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Dolphin drive hunting is a method of hunting dolphins used by fishermen in several towns in Japan and a few other places around the world. Most notorious though is probably the Japanese town of Taiji. 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 believed to be Japan. This article is about the dolphin mammal. ...
Taiji (太地町; -cho) is a town located in Higashimuro District, Wakayama, 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. In geography, a bay or gulf is a collection of water that is surrounded by land on three sides. ...
Exactly how many are killed in Japan this way each year isn't known, but the number is believed to be at least a few thousand.
Entertainment industry Occasionally some of the captured dolphins are left alive and taken to mainly but not exclusively Japanese dolphinariums. These dolphins are captured before the rest is caught. Some claim dolphinariums are keeping the dolphin hunts economically viable, as they'll pay up to 30.000 US Dollars for a dolphin, while only 300USD is paid for a dolphin caught for meat. Fishermen deny that the aquariums pay that much money for the animals however and not all species hunted have the interest of the dolphinariums. Dolphinarium is a great aquarium for dolphins. ...
The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States. ...
Species Mainly striped, spotted and bottlenose dolphins are caught, but several other species such as the false killer whale are also occasionally caught. Striped dolphins are now considered to be endangered in the area but despite this they are still being hunted, though in smaller numbers. Binomial name Stenella coeruleoalba (Meyen, 1833) Striped Dolphin range The Striped Dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) is an extensively studied dolphin that is found in temperate and tropical waters of all the worlds oceans. ...
Binomial name Stenella attenuata (Gray, 1846) Pantropical Spotted Dolphin range The Pantropical Spotted Dolphin (Stenella attenuata) is a species of dolphin found in all the worlds temperate and tropical oceans. ...
Binomial name Tursiops truncatus Montagu, 1821 The Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) is the most common and well-known dolphin species. ...
Binomial name Pseudorca crassidens (Owen, 1846) False Killer Whale range The False Killer Whale (Pseudorca crassidens) is a cetacean and one of the larger members of the oceanic dolphin family (Delphinidae). ...
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 fishermen disagree often saying that an intelligent animal shouldn't have more rights than a "dumb" animal, such as a Tuna, just like a dumb person shouldn't have less rights than a smart one. Many are also sceptical about the intelligence of dolphins, saying that they can just be learned tricks like dogs. 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. The term Western world or the West can have multiple meanings depending on its context. ...
Species See text Tuna, sometimes called tunafish, are several species of ocean-dwelling fish in the family Scombridae, mostly in the genus Thunnus. ...
Cetacean intelligence denotes the cognitive capabilities of the cetacean order of mammals and especially the various species of dolphin. ...
The term Dogs, when used by itself can refer to: The plural of dog Dogs, a song by Pink Floyd This is a disambiguation page — a list of articles associated with the same title. ...
These female brood sows are confined most of their lives in gestation crates, which are too small to enable them to turn around. ...
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 have long gone unnoticed by the rest of the world the sudden flood of criticism is seen as an attack on their way of life. The word culture, from the Latin colo, -ere, with its root meaning to cultivate, generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance. ...
Some of the animal welfare organisations campaigning against the drive hunts are Sea Shepherd, One Voice and the World Society for the Protection of Animals. Japan has pressured the United States to declare Sea Shepherd a terrorist organization. Sea Shepherd flag flying on the Farley Mowat The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is a non-profit, non-governmental maritime organization founded by Paul Watson in 1977. ...
One Voice was the eighth studio album by singer and songwriter Barry Manilow. ...
The World Society for the Protection of Animals (commonly WSPA) is an international non-profit animal welfare organisation and also a federation of such organisations and active in over 130 countries with some 600 member groups. ...
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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. General Name, Symbol, Number mercury, Hg, 80 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 12, 6, d Appearance silvery white Atomic mass 200. ...
Labelling transformers containing PCBs. ...
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. Malaita Province is one of the largest provinces of the Solomon Islands. ...
Jewelry (the American spelling; spelled jewellery in Commonwealth English) consists of ornamental devices worn by persons, typically made with gems and precious metals. ...
Binomial name Stenella longirostris (Gray, 1828) Spinner Dolphin range The Spinner Dolphin (Stenella longirostris) is a small dolphin found in off-shore tropical waters around the world. ...
Faroe Islands Two dead pilot whales with cut necks in the bay of Nes on the Faroe Islands On the Faroe Islands mainly pilot whales but occasionally also other species of dolphins are killed by drive hunts for their meat. 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 they're also dragged by putting a hook in their blowhole. When on land, they are killed by cutting down to the major arteries and spinal chord 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. Binomial name Globicephala macrorhynchus Short-finned Pilot Whale range Binomial name Globicephala melas Long-finned Pilot Whale range A Pilot Whale is one of two species of cetacean in the genus Globicephala. ...
Around one thousand Long-finned Pilot Whales are harvested as a healthy, free range and organic food source in the annual whale drive (or grind) by Faroese fishermen each year. ...
A blowhole is a cavity formed in the ground at the inland end of a sea cave. ...
Cross-section through cervical spinal cord. ...
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. General Name, Symbol, Number cadmium, Cd, 48 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 12, 5, d Appearance silvery gray metallic Atomic mass 112. ...
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. Official language(s) Hawaiian and English Capital Honolulu Largest city Honolulu Area - Total - Width - Length - % water - Latitude - Longitude Ranked 43rd 28,337 km² n/a km 2,450 km 41. ...
This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
See also Aboriginal whaling is the hunting of whales carried out by aboriginal groups who have a tradition of whaling. ...
Cadmium is one of the few elements that has no constructive purpose in the human body. ...
A hunter on horseback shoots at deer or elk with a bow. ...
Mercury poisoning, also known as mercuralism, is the phenomenon of toxication by contact with mercury. ...
Around one thousand Long-finned Pilot Whales are harvested as a healthy, free range and organic food source in the annual whale drive (or grind) by Faroese fishermen each year. ...
External links - 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
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