Category Archives: Marine Mammal

What YOU Can Do To Help Taiji Dolphins

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http://www.seashepherd.org/cove-guardians/what-you-can-do.html

The slaughter of 20,000 dolphins, porpoises, and small whales occurs in Japan each year. Starting on September 1st and continuing through March of the next year, fishermen herd whole families of small cetaceans into shallow bays and mercilessly stab and drown them to death.

This annual slaughter of dolphins was virtually unknown until 2003 when Sea Shepherd globally released covertly obtained film and photographs of the now infamous bloody “Cove” in a village called Taiji. Beginning in 2010, and continuing to this day, Sea Shepherd has an ongoing presence of volunteers standing watch on site at the Cove. They are The Cove Guardians.

With your help, we will continue to pressure Japan to end this cruel and destructive slaughter of dolphins. We are passionate, dedicated, and committed – it may take time, but determination will win for the dolphins in Taiji.

We can all make a difference. If you would like your voices to be heard, please contact the respective representatives to tell them the massacre must stop!

Please help us end this slaughter. Your opinion is important – apathy allows this barbaric “tradition” to continue.

Volunteer

Consider applying to be a Cove Guardian and joining our team in Taiji. This position requires dedication, time, and resources. You must pay for your travel, lodging, food, and all other personal expenses.

Application process:

•Send e-mail to coveguardian@seashepherd.org and express your interest.

•You will be sent an information packet that includes links to the Onshore Volunteer Application and a supplemental questionnaire for Cove Guardians.

•You will submit that package either by electronic or physical mail.

•You will be notified if you are selected and provided more detailed information to help you in booking your travels to and stay in Japan.

Don’t buy a ticket!
A ticket purchased to a dolphin show buys blood in Taiji

The captive dolphin entertainment industry makes a lot of money from dolphin suffering and death. The way to shut them down is to take the profit out of their operations. By ending the demand for their shows, we can sink them economically.

Do not support these entertainment venues. Terminate your season passes. Encourage your friends and family to stay away from them. Do not include them in your holiday packages or cruises. Contact the parks and let them know how you feel about dolphins kept in captivity. Educate others on the link between the captive dolphin industry and the Taiji dolphin slaughter. Do not participate in captive dolphin programs like “swimming with the dolphins”

The Ceta-Base “Phinventory” is a list of captive dolphins world wide.

cetabase

Spread the Word

Follow Operation Infinite Patience on social media and share with your friends and family. Ask them to help us end this atrocity.

Cove Guardian Facebook
Sea Shepherd USA Facebook
Cove Guardian Twitter
Sea Shepherd USA Twitter

Contact the Authorities

Help us end the brutal Taiji dolphin slaughter by voicing your concerns to the authorities in Taiji as well as the Japanese Embassy, US Embassy to Japan, US and Japanese Ambassadors to the UN, and the US Senate members of the Committee on Foreign Relations.

PRIME MINISTER OF JAPAN
Prime Minister Shinzo- Abe
Cabinet Office, Government of Japan
1-6-1 Nagata-cho
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo. 100-8914 JAPAN
+81-3-5253-2111

Website: http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/index-e.html
Online comment form #1: https://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/forms/comment_ssl.html
Online comment form #2: https://form.cao.go.jp/kokusai/en_opinion-0001.html

Japanese Embassies Worldwide:
Websites of Japanese Embassies, Consulates and Permanent Missions

List of Embassies and Consulates-General in Japan:
List of Embassies and Consulates-General in Japan

US Embassy in Japan:
Caroline Kennedy – Ambassador of the United States to Japan
Telephone: 011-81-3-3224-5000
Fax: 011-81-3-3505-1862
Send E-mail to the U.S. Embassy in Japan
Please thank Caroline Kennedy for her defense of the dolphins

Japanese UN Representatives:
H.E. Mr Kazuyoshi Umemoto – Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
japan.mission@dn.mofa.go.jp

H.E. Mr. Jun Yamazaki – Deputy Representative of Japan to the UN
japan.mission@dn.mofa.go.jp

United States UN Representative:
Samantha Power – US Ambassador to the UN
Samantha Power’s Twitter
United States Mission to the United Nations Contact Form

US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations:
US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations

Wakayama Prefecture Office, Fishery Division:
E0717001@pref.wakayama.lg.jp
Telephone: +81-73-441-3010
Fax: +81-73-432-4124

International Whaling Commission (IWC)
The Red House,
135 Station Road,
Impington,
Cambridge,
Cambridgeshire CB24 9NP, UK.
Tel: +44 (0) 1223 233 971
Fax: +44 (0) 1223 232 87
Email: secretariat@iwcoffice.org

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) / Convention on Migratory Species (CMP)
UNEP/CMS Secretariat
Platz der Vereinten Nationen 1
53113 Bonn, Germany
Tel: (+49 228) 815 2401
Fax: (+49 228) 815 2449
Email: secretariat@cms.int

Mayor – Taiji Town Hall:
Telephone: +81-73-559-2335

Taiji Fishermen’s Union:
Telephone: +81-73-559-2340
Fax: +81-735-59-2821

Hotel Dolphin Resort/Dolphin Base:
Telephone: +81-0735-59-3514
Fax: +81-0735-59-2810

Japan Fisheries Public Content Form:
Contact the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries

WAZA: The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums
secretariat@waza.org

IMATA: The International Marine Mammal Trainers’ Association
info@imata.org

Photo Jim Robertson

Photo Jim Robertson

BBC filmmaker Martyn Stewart locked up in Japan accused of being ‘eco-terrorist’

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BBC filmmaker Martyn Stewart locked up in Japan accused of being ‘eco-terrorist’

Martyn Stewart posted this picture on his Facebook from Osaka airport in Japan Martyn Stewart posted this picture on his Facebook from Osaka airport in Japan

Kate Nelson Thursday, February 13, 2014 1:52 PM

 BBC filmmaker Martyn Stewart who documents the bloody dolphin hunts in Taiji is reportedly locked up at Osaka airport claiming he’s accused of being an ‘eco-terrorist’.

