In Japan you’ll find sushi restaurants everywhere. The Japanese simply adore it and what’s not to like? It’s tasty and healthy for you. Fish is a great source of protein, vitamins, minerals and omega-3 fatty acids – which is essential for brain development. But wait, what’s that on my plate? Is that d…do…dolphin meat?

In a little coastal village in Japan there has been an age old tradition that has been going on for more than 400 years. Taiji with it’s estimated population of 3,500 holds a dark secret that is going to be revealed to the world. Each year from the beginning of September, a handpicked team of 20 to 30 fishermen set out to slaughter 3000 dolphins.

Recently, a documentary about the slaughter has been released in the US entitled
The Cove. Directed by Ric O’Barry, who is also known as the trainer for the dolphins in the hit 60’s TV show,
Flipper; his team of specialists, including free divers, photographers and filmmakers bring the true horrors of this small town to the big screen.

Year after year, foreign activists try to stop the mass culling of dolphins, but something tells me that this multi-award winning movie will make voices be heard. Last month the movie created an outcry in Australia and lead to its town Broome suspending its sister-city relationship with Taiji.

Oddly it seems that the rest of the world knows more about the mass slaughtering of dolphins in Taiji than the average Japanese. Ask anyone outside of this small town about the killings and you’ll be met with utter disbelief. In fact only a tiny percent of the Japanese population know about what’s going on.

Before you start thinking that the everyday Japanese eat dolphin, it isn’t true. In fact most Japanese have never tasted dolphin meat, let alone seen it sold. This specialty is eaten in small fishing towns and is considered an expensive delicacy.

Eating dolphin might seem like a disgusting idea to most but the Japanese of this local fishing town just see it as big fish. Are we going to criticize their eating habits when the Japanese have one of the highest life expectancies in the world?

However, dietary habits aside, isn’t it just plain wrong to mass slaughter thousands of dolphins year after year? Well, the Japanese see it as their right and tradition to continue with this annual event. Many fishermen argue that this is their livelihood and they need it to survive.

Another argument is that the act of killing a cow for meat or even deer is not opposed to in the west so why the outrage? Perhaps if a cow made its way to stardom everyone will stop eating hamburgers and steaks? – Probably not.

This argument from the Japanese may seem like a fair one, since who can decide what a people can and cannot eat. However there are other issues involved, including the way dolphins are inhumanely killed and the protection of the dolphin population. Striped dolphin numbers have already been decimated in the north because of excessive hunting.

The hunts are also considered pest control, since the dolphins eat too many fish. But environmentalists say that the hunts are largely unregulated and many dolphin fishing towns exceed the fishing quota.

100s of dolphins captured in the hunts have been sold to dolphinariums and aquariums both in and outside of Japan. More recently a dolphin caught in the Taiji hunt fetched $154,000. It seems that there is another driving force behind this tradition. Unfortunately, the majority of the Japanese people are unknowingly supporting this trade.

In fact, up until recently dolphin was served in all the schools for lunch – funny that, since the locals in this town claim it to be an expensive delicacy. The decision to stop serving dolphin at schools came down to the voice of one councilman in Taiji, Junichiro Yamashita.

Junichiro Yamashita convinced the local schools that the mercury levels in dolphin meat were too high by sending a lock of his own hair for lab-testing. It was discovered that a sample of Yamshita’s hair contained 7 times more mercury than what is deemed safe by the U.S Environmental protection Agency.

Not exactly something to ignore since mercury is highly poisonous and dangerous for humans in high doses. Unfortunately, due to industrial waste pumped into the air and emptied into our seas, all marine creatures contain trace amounts of mercury.

What’s the deal with mercury? Well, mercury can cause a whole host of problems, including Alzheimer’s disease, autism, multiple sclerosis, nerve damage and did I mention death? What’s more, dolphins contain 12 times more mercury than tuna, since they feed on smaller fish.

Unbelievably the fishermen of Taiji and the Japanese government do not warn the Japanese public about the dangers of eating dolphin meat. Nor do they openly share what’s going on in these fishing towns. It seems odd to hide a 400 year old tradition from your own people.

So what’s up with all this secrecy? Doesn’t the Japanese population have a right to know what’s going on? Better to find out from their own government before the word comes from ashore in protests.

The movie documentary, The Cove illustrates that there is a global issue that needs to be addressed; the destruction of the environment and protection of species. Tradition or not, this mass annual slaughter should be stopped, or at least be put forward for the Japanese people to decide.

What are your thoughts? Pest control, tradition, livelihood; are these good enough reasons to continue with the annual slaughter? Leave your comments.