The dolphin drive hunt in Taiji, Japan, takes place every year from September to April. According to the Japanese Fisheries Research Agency, 1,623 dolphins were caught in Wakayama Prefecture in 2007 for human consumption or resale to dolphinariums, and most of these were caught at Taiji.^[1] The annual dolphin hunting provides income for local residents, but has received international criticism for both the alleged cruelty of the dolphin killing and the high mercury levels of the dolphin meat.^[2]

History

Residents of Taiji have been refining whaling techniques and have had significant whaling operations since the early 17th century,^[3] and became known as a center for whaling in 1675.^[4] Hunting of dolphins for commercial purposes in Taiji still continues. In 2008, 1,484 dolphins and whales were caught, while fisherman planned to catch around 2,400 in 2009.^[5]　Some of the dolphins are sold to aquatic parks, instead of slaughtered, and Ted Hammond is one of the main brokers for Taiji.

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 level of mercury in their hair.^[6] Research done by the National Institute for Minamata Disease (NIMD) in 2008 tested mercury levels in 7 pieces of whale meat (2 were pieces from Taiji) and one bag of mixed whale innards from Taiji. Their results showed that the meat from Taiji had over 13ppm of mercury; over 65% of which was methyl mercury. The whale innards (which are also consumed in the town) had a high concentration of mercury caused mostly by inorganic mercury.^[7] Whale meat contaminated with mercury is commonly eaten in the town, and residents have been found to have 10 times the level of mercury in their hair when compared to average Japanese citizens.^[8] 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.^[9]

2008 AERA article and research

In June 2008, AERA, a Japanese weekly journal, reported that the whale and dolphin meat sold in Taiji contained 160 times higher level of mercury and hairs of 8 men and women had 40 times higher, 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, and explained it in detail to avoid misrepresentation of the research. It has 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 in monitoring the health of Taiji residents.^[10] The NIMD has checked more than 1,000 Taiji residents since last year. No sign of Minamata disease (mercury poisoning) has been reported but, some of the residents were found to have high levels of mercury in their hair. The collection of data will be finished by the end of March 2010.^[11]

2010 mercury testing

In 2010, hair samples from 1,137 Taiji residents were tested for mercury by the National Institute for Minimata Disease. The average amount of methyl mercury found in the hair samples was 11.0 parts per million for men and 6.63 ppm for women, compared with an average of 2.47 ppm for men and 1.64 ppm for women in tests conducted in 14 other locations in Japan. 182 Taiji residents showing extremely high mercury levels underwent further medical testing to check for symptoms of mercury poisoning. None of the Taiji residents, however, displayed any of the traditional symptoms of mercury poisoning, according to the Institute.^[12][13] Japan's National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, however, reports 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.^[14]

Environmentalist 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.

Other celebrities have protested the dolphin killings as well. On November 1, 2007, Hayden Panettiere claimed that she was confronted by Japanese fishermen, as she and several other activists were interfering with their annual hunt by attempting "to rescue a pool of dolphins captured in fishing nets."^[15] She drove straight to an airport with her fellow activists and left the country "to avoid being arrested for trespassing by the Japanese police". An officer of the Taiji Fishery Union contradicts such claims, and pointed out "On the 29th a whaling ship which had been fishing in nearby waters returned to port (so there was enough whale meat). We do not want to extinguish whales because we understand that overfishing leads to self-destruction. The activists came into sea again when we were trying to drive small pilot whales off the coast." "[We tried to let the activists go ashore, as the whales might run wild when drove away. But the activists do not understand our language. So we tried to push them away with a stick we use for hunting."^[16] The video footage published on Sea Shepherd website shows that the incident took place well after the cull, and also shows a fisherman driving the whales off the coast.^[17] The Whaling Industry in Japan claim this kind of act to be an attack on their culture.^[18]

Activists report that they have been harassed and threatened when trying to document the hunts by local supporters of the dolphin fishermen. Although the killing cove is adjacent to Yoshino Kumano Kokuritsu Koen, a public park, the park is often sealed to visitors by the police during the hunts.^[19]

Documentaries

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.^[20] When the film won an Oscar, the mayor of Taiji and the chief of the Taiji Fishery Union said, "Dolphin and whale hunting in Taiji is not an illegal act, [it is] in compliance with the Fisheries Act and under Wakayama Prefecture's approval."^[21] Taiji town officials have also contested some of the scientific evidence presented by the film.

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. Also, the town set up a police box staffed with 10 policemen near the cove to prevent conflict between the protesters and the fishermen.^[22][23]

See also

• Dolphin meat in Japanese cuisine

References