Stewart, who films documentaries about the dolphin hunts in Taiji, said his conditions and the way he has been treated was ‘nothing short of criminal’.

He posted on his Facebook account: “I am locked in a cell room at Osaka airport waiting on an appeal to the high minister regarding my entry into Japan.

“I’m accused of being sea shepherd and an eco terrorist. My footage is not liked in Japan apparently and have been accused of assaulting members of the public.

“In 4 years of being here for the dolphins I have maintained the law and abided by their rules. My words and pictures did the rest. The government of Japan will do anything to protect the rights of the fishermen of Taiji and the barbaric treatment of the animals involved.

“Please share far and wide to bring awareness to this corrupt government and those that want to continue to brutally treat these amazing animals.”

Stewart has visited Japan several times to film the dolphin hunts in Taiji where hundreds of animals are wrestled into nets. Some are killed for meat, others are trapped and sold to aquariums.

Japanese fisherman say the annual hunt is part of their culture.

Writing on his blog last year, he said: “What I learnt from these visits was that we (westerners) cannot stop this war on the oceans. Japan and most of its people have to end this and in some way, make them believe it was their idea. Pressure from outsiders only gets their goat and they become stubborn. I got the impression that if you tell the fishermen to end this atrocity, they tried harder to kill. They are now actually being blasé about the capturing and killing. Yes, tarpaulin is still being used heavily but they are not as vigilant in stopping people from seeing the odd dead dolphin or tail draped outside of the boats that carry the corpses to the butcher house anymore.”

Court Finds Feds Violated Endangered Species Act in Pacific Northwest When Authorizing Navy Sonar

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Southern Resident killer whale with calf

Photo by NOAA

[I can relate to the severity of this is of particular issue since my hearing has been permanently damaged by loud anthropogenic, electronic and/or mechanical noises. Over the years I’ve developed tinnitus–a permanent ringing in the ears which can increase in volume and potentially drive the sufferer crazy or even suicidal. I can imagine that this is the kind of thing that’s happening to marine mammals, who depend on their sensitive hearing for navigation and communication, when they strand themselves onshore.

There are no tests that I know of to show whether whales and dolphins are suffering from tinnitus-like hearing damage, so the navy will likely ignore this problem as long as they can get away with it.

I’ve found dolphins, sea lions and whales stranded on the beaches of Washington and Oregon, and it’s certainly possibly that these strandings are the result of the navy’s ungodly loud and disruptive sonar testing.]

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http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/zsmith/court_finds_feds_violated_enda.html

A federal court has found that the government violated the Endangered Species Act when permitting Navy training activities in the Northwest Training Range Complex—a California-sized training area extending from Washington’s border with Canada down to Northern California.  The decision requires the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to reassess its permits to ensure that the Navy’s training complies with the Endangered Species Act’s requirements for the area’s endangered Southern Resident killer whales, blue whales, humpback whales, fin whales, sei whales, sperm whales, and Steller sea lions.  The government can no longer ignore science—that is developing at a brisk pace—showing that the Navy’s use of sonar is more harmful to whales and dolphins than previously thought.

The Navy’s use of mid-frequency active sonar can kill, injure, and disturb marine mammals.  The Navy and NMFS accept this fact, projecting 650,000 instances of injury and harassment to whales, dolphins, and porpoises over five years of activities in the Pacific Northwest.  Sonar has caused or been associated with multiple stranding events of whales and other marine mammals around the world.  NRDC and other concerned organizations (InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council, Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth Friends of the San Juans, and People for Puget Sound) challenged the Fisheries Service’s permitting of the Navy’s activities in the Pacific Northwest in January 2012.  With its ruling yesterday afternoon, the court found that the agency’s approval of the Navy’s activities ignored the best available science showing that marine mammals are far more sensitive to sonar that can cause hearing loss and other injuries.

As we’ve seen over the past decade in permit approvals, the Navy and NMFS have been working overtime to minimize the nature and extent of harm to marine mammals caused by the Navy’s use of sonar—twisting, turning, dodging, and simply ignoring evidence right before them.  Now, the science is catching up and exposing these machinations for what they always were: “ends justify the means” attempts to let the Navy continue with business as usual, unencumbered by any serious obligation to protect whales and dolphins from significant harms.  NRDC and our allies will continue to call on this agency to find ways to minimize harm to marine mammals from the Navy’s training.  This court ruling should remind NMFS that its preeminent obligation is to endangered species under the Endangered Species Act, not to applicants seeking to conduct harmful activities regardless of the consequences.