 From Dolphin Hunting to Dolphin
Watching
While Futo, Japan has in the past been known as a village where
dolphins are slaughtered, it now has a far brighter distinction. It is
the village from which dolphin and whale watching cruises are departing
in concert with a BlueVoice.org effort to replace dolphin slaughters
with eco-tourism.
In October 1999, the village of Futo Japan became infamous
around the world for the brutal slaughter of a pod of some 75 dolphins.
Video of the slaughter of appeared on television screens around the
world. The images of the bottlenose dolphins being pulled from the
water to have their throats cut caused an avalanche of protest against
this barbaric practice. Letters, faxes and emails expressing outrage
poured into the Japan Fisheries Agency, the office of the Prime
Minister and the Fishing Coop at Futo. The public outcry caused a halt
in the dolphin hunt for 5 years. But now, the fishermen plan to hunt
dolphins again.
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| BlueVoice's Hardy Jones joins Izumi Ishii in announcing launch of
dolphin watching from former dolphin hunting village at recent International
Whaling Commission meeting. (photo© Circlet 2002)
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BlueVoice has been working in Futo to replace dolphin hunting with a
dolphin watching business. While eco-tourism brings money to the entire
community hotels, restaurants, souvenirs vendors, etc., dolphin
killing provides money for only a select few. And, it puts dolphin
meat, which is highly toxic, into the food markets of Japan.
Mr. Izumi Ishii, once a dolphin hunter, has vowed never to kill
dolphins again. His father, grandfather and great-grandfather had
hunted whales and dolphins. It took tremendous courage for him to
denounce a centuries old tradition in a country where tradition is
revered.
In 2002 he launched the first dolphin and whale watching trip out of
Futo harbor. He was accompanied by eco-tourists and journalists from
Japan, Australia and the United States. The world was watching to see
if such a venture could be a success. And the first trip was a
tremendous success, a sperm whale rose and lingered for some 45
minutes. It was both curious and relaxed moving to within a few feet of
the boats. Perhaps a dozen Japanese television crews and many print
reporters were sprayed by the exhalation of the whale. On the whale
watching boat delirium reigned. Stories of the successful inaugural
whale/dolphin watching expedition were all over Japanese media.
Mr. Izumi Ishii was once one of the most outspoken advocates of the
capture and killing of dolphins. But Ishii-san had changed. "I heard
the sound of the dolphins crying as they were killed. I could not bear
it," he said in describing his reasons for converting from dolphin
killing to dolphin watching. "The value I now see in dolphins is not
the value of their meat, but of the wonder they incite in us.
"I had been moved by the sight of pods of dolphins and sometimes forgot
my job as a hunter even when I was hunting them. I would like to convey
my excited feelings to people through dolphin watching."
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| Friendly sperm whale wows Futo Dolphin Watch
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Ishii-san is a businessman
and now considers that he will make more money with dolphin watching
than hunting. Dolphin watching will bring financial benefit to travel
companies, hotels in the area, restaurants and souvenir stands as well
as the fishermen themselves. A dead dolphin is worth only $300 for its
meat. Live dolphins attracting tourists are worth many times that sum.
He has also seen films about dolphins that caused him to change his
original conclusions that dolphins are just fish. He now realizes they
are highly intelligent, air breathing mammals and appealed to stop the
cheating and the violations of the rules governing dolphin hunts.
Ishii had realized that in some cases the cooperative was
instigating dolphin hunts, which were illegal. When he complained,
members of the Fishing Cooperative denounced him and tried to get him
to resign as a fisherman, even to banish him from Futo. But Ishii was
encouraged when Japanese and international conservation groups spoke
positively of his courageous actions.
The staff of both the National Fishery Agency and the Fisheries Section
of Shizuoka Prefecture ignored his appeal that the fishing coop should
stop hunting in violation of quotas. "It is very ironical, but the
attitude of the National Fishery Agency toward me made me what I am
today," said Ishii.
BlueVoice.org and other international conservation groups have pledged
their support for his endeavor and brought groups of tourists to help
him inaugurate dolphin watching.
In 2003 BlueVoice brought Mr. Ishii and Mr. Inaba, a member of the city
council of Ito County to Monterey, California. Here they were able to
see first hand the enormous benefits a successful whale watching
business could bring to a city. Mr. Inaba was impressed and promised to
do all he could to promote dolphin/whale watching in Futo and to end
the dolphin slaughters.
Mr. Ishii does not want to keep his new business exclusively for himself.
"The most important thing is that I succeed in the dolphin watching
business. If I can succeed in it, other fishermen in Futo will follow me."
That would truly put an end to the killing of dolphins at Futo and
provide an example for other villages where it is still practiced.
If the dolphin hunt in Futo is not stopped, it jeopardizes this
successful endeavor. Please lend your support to Mr. Ishii by
expressing your condemnation of the dolphin hunts. Let the Japanese
authorities know you abhor the capture and killing of dolphins.
dolphins.
Click for
contact information to help save the dolphins.
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