Still people want to visit a marine park to see the dolphins do tricks ? Still people visit marine parks because they claim to love dolphins so much? Maybe those people should get more educated on the pain and suffering and death behind these parks.When one visits a marine park,they support the Taiji dolphin slaughters !!! Claudia ~For the Oceans~
One of four wild-caught dolphins recently sent to South Korea from Taiji, a Japanese town whose lethal roundups of dolphins have sparked controversy, died Monday, according to local officials.
The bottlenose dolphin died at the Jangsaengpo Whale Museum, According to local officials, the dolphin stopped eating a week ago.
It was among four that were sent in October from Taiji, a town in Japan's Wakayama Prefecture that annually rounds up thousands of dolphins between September and March, herding them from offshore into a shallow cove where most are slaughtered.
Fishermen in Taiji have tried to hide the slaughter from the eyes of outsiders, but gruesome video footage has surfaced on the Internet and in the recent film "The Cove," fueling the town's notoriety among conservationists and animal rights activists.
Locals reject arguments that dolphins are special and say killing and eating the marine mammals is a time-honored tradition.
Those dolphins that are spared slaughter are exported to aquariums and dolphinariums around the world to be used in public performances and swim-with-the-dolphins programs.
Critics say that catching and confining wild-caught dolphins in barren tanks is hugely stressful and inherently cruel to the intelligent and social creatures, which are trained to perform tricks using hunger as an inducement.
While the capture of all cetaceans is banned in South Korea, fishermen in Ulsan have been clamoring for a resumption of whaling.
Like their Taiji counterparts, they claim that whales and dolphins eat too many lucrative fish, damaging the local economy, and that killing and eating cetaceans is a tradition.
And read : Eight more dolphins flown off to Malaysia http://solomonstarnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14048&change=71&changeown=78&Itemid=26
Environment
J Reiki
- 4 minutes ago - abc.net.au 
Environment
J Reiki
- 1 hour ago - abc.net.au This post was modified from its original form on 09 Dec, 22:55
Environment
J Reiki
- 1 hour ago - abc.net.au
Much has changed since 2003 when Ric and I travelled to Taiji, Japan for the first time. Back then, dangerous confrontations with the Japanese dolphin hunters were common. Their aggression and hostility were enormous. Every day at sunrise when we showed up at the dolphin killing cove with our cameras and video recorders to film and expose the dolphin slaughter, the dolphin hunters would push us around and threaten to harm us. “Go home, or we’ll kill you,” they would say. It was easy for them to harass us: There were no witnesses to their actions. We pleaded with the media in Japan and other countries to come to Taiji and cover the story of the dolphin slaughter, but no one was interested. Sometimes it seemed as if we were the only ones who knew about the dolphin slaughter that goes on six months out of the year in this remote fishing village.
Ric O’Barry holds a package of dolphin meat purchased in a Japanese market. Photo by Helene O’Barry.
We would campaign in Taiji and Futo for weeks at a time, and those were weeks filled with anguish and sleepless nights. It seemed impossible that we would ever be able to generate any interest for this issue on an international level. At that time, the issue of the dolphin slaughter was primarily one of animal cruelty, and the dolphin hunters loved it. They loved it because it was an approach they could argue against with relative ease. “You eat cows and pigs in the Western world. We eat dolphins, what’s the difference?” they would say.
Turning the dolphin slaughter into an issue of food culture gave them an argument that seemed valid to some. But that is not the case anymore. Things have changed. The keyword to that change is &ldquo
oison.” The dolphin meat sold to an unsuspecting Japanese public is poisoned, contaminated with mercury, metylmercury, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other toxins that accumulate up the food chain. It is only a matter of time before the Japanese public realizes that the dolphin hunters, supported by their government, have been selling them poison to eat. How much mercury have the Japanese coastal populations consumed without knowing it? And how many more people will be poisoned before a ban on the sale of toxic dolphin meat is implemented? Now that science has proven the presence of high levels of toxins in dolphin meat, through the efforts of environmental groups including the Save Japan Dolphins Coalition, the entire world will be watching and waiting for a reaction from the Japanese government.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Japan has a new Minister of State for Consumer Affairs and Food Safety, Ms. Mizuho Fukushima. At a press conference held in Tokyo, Ms. Fukushima agreed to investigate the mercury issue. This gives us hope that the Japanese public will finally be told the truth about the poisonous dolphin meat, and that the meat will be pulled from shelves in supermarkets and never again be served in schools and workplaces. You can help our campaign by sending a message to Ms. Fukushima. Your letter can be short:
“Dear Ms. Mizuho Fukushima:
Scientific studies have demonstrated that dolphin and whale meat is highly toxic and not fit for human consumption, due to contamination from methylmercury, mercury, PCBs, and other poisons. Please prevent any further damage to the health of the Japanese people by banning the sale of dolphin and whale meat immediately.
