The Washington Post - 21.10.2019

A10 EZ M2 THE WASHINGTON POST.MONDAY, OCTOBER 21 , 2019

ator with ties to the senior leader-

ship of Japan’s ruling Liberal

Democratic Party and the power-

ful, conservative pro-whaling lob-

by. It’s that support that helps Taiji

withstand international criticism

and mobilize the support of the

Japan Coast Guard and immigra-

tion authorities.

But Sangen says the town’s rela-

tionship 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. Instead of keeping dol-

phins in tiny pens, he wants to

throw a net across nearby Moriu-

ra Bay. It would create a giant

enclosure the size of about 40

soccer fields, where tourists could

swim and kayak with dolphins

and scientists could conduct re-

search.

In 10 or 15 years, the net would

be removed in the hope that dol-

phins would keep coming back.

Western marine biologists

aren’t keen on the plan, seeing it

as just another way to exploit

captive dolphins.

But Jay Alabaster, who settled

in Taiji to work on a doctorate on

the dolphin hunt, said the town is

beginning to catch up with chang-

ing global attitudes about how

humans should interact with dol-

phins and whales.

“Taiji is moving toward a place

that even the extreme activists

will find more palatable,” he said.

“The town just needs some time

and space to get there.”

In the meantime, even Carbary

said Taiji’s dolphin hunt needs to

be put in a broader context.

“This is not a Taiji, Japan, issue;

this is a global issue, because the

captivity industry is a global in-

dustry,” she said. “People need to

understand that if they’re plan-

ning a vacation down to Mexico

and they want to swim with dol-

phins in captivity, they’re encour-

aging this behavior and this hunt-

ing season to continue.”

[email protected]

Akiko Kashiwagi contributed to this

report.

Sea Shepherd activists no lon-

ger come here. That is partly be-

cause Japan’s immigration au-

thorities have banned many of

them from entering the country.

This year, they were replaced with

a group of more than 30 Japanese

animal rights activists, who

marched peacefully through Taiji

on Sept. 1 chanting slogans and

holding banners to protest killing

and capturing dolphins.

Their march took them past

Taiji’s Whale Museum. Inside,

tourists from across Japan oohed

and aahed as dolphins performed

tricks to cheesy rock music, and

children lined up to stroke them.

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 to give only his

family name, Go. “Isn’t it the

same?”

Taiji’s mayor battles the

town’s ‘evil’ image

Taiji’s mayor, Kazutaka Sangen,

is a well-connected political oper-

executive of the Taiji Fisheries

Association.

“We don’t have any industries

here, and the available land is

limited. In this environment, we

have no other way but to try to

gain our living from the sea.”

But times may be changing —

slowly.

These days, the town is calm

but wary. Police trailed Carbary as

she went about her filming, while

a Japan Coast Guard ship sat off-

shore to guard the hunt.

“The people of Taiji have been

engaged with whaling for more

than 400 years; it’s part of our

life,” said Yoshifumi Kai, a senior

so it’s hardly surprising they suf-

fer in captivity.

Attitudes in China are chang-

ing slowly, she said, but the coun-

try hasn’t yet had its “Blackfish”

moment, citing the influence of

the 2013 American documentary

about captive killer whales.

“The problem is there’s so many

people in China that the potential

customer base for these places is

huge,” she said.

In Taiji, hunting whales and

dolphins is ‘part of our life’

The town of Taiji, on the south-

eastern coast of Japan’s main is-

land, has lived by hunting whales

and dolphins since the early 17th

century.

But the grisly depiction of the

dolphin slaughter in “The Cove”

brought global condemnation to

this small, close-knit community.

Activists from the Sea Shep-

herd Conservation Society

marched through town in black

T-shirts and carrying their modi-

fied skull-and-crossbones flag.

Locals accused the activists of

constantly goading them, thrust-

ing video cameras in their faces

and showing photos of dead

whales and dolphins to school-

children.

Right-wing Japanese national-

ists rallied to the cause and staged

counterprotests in Taiji.

