(JP) The Blood Red Sea

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THE BLOOD RED SEA Oct 30 2003

 

Sickening slaughter to satisfy the Japanese appetite

for dolphin meato satisfy the Japanese appetite for

dolphin meat

 

By Karen Bale

 

THE sea turns red with the blood of more than 60

striped dolphins slaughtered after being lured into a

cove by Japanese fishermen.

 

A diver plunges into the gruesome, churning mass of

death and another innocent mammal is hauled by the

tail on to the boat.

 

It is the sickening end to a onesided hunt.

 

Fishermen confuse the dolphins' sense of direction by

pounding on the water.

 

The highly intelligent mammals are then corralled in

the small cove where they can be speared at the

killers' leisure.

 

Dolphin meat is usually canned and sold in the

country's supermarkets.

 

The nauseating footage of theslaughter near the

Japanese dolphinhunting capital of Taija was released

by US anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd.

 

Several bleeding dolphins can be seen on the boats,

gasping desperately for breath.

 

Activist Nik Hensey said: ``It's a wholesale

slaughter, which results in immense suffering for

these animals.

 

``It's a sight that one just can't imagine.'' Hensey

was beaten up by thefishermen then arrested after

trying to challenge them to a Kendo duel with bamboo

sticks.

 

The dolphin-hunting season officially got under way on

Sunday in the small port of Taiji, 280 miles

south-west of the capital, Tokyo.

 

Bad weather had stopped the hunters going out any

sooner.

 

The fishermen in Taiji plan to catch a total of nearly

2400 dolphins andsmaller species of whales during the

season, which runs until the end of April.

 

Up to 17,000 dolphins will be killed this year.

 

Though subject to quotas, the hunts are legal in Japan

and don't break international regulations because they

are done near the shore.

 

But because of international pressure for an end to

the killing of dolphins andthe bloodiness of their

hunting method, fishermen here have tried to keep out

of the public eye.

 

They do not permit filming of their hunts, refuse

on-the-record interviews and have even erected

barriers along the shoreline in a bid to discourage

cameramen.

 

The Sea Shepherd activists said they managed to get

the video by camping out in town for several weeks.

 

 

 

 

 

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