Sincerely,
Your name and contact information.”
Please send your letter to:
Minister of the Consumer Affairs Agency
Ms. Mizuho Fukushima
Sanno Park Tower
2-11-1 Nagatacho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Japan 100-6178
Fax: +81-3-3500-4640
Keiko Ueda, legislative Aide to Ms. Mizuho Fukushima, Member of the House of Councillors, Social Democratic Party
E-mail:ukgo@jca.apc.org
THE state Environment Department is using a well-known Moreton Bay island as a secret dumping ground for increasing numbers of dead whales.
Giant whale carcasses are being towed to Mud Island by the Department of Environment, tied up and left to rot.
The grisly discovery has shocked local fishermen and environmentalists who question whether declining water quality might be killing the whales.
"There are great concerns across the whole eastern seaboard, and water quality in Moreton Bay is undoubtedly going backwards," Wildlife Preservation Society spokesman Simon Baltais said.
Fisherman Terry Hill, who found a large dead whale hidden in the Mud Island mangroves last week, said he had been crabbing there for decades and had never seen whales.
"I don't know what's going on but it's certainly a bit suss, especially when we're also seeing big loggerhead turtles dying in the bay," he said.
A Department of Environment spokesman said an increasing number of whales were dying in southeast Queensland waters but this was in line with a "healthy" whale population, which experts say is increasing about 10 per cent a year to about 13,000.
Three whales that died in southeast Queensland waters in recent months had been towed to Mud Island.
A 14m dead whale also washed up on Moreton Island earlier this month but was too big to move.
"The latest whale intercepted was found floating around the northern tip of Bribie Island about 10 days ago and most likely would have washed up on Kings Beach at Caloundra if it hadn't been intercepted," the department spokesman said.
"Mud Island is an uninhabited mangrove island in the centre of Moreton Bay, not visited by daytrippers or tourists."
Towing the whales to a place such as Mud Island was in accordance with the wishes of traditional owners.
Mr Baltais said while he respected the wishes of indigenous owners, dead whales were not good for Moreton Bay.
"They could attract sharks and other scavengers – what does that do for the rest of the wildlife?" he said.
"There has been a significant decline in the health of Moreton Bay with increasing numbers of dead animals, algal blooms and a loss of seagrass. The last thing we should be doing is dropping more dead animals in the Bay."
However, the department spokesman rejected concerns about water quality.
TOKYO — Japan has caught 59 whales off the coast of the northern island of Hokkaido, officials said Monday, under a research program that critics say is a cover for commercial whaling. The annual expedition off the port city of Kushiro ended over the weekend after harvesting 59 minke whales, the Fisheries Agency said in a statement. The catch was one whale short of the maximum 60 allowed under the research program authorized by the International Whaling Commission. Japan and other pro-whaling nations have been pushing for the IWC to revoke the 1986 ban on commercial hunts amid arguments over the number of whales left in the world's oceans. Japan also hunts about 1,000 whales in the Antarctic Ocean and the northwest Pacific Ocean under an IWC research program. Critics say the expeditions are a cover for commercial whaling because the harvest is sold to market for consumption. As in previous years, the Fisheries Agency said the hunt off Hokkaido was aimed at studying the whales' feeding patterns and their effect on fish stocks. Findings will be presented at next year's meeting of the IWC. During the 12-day expedition, whalers caught 36 male whales and 23 females, the agency said. Examination of their stomach contents found that the minkes most commonly fed on pollack, krill and anchovy in the research area, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) off the coast of Kushiro in the Pacific Ocean, it said. Kushiro is 895 kilometers (556 miles) northeast of Tokyo.
BARROW, Alaska -- Barrow residents have been hunting whales for thousands of years, and still to this day rely on the bowheads to help offset the very high cost of living in one of Alaska's most distant communities.
Roy Nageak Sr.'s crew returned home champions last Wednesday with what may be the last whale kill of the season, which opened Sept. 26.
Word spread fast in the small community. Within an hour it seemed like the whole town came to help.
It only took a few hours or so to butcher, and when they finished, everyone shared in the harvest.
"You walk up, you got a plate or they'll give you a little bag with an Eskimo doughnut... some delicacies, a part of the flipper or some blubber or kidney or tongue and everybody has a good time," said City Councilman Mike Shults.
Barrow residents hunt whales twice a year -- in the spring and in the fall. They've been waiting in keen anticipation for this muktuk after rationing their meager spring harvest of just four bowheads.
