The dolphin drive hunt season is more than half-way through in Japan. This hunt season has been one of the bloodiest on record, commencing a month early in Taiji, and resulting in the slaughter of hundreds of small whales and dolphins. Extending from September to April every year, the dolphin drive hunts are conducted in a few small coastal towns in Japan, currently in Taiji and Futo, both southwest of Tokyo. Over 2,000 small whales and dolphins are taken in these cruel hunts that cause extreme suffering to entire pods of dolphins that are corralled into shore and butchered for meat, or taken alive for the aquarium industry. WDCS is calling for an end these cruel hunts.

Courtney Vail of WDCS was on the ground in Taiji in mid-November to document these hunts, along with Bluevoice.org filmmaker Hardy Jones and Japanese conservationist Sakae Hemmi of Elsa Nature Conservancy. Since November, additional hunts have occurred with important developments that may impact on the future of the hunts.

Information provided by Elsa Nature Conservancy confirms that the Taiji fishing cooperative/Isana Union is seeking a quota for Pacific white-sided dolphins, a species not included in the annual quota that currently includes Risso’s, bottlenose, striped and spotted dolphins, as well as pilot and false killer whales. It is not clear whether these quotas have been requested by fishermen in the face of declining numbers of other species, such as bottlenose and striped dolphins, or whether it is a new demand from the aquarium industry in Japan that is seeking the quota to meet the growing interest from facilities in Japan in holding Pacific white-sided dolphins in captivity for public display and entertainment.

Fresh piles of pilot whale meat lay ready for market from a drive hunt in November.

Furthermore, there are reports that dolphins from the Taiji drive hunts are awaiting shipment to the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean, as well as destinations in Guangzho, China. The Ocean World Adventure Park in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, is reportedly set to receive 12 dolphins, believed to have been captured in Taiji this season, from the Taiji Whale Museum before March. This confirms the threat posed by international demand for live dolphins captured in these brutal hunts. To our knowledge, this would be the first time that dolphins acquired in the drive hunts will have been exported to the Caribbean. WDCS is gravely concerned about this significant development and asks for your help in stopping the export from going ahead. Please click here to respond to our action alert.

After being rounded-up and held for one night in the killing cove, these pilot whales were dispatched for market the next morning.

In a positive turn, and through the persistent efforts of on-the-ground campaigners and investigative reporters in Taiji, local supermarkets in Taiji and surrounding townships of Katsuura and Shinghu, owned by the Okuwa Supermarket Corporation, have permanently banned the sale of dolphin meat in their stores after being presented with samples of striped dolphin meat that contained dangerous levels of mercury far-exceeding government standards. WDCS hopes that this new development will stem the demand for dolphin meat, and encourage other supermarket chains in Japan to eliminate dolphin meat from their shelves.

WDCS continues its efforts to encourage the aquarium industry to end their association with the brutal dolphin drive hunts in Japan, develop educational initiatives and initiate connections with Japanese legislators through US congressional leadership. Future updates will be posted as our work in Japan continues.

Source: WDCS