BlueViews - The BlueVoice Blog

Introduction

November 8, 2006 - Taiji, Japan
By Hardy Jones

14 PILOT WHALES KILLED
CONFRONTATION
TESTING PILOT WHALE MEAT FOR MERCURY
JAPAN’S FINAL SOLUTION TO THE DOLPHIN PROBLEM
BLUEVOICE’S SOLUTION TO JAPAN’S SOLUTION

14 PILOT WHALES KILLED
Nov. 8, 2006: Election Day (we’re one day ahead) in the United States. Destruction day here in Taiji.

It’s 2:57am. I’ve had four hours of sleep but there will be no more tonight. We go to the killing bay tomorrow morning at dawn.

We believe there are between twelve and twenty pilot whales being held at Hatagagiri Bay for slaughter in the morning. I’ve been awake for an hour wrenching my brain for what more we can do to end this brutal killing. Through the wall of the hotel room I can hear my colleague Courtney Vail from WDCS talking on the phone to someone about how to get this story on Reuters. They want new kill footage – not footage from two years ago. And getting this story out in all its graphic horror is the way we will bring and end to the killing.

The dolphin hunters killed what turned out to be fourteen pilot whales before the sun was up. The ugly deed was done in a small cove that is secluded from view due to the fact that the local government has blocked access to points from which we can photograph. And the fishermen have put huge tarps over their killing area to further assure against being photographed.

back to the top

CONFRONTATION
The fishermen descended on us, one and then another, furious that we were there with cameras. One of them is Mr. Takeuchi, head of the fishermen’s union. They’re mad at me because I filed a complaint with police in 2001 after they attempted to abduct us. As they described the trouble I caused for them I could barely suppress my delight.

It’s clear BlueVoice is a well known name to them. They admit to checking the website frequently. They especially fear the power we have to have video on the Internet in short turnaround.

They hate having their pictures taken. But they continually videotape us. When I point this out they fail to appreciate the irony. One guy, whose face I remember from previous years comes up the hill to the place we’re talking with four dolphin hunters. He’s carrying a sign saying, “No photos allowed”. He’s huffing mightily and as he raises the sign in our faces I can see he is trembling.

After a long discussion we part company and descend to the overlook at the base of Hatagagiri Bay. Shortly, a policeman arrives. He questions us about our intentions. He’s very friendly and courteous. Turns out the fishermen had called the police station and told them that we were causing trouble. We thought the discussions had eased tensions but I guess not for them. Our hour long discussion with the officer resulted in him assuring us that we had a right to videotape the slaughter from public property and that he would tell the fishermen that they could not interfere with us when we were on public property. THE policed watch us constantly, which is actually a form of protection.

back to the top

TESTING PILOT WHALE MEAT FOR MERCURY
Sakae our long-time ally from Elsa Nature Conservancy purchased some of the freshly killed pilot whale meat and WILL TEST IT FOR MERCURY. It will certainly be high. I think this is one of the major weapons we have in curtailing demand for these animals. Lord, what a hell of a way to have to stop the dolphin killing.

back to the top

NOV 9: JAPAN’S FINAL SOLUTION TO THE DOLPHIN PROBLEM: There were no dolphins driven today. A fisherman boo-hoo’d that he was very tired from killing dolphins all morning.

As I replayed the video of the discussions with the Taiji dolphin hunters who rushed us yesterday one thing jumped out. I asked Mr. Takeuchi, head of the fishermen’s union, why they slaughter entire pods of bottlenose dolphins. “Won’t that eventually wipe out the entire species in the area and make it impossible for the fishermen to conduct their lucrative dolphin trade. He told us that that bottlenose dolphins reproduce very rapidly (totally untrue) and that the fisheries agency had set quotas that would keep populations sustainable. This reply was absurd. These dolphin-hunting fishermen have already virtually wiped out striped dolphins and spotted dolphins in the area. The numbers of bottlenose they are taking are totally unsustainable. But it became clear that is precisely what The JFA want. The Japan Fisheries Agency, the same lovely guys who fight tooth-and-nail to expand whaling all over the world, actually want dolphins wiped out because they think they eat too many fish. Predator control pure and simple – the same concept that wiped wolves out of virtually all of North America.

And reminiscent of the Nazi slaughter of millions in Europe, the fishermen externalize the blame for their declining fish catch onto the dolphins. They blame them for the failure of their fishery when in fact the failure is Japan’s rapacious approach to fishing – not just in Japan but around the world. Next they drive dolphins into concentration areas then take the dolphins selected to live – yes, such a choice is made just as at the gates of the concentration camps – and put them into a life of servitude in marine parks and swim-with programs. Some even go into huge and noisy under ground rooms where people play Pachinko and other games. All for the profit of a very few.

back to the top

BLUEVOICE’S SOLUTION TO JAPAN’S SOLUTION
Japan wants a seat on the UN Security Council. We will oppose that and bring to the UN evidence of Japan’s brutal and destructive policies toward dolphins and whales, their destruction of rain forests around the world and their subversion of international treaties such as the International Whaling Commission.

We will present film shows in theatres in Anchorage at the time of the International Whaling Commission this coming spring. We intend to bring to the people of Alaska and the world Japan’s atrocious levels of animal cruelty. We will need to counter Japan’s renewed efforts to expand whaling.

In addition we will measure Taiji fish and Japanese fish imports to the United States for mercury and Persistent Organic Pollutants such as PCBs, Dioxins and PBDEs. If the fishing coop at Taiji can so irresponsibly put meat highly contaminated with mercury into the food system then we cannot trust that the fish they sell is fit for consumption.

And we will bring graphically to the world attention the dolphin and whale eradication program Japan has instituted.

back to the top