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Dolphin drive hunting, also called dolphin drive fishing, is a method of hunting dolphins and occasionally other small cetaceans by driving them together with boats and then usually into a bay or onto a beach. Their escape is prevented by closing off the route to the open sea or ocean with boats and nets. Dolphins are hunted this way in several places around the world, including the Solomon Islands, the Faroe Islands, Peru, and Japan, the most well-known practitioner of this method. By numbers, dolphins are mostly hunted for their meat; some end up in dolphinariums.

Despite the controversial nature of the hunt resulting in international criticism, and the possible health risk that the often polluted meat causes, thousands of dolphins are caught in drive hunts each year.

Atlantic white-sided dolphin caught in a drive hunt in Hvalba on the Faroe Islands being taken away with a forklift

By country

Faroe Islands

See also: Whaling in the Faroe Islands
Two dead Northern Bottlenose Whales with cut necks in the bay of Nes (Hvalba) on the Faroe Islands, where they beached themselves.

On the Faroe Islands mainly Pilot Whales are killed by drive hunts for their meat and blubber. Other species are also killed on rare occasion such as the Northern bottlenose whale and Atlantic White-sided Dolphin. The Northern bottlenose whale is mainly killed when it accidentally swims too close to the beach and cannot return to the water. When the locals find them stranded or nearly stranded on the beach, they kill them and share the meat to all the villagers.

The stranding of the Northern bottlenose whale mainly happens in two villages in the northern part of Suðuroy: Hvalba and Sandvík. It is believed that it happens because of a navigation problem of the whale, because there are isthmuses on these places, where the distance between the east and west coasts are short, around one kilometer or so. And for some reason it seems like the bottlenose whale want to take a short cut through what it thinks is a sound, and too late it discovers, that is on shallow ground and is unable to turn around again. It happened on 30 August 2012, when two Northern bottlenose whales swam ashore to the gorge Sigmundsgjógv in Sandvík. Two men who were working on the harbour noticed these whales, and some time later they had either died by themselves or were killed by the locals and then cut up for food for the people of Sandvík and Hvalba (Hvalba municipality).

The hunt of the pilot whale 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, the locals set out to begin the hunt, after approval from the sysselman. The animals are driven into a bay which is approved for whaling by the Faroese government, and then they try to make the whales to beach themselves. The only way out is being blocked off by some of the boats, which stay there until men who have been waiting on shore have slaughtered all the whales.

When on the beach, most of them get stuck. Those that have remained too far in the water are dragged onto the beach 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 whale to die varies from a few seconds Up to half a minute, depending on the cut. If the locals fail to beach the animals altogether, they are let free again.

The pilot whale stock in the eastern and central North Atlantic is estimated to number 778,000. About a thousand pilot whales are killed this way each year on the Faroe Islands together with usually a few dozen up to a few hundred animals belonging to other small cetaceans species, but numbers vary greatly per year. The amount of Pilot Whales killed each year is not believed to be a threat to the sustainability of the population, but the brutal appearance of the hunt has resulted in international criticism especially from animal welfare organisations.

Due to pollution, consumption of the meat and blubber is considered unhealthy by some. Especially children and pregnant women are at risk, with prenatal exposure to methylmercury and PCBs primarily from the consumption of pilot whale meat has resulted in neuropsychological deficits amongst children.

In November 2008, the New Scientist reported in an article that research done in the Faroe Islands lead to the recommendation by Faroese government that the consumption of Pilot Whale meat in the Faroes should stop as it had been proved to be too toxic. However, the Faroese government did not forbid people to eat Pilot Whale meat due to the contamination, but the advice from the Joensen and Weihe had an effect, it has resulted in reduced consumption, according to a senior Faroese health official.

