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Dolphin drive hunting is a method of hunting dolphins and other small whale species used by fishermen in several places around the world. Most notorious though are probably the Japanese towns of Taiji and Futo. The dolphin drive hunt season in Japan lasts roughly from October till April as the pods of dolphins pass. The dolphins are often hunted out of tradition and for their meat. The largest consumer of dolphin meat is also believed to be Japan.

Drive hunting in Japan

Method

In Japan, the hunting is done by a select group of privileged fishermen. When a pod of dolphins has been spotted, they're driven into a bay with boats by the fishermen while banging on metal rods hanging in the water to scare them. When the dolphins are in the bay, it is quickly closed off with nets so the dolphins cannot escape. The dolphins are usually not killed immediately, but left to calm down over night. The next day dolphins are caught one by one and killed. This used to be done by slitting their throats which resulted in a long and painful death for the dolphin, but the Japanese government banned this method and now dolphins may only be killed by driving a metal pin into the neck of the dolphin, which causes them to die within seconds.

Exactly how many are killed in Japan this way each year isn't known, but the number is believed to be several thousand each year, possibly up to 20.000.

Entertainment industry

Occasionally some of the captured dolphins are left alive and taken to mainly but not exclusively Japanese dolphinariums. These dolphins are normally captured before the rest is caught. Some claim dolphinariums are keeping the dolphin hunts economically viable, as dolphins sold for entertainment can be sold at much higher prices than those sold for their meat. Five Orcas captured in Taiji in 1996 were sold for a total amount of around one million US dollars to local dolphinariums. All animals have since died.

Species

Mainly striped, spotted and bottlenose dolphins are caught, but several other species such as the false killer whale are also occasionally caught. A small number of Orcas have been caught in the past. Striped dolphins are now considered to be endangered in the area but despite this they are still being hunted, though in smaller numbers.

Criticism

Many, especially in the western world, oppose the hunting of dolphins, mainly saying that it is brutal especially because dolphins are known to be very intelligent animals. Most of the Japanese fishermen disagree often saying that an intelligent animal shouldn't have more rights than a less intelligent animal, such as a tuna, just like a dumb person shouldn't have less rights than a smart one. Many are also skeptical about the intelligence of dolphins, saying that they can just be taught tricks like dogs, this despite research indicating that dolphins are amongst the most intelligent of all animals. They also point at the conditions factory farmed animals have to live under in the western world and saying that the dolphins they have caught in the wild have had a better life.

Many inhabitants of those towns where hunting takes place see the drive hunts as a part of their culture which they don't want to lose. Since the towns are fairly isolated the hunts were long unnoticed by the rest of the world. In 1999 a video of the capture and slaughter of some 70 bottlenose dolphins in Futo caused outrage however.

Some of the animal welfare organisations campaigning against the drive hunts are Sea Shepherd, One Voice, BlueVoice and the World Society for the Protection of Animals. Japan has pressured the United States to declare Sea Shepherd a terrorist organization, while Sea Shepherd claims that Japan violates their treaty obligations to the International Whaling Commission by killing Pilot Whales.

Human health concerns

The meat and blubber of the dolphins caught has been found to have high levels of mercury and organic contaminants like PCBs. The levels are high enough to pose a health risk for those frequently eating the meat and researchers warn that children and pregnant women shouldn't eat the meat at all.

Drive hunting in other regions

Solomon Islands

On a smaller scale, drive hunting for dolphins also still takes place on the Solomon Islands, more specifically on the island of Malaita. Though they also eat the meat of the animals, the main reason for hunting the dolphins here is for their teeth, which are used in jewelry and seen as a form of currency on the island. The dolphins are hunted in a similar fashion as in Japan, using stones instead of metal rods to produce sounds to scare and confuse the dolphins. Mainly spotted and spinner dolphins are hunted.

