Hardy Jones Investigates Fishing Villages Of Japan, April 2001

Summary by William Rossiter

Hardy Jones has dedicated himself to stopping the horrific drive fisheries in Japan. Famed for his tenacious advocacy and documentary skills, CSI was proud to assist him for his most recent survey. In addition to his abridged report below, we urge you to seek more details, including videos, at http://www.bluevoice.org. He may have a solution, and he can use your support.

From March 29 through April 6, 2001 Hardy traveled through several villages renowned for killing dolphins on the east coast of Japan. His team included Sakae Fujiwara, a superb translator and negotiator and officer of Japan's ELSA Nature Conservancy, and Annabel Heseltine, a journalist for the Sunday Mail of London.

SUMMARY - The good news is that there is not the slightest doubt that the explosion of protest from other nations against the brutality of dolphin hunting in Japan has had enormous impact on the Japanese government and the fishermen who conduct it. At both Futo and Taiji Hardy was told the same thing: Foreign reaction is the main obstacle to the continuing dolphin killing; the fishermen truly fear that the government will shut the killing down to avoid further international protest. The government had suggested that Futo suspend dolphin hunting operations until the public loses track of this issue. We must make sure this does not happen.

The bad news is that at Taiji, where dolphin hunting is economically important, they intend to continue to catch small cetaceans. At Futo some dissent exists among the fishermen, but there is a quota for several species and the head of the fishing cooperative said they expect to begin hunting next fall. Hardy must be on hand with cameras when that happens.

The rapidly expanding captive dolphin export business in Japan is more bad news. An exploding market demands dolphins for swim-with programs around the world, particularly in Asian nations. The fishermen's union wants to package trained dolphins for export, including a trainer to introduce them to the new facility. A formidable dolphin packaging infrastructure is developing at Taiji, where there are now two dolphin bases. Another new one is at Iki.

Hardy emphasizes that it is not the Japanese people who are committing these atrocities. However, the Japanese government does support this business, as well as whaling. As incomprehensibly banal as it sounds this is largely to perpetuate and sustain a government bureaucracy that regulates and conducts research on cetaceans.

Hardy's films and videos have documented the killings at Taiji and Futo and, without question, have lessened the dolphin slaughters. His 1980 film is still considered at Iki to have subjected the island to tremendous shame and loathing from the outside world; it brought disgrace upon Japan. With one exception dolphin captures and killing stopped for more than a decade. That exception was when an aquarium agent came to Iki to buy live dolphins. That remotivated the dolphin drives, and the killing of the ones rejected for captivity. Dolphins were hunted again in 1993, when Marine World Africa USA and other dolphinaria put more money on the table to buy dolphins. 70 dolphins were butchered in that drive; about a dozen were shipped to aquaria.

Mr. Harada Susumu of Iki, whom Hardy had known for twenty years, indicated in 1994 that Iki would no longer capture dolphins. The grisly business has since revived; a dolphin retailer is now in business at Iki and aquaria have been insatiable in their demands for dolphins. The captured false killer whales and bottlenose dolphins are available for sale at Katsumoto Park. Sakae reports there is a grinding machine where dolphins are ground up into cat and dog food. Hardy photographed it in 1980, and will find it again. It must be re-exposed.

Government quotas have been given for dolphin species, supposedly based on sustainable yields. The fishermen use this to justify their kills, but they also say that the number of dolphins they catch has declined, an obvious contradiction.

ITO: Hardy's team went to the dolphin swim-with operation located in the harbor at Ito. As an example of how pathetically easy it is to open shop in this business, they found a simple enclosure floating in the harbor measuring about 25 feet by 25 feet. There were four bottlenose dolphins in two similar pens. They interviewed the trainers, who were nervous about answering questions. The dolphins had all come from Taiji. One had died within the last year, replaced by another from the Taiji's "Dolphin Base." The young trainers were uniformly nice, claimed they loved the dolphins, and even said they think dolphins are the "people of the sea." However, they have no conflict between loving the dolphins, or viewing them as highly intelligent creatures, while finding nothing wrong with the Oi Komi drives, and the surviving dolphins' lifetime of captivity in a small enclosure.

FUTO: Hardy's team traveled to Futo, scene of the October 1999 massacre, which shocked the world. Sakae arranged a meeting with Mr. Ishii, a fisherman who once stood alone against the dolphin killing. Mr. Ishii escorted them aboard his boat, a 50-foot, sleek Japanese style fishing vessel, for a two-hour conversation as the sun set. His immensely important information confirmed that the fishermen were stunned by international pressure resulting from television and Internet broadcasts of the massacre. A significant group within the fishing cooperative now believe dolphins should never again be hunted. Sakae confirmed that the national government instructed Futo to suspend dolphin killing due to the adverse publicity.