In June 2011 the Faroese Food and Veterinary Authorities sent out an official recommendation regarding the consumption of meat and blubber from the pilot whale. They recommend that because of the pollution of the whale:

  • Adults should only eat one dinner with pilot whale meat and blubber per month.
  • Special advice for women and girls:
    • Girls and women should not eat blubber at all until they have finished given birth to children.
    • Women who plan to get pregnant within 3 months, pregnant women and women who breastfeed should probably not eat whale meat at all.
  • The kidneys and liver of the pilot whales should not be eaten.

Iceland

Main article: Whaling in Iceland

In mid-1950s, fishermen in Iceland requested assistance from the government to remove Killer Whales from Icelandic waters as they damaged fishing equipment. With fisheries accounting for 20% of Iceland's employment at the time, the perceived economic impact was significant. The Icelandic government asked the United States for assistance. As a NATO ally with an air base in Iceland, the US Navy deployed Patrol Squadrons VP-18 and VP-7 to achieve this task. According to the US Navy, hundreds of animals were killed with machineguns, rockets and depth charges.

In the late 1970s, after the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 and the ban on hunting Killer Whales in Washington in 1976 as discussed later in this article, the hunting of Killer Whales in Iceland resumed, this time aiming to capture live animals for the entertainment industry. The first two Killer Whales captured went to Dolfinarium Harderwijk in the Netherlands. One of these animals was soon after transferred to SeaWorld. These captures continued until 1989, with the additional animals going to SeaWorld, Marineland Antibes, Marineland Canada, Kamogawa Sea World, Ocean Park Hong Kong and Conny-Land.

Although commercial whaling does still take place in Icelandic waters today, dolphins are no longer hunted and whale watching is popular amongst tourists.

Japan

Main article: Taiji dolphin drive hunt See also: Fishing industry in Japan and Whaling in Japan

Annually, an approximation of 22,000 small cetaceans are taken by drive hunting, in the waters of Japan. The Taiji dolphin drive hunt is the only large hunt remaining. It occurs in Taiji, Wakayama from September to March. The hunts are argued to be a part of Japanese culture, but only started in 1969. Japanese authorities say that the drive fishery is conducted for the following reasons: providing income for local residents, they are seen as pests by local fishermen and are competition in the livelihood of fisheries, a source of meat for human consumption, and locally and internationally provide live cetaceans to marine parks.

There is a quota set by the government of Japan allowing over 2,000 cetaceans to be slaughtered or captured, and this Japanese hunt is one of the biggest slaughters of dolphins and whales in the world. The annual dolphin hunt has received international criticism for both the cruelty of the dolphin killing and the high mercury levels of the dolphin meat.

Kiribati

Similar drive hunting existed in Kiribati at least until the mid 20th century.

Peru

Dusky dolphin being skinned on a boat in Peru.

Though it is forbidden under Peruvian law to hunt dolphins or eat their meat (sold as chancho marino, or sea pork in English), a large number of dolphins are still killed illegally by fishermen each year. To catch the dolphins, they are driven together with boats and encircled with nets, then harpooned, dragged on to the boat, and clubbed to death if still alive. Various species are hunted, such as the Bottlenose and Dusky Dolphin.

According to estimates from local animal welfare organisation Mundo Azul released in October 2013, between 1,000 and 2,000 dolphins are killed annually for consumption, with a further 5,000 to 15,000 being killed for use as shark bait. Sharks are captured both for their meat and for use of their fins in shark fin soup.

Solomon Islands

Dolphins in a canoe after being killed by locals on the Solomon Islands.

On a smaller scale, drive hunting for dolphins also takes place in the Solomon Islands, more specifically on South Malaita Island. After capture, the meat is shared equally between households. Dolphin's teeth are also used in jewelry and as 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. Various species are hunted, such as Spotted and Spinner dolphins.

The amount of dolphins killed each year is not known, but anecdotal information suggests between 600 and 1500 dolphins per hunting season. The hunting season lasts roughly from December to April, when the dolphins are closest to shore. As in Japan, some dolphins (exclusively Bottlenoses) from the Solomon Islands have also been sold to the entertainment industry.

