fierce advocates of the dolphins and friends of the Japanese people, is gaining momentum and much attention, especially in Japanese business and government circles where it really counts. The Japan Fisheries Agency, which generates propaganda demonizing opponents, can’t find a way to demonize me and our Save Japan Dolphins Campaign."

Many years ago the whole western world boycotted cans of tuna that was fished using nets that killed dolphins. Let alone the deliberate mass slaughter of dolphins. The water theme parks should buy their dolphins from people that don't also slaughter them en-mass. People go to watch dolphins perform because they love them. The customers are no informed. I think the theme parks will see the backlash.

The customers are now informed.

kobekid - I agree he is not demonizing the whole country directly, but he is indirectly.

Unfortunately the very vast majority of people who follow this story will NOT take the time to read O'Barrys blog, they will NOT take the time to find out that is is ONLY 26 men doing this. They see this story, and think "Bad Japanese" who eat eat cute little whales and dolphins regardless of whether thats the case or not.

I cant blame the fishermen for using tarps either. They have to be secretive now, although what they are doing is perfectly legal, and in their own countries water.

I still think "when in Rome do as the Romans do." Leave the people of Taiji alone. Just because you think what they are doing is wrong, doesn't mean it is.

Unfortunately the very vast majority of people who follow this story will NOT take the time to read O'Barrys blog, they will NOT take the time to find out that is is ONLY 26 men doing this. They see this story, and think "Bad Japanese"

Following that logic no newspaper could ever report on anything that included a placename since 'the very vast majority' of people are too dim or ignorant to read two sentences in succession and so any report on anything at all would 'indirectly' demonize all the people of that country. Personally I don't think the majority of people who make the effort to read this or any other story are in fact that dim. Some are, of course - witness the 2ch outpourings over virtually anything - but most people have a few more brain cells than that. Assuming that they aren't addled with mercury poisoning, of course.

Just because you think what they are doing is wrong, doesn't mean it is.

Neither is something right just because people do it and claim it's 'culture'.

I don't think thats a very logical conclusion Cleo. Im not saying people are stupid, or dim, or unable to "read two sentences in succession," Im just saying that many people do not research what the media suggests. People will often base their opinion on a topic like this based exclusively on what they read in the newspaper. They are often too busy with their daily lives to fact check EVERY article they read in the paper or see on tv.

However with this issue (generally because most western countries don't eat dolphin) their is an automatic bias. And Japan are portrayed as cruel for this issue. In this sense, I think Japan are being bullied and very badly stereotyped.

"Just because you think what they are doing is wrong, doesn't mean it is."

Neither is something right just because people do it and claim it's 'culture'.>

Following THAT logic we could go through the whole world, and strip every country of its "cultural" norms and identity, just because a few people (from another country) have an objection?

himehentai...its not a few people. Its everyone.

himehentai....it is also the government, that the majority of Japanese elect, that issue the license for 20,000 dolphins to be killed. So the majority of Japanese people are responsible.