In Japan the dolphin hunting goes on

A few years back, the normally sleepy town of Taiji in Wakayama Prefecture was filled with activists furious with its traditional dolphin hunt, which was featured in “The Cove,” a 2009 Academy Award-winning documentary. But as the fury ebbs, the town is now betting its future on dolphins.

  

The Japan Times reports that now, the fury over “The Cove” is fading. The activists have largely stopped coming, and Taiji is spurning international criticism against its dolphin hunts with a number of bold initiatives. The town is pursuing projects like a new sister town relationship with a town in the Faroe Islands that also hunts dolphins; a five-year, nearly $15 million deal with Chinese aquariums to supply hundreds of live dolphins and training; and a bold initiative to convert a local bay into a massive dolphin pool.

Dolphins and whales are hunted in several communities across Japan. The latest data from the Fisheries Agency show that in 2015, Taiji’s hunts captured 891 dolphins and small whales, a third of the 2,648 total for Japan. Taiji’s fishermen are the only ones who actively practice drive fishing, allowing them to hunt the animals for both meat and capture.
In recent years, live catches have accounted for 70 percent of the revenue from the Taiji dolphin drives, which typically bring in between ¥100 million and ¥200 million before expenses. The hunts receive broad support from the domestic press, which links them to the town’s centuries-long tradition. But at the same time, demand for dolphin meat is falling nationwide.