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Drive fishermen herd groups of dolphins into coves.© Robert Friedman/istock |
by Natalie Ragan
The fourth annual Japan Dolphin Day is only a week past, but there is already appalling news from Futo, Japan. According to an article published September 6 in Japan’s Izu Shimbun newspaper, the Ito Fishermen's Cooperative announced that the town of Futo will carry out a dolphin drive fishery this year, for the first time in four years, with plans to kill up to 589 dolphins.
Futo’s hunt was suspended for the first time in 2000 after international protest. However, a small drive took place in 2004, killing five dolphins in the name of “science,” and selling 14 to aquariums. No hunts have occurred in Futo in the years since then, but come the end of October, hundreds of dolphins will again be faced with death or captivity when the grisly drive fishery is revived.
Motives for Slaughter
A drive fishery involves herding dozens of dolphins into a shallow cove by fishermen in small boats. The animals are then brutally killed with lances and knives. A few are kept alive to be sold to zoos and aquariums, including swim-with-the-dolphins attractions, where they may suffer for years. It is these profits from selling the dolphins into captivity that allow the hunts to prosper. The money is an incentive for the fishermen and too few Japanese citizens know about the hunts to protest what is happening. The government also authorizes the killings because they think of dolphins as pests who eat too many of the local fish.
The uncharacteristically low death toll of the 2004 drive in Futo sparked curiosity regarding the real incentive behind these unnecessary hunts. Fourteen of the 19 dolphins taken were sold into captivity and the other five dolphins were killed for “research purposes.” One hundred dolphins had actually been trapped in a cove during that particular drive. The remaining dolphins were released. This hunt clearly did not resemble past drives during which hundreds of dolphins were killed. Instead, it showed that its main incentive was to acquire dolphins for Japanese aquariums.
Quotas for Killing
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Tell WAZA to expel the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums for obtaining captive dolphins through cruel drive fisheries. |
This year, the Ito Fishermen’s Cooperative, Futo Branch, expects Futo fishermen to take 36 Pacific white-sided dolphins, 63 striped dolphins, 71 bottlenose dolphins, 409 spotted dolphins, and 10 false killer whales. It is too soon to say how many will be killed and how many are destined to live their lives out in captivity. It is certain that there is no science to justify these quotas and in the case of spotted dolphins in particular (with the largest number), the quota may be unsustainable.
In the past three years without drive hunts, it seemed that Futo had finally gotten the message that drive fisheries were cruel and unsustainable. However, this year’s announcement only shows that Futo has decided again to ignore the cries of the dolphins and the pleas of dolphin advocates across the globe. Sadly, once again, the dolphins will be the ones paying the ultimate price.
