Dolphin hunting takes place elsewhere in Japan but Taiji is the only place where “drive” hunting occurs. (Shiho Fukada for The Washington Post)Dolphins are held in captivity in Taiji while being trained to be sold to marine parks. The Taiji Cove drive hunt takes place annually at the Japanese fishing village of Taiji, where dolphins and other small cetaceans (like mink whales) are driven by fishing boats into a small bay to be killed for their protein or captured for training and eventual sale to dolphinariums.. The hunt sees the animals driven into a cove where most are … Other dolphins are sold to aquariums and marine parks.The Taiji hunt has been carried out for decades and gained global attention when it was the subject of the Oscar-winning documentary The Cove in 2009.Japan this year also resumed catching whales for profit, in defiance of international criticism.This year's Taiji hunt kicked off on Sunday, but according to Japanese media the boats returned without any dolphins. (Shiho Fukada for The Washington Post)Dolphins swim in a tank at the aquarium in the Taiji Whale Museum. Demand for dolphin and whale meat has been on the decline over the past years and both have been found to have unhealthy levels of mercury. (Shiho Fukada for The Washington Post) Crews set up netting in a cove off Taiji as other boats drive pods of dolphins toward the trap. It’s that support that helps Taiji withstand international criticism and mobilize the support of the coast guard and immigration authorities.But Sangen says the town’s relationship with whales needs to adapt.“The image of Taiji is evil, but that’s not an image that we want,” he said.Sangen has ambitious plans to turn Taiji into a major center of academic research on whales and dolphins. Carbary, who came to Taiji to live-stream the hunt, is founder of Empty the Tanks, a group campaigning to end all dolphin and whale captivity.Under a quota system, Taiji’s fishermen are allowed to catch 1,749 dolphins or small whales from nine species during the six-month hunting season.Dolphins from Taiji have supplied aquariums across the world for decades — in Japan, the United Arab Emirates, Mexico, Thailand, Russia and elsewhere. Taiji’s dolphin hunt shot to global infamy in 2009 with the Oscar-winning documentary “The Cove.” But the dolphin meat trade is not the main money-spinner sustaining Taiji’s hunt.
Inside, oblivious tourists from across Japan oohed and aahed as dolphins performed tricks for fish to cheesy rock music, and children lined up to stroke them.Speaking after a recent performance, several families said they seldom or never eat whale or dolphin meat, but all defended Japan’s “food culture.”“Eating this meat is part of our culture; it comes naturally,” said a 50-year-old man from the nearby city of Wakayama.“Foreigners think animals are cute, but you still eat beef, pork and the like,” said the man, who said he preferred only to give his family name, Go. Then came the sound of thrashing. A line of eight boats came into view just below the horizon. The Taiji Bay cove is used by local fisherman to corral hundreds of dolphins before killing the mammals for their meat. (Shiho Fukada for The Washington Post)Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. Japan has already come under criticism this year for resuming commercial whaling after it left the International Whaling Commission (IWC).Commercial whaling ships left port on 1 July this year and the first whales have already been killed and sold.Under an IWC moratorium, whaling had effectively been banned since 1986. (Shiho Fukada for The Washington Post)Visitors line up to touch captive dolphins after a show at the Taiji Whale Museum. The waters of the cove turned pink with blood.On this day in early September — the second of the hunt — 11 Risso’s dolphins were cut up for meat. Japan has started its controversial annual dolphin hunt in the coastal town of Taiji.
A team of activists, filmmakers, and freedivers embark on a covert mission to expose a deadly secret hidden in a remote cove in Taiji, Japan. That is partly because Japan’s immigration authorities have banned many of them from entering the country. Season Ends for Taiji's 2019 Dolphin Hunts An Animal Rights Article from All-Creatures.org FROM Ric O'Barry's Dolphin Project March 2019. Japan whaling: Why commercial hunts have resumed despite outcry