Mr. Ishii described seeing the dolphins crying as they lay on the docks prior to being killed. He said that affected him deeply. Other fishermen also said they had deep trouble dealing with the cries the dolphins make as they are killed. Mr. Ishii confirmed he does not want further dolphin killing. Once, he said, it was necessary for food. But now it is not.

He also confirmed to Hardy that money paid by the aquarium agents is a significant inducement to the Futo fishermen to catch dolphins. A dolphin brings at least $3,000, but can bring much more.

Hardy learned in Futo that the many emails and faxes stimulated by non-profit organizations stunned national and prefecture governments. He implores us all to make certain that they realize that international opposition to the killing and capture of dolphins in Japan is growing, that information will be passed around the world, including instantaneous video, and that we will be watching them in the future.

However, the head of Futo's fishermen's cooperative says they have a quota of 50 bottlenose dolphins, 55 striped dolphins and 450 pan-tropical spotted dolphins, and they would resume the hunt in late September. To avoid prying eyes of western journalists and activists they would catch and butcher dolphins at sea.

TAIJI: No dolphin hunting happened in Taiji, and there were no dolphins being held for slaughter while the team was there, but that could have been a ruse. They were very worried about Hardy's presence.

An official of the fishermen's union was initially reluctant to be interviewed but ultimately defended the dolphin killing, saying that the economy of the village depends upon it. He said the sale of dolphin meat was lucrative and that the money derived from the sale of dolphins to aquaria relatively modest. It is clear that the fishermen here will not give up dolphin catching as long as there is money in it. He was aware of the reports of toxicity in dolphin meat but said that the people of Taiji eat it and have no adverse health consequences.

One of the orcas from the infamous Taiji Five is still at Taiji Museum Aquarium. Another orca is also in this walled off bay along with Risso's, bottlenose and Pacific white-sided dolphins. Six bottlenose dolphins were being held in four sea pens at the outer edge of the harbor, evidently being trained and prepared to be shipped off, reportedly to Holland, Hong Kong and Israel. Other export markets include Korea, China, Mexico, Tahiti, Taiwan, and Thailand. Other pens held seven dolphins destined for Nagoya, Japan. Between one and three dolphins were destined for the infamous operation at Moorea.

The "Dolphin base", owned by Mr. Miyoshi, is one of two places in Taiji where tourists encounter dolphins. A Mr. Hammond of Hammond Consultants of California said that his 14 dolphins at Dolphin base would be shipped to an aquarium he is building in Taiwan. Some have a virus. He was also involved in the construction of the new aquarium at Nagoya, and had also worked with an aquarium in China. Hammond revealed that the dolphins in the harbor at Taiji would go to the Nagoya aquarium. According to Hammond there are 19 swim-with programs in Mexico, and Dolphin base is training dolphins for export to Mexico. He was aware of the fact that these dolphins are the survivors from the drive fishery and acknowledged without regret that dolphins develop pneumonia while being transported. He explained that the dolphins are terrified of the sound and the fishermen can drive them anywhere they want to.

Taiji Whale Museum: Hardy videotaped the orca captured at Taiji in 1997, now held in a small pen to be tested for health. The team saw the orca refuse food; the trainer had to remove the dead fish from the enclosure. The staff became agitated when they saw the filming of the orca refusing to eat and tried to interfere. They reiterated the enormous fear of foreign criticism among those connected with the dolphin industries and the people of Taiji.

CONCLUSION: It is beyond dispute that exposure from near real-time video is one of two ways likely to stop the killing of small cetaceans in Japan. Hardy Jones is a world-class expert with this technology. The monitoring program must be expanded, starting with videotaping dolphins being driven into holding bays. The release of dolphins may be possible if international pressure can be brought to bear quickly enough. If not, the publicity will at least expand international outrage at the treatment of dolphins in Japan.

The other way is to emphasize the toxicity of the meat. Fishermen are sensitive and aware about this. Sakae Fujiwara reported that retailers have been losing sales of dolphin meat because of reports of its toxicity.

An interim step may be to persuade the Japanese government to stop the killing of dolphins while still allowing the capture of dolphins for training and export. While this would not be an ideal solution it would save thousands of dolphins from a brutal death.

HARDY'S BIGGEST CONCERN is that international publicity will drive the dolphin killing literally out to sea, that the fishermen will capture, kill and butcher the dolphins at sea. At Taiji they are already publicizing the fact that they have developed a humane means of killing the dolphins.

The best way to stop the capture, training and export of dolphins from Taiji to aquaria in Japan and the rest of the world is by linking the slaughter to the capture of dolphins.

Hardy has video of: Ito's swim-with sea pen; Taiji harbor's sea pens with dolphins; the Dolphin base swim-with, training and export pens; the tanks belonging to the other "aquarium"; the Taiji whale museum, including the young "Taiji Five" orca, and dolphins being kept in an unusually disgraceful tank.

Do you agree that Hardy Jones deserves our gratitude, and our support? Help him to help the dolphins in Japan. Refer to the web site at http://www.bluevoice.org.