They're up to 10 this fall.
The crew that brought in this bounty says it had some help.
Roy's son Ernest pulled the harpoon trigger. His cousin died this past year and it was his wish that his ashes be scattered across his beloved hunting grounds.
The hunters mixed his remains with the ammunition which launched the fatal shot, Ernest's first kill.
"Yeah, we all thought about our family members that we lost this year," Ernest said.
In the evening the town held a large celebration where they handed out whale meat to residents. It will also be served during the holidays throughout the winter.
Roy Nageak Sr.'s whaling crew returned with another whale Wednesday. (Dan Carpenter/KTUU-DT)
A large part of the community came out to help butcher the whale. (Dan Carpenter/KTUU-DT)
Ernest Nageak shows the 100-year-old musket he used to fire the harpoon into the whale for his first kill. (Dan Carpenter/KTUU-DT
HONOLULU - The federal government is considering taking the humpback whale off the endangered species list in response to data showing the population of the massive marine mammal has been steadily growing in recent decades.
Known for their acrobatic leaps from the sea and complex singing patterns, humpback whales were nearly hunted to extinction for their oil and meat by industrial-sized whaling ships well through the middle of the 20th century. But the species has been bouncing back since an international ban on their commercial whaling in 1966.
"Humpbacks by and large are an example of a species that in most places seems to be doing very well, despite our earlier efforts to exterminate them," said Phillip Clapham, a senior whale biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The government is required by law to review the endangered species status of an animal or plant if it receives "significant new information." The National Marine Fisheries Service, a NOAA agency, received results last year from an extensive study showing that the North Pacific humpback population has been growing 4 to 7 percent a year in recent decades.
Public comment is being accepted until Oct. 13 on the upcoming review, which is expected to take less than a year. It's the first review for humpbacks since 1999.
A panel of scientists will then study the data and produce a scientific report on their analysis in late spring or early summer. It's unclear what the decision on delisting the humback will be.
"I don't know where the humpback people are going to come out," said David Cottingham, who heads the marine mammal and sea turtle conservation division at the Fisheries Service. "It would be premature to talk about it."
Some environmental groups are already opposing the possibility of a delisting.
Miyoko Sakashita, the ocean programs director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said that ongoing climate change and ocean acidification are emerging threats that may hurt humpback whales.
"Ocean conditions are changing so rapidly right now that it would probably be hasty to delist the humpbacks," Sakashita said.
Ralph Reeves, who chairs the cetacean specialist group at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, said the U.S. should remove humpbacks from the list if populations have sufficiently recovered.
He said conservationists must "be prepared and willing to embrace success" if they're to maintain what he called a "meaningful" endangered species program.
"The whole process, the credibility of it, depends on telling people that things are really bad when they're really bad and tell people that they aren't so bad when they aren't so bad," Reeves said.
There are now an estimated 18,000 to 20,000 humpbacks in the North Pacific, up from just 1,400 in the mid-1960s.
An early 1990s survey of humpbacks in the North Atlantic showed the population there was some 10,600. The results of a follow-up to that study, expected by the end of the year, are likely to show this population has grown, too.
The global humpback population is estimated to be about 60,000, according to the Swiss-based Conservation of Nature union.
Helping the humpbacks is that they reproduce once every two to three years, as opposed to every three to five years for other whale species. They also have a diverse diet, including krill and herring, capelin and other fish.
"They feed on a lot of different kinds of things, so they're adaptable," Clapham said. "They seem to be a resilient species generally with a lot of options."
There are some subpopulations of humpbacks, however, that aren't as robust. A South Pacific group that feeds in the Antarctic and then migrates to the warm waters off New Caledonia, Samoa and Tonga to breed and calve isn't doing as well.
Whale experts say this is because commercial whaling, and later, illegal whaling by the Soviet Union, shrunk this population so dramatically that it's had a harder time recovering.
There are also humpback populations about which relatively little is known. These include humpbacks that spend the winter in waters off southern Japan and the Philippines and the summer near Russia's Far East coast.
This group also appears to be relatively small, with only about 1,000 whales.
There is a chance the review could lead to the removal of healthier subpopulations from the endangered species list while other groups that are still at risk could be left on.
Something similar happened in 1994 when the federal government removed a U.S. West Coast population of the gray whale from the endangered species list but left on the list a separate population of gray whale that lives off Russia's Pacific coast.
The U.S. doesn't have authority over species management in the waters of other nations, but it may prosecute U.S. citizens and corporations that violate U.S. endangered species law overseas.
