Sea Shepherd News
News Releases

10/20/2006

Annual Dolphin Slaughter Begins in Japan

On October 11th, Ito City Fishing Cooperative announced
that they will continue their annual "drive" hunt of dolphins.
They join Taiji, and other small villages along the coast of
Japan, in a bloodbath that results in the death of over 20,000
dolphins and small whales annually from October through
April each year.

Sanctioned by the government of Japan, which gives a quota
of how many animals can be slaughtered during the hunt,
these intelligent mammals are corralled into bays, where most
of them suffer a long and painful death by spears, hooks,
and drowning. Then, often sold under the guise of whale
meat, the highly toxic flesh of these animals is marketed to
the Japanese public in stores and restaurants - poisoning
their own citizens.

Dolphin and whale meat can be easily found in Japanese
food markets. The painted sign written in Japanese says,
"This is marinated whale meat."

Heavily funded by the captive dolphin industry which pays
upwards of $20,000 per dolphin, these drives become a
lucrative endeavor for these brutal murderers.  Only a small
number of dolphins are actually sold for entertainment
purposes. According to the Ito Fishing Cooperative,
aquariums have already ordered a number of dolphins from
the dive hunt. These dolphins are destined for death in
captivity in an aquarium, water park, or "swim with dolphins"
programs.

The species targeted include the world's best known dolphin
- the bottlenose dolphin - along with striped dolphins, spotted
dolphins, Risso's dolphins, false killer whales, and short-finned
pilot whales. The status of each population is either threatened,
endangered, or unknown.

Ever since Sea Shepherd Conservation Society brought the
atrocity of the dolphin slaughter at Taiji to international
public attention in October 2003, we have been involved in
an ongoing campaign to end the slaughter.

Sea Shepherd is the most feared and disliked organization in
Taiji. Two of our crew, Allison Lance Watson and Alex
Cornelissen, physically released dolphins from the nets in
November 2003 and they were jailed in return for saving the
lives of dolphins. Our documentation has appeared on the
front pages of the world's newspapers and the video
documentation of the killing of the dolphins has been shown
worldwide.

Sea Shepherd is offering a reward of USD$10,000 to the
person or persons who can best document the annual
slaughter of dolphins and small cetaceans in Taiji or Futo,
Japan. For information and eligibility requirments, visit our
Rewards Page. http://www.seashepherd.org/rewards.html

Sea Shepherd continues in our commitment to ending the
cruel and barbaric slaughter of dolphins in Taiji, Japan.

Please join us in taking action.  Please write an email, send
a letter or fax, to (see the sample letter below):

Prime Minister of Japan
Mr. Shinzo Abe
1-6-1 Nagata-cho 1 Chome
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
100-8968
JAPAN
E-mail the Japanese Prime Minister - click here
http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/forms/comment.html

Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries
Minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka
Website: http://www.maff.go.jp/eindex.html
E-mail the Minister of Fisheries here - click here
http://www.voice.maff.go.jp/maff-interactive/people/ShowWebFormAction.do?FORM_NO=5

Ito City Fishing Cooperative
1-1-18 Arai, Ito-shi,
Shizuoka-ken, Japan 414-0043
Fax:+81-557-35-0756
Email: ito@soitoshigyokyo.jf-net.ne.jp

Locate a Japanese Embassy near you:
http://www.embassyworld.com/embassy/Japan/Japan.html
Or: http://www.learn4good.com/travel/japan_embassies.htm
Or: http://www.worldwide-tax.com/japan/japembassyout.asp

Sample letter:

Dear,

I am outraged by the annual brutal slaughter of dolphins and
whales that takes place in Japan. The images of bloody red
water clearly show the world that Japan has little respect for
the state of the world's oceans and for the conservation of
the marine resources it claims to support.

Many scientific studies show that the oceans are in decline.
We must take whatever actions are necessary to stop their
over-exploitation and to protect the creatures that live in them.
These dolphins do not belong to Japan. The status of the
species of dolphins and whales that you kill are either
endangered, threatened, or unknown.  It is an unthinkable
waste that they will likely end up as a meat product or
deceptively sold as whale meat, polluted with toxic levels
of mercury and cadmium, killing people that eat it. It is
tragic and unacceptable that the remaining dolphins that are
not killed will end up destined for death in an aquarium,
water park, or "swim with dolphins" program.

In addition, the methods used to kill these animals are cruel.
Corralling the dolphins into bays, then making them suffer a
long and painful death by spears, hooks, and drowning is an
inhumane way of fishing. This action is disgraceful and has
caused much disappointment in the international community.

We demand that Japan permanently and immediately
renounce and stop this slaughter.  We will work diligently
to bring this issue to international light until you have ceased
your reprehensible violence.

Sincerely,


http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_061020_1.html