Dolphin massacre turns sea blood red!

Matt Rogers · Oct 29, 2003

Dolphin massacre turns sea blood red

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_833468.html

Animal activists have released a video of Japanese fisherman hacking to death dolphins they had trapped at a small port.

An American anti-whaling group trying to stop the massacre took footage of the recent hunt that shows blood-filled coves and several dead dolphins being brought ashore in boats.

The tape, shot by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, graphically captures the end of a hunt, in which fishermen pound on the water, causing waves that confuse the mammals' sense of direction, and then corral dolphins into small coves where they can be more easily killed with sickles.

Though subject to government-set quotas, the hunts are not banned under Japanese law and are not subject to international regulations because they are done near the shore.

Several dead or dying dolphins can be seen on the boats, bleeding profusely, in the footage. Activist Nik Hensey said: "It's a wholesale slaughter, which results in immense suffering for these animals. It's a sight that one just can't imagine."

The mayor and officials in Taiji refused to comment, but a fisherman's union representative said the kills are conducted as humanely as possible and pointed out the hunts have been part of local culture for 400 years. Hunting dolphins is not banned by the International Whaling Commission.

Fishermen in Taiji regularly conduct dolphin hunts during the October to April season. They have caught more than 60 striped dolphins so far this year under the government quota system. The meat is usually canned and sold in supermarkets.

But because of international pressure for an end to the killing of dolphins and the bloodiness of their hunting method, fishermen here have tried to keep out of the public eye. They do not permit videos of their hunts, refuse on-the-record interviews and have put barriers along the shoreline to discourage cameramen.

The Sea Shepherd activists said they managed to get the video by camping out in the town for several weeks. Three activists from the California-based conservation group were briefly detained by Japanese police after trying to stop a dolphin hunt and scuffling with a fisherman earlier this month.

The activists - a Briton, a Canadian and an American all in their 20s - were held for about nine hours of questioning before being released. They weren't charged with any crimes. Japan is one of the few major fishing nations that continues to support the hunting of whales and dolphins.

karlas · Oct 30, 2003

looking at that water is scary. killing dolphins i dont agree with but for the water to be that red that had to be a school of them. :'( >

cmontana · Nov 28, 2003

What are they killed for anyway? Meat? Dolphin meat contains mercury concentrations from 10 to 500 times more per serving than the recommended human consumption levels. It's bad enough that we have to slowly poison those creatures by treating their habitat as a "universal sewer".

In the words of the great Zen master: "Human beings, #1 bad animal!" [smiley=beadyeyes2.gif]

Matt Rogers · Nov 29, 2003

[quote author=cmontana link=board=Evironmental;num=1067461134;start=0#2 date=11/28/03 at 13:11:05]What are they killed for anyway? Meat? Dolphin meat contains mercury concentrations from 10 to 500 times more per serving than the recommended human consumption levels[/quote]
[smiley=thinking2.gif]

hmmm... I don't know!

reiple · Nov 29, 2003

This has been going on for a long time!

Let me share a story about these animals.

In the early 80's a small passgenger ship the Don Juan collided with a tanker immediately sending water into the middle decks and sent the ship down (fully loaded) in less than an hour. this occured in the evening.

by midnight survivors clinging to their life vest and dead people were drifting in the middle of the sea. Rescuers came dawn the next day. A small group huddled together noticed small bites being made by what seemed to be sharks and slowly, one by one floating bodies of dead people were pulled down. children began screaming and even adults were crying and huddled together.
Out of nowhere one passenger screamed as she saw hundreds of "jumping sharks" coming onward (the full moon allowed them to view the ocean well). A fisherman shouted to calm them that it is not shark but "lumba-lumba" or what locals call spinner dolphins. the dolphins pushed and drove the sharks away and surrounded the remaining survivors until day break when rescuers came.

Seeing them dead that manner in that picture made it very hard to not be emotional.

Matt Rogers · Nov 29, 2003

[quote author=reiple link=board=Evironmental;num=1067461134;start=0#4 date=11/29/03 at 10:13:22] the dolphins pushed and drove the sharks away and surrounded the remaining survivors until day break when rescuers came.[/quote]

Wow. What a story Reiple. Thanks for sharing.

I did some digging, this is what I found:

Although dolphin meat is primarily used in fertilizer in Japan, it is still canned and sometimes used in stews.

Roy noted the expeditions frequently capture some live dolphins as well.

"They'll sell a few off to the aquariums," she said. "It's very profitable to sell dolphins. The captivity industry has a role in perpetuating this slaughter."
....
Perry watched a dolphin hunt three years ago and wrote that around 12 fishing boats will encircle a pod of dolphins. The fishermen hammer on their boats to scare the dolphins into a bay, where they seal off the entrance with nets and leave the dolphins to go hungry for a night or two. They then slash the dolphins' throats.

According to The Japan Times, fishermen may also drive the dolphins onto the beach and stab them in the brain.

Roy said that hunting and eating dolphins is primarily limited to small villages, in a tradition that dates back hundreds of years.

"There's a cultural issue of Americans telling Japanese what to do," Roy said about the protest. Still, she said, people should know how dolphin meat "gets to the shelves."

"Because something's a tradition, doesn't mean it has to continue," she said. "Slavery was a tradition."

Matsumoto, from the consulate, has never eaten dolphin meat. He said this is the case with many Japanese.

"That is very rare," he said. "Most Japanese have never eaten it. I'm very confident in that. Basically, most of the Japanese people don't know about dolphin hunting. Most people are not aware such activity exists."

The Times of London reported that dolphin meat is primarily turned into fertilizer or pet food and demand for the canned meat has been in decline.
Click to expand...

http://journalism.berkeley.edu/ngno/stories/001436.html

Whale and Dolphin Meat contain Dangerous Levels of Toxins
and is Unsafe for Human Consumption
Courtesy of BlueVoice.org

World Fisheries Imperiled by Pollution of Ocean Environment

Those who consume whale and dolphin meat are not only perpetrating a crime against some of the most magnificent animals on earth, they are eating a deadly diet. Whale and dolphin meat consumed in Norway and Japan may contain some of the world's most dangerous toxins.

A recent analysis of whale meat samples purchased in Norwegian and Japanese markets turned up dangerous levels of PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), including some chemicals that act as estrogen imitators, elevating estrogen levels in women, "feminizing" men and lowering sperm counts.

Long-term exposure to these chemicals has been shown to increase susceptibility to cancer, affect the immune system, and cause neurological damage.

Studies in high regarded medical journals have reported new contaminants data from whale meat sampled in Japan including mercury some 1,600 times above the government permitted level as well as large amounts of organic mercury and cadmium in whale meat that is sold in fish markets and whale sushi bars.

Dr. Roger Payne, one of the world's most respected whale scientists and an authority on PCBs and other toxic substances said the problem of contamination of the marine environment extends far beyond whales. "We are destroying ocean fisheries by contaminating them with heavy metals and chemical pollutants. In the next few years we could lose access to many ocean fisheries; several species are already well on the way to becoming too polluted to eat. I am amazed by how few people recognize the seriousness of this issue."

Dolphins off Orange County, California are among the most polluted in the world.

Dolphins and whales killed and sold for food in Japan have levels of mercury and organ chlorines which are hundreds of times higher than what is considered safe for human consumption. Not only are Japanese marketers of this meat conducting a slaughter that is appalling to the majority of humanity, they are poisoning their own people as well.
Click to expand...

http://www.outdoorjapan.com/features/ojfeature-bluevoice-toxins-1.html

>>>>End Dolphin Slaughtering in Japan Petition <<<< Click to sign.

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