FILE - In this Jan 30, 2006 file photo, a humpback whale breaches
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Cal
- 9 hours ago - uk.news.yahoo.com
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Dee
- 4 hours ago - berkshireeagle.com
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Claudia
- 48 minutes ago - japanprobe.com
Ric O'Barry and son being interviewed at Taiji Museum
Photo by Mark J. Palmer ©2009
Thankfully, the Tokyo Broadcasting Service is now reporting on the mercury contamination in the dolphin meat from the slaughter that takes place every year in Taiji.
This meat is highly toxic and has been given to children in their compulsorary school lunch program. Now the question remains – what is the Japanese government going to do about this? Will there be a testing program for these children to determine the effects of eating this tainted meat?
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The Cove - No fishermen - No dolphins - No blood - How it should be
© 2009 - Photo by Mark J. Palmer
After years of trying to get the word out, this year Ric O’Barry is successful. He is now being interviewed by media from all over the world. And thankfully, the Japanese media are finally covering the story and interviewing him. When he and the crew of The Cove were there for filming, they found that the Japanese people knew nothing of the Taiji cove, what went on there, or that they were being sold mercury toxic tainted meat.
The one person who will not speak to him, however, is the mayor of Taiji. In Ric’s blog he says that they contacted the mayor’s office, but the mayor refused to meet with him. Ric’s team even offered to send their questions ahead of time so the mayor could prepare for their meeting. But still the mayor’s office refused. One has to wonder what else he could be hiding, or what he is afraid of?
Ric’s team needs to be able to stay in Japan for as long as possible. They know as long as they are there, the dolphin slaughter will not take place. They also know that as soon as they leave, it will probably start up again. They need funds to stay there. Please donate to Save Japan Dolphins! No amount is too small and if we all donate whatever we can, the team can stay there longer. They have finally gotten the world to focus on Taiji and we all need to keep the focus on Taiji. The dolphins will thank you for whatever you can do to help!
Related Articles:
Happenings in Taiji and why this has to stop!
The Taiji Whaling Museum and the Miami Seaquarium - How are they similar?
The South Australian Environment Department has cautioned a number of people for getting too close to whales off the state's coast.
A helicopter was seen hovering just 10 metres above a whale off Victor Harbor.
In another case, two kayakers were seen within metres of a whale and her calf at Middleton.
The Department's Deb Kelly says the offenders have been cautioned but have escaped the maximum $100,000 harassment penalty.
She says such behaviour is foolish and dangerous... Read Full Article
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Offbeat
Claudia
- 41 seconds ago - seashepherd.org
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Animals
THE PHOEN
- 37 minutes ago - ecofactory.com
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Environment
Claudia
- 13 minutes ago - globalpost.com
LAST CHANCE TO SEE "THE COVE" ENVIRO THRILLER
ON OPENING NIGHT
ACCLAIMED FILM ON THE THRILLING, EMOTIONAL SEARCH
FOR JAPAN'S IMPERILED DOLPHINS
New - Meet Special Guest - Mercury Expert - Dr. Jane Hightower Direct from The Cove Opening in New York
"The Cove is an unconventional documentary, one that looks very much like a feature film, with the dramatic arcs and suspense one would expect in a James Bond or Hollywood action movie." The New York Times
Only 6 tickets left! Film 7 pm Friday, August 7 Screening/Reception tickets: $40 per person, benefiting our work to save dolphins and other marine species. Limited to 25 STRP supporters!
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Environment
Alejandra
- 17 hours ago - wwf.org.uk
Will You Be A Cove Captain For Dolphins?
The dolphins in Japan need your help! Please volunteer at a screening of "The Cove" and take home a 100% organic cotton Save Japan Dolphins t-shirt and cap.
Opening July and August in movie theaters around the United States, "The Cove" is a powerful documentary on the work of our Save Japan Dolphins Coalition, featuring dolphin specialist and activist Ric O’Barry. Click here to read a fascinating profile of Ric in this week's New York Magazine.
“The Cove” reveals the truth about dolphin hunting in Japan. It has received standing ovations in film festivals across the world. “The Cove” received the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival, the Hot Docs Film Festival in Toronto, the Newport Film Festival, International Film Festival, Nantucket Fest, the Sydney International Film Festival, Maui Film Festival and the Seattle International Film Festival, plus Best of Festival at the Blue Ocean Film Festival. The film opens internationally this fall. Click here to see when the film will come to your city, and for more information about volunteering for this special event.
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Ramon
- 23 hours ago - oceansentry.org
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Cher
- 6 hours ago - wildlifeextra.com
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Cowboss
- 19 hours ago - sciencedaily.com