BY SIMON DENYER

taiji, japan — A line of eight
boats came into view just below
the horizon. A pod of about a
dozen dolphins broke the glassy
surface off Taiji, the center of Ja-
pan’s annual dolphin hunt, which
continues despite international
outrage.
Fishermen banged on semi-
submerged poles to create an un-
derwater wall of sound, driving
the dolphins toward a narrow
cove along the hilly, wooded Pa-
cific shoreline about 80 miles
southeast of Osaka.
As the pod entered, a net was
drawn across the cove. The dol-
phins swam in narrower and nar-
rower circles, a calf sticking close
to its mother. Then came the
sound of thrashing. A slaughter
followed — hidden from view un-
der a temporary tarpaulin roof.
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. The calf was released back
into the ocean, facing likely death
without its mother’s care.
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-spin-
ner sustaining Taiji’s hunt.
Over the following two days, 13
bottlenose dolphins were cap-
tured alive — young, healthy ani-
mals selected from the pod by a
team of Japanese aquarium train-
ers working alongside the fisher-
men.
The animals fetch about $
for meat. A live bottlenose, the
easiest species to train, is worth
between $8,000 and $10,000, and
more than $40,000 after training,
experts say.
The live dolphins are mostly
sent to China, where the marine
park industry is booming and
largely outside the international
rulemaking that has turned its
back on Taiji’s catch.
China alone imported more
than 200 live dolphins and whales
from Japan in 2017 and 2018,
trade data shows.
“Taiji is ground zero for the
captive dolphin industry,” said Ra-
chel Carbary from Ric O’Barry’s
Dolphin Project, which is headed
by the “Flipper” trainer-turned-
activist. Carbary, who came to Tai-
ji to live-stream the hunt, is the
founder of Empty the Tanks, a
group campaigning to end all dol-
phin 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 sup-
plied aquariums across the world
for decades — in Japan, the United
Arab Emirates, Mexico, Thailand,
Russia and elsewhere. They have
even been purchased by the U.S.
Navy for mine detection and other
tasks.
But public outcry led the World
Association of Zoos and Aquari-
ums (WAZA) in 2015 to prohibit
its members from acquiring dol-
phins captured by drive hunts
such as Taiji’s. Now, China has
taken over as Taiji’s main eco-
nomic lifeline.
In China, just one out of the
more than 85 marine parks and
related facilities belongs to
WAZA.
Naomi Rose, a marine mammal
scientist at the Washington-based
Animal Welfare Institute, has
used live events and online video
streaming in China to raise aware-
ness of the health problems and
stress experienced by captive ma-
rine mammals.
Dolphins typically swim 25
miles a day in the wild and live in
complex social groups, she says,

CHILE

At least 7 dead, 1,

charged in riots

Chile’s government will extend
a state of emergency to cities in its
north and south, President
Sebastián Piñera said late Sunday,
after at least seven people were
killed amid violent clashes and
arson attacks over the weekend.
Protests led by students began
two weeks ago over fare increases
on public transportation.
Piñera said Santiago’s metro
and bus system would operate a
partial service Monday, along
with hospitals and some schools,
and appealed for Chileans to
band together and help their
neighbors remain safe.

Interior Minister Andrés

Chadwick cited 70 “serious

incidents of violence” on Sunday,

including the looting of 40

supermarkets and other

businesses. Chadwick said

military and police numbers were

at 10,500 in Santiago and would

be reinforced where necessary.

Chadwick said seven people

had been killed in incidents

related to the protests, without

giving further details.

Prosecutors said 1,462 people

had been charged by

midafternoon on Sunday in

connection with that day’s

protests, 614 of them in Santiago,

That followed 179 arrests in

Santiago on Saturday.

— Reuters

LEBANON

Protesters flood streets

as revolt gains strength

Hundreds of thousands of

people thronged public squares in

Lebanon’s capital and elsewhere

on Sunday in the largest protests

the country has seen since 2005,

unifying an often-divided public

in revolt against traditional

leaders who have ruled for three

decades and brought the

economy to the brink of disaster.

Ditching party flags and

carrying only white-and-red

Lebanese flags, they flooded

streets in Beirut, the northern city

of Tripoli, in eastern Baalbek, as

well as cities, towns and villages

near the southern border with

Israel and along Syria’s border in

the east.

The protests began four days

ago after the government

announced new tax plans. The

announcement turned long-

simmering anger into outright

fury at a ruling class that has

divvied up power among itself

and amassed wealth but done

little to fix a crumbling economy

and dilapidated infrastructure.

Lebanon suffers from high

unemployment, little growth and

one of the highest debt ratios in

the world. Public services have

been stagnant for years. The

proposed taxes that sparked the

protests were part of austerity

measures aimed at tackling the

crisis.

— Associated Press

Violence over Facebook post

leaves 4 dead in Bangladesh: At

least four people were killed and

dozens injured after security

officials in southern Bangladesh

opened fire to disperse hundreds

of Muslims during a protest over

an alleged social media post

undermining Islam’s prophet

Muhammad, police said. The

violence occurred in the southern

district of Bhola when protesters

demanded punishment for a

Hindu man alleged to have

posted the Facebook comment,

the local police chief said. The

man denied making the

comment, saying his Facebook

account had been hacked.

Bolivia’s Morales appears

headed to runoff:President Evo

Morales led in early returns from

the first round of Sunday’s

presidential election, but he

appeared headed to a runoff. The

country’s top electoral authority

said that with 84 percent of the

vote counted, Morales was on top

with 45.3 percent, followed by

38.2 percent for his closest rival,

former president Carlos Mesa, 66.

If the results hold, they will face

off in December and Morales, 59,

could be vulnerable to a united

opposition. Under Morales, the

economy has grown by an annual

average of about 4.5 percent. But

some are frustrated by corruption

scandals linked to his

administration and his refusal to

accept a referendum on limiting

presidential terms.

— From news services

The World

DIGEST

Dolphin hunt pits a town’s tradition against global anger

Taiji, Japan, shot to international infamy in 2009 with ‘The Cove.’ But the money-generator that sustains the practice isn’t meat — it’s captivity.

TOP: Dolphins swim in a tank at Taiji Whale Museum. Taiji dolphins have supplied marine parks worldwide for decades — in Japan, the

United Arab Emirates, Mexico, Thailand, Russia and elsewhere. They have even been purchased by the U.S. Navy for mine detection and

other tasks. LEFT: Anti-hunt activists pass a research ship in Taiji. RIGHT: Hunt supporters hold flags as fishing boats head out to sea.

PHOTOS BY SHIHO FUKADA FOR THE WASHINGTON POST