International Groups Commend Action By Marine Mammal Scientific
Community To Speak Out Against Dolphin Drive Hunts
WASHINGTON, DC (July 19, 2006) - The Whale
and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS) and Humane Society International,
the international arm of The Humane Society of the United States,
applaud the recent call for action by the marine mammal scientific
community against the violent dolphin drive hunts in Japan. Also
known as the ‘drive fishery’, these hunts involve the corralling
of hundreds of dolphins into a harbor where they are systematically
slaughtered with knives. Others are captured alive only to be held
in aquariums in countries such as Japan, China, Taiwan and the Philippines.
In a statement
signed by over 220 marine mammal scientists, conservation biologists
and veterinarians, the international scientific community denounces
the brutal treatment and unsustainable slaughter of these highly-intelligent
and self-aware animals that possess complex social lives. The statement
also condemns the sourcing of dolphins from these hunts for any
purpose, including human consumption, fertilizer, pet food or public
display in marine parks and aquariums.
The drive hunt season occurs September through April in a few villages
southwest of Tokyo in Wakayama and Shizuoka prefectures, and results
in the death of up to 2,000 small whales and dolphins each year.
“This call to action from the scientific community is more than
a symbolic gesture; it serves as a wake-up call to Japan and reveals
the seriousness of this issue,” said Courtney S. Vail, North American
Campaigns Officer for WDCS. “The treatment of dolphins in these
hunts tests our humanity, and our collective failure to act to end
this brutality is moral negligence.”
This is the first time the marine mammal scientific community has
come together in a concerted voice to call for an end to these inhumane
hunts, citing these killing and capture techniques, and any association
with them, as a cruel violation of basic animal welfare standards
and professional ethics.
“The involvement of the scientific community clarifies that this
is not about cultural differences and this is not about emotion,”
said Naomi Rose, marine mammal scientist for HSI. “This is about
the basic biology of these intelligent animals and their capacity
to suffer. Pain and distress are measurable – and hunting these
animals in this manner causes pain and suffering that is simply
off the scale.”
Members of the U.S. Congress have also taken a stand against drive
hunts, and several zoo and aquarium associations are beginning to
take definitive action against member institutions that continue
to source live animals from these hunts.
WDCS recently released a new report detailing the dolphin drive
hunts in Japan, and the current involvement of the aquarium industry
in sourcing live dolphins from these hunts. This report, entitled
Driven
by Demand, is available along with video footage at http://whales.org/drivenBydemandVideo.asp
Other information about the dolphin drive hunts can be found at
www.hsus.org
and at www.wdcs.org.
Contact: Courtney S. Vail, WDCS, 480-678-7977
Naomi Rose, HSI, 301-258-304
• The WDCS report, Driven by Demand, was launched in the US on 13th
April 2006, and is a comprehensive report on the drive hunts carried
out in Japan and the involvement of the captivity industry. For
a copy, please contact Courtney Vail (contact details above), or
download a copy at http://whales.org/pdf/DriveHunt_final.pdf
• Currently, over 20,000 dolphins, porpoises and small whales are
killed annually along the coastlines of Japan in drive hunts, hand-held
harpoon and cross bow hunts, and in so-called “small type coastal
whaling”, where harpoons are fired from a boat’s bow. Up to 2,000
a year are killed in drive hunts alone.
• The drive hunt season occurs September through April in a few
villages southwest of Tokyo in Taiji in Wakayama Prefecture and
Futo in Shizuoka Prefecture.
• Figures on the amounts of money paid for the purchase of dolphins
captured in the hunts are difficult to verify but reports suggest
the dolphins captured in a 2004 hunt at Futo were purchased by aquaria
for between US $3,300 and US $3,500 each. These figures are said
to be much lower than those at Taiji where the Fishing Cooperative
has reportedly sold dolphins to aquaria for around US $6,200. Prices
paid for dolphins by the aquarium industry in other parts of the
world are much higher, with figures of over US $100,000 commonly
quoted. Dolphins captured in the drive hunts fetch much higher prices
once they are trained and reports suggest a figure of US$375,000
was paid for the recent sale of eight already-captive dolphins to
China. Figures from 1999 suggest dead dolphins were selling for
around US$400.
• Between 2000 and 2004, over 6,000 dolphins and small whales were
killed in drive hunts in Japan. In addition, in this same time period,
nearly 250 dolphins were taken alive from the hunts.
• There are no restrictions on the killing methods used in these
hunts, and Japan’s Fisheries Agency only advises fishermen to reduce
the time to death of the animals by cutting the spinal cord instead
of the throat.
• Dolphins captured in drive hunts are currently held in aquariums
in several countries, including Japan, China, Taiwan and the Philippines.
• The stress suffered during capture and the selection process is
likely to compromise the survival of any dolphins released from
the hunt. Removing dolphins from the wild does more than harm the
individual captured. It can threaten dolphin populations and the
marine ecosystem. The capture of even a few animals can result in
the death or injury of many more dolphins and may dramatically disrupt
the social bonds of the animals released alive. In addition, it
negatively impacts already depleted dolphin populations by removing
breeding or otherwise important members from the group.
• Dolphins live in close, strongly-bonded family groups. During
the killing and selection of dolphins, individual animals may be
swimming in the blood of other dolphins from the family group, hearing
and seeing their distress as they are killed. Scientific research
has revealed that dolphins are self-aware and cognitive beings.
WDCS believes that dolphins may be aware of what is happening to
them and other dolphins during the process and suffer extreme fear
and distress as a result.
• In October 2005, the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums issued
a statement to its members noting that “the catching of dolphins
by the use of a method known as ‘drive fishing’ is considered a
non-acceptable capture method.” It is hoped that this statement
will be used to impose sanctions against any WAZA members that knowingly
procure dolphins from the drive hunts.
• For decades, Japanese government toxicologists have known that
cetaceans, particularly those in coastal waters, accumulate high
levels of toxins, including heavy metals such as mercury, and organic
compounds such as DDT and PCBs. Japan’s Ministry of Health and Welfare
conducted its own tests on whale and dolphin meat and the results
published in 2002 identified dangerous levels of mercury and other
toxins. However, since 2000, the government has actually increased
the amount of whale meat entering the market place, promoted its
consumption, and even subsidized its sale to school lunch programs.
• The hunts are contrary to the recommendations of the International
Whaling Commission and its Scientific Committee. The IWC has passed
several resolutions expressing its concern over the directed and
continuing take of depleted striped dolphins in the drive fisheries,
and has issued these concerns since the 1970s when it first noted
the overexploitation of this species in the coastal waters of Japan.
