Nicolas, Marianne G.

3/21/19

CERP 21 – W

Behind the Killings in Taiji:

A Reaction Paper to The Cove Documentary

The award-winning documentary “The Cove” in 2009 was considered one of the most
striking environmental films ever made in history. It featured the journey of a team of hard-
working activists, free-divers and film-makers whose undying efforts and dedication had made it
possible to expose the horrific slaughter and exploitation of dolphins and other cetaceans in Taiji,
Japan to the whole world. As documented in the film, thousands of dolphins are killed annually
in a “secret cove” in Taiji for their meat and others are being held and sold as captives for
profitable use such as the dolphin-show industry. This is the saddening truth that has been hidden
for years and the documentary “The Cove” was actually just a beginning of an endless worldwide
ecological movement.

Conservation of the natural resources including the species, as we may all know, is a
major goal of sustainability. Rapidly diminishing the populations of these species through
exploitative activities may lead to the threat of endangerment, or worse, even extinction. This is
the unforeseen consequence that is often neglected by humans. As seen in the documentary,
people in Taiji believe that their activities are normal and purely for survival. However, what these
people failed to realize is that they are slowly killing themselves by killing these species. Dolphins,
like other cetaceans, play a role in maintaining the health of an aquatic ecosystem. They act as
top predators feeding on lower-level fishes and help in keeping the balance of the community
structure of an ecosystem. For instance, the bottlenose dolphins (shown in the documentary)
were found to increase the number of links or connections between different species and allow
efficient energy transfer among food webs.1 Thus, a decline in their population would also affect
the whole ecosystem itself and would have certain impacts to other organisms, including the
humans.

Going back to the documentary, the fishing activities in Taiji are definitely not just killing
the dolphins but also their community, without them knowing it. Even the consumption of the
meat from these species has several health impacts which are posing a threat to their population,
especially to the vulnerable groups particularly the children. These impacts can be linked to the
bioaccumulation of heavy metals in the tissues of these aquatic organisms. For instance,
consuming dolphin meat for a long period of time is one cause of different diseases such as heavy
metal poisoning as indicated in the documentary. Scientific findings also reported that heavy
metals could cause carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health effects to both short term and long-
term consumers.2 This is because the exposure to these harmful substances is magnified as one
keeps on ingesting these contaminated fish products. Also, the water where these aquatic species
inhabit might be already polluted due to the intense industrialization and technological progress.
In that case, the fisherfolks and villagers living along the coastal areas of these contaminated
waters are also prone to major health risks.

It has been nine years already since the documentary “The Cove” was released to the
public, revealing the cruel reality of these voiceless animals. The impacts brought by the film
awakened the spirits of many advocates across the world fighting for the protection of the
dolphins. In fact, an article written by Ric O'Barry, the founder of the Dolphin Project and the star
featured in “The Cove”, stated that the killings in Taiji have significantly decreased over the last
nine years after the project has started. As a biologist, myself, I am relieved that this ecological
movement is still ongoing and engaging more people to pursue the conservation of our dolphins.
After all, saving these species means saving our own. And abandoning them would result in a
world without dolphins, imagine that.

*The diagram attached below is the current status on the Taiji Dolphin Slaughter Incidents. 3
References

1
Bunke, M., Lopez, B.D. & Shirai, A.B. The role of bottlenose dolphins in a coastal ecosystem
assessed using mass-balanced models. Poster presented at: European Cetacean Society;
2008 March; Egmond aan Zee, The Netherlands. doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.34485.68323

2
Molina, V.B. (2011). Health Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals Bioaccumulation in Laguna De
Bay Fish Products. Paper presented at: 14th World Lake Conference; Austin Texas

3 O'Barry, R. (2018). Taiji’S Dolphin Hunting Season Has Ended. Retrieved from
https://www.dolphinproject.com/blog/taijis-dolphin-hunting-season-ended/