A new feature from VICE spotlighting Taiji’s global dolphin trade has just been released. The film includes exclusive drone footage, interviews with local citizens and with Japanese activists including Ren Yabuki, the director of Life Investigation Agency: https://t.co/fZh0rO3Nflpic.twitter.com/OJ4RjplRPG
In week 21 of Taiji's dolphin hunting season, dolphins were both captured and slaughtered. Let's continue to take action every day until the cove is always blue and every tank is empty. Find calls to action at: https://t.co/BkupXmhEip#DolphinProjectpic.twitter.com/dERylsUfXc
Footage from yesterday (Jan. 14, 2021) when a pod of striped dolphins was driven into the cove. In panic, several dolphins crashed into the rocks, turning water red as they were injured and bled. Take action: https://t.co/BkupXmhEip Coverage in collab with Dolphin Project & LIA pic.twitter.com/WdVvUIJhCp
Are whales an acceptable by-catch for Japan’s set net fishery?
TAIJI: Just one day after the slaughter of a minke whale, yet another whale has fallen victim to Taiji’s fishing nets.
On January 13, Ren Yabuki, Campaign Director of Life Investigation Agency, in collaboration with Dolphin Project, while documenting Taiji’s drive hunts, spotted a humpback whale entangled in the Taiji Fishermen’s Association fishing nets. Shortly thereafter, the association removed the dead whale from the outside of the nets, dragging it back to sea.
Humpback whale dies after ramming Taiji’s set nets, Taiji, Japan. Credit: LIA/Dolphin Project
This is the third time a whale has been caught in the fishing “set net” system. On November 29, a humpback whale was trapped in the nets and released one day later. On December 24, a minke whale was caught in these same nets, and after 20 days of struggle, was slaughtered by drowning by the fishermen’s association. In this latest incident, a humpback whale died after becoming entangled in the nets.
Says Ren, “Three whales caught in Taiji’s set nets within a span of six weeks shows how harmful these nets are to the ecosystem.”
These offshore nets are in place year-round just outside the Taiji harbor, adjacent to the infamous Cove. Whale entanglement in set nets occurs not only in Taiji, but throughout Japan and is a common occurrence. Several different species of fish are caught within the nets; sometimes dolphins and other whales become trapped in them, unable to escape.
Humpback whale dragged back out to sea after dying in Taiji’s fishing nets, Taiji, Japan. Credit: LIA/Dolphin Project
Says Tim Burns, Dolphin Project Cove Monitor, “This isn’t the first time we have seen whales entangled in the sets nets off Taiji, but the number of incidences involving non-targeted species has become alarming.”
Featured image: Humpback whale dies after becoming entangled in Taiji’s set nets, Taiji, Japan. Credit: Life Investigation Agency/Dolphin Project
From Life Investigation Agency (LIA): Graphic footage taken yesterday, showing the set net fishermen drowning the minke whale that had been trapped in their net for over 2 weeks. Full video and report at: https://t.co/rjPf5fRGrIpic.twitter.com/FEsLmwmra5
Taiji: The hunting boats have returned to the harbor empty handed. Although wild dolphins are safe today, LIA has confirmed that the minke whale that was trapped in the set nets was killed this morning. More info to follow. Jan. 11, 2021 Coverage: #LifeInvestigationAgency (LIA) pic.twitter.com/tDwYf74ewu
The captivity industry offers the primary economic motive for Taiji's dolphin hunts. This reinforces the idea that the hunts are tied to the captivity industry, and the desire for captive dolphins fuels the continuation of brutal captures: https://t.co/Yz9J9N7Xcr#DolphinProjectpic.twitter.com/uEpvfO2xTe
dolphinproject.com
Posts by : Cara Sands
March 20,2018
Blog, Campaigns, Captivity Industry
Dolphins caught in Taiji Japan’s notorious drive hunts will no longer be welcome in South Korea. Today, the Ministry of Environment announced a revised bill on the Protection and Management of Wildlife, banning all imports of dolphins captured in such a brutal manner.
Imports will also be restricted if the mammals are captured in areas where wild populations are either unclear, or are in decline.
How did a centuries-old relationship between man and dolphin become so corrupt?
In Taiji, dolphins are chased, then driven into the cove for the purposes of capture or slaughter. The hunts are relentless, with countless mammals dying during the drives themselves. Dolphins are listed in Appendix II of CITES – the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora – meaning they may not be threatened with extinction today, but may become so unless trade is closely controlled.
