The Unemployed Marine Biologist: Japan Dolphins Day 2011

Tuesday, 6 September 2011

Japan Dolphins Day 2011

photo credit Save Japan Dolphins

September 1^st is the annual start of the dolphin drive in Taiji, Japan. If you've seen "The Cove" you know what this means. If not, let me (briefly) enlighten you.

Each year roughly 2,000 dolphins are frightened and chased by boats into two coves. One is the "capture" cove, the other is the "killing" cove. Of those 2,000 dolphins - which include the well-known and liked bottlenose dolphin, as well as striped dolphins, spotted dolphins, Risso's dolphins, pilot whales, false killer whales and plenty of other dolphins, small whales and porpoises - a handful of the most attractive are selected to be sold into dolphinariums and marine parks like SeaWorld and Six Flags...the rest are slaughtered for their meat, and for "pest control" under the belief that the dolphins are eating too much fish (dolphins eating too much fish...can you believe this?).

So what else happens on September 1^st?

September 1^st is also Japan Dolphin Day, a day of celebration of the lives and beauty of dolphins unharmed, in the wild as they should be. Japan Dolphin Day is a positive event. As Ric O'Barry himself noted on the SaveJapanDolphins website:

"It may be more effective to get people to be FOR something than AGAINST something. Some NGO's will not participate in a protest. So, our plan is to organize an international day of celebration in several cities around the world. The goal is to make this the biggest global event celebrating Japan dolphins yet."

And so we did. People around the world came together and demonstrated their concern over the annual slaughter at over 40 Japanese embassies and consulates. Participating cities included Washington D.C., Berlin, Melbourne, Rome, Auckland, Los Angeles, Amsterdam, Taiji, and of course...London! See below for some of our awesome photos (taken by yours truly; clickthrough for larger):