Fisherman Defend Japan Dolphin Cull

Japanese fishermen have defended their right to hunt and kill thousands of dolphins as their annual six-month killing season begins.


They say worldwide condemnation is an attack on their culture. In a small cove hidden from view from the twisting coast road the sea lapped red with their blood. The 40 dolphins that had been driven from their migrating route 10 miles out to sea and corralled in the tiny bay were gone. They'd been speared and bludgeoned to death hours earlier, their bodies towed back to Taijie port where they were cut into pieces. The Japanese fisherman toiled behind tarpaulin and hid their work from our cameras. They are sensitive to any intrusion into their annual dolphin hunt and unleashed their fury on the dozen Save The Japan Dolphin campaigners who'd gathered at the shore to protest against this latest slaughter. Shouting verbal abuse, they threatened and intimidated the activists. What came next took them completely by surprise. Half a dozen surfers - among them actress Hayden Panatierre - sprinted down the shingle beach and paddled out on their boards through the bloody water to the last remaining pod of dolphins trapped behind nets awaiting slaughter. They were intercepted by Japanese fishermen in a small boat, who used the propeller of the vessel to prevent the surfers reaching the dolphins. Several of the surfers were struck by a boat hook in an ugly and potentially life-threatening confrontation.

Every year more than 2,000 dolphins are killed at Taijai among the 23,000 mammals slaughtered in a hunt that lasts six months. The dolphins are intercepted along the migration route and driven into a cove by fishermen banging metal rods to frighten and confuse them. Fear is said to affect the quality and taste of the meat - so they are left hanging up by the neck overnight before being butchered the next morning. Ric O'Barry, a former US Navy SEAL, now heads Save The Japan Dolphins. He's been protesting against the hunt for the past five years. "It's hard to believe that this is taking place in this time and age. It's so brutal and cruel, you wonder why the world is not doing something," he said. Many Japanese fishermen believe dolphins should be treated like any other fish. The tradition of the hunt goes back several centuries and the worldwide condemnation of the killings is seen by many in Japan as an attack on their culture.

Click Here to go to the Petition Page.