Animal welfare groups protest dolphin hunting activity in Japan
Animal welfare groups stage a protest action in front of the Japanese Embassy in Manila against the dolphin hunting activity in Japan which starts this month.
The protest that was participated by 25 members of Earth Island Institute Asia-Pacific and Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) started about 9:30 am on Thursday.
In an interview with the Daily Manila Shimbun, Trixie Concepcion, Earth Island Institute Regional Director for Asia-Pacific noted that their protest aims to support the Japanese people who are asking the government of Japan to stop the hunting activity.
"We believed that the Japanese people are with us in this fight because as we speak there's a lot of protest from the Japanese people happening all over Japan and they are pretty effective. They are suing the local government of Taiji because the local government in Taiji is not transparent on what is happening in the dolphin hunts," she said.
"The positive development now is that the Japanese people themselves are asking their government and I think now because of that there is now change that is starting in Japan, like what I told you in Shinagawa Aquarium. There is also an activist that sued the mayor of Taiji for not opening up the numbers of dolphins they capture and the Japanese people believed that they pay the taxes and they have the right to know such information," she added.
Concepcon said Shinagawa Aquarium in Tokyo, which started in 1991 and is undergoing renovation announced that they are not going to have dolphins in their facility when it reopens in 2027.
"They've already announced that they are not going to have dolphins in their facility, so it's a big win for dolphins in Japan. I think change is really coming and our continued protest like this is enlightening and educating the general public about the real issues," she said.
"This is very positive and we believe if Japanese people they've been doing these for several years now, these is where true change comes in... Our protest our action right now is in support to the Japanese people, because majority of Japanese people don't even know that this is happening. Majority of Japanese people don't eat dolphins so this is not against them and their culture," she added.
Concepcion said the number of dolphins captured and killed in Taiji in the past years has significantly declined during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Every year they have a quota of 1,849 dolphins of different species... if you look at the number the statistics from 2020 to 2021 season out of 1,849 they just only able to capture or kill 1,010. So last year 2021 to 2022 again the quota was 1,849, but the amount of animals that have been captured or killed is about roughly over 500, so there is a drastic decrease. We believe that is also because of less demands from oceanariums all over the world because of the pandemic," she said.
"I believe we can carry on the momentum of asking people because of what happened in the pandemic a lot of people are more environmentally conscious because the pandemic is basically an environmental issue. So I believe we can sustain the momentum ask people to be more caring about environment," she added.
Concepcion also called the public to stop watching dolphin shows and lessen the use of plastics which eventually end up in the ocean. This might be swallowed by marine species like dolphins.
"Stop watching dolphins in captivity and stop using plastics or minimize the use of plastics, because the plastics we use here on land eventually end up in the seas and a lot of dolphins and whales eat them when they are stranded in the shore and they die and when the veterinarian opened them up for necropsy, it's all plastics," she said.
"If you love dolphins lessen plastic use and stop watching dolphin shows go for the dolphin watching in the wild which is managed by local communities, so the money will go to the communities not to the ocean park," she added.
Concepcion said the dolphin show industry is the one who are funding dolphin hunting in Japan.
"If we stop buying tickets the killings will stop in Japan, because the dolphins in Japan were exported to China, to the Philippines even if it is against our law. They (were) exported to other countries some of them even have been exported even in the United States," she said. Robina Asido/DMS
