News
Dolphins and other sea species in Japanese Waters face extinction
Japan’s hunting of dolphins, smaller whales and porpoises is threatening some species with extinction in its coastal waters, a report by a British environmental group has said.
The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) report says that more than a million such creatures have been killed in Japanese hunts in the past 70 years.
It says that each year thousands are killed despite conservation concerns.
The Japanese government has not commented on the report.
But it has consistently defended its coastal whaling as a longstanding tradition, a source of livelihood and necessary for scientific research.
The government has also argued that small cetaceans should be excluded from the International Convention on Whaling.
The Japanese practice of driving many dolphins and porpoises onto beaches to be slaughtered has drawn international condemnation.
The EIA says that it is also unsustainable, and a danger to human health. Studies have found high levels of mercury and industrial chemicals like PCBs in dolphin and porpoise meat.
One study found people living in one dolphin-eating community in central Japan have mercury levels five times higher than normal.
“A comprehensive analysis of the available scientific data demonstrates unequivocally that there are grave concerns regarding the sustainability of these hunts,” the EIA report says.
It goes on to accuse the government of “displaying a lack of responsibility” in ensuring the sustainability of small cetacean populations in Japanese waters – warning that its annual quota of 16,000 dolphins is far too high.
The EIA says that the quota is based on 20-year-old data and that dolphin populations are much lower now.
The conservation status of each species varies, the report says, depending on its range and hunting practices.
Catch limits for Dall’s porpoises are 4.7-4.8 times higher than the safe threshold, it claims.
For the striped dolphin, once the mainstay of the industry but now endangered and disappearing from some areas, catches have dropped from more than 1,800 in the 1980s to about 100 today.
Anyone who has seen the documentary The Cove will know how controversial Japan’s annual dolphin hunt can be.
Hundreds of animals are driven into a bay where men jump into the water and cut their throats, turning the sea red.
Over the next 12 months, specialist scuba holiday company Dive Worldwide will be supporting Bite-Back Shark & Marine Conservation with donations collected from client bookings to any one of its stunning dive destinations around the world. The independently-owned operator expects to raise £3000 for the UK charity.
Manager at Dive Worldwide, Phil North, said: “We’re especially excited to work with Bite-Back and support its intelligent, creative and results-driven campaigns to end the UK trade in shark products and prompt a change in attitudes to the ocean’s most maligned inhabitant.”
Bite-Back is running campaigns to hold the media to account on the way it reports shark news along with a brand new nationwide education programme. Last year the charity was credited for spearheading a UK ban on the import and export of shark fins.
Campaign director at Bite-Back, Graham Buckingham, said: “We’re enormously grateful to Dive Worldwide for choosing to support Bite-Back. The company’s commitment to conservation helps set it apart from other tour operators and we’re certain its clients admire and respect that policy. For us, the affiliation is huge and helps us look to the future with confidence we can deliver against key conservation programmes.”
To launch the fundraising initiative, Phil North presented Graham Buckingham with a cheque for £1,000.
Visit Dive Worldwide to discover its diverse range of international scuba adventures and visit Bite-Back to learn more about the charity’s campaigns.
MORE INFORMATION
Call Graham Buckingham on 07810 454 266 or email graham@bite-back.com
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