Louie Psihoyos, Paula DuPré Pesman, Fisher Stevens, Ric O'Barry
The Associated Press' Jay Alabaster writes about the reaction of locals in Taiji, Japan, after the Oscar for Best Documentary went to Louie Psihoyos' The Cove, an indictment of the dolphin-slaughtering practices of Taiji fishermen — they stab screaming dolphins after herding them in shallow waters near a hidden cove — and how Japanese authorities do nothing to stop them.
The Cove refers to Taiji and its dolphin-killing practices as "a little town with a really big secret," but local councilman Hisato Ryono says "everyone around here knows about it. The water nearby turns red during the hunt. The actual killing is done in a concealed area because it is unpleasant to look at, as is true of killing cows or pigs or any other animal."
Sure. But when the film calls Taiji "a little town with a really big secret" that's in reference to the fact that Taiji locals don't publicize their bloody practices to the rest of the world. Locals may find the slaughter a fact of life, but according to the Cove filmmakers most Japanese are unaware of it.
Unfortunately, Alabaster's article makes no mention of mercury levels found in dolphin meat sold in Japan. The article also lacks quotes from Psihoyos or anyone else involved in the making of The Cove.
Here's Louie Psihoyos talking about Taiji in an interview published in Mother Jones in August 2009:
"It was like walking into a Stephen King novel. Everywhere you go there are statues of whales and dolphins. There are signs that say, 'We love dolphins.' But in the center of town is this horror show. Right between the whaling museum and City Hