Activists in Taiji

I arrived in Taiji on Saturday and everyone was in good spirits because the hunters now take Saturdays off and they leave the dolphins in peace. Giving the dolphins a break is really the last thing on their minds. What these guys really want is a break from the irritating, relentless surveillance conducted by the Cove Guardians. We pride ourselves in our ability to be incredibly annoying.  

On Sunday it was windy so the boats did not go out and today the hunters burned a lot of fuel but came home with nothing. The past few days have been good for the dolphins, but so far this year, 39% of the time the killers hunted, they found dolphins and annihilated them.

Things have changed since I was last here and the most noticeable change is an increased police presence and the addition of riot police. There are many more police vehicles on patrol and at the Cove there is a modular building called a “police box”. Today two of my colleagues walked into the police box and one asked the police for help with her camera. It had been programed in Japanese and she wanted it changed to English so the police did their best to help her.

Last year when a new Cove Guardian arrived, the police would immediately appear and ask to see the passport of the new arrival. This year I had to go through this twice with two different police forces and I also had to fill out a questionnaire and show my international drivers licence. All foreigners who enter Taiji must go through this process. If a foreigner is seen driving a car who is not known to the police (by the way….I am “known”) the foreigner will be stopped. DWI is a crime in most countries, but in Taiji, if you are DWF (Driving While Foreign) you should expect to be pulled over. 

Yesterday we had some fun with the police. They often follow us, so we opted to follow them. After several minutes of playing “follow the leader” and “tag you’re it” we met them in a parking lot and Scott, our campaign leader, said to the police “Oh there are you are! We have been looking for you!”  Yes, we can be annoying, but we laugh while we engage in our antics and the police have realized it is probably easier to laugh too.

Another change from last year is that all 12 banger boats tie up in the harbor in a 4 X 3 formation and they also have erected a security shed we call “Jerk in the Box”. Each night someone from one of the boats remains there overnight to secure the vessels so they don’t work the next day and only 11 boats go out. That certainly works for me. A few days ago, late at night, my colleagues drove by. Dire Straits just happened to be blasting and I believe a few car windows were down. It was only a matter of seconds that this oversight of music blasting while the windows were down occurred, but it is possible a sleeping dolphin killer’s solitude was disturbed.

Are we annoying? Yes. Are we making the lives of those who kill dolphins miserable? I sure hope so.  Do the dolphin hunters wish we would go away and leave them alone?  In their dreams.  As long as the dolphin slaughter continues, the Cove Guardians will be in Taiji. When the slaughter stops, we will leave.

In the meantime, we will be watching them as they stand around their bonfire in the morning at the Fisherman’s Union (AKA the FU), we follow them to their boats, we watch from the promenade and  from the hill we call Glenda’s and also from the Cove. Our cameras are always rolling and they hate it. They want us to go away, but we won’t. They must erect tarps and rig curtains and go to a great deal of effort to try to hide their dirty deeds; they cannot work unhindered.

The number of Cove Guardians continues to increase and we will have a record number on the ground next month. One of the police must have heard the rumour about the swelling numbers and asked if there would be 16 people here in February.  Scott said “yes”.  The officer then asked “Do you know when they are coming?” and Scott again said “yes”, but his tone was clear. Scott had no intention of providing further information. We all laughed, including the police. This is an odd place. The hunters have become the hunted and the Cove Guardians, police, and additional security are all part of the pageant.

Some people will never understand why it is wrong to kill a sentient being, but they do understand money. The extra security measures are costing Taiji and the Wakayama Prefecture a great deal of money. The killing of dolphins was once a simple process, but the need to hide is causing inefficiencies.

We will continue to do everything we can to negate the killers’ profits and to make their lives as unpleasant as possible while we walk a very fine line. The challenge is that the line is sometimes blurred and it also moves unexpectedly, but this is a risk we take and we will continue to do so until the killing stops.

For the Oceans,

Janice

Janice Oceans (on FB)

Janice_Oceans (on Twitter)

Help Shut the smallest Dolphin tank in the world.

Shut Down the Smallest Dolphin Tank in the World

 

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Target: In Taiji, Japan, home to the notorious Taiji Whale Museum, captive dolphins are kept in abysmal conditions.  This museum is right around the corner from the killing Cove where thousands of dolphins are slaughtered brutally every year, as depicted in The Cove documentary.  Outrageously, the Taiji Whale Museum, run by the town of Taiji, helps capture dolphins for the international trade in live dolphins for dolphinariums around the world.  While the Taiji dolphin hunters get around $500 or so for a dead dolphin when sold on the market for meat, the Taiji Whale Museum will get more than $150,000 (and rising) on the international market for a trained live dolphin, and so the Museum actually subsidizes the bloody dolphin drive hunts.
We call this international trade Blood Dolphin$.
While visiting the Taiji Whale Museum and checking out the tanks in January 2012, I again encountered one of the worst tanks there – I’m pretty sure it is the smallest dolphin tank in the world.  This tank now plays host to two spotted dolphins that are listless and hang at the surface of the tank as if they were dead.  It is a horrible situation in a horrible facility!
 We have nicknamed these two poor dolphins “Sad” and “Lonely.”  They will soon be dead, if their conditions are not improved.  (Ironically, the Japanese label in this tank notes that these two dolphins are of a species that is rare in captivity, because they do not do well in captivity!)
You can help shut down the smallest dolphin tank in the world!
Please spread the word to your friends and family.  Thank you for your efforts on behalf of Sad and Lonely!
The Taiji Whale Museum is a member of the Japan Association of Zoos and Aquariums (JAZA).  JAZA in turn is a member organization of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA).  WAZA maintains ethical standards for their associated zoos and aquariums all around the world.  WAZA is based in Switzerland.
Call or e-mail them NOW!

Sea Shepherd supporters held on Japanese whaling vessel

Australian activists Geoffrey Tuxworth, Simon Peterffy and Glen Pendlebury before they left port on the Steve Irwin to meet the Japanese whaling fleet. They are being held on board the Shonan Maru 2 after climbing aboard. Photograph: Holger Bennewitz/Reuters

Three Australian anti-whaling activists who illegally boarded a Japanese whaling vessel on Sunday could face trial and imprisonment in Japan, prompting attempts by the two countries to head off a diplomatic clash over the annual hunt.
The men, supporters of the Sea Shepherd marine conservation group, boarded the Shonan Maru 2 security vessel under cover of darkness and demanded that the fleet abandon its hunt in the Antarctic.
The three Australians carried with them a message that said: "Return us to shore in Australia and then remove yourself from our waters."
Australia's attorney general, Nicola Roxon, called for their immediate release. "We are representing our views most strongly that they should be released promptly and returned to Australian soil," she told reporters. "There are a number of different ways that could be done."
The boarding took place about 16 miles off the west coast of Australia, reports said. The men are members of Forest Rescue, an Australia-based environmental group that has been travelling with Sea Shepherd as it attempts to locate and obstruct the whalers.
They have been named as Geoffrey Tuxworth, 47, Simon Peterffy, 44, and Glen Pendlebury, 27.
On Monday Japanese and Australian officials were embroiled in a dispute with activists over the exact location of the Shonan Maru 2 when the incident took place.
Roxon said negotiations over the men's fate could be complicated as the incident occurred inside Australia's exclusive economic zone – not in its territorial waters – which meant Australian law was not in force. "At this stage the boat hasn't sought to come into port," she said. "We may, of course, in the coming days want to have discussions to do just that if it's one way to be able to get these three Australians safely back to Australia."
Roxon said the Shonan Maru 2, which has been shadowing the activists, was "not welcome" in Australia's exclusive economic zone.
"This ship, people need to remember, is not directly involved in whaling activities, but it is clearly providing a support role and that may give us some other options if it was trying to come into our territorial waters."
Sea Shepherd's founder, Paul Watson, said the vessel was in Australian waters when the incident happened and urged the government in Canberra to prevent the three men from being taken back to Japan to face trial.
"It really is disgraceful that the Australian government has not done anything to help," he told BBC Five Live from Australian vessel the Steve Irwin. "We're of the opinion that the Australian government should rescue them but it seems more interested in appeasing the Japanese.
Watson described the trio as "prisoners" and said GPS data on board the Shonan Maru 2 would prove the ship was in Australian waters when it was boarded. "If this goes to court that evidence will have to be produced," he said.
The whaling fleet, which left Japan last month, plans to catch more than 900 minke whales and about 50 fin whales during the current season.
The International Whaling Commission banned commercial whaling in 1986 but Japan is permitted to catch a limited number of whales for what it calls scientific research.
Last year Sea Shepherd claimed a significant victory after the fleet returned to port with one-fifth of its intended catch after a series of clashes with activists.
In 2010, Sea Shepherd member Pete Bethune boarded a whaling ship and was later given a suspended sentence at a court in Tokyo.
The Institute of Cetacean Research, a quasi-governmental body in Tokyo that manages the annual hunts, said the activists were unhurt and being questioned. Reports said the men had gone on hunger strike to protest against their detention.
Glenn Inwood, a New Zealand-based spokesman for the institute, told Australian radio that they could remain on board the Japanese ship for as long as four months, depending on how long it continued to tail the Steve Irwin.
"Not only are they facing that, but they certainly risk being taken to Japan to be tried for trespassing or whatever other charges that Japan feels they may want to issue against them," he said.
Donald Rothwell, an international law expert from the Australian National University, said the activists could face charges under Japanese law and may even have broken Australian law.
"Unauthorised boarding of a Japanese vessel is an act of trespass wherever that act may have taken place at sea," he told Reuters.