Faroe Islands

On the Faroe Islands mainly pilot whales are killed by drive hunts for their meat. Though officially this is the only species hunted, at least one other species is also killed on occasion, the Northern bottlenose whale. The hunt is known by the locals as the Grindadráp. There are no fixed hunting seasons, as soon as a pod close enough to land is spotted fishermen set out to begin the hunt. The dolphins here are driven onto the beach with boats, blocking off the way to the ocean with nets. When on the beach, most of them get stuck. Those dolphins that have remained too far in the water are dragged onto the beach by driving a steel hook into the blubber of the animal, though these days in response to allegations of animal cruelty they're more often dragged by putting a hook in their blowhole. When on land, they are killed by cutting down to the major arteries and spinal cord at the neck. The time it takes for a dolphin to die varies from a few seconds to a few minutes, depending on the cut . When the fishermen fail to beach the animals all together, they are let free again.

About a thousand pilot whales are killed this way each year on the Faroe Islands, but numbers vary greatly per year. The amount of pilot whales killed each year is not believed to be a threath to the sustainability of the population, but the brutality of the hunt has resulted in international criticism especially from animal welfare organisations.

As in Japan, here too the meat is contaminated with Mercury and also Cadmium, causing a health risk for those frequently eating it. Again, especially children and pregnant women are at risk.

Peru

Though it is under Peruvian law forbidden to hunt dolphins or eat their meat, a large number of dolphins are still killed illegally by fishermen each year. Though exact numbers are not known, the Peruvian organisation Mundo Azul (Blue World) estimates that at least a thousand are killed anually. To catch the dolphins, they are driven together with boats and encircled with nets, then harpooned and dragged on to the boat and clubbed to death if still alive. Various species are hunted, such as the bottlenose and dusky dolphin.

Hawaii

In ancient Hawaii fishermen used to hunt dolphins for their meat, driving them onto the beach and killing them. In their ancient legal system, dolphin meat was considered to be kapu (forbidden) for women together with several other kinds of food. Today, dolphin drive hunting no longer takes place on Hawaii.

See also

• Aboriginal whaling
• Cadmium poisoning
• Hunting
• Mercury poisoning
• Whaling in the Faroe Islands

References

1. "According to recent statistics from the Wildlife Conservation Society, more than 20,000 small whales and dolphins are killed each year in Japan alone.", quote from ABC news - Dolphins Hunted for Sport and Fertilizer
2. "But during the fall of 2004 BlueVoice.org executive director Hardy Jones interviewed the head of the Futo section of the Ito fishing cooperative and learned they planned a new dolphin hunt. The official was quite clear in saying that demand from the aquarium industry was the prime reason for capturing the dolphins." - "On February 7th 1997, 10 orcas were driven into Hatajiri Bay, in Wakayama Prefecture and five were sold to aquariums for a total of 120 million yen (US$1 Million). All ten orcas were held in the bay for three days until on February 10th , starting at about 6.00am, five of them were purchased by three Japanese oceanaria. Nanki Shirama Adventure World (in Wakayama Prefecture) purchased one female and two males. Taiji Whale Museum purchased one female. Izu Mito Sea Paradise (in Shizuoka Prefecture) purchased one female.", quoted from the bluevoice.org website.
3. Deep thinkers -"The more we study dolphins, the brighter they turn out to be." By Anuschka de Rohan. Culture in whales and dolphins by Rendell, L. and Whitehead, H. Various articles on dolphin behaviour, cognitive abilities and intelligence, by the dolphin institure.
4. "You'd think nothing of slicing off a tuna's head while it was alive, so why the outcry over dolphins?", "They're just like dogs (...) You could teach dogs the same tricks; it doesn't mean they're clever.", quotes from Japanese fishermen from BBC's dining with the dolphin hunters
5. Sea Shepherd's illegal whaling claim
6. "With the use of the traditional whaling hook, the average total time-to-death taken in the 199 whales recorded was 65.4 seconds, with a range of 8.0 to 290 seconds, and with 50% of whales killed in 55.3 seconds. With the use of the blowhole hook, recorded with a total of 52 whales, the average time-to-death was 29.2 seconds, with a range of 6 to 211 seconds, and with 50% of whales killed in 20.0 seconds.", quote from Killing methods and equipment in the Faroese pilot whale hunt
7. Article on dolphin hunting in Peru by awionline.org
   • Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society article on dolphin hunting in Peru

External links

• BBC news - dining with the dolphin hunters
• Japan Focus - article on Japanese dolphin drive hunts
• Sea Shepherd - webpage on Taiji dolphin drive hunts with photos and video footage
• Faroe Islands official whaling website

• Animal welfare
• Whaling