There was much controversy in July 2003, when 28 Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops trancatus aduncus) were exported to Parque Nizuc, a water park in Cancun. A large portion of the animals were later transported to Cozumel, to do interaction programs. Though the export of dolphins had been banned in 2005, the export of dolphins was resumed in October 2007 when the ban was lifted following a court decision, allowing for 28 dolphins to be sent to a dolphinarium in Dubai. A further three dolphins were found dead near the holding pens.

The dealer that exported these dolphins has stated that they intend to release their 17 remaining dolphins back into the wild in the future. In 2015 the tourism minister visited Bita'ama community and announced the government would financially support the development of eco-tourism dolphin swimming if they stopped killing dolphins.

In April 2009 it was decided by CITES that an in-depth review of the commercial dolphin trade conducted from the Solomon Islands should take place, this after the IUCN Cetacean Specialist Group came to the conclusion that insufficient population data exists to prove the sustainability of the wild captures and the current export quota of 100 animals per year. The Solomon Island Dolphin Abundance Project was established to provide data on the size of the local Indo-Pacific Bottlenose population and the sustainability of the dolphin hunts. A report published in March 2013 as a result of this effort indicated that the capture of dolphins in the Solomon Islands can only be sustainable at a very low rate and that previous rates of capture as seen between 2003 and 2013 would not be sustainable in the future.

The Solomon Islands signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the Conservation of Cetaceans and their Habitats in the Pacific Islands Region under the Convention for the Conservation of Migratory Species in 2007, which is a commitment to improve conservation efforts, reduce threats and undertake research and monitoring of cetaceans and provide reports. Gordon Lilo, the prime minister of the Solomon Islands, announced in 2014 that he opposes export of live dolphins, but defends the traditional hunting of dolphin. The capture and trade of wild dolphins is prohibited in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands.

In recent years only villages in South Malaita Island have continued to hunt dolphin. In 2010, the villages of Fanalei, Walende, and Bitamae signed a MoU with the non-governmental organization, Earth Island Institute, to stop hunting dolphin. However, in early 2013 the agreement broke down and some men in Fanalei resumed hunting. The hunting of dolphin continued in early 2014.

Tourism minister Bartholomew Parapolo visited the Bita'ama community in 2015 and offered to fund eco-tourism business project involving swimming with dolphins, if they ceased killing.

Taiwan

On the Penghu Islands in Taiwan, drive fishing of Bottlenose Dolphins was practiced until 1990, when the practice was outlawed by the government. Mainly Indian Ocean Bottlenose Dolphins but also common Bottlenose Dolphins were captured in these hunts.

United States

Hawaii

In ancient Hawaii, fishermen occasionally hunted dolphins for their meat by 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 in Hawaii.

Texas

Hunting dolphins (at the time still often incorrectly referred to as fish or porpoises), primarily using harpoons and firearms, was considered a form of recreational hunting along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico in Texas in the late 19th and early 20th century. Pleasure dolphin hunting cruises could be booked in Corpus Christi in the 1920s, with a promise to tourists that if no successful dolphin kill was made, the excursion would be free of charge. The brutality of the practice started to spark animal welfare concerns and there is no reference of this practice still occurring in Texas after the Second World War.

Washington

Drive hunting methods were used to capture Orcas in the Puget Sound in the 1960s and 1970s. These hunts were led by aquarium owner and entrepreneur Edward "Ted" Griffin and his partner Don Goldsberry. After Edward purchased an Orca that was caught by accident by fishermen in Namu, British Columbia, in 1965, Edward and Don used drive hunting techniques in the Puget Sound area to capture Orcas for the entertainment industry. Others followed and despite the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 the practice continued until 1976 when the state of Washington ordered the release of a number of Orcas that were being held in Budd Inlet and subsequently banned the practice.

See also

References

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