Footage of two dolphins arriving to Ulsan Aquarium in South Korea from Taiji, Japan
Credit: Hwang HyunJin
Dolphin Project has supported our South Korean friends and colleagues for many years in their efforts to ban dolphin imports from Taiji. We extend a warm “congratulations” to Hot Pink Dolphins, Korean Animal Welfare Association and Korean Federation for Environmental Movement of Ulsan on their success.
Hot Pink Dolphins at The Cove with Ric O’Barry. Taiji, Japan.
By Lauren Lewis –
March 3, 2018
Photos from Dolphin Project
Another horrific dolphin hunting season came to an end yesterday but sadly, plans are already underway for the 2018/19 season.
This season some progress has been made with 109 dolphins taken captive compared to the 235 dolphins that were captured during the 2016/17 season. That is still 109 dolphins too many!
According to documentation collected by Dolphin Project Cove Monitors, a total of 722 dolphins across seven species were taken captive and or slaughtered through the years. This figure does not include the untold numbers that die during the drives themselves. Often, the very sick, the young or injured are unable to keep up as the pod is being brutalized, thus, their numbers are never recorded.
“Tarps and their framework that dolphins are dragged under to be killed or taken captive have come down. At the butcher’s house, rolled up tarps have been stored. Banger poles used to “drive” the dolphins into the cove have been removed,” noted a statement yesterday by Ric O’Barry’s Dolphin Project. “For six months, dolphins were subjected to ongoing harassment and abuse; chased, injured, run-over, manhandled, dragged alive, taken captive and slaughtered. Entire pods of dolphins were decimated and age-old bonds of trust were irrevocably broken.”
For what?
Marine parks and aquariums were supplied with wild-caught dolphins and freshly-caught dolphin meat filled the cold sections of local grocery stores, despite the Japanese government’s acknowledged dangers of mercury contamination.
Just Tragic!
Every year from September 1st to March 1st, a notoriously cruel hunt of some of the most sentient and sensitive creatures on the planet takes place in Taiji, Japan, made famous by the 2009 Academy award-winning movie The Cove.
During this period, fisherman, or more appropriately, dolphin hunters, “drive” the mammals to their capture or deaths via means of physical violence and acoustic torture.
Dolphin Project is the only organization that has been on the ground consecutively since 2003, and the only one in Taiji during the entire 2017/18 hunting season.
The organization’s goal is to expose the atrocities committed against dolphins, utilizing live stream technology, photo and video documentation, blogging and the power of social media.
“Only with worldwide exposure will Taiji’s egregious practices end,” states the heralded non-profit. “And end they must.”
You can contribute to help Dolphin Project continue their important work of saving dolphins while also educating the public by donating HERE!
Help us continue to bring you the latest breaking animal news from around the world and consider making a Donation Here! http://www.peace4animals.net/donate
Sal holds a political science degree from the George Washington University. He’s written about all things environment since 2007.
With the dolphin-killing season in Taiji, Japan, nearing its expected March 1 end, meat from striped dolphins slain last month in the notorious cove has tested positive for high levels of mercury and for trace but legally safe levels of radiation, said Ric O’Barry of the Dolphin Project on Tuesday.
O’Barry, star of 2009’s Oscar-winning documentary The Cove, which put a global spotlight on the town’s annual hunt, purchased the meat in January from a Taiji supermarket and sent it to…
The string of “blue cove days” ended September 16,2014 as a innocent pod of Risso’s dolphins was driven into “The Cove” a documentary released in 2009 revealing the dolphin capture in slaughter that takes place each year in Taiji, Japan.
For several hours the pod of Risso’s dolphins fought bravely for their lives but sadly they were no match for the hunters with their high powered Mercury engines and banger poles. The family was driven into the cove, pushed under the killing tarps, and then were quickly transported to the butchers house, the entrance known as “Deaths…
“He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his end, may safely trust to God’s providence to lead him aright.” - Blaise Pascal. "There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily" – George Washington letter to Edmund Randolph — 1795. We live in a “post-truth” world. According to the dictionary, “post-truth” means, “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” Simply put, we now live in a culture that seems to value experience and emotion more than truth. Truth will never go away no matter how hard one might wish. Going beyond the MSM idealogical opinion/bias and their low information tabloid reality show news with a distractional superficial focus on entertainment, sensationalism, emotionalism and activist reporting – this blogs goal is to, in some small way, put a plug in the broken dam of truth and save as many as possible from the consequences—temporal and eternal. "The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it." – George Orwell “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” ― Soren Kierkegaard
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For what?
Just Tragic!
During this period, fisherman, or more appropriately, dolphin hunters, “drive” the mammals to their capture or deaths via means of physical violence and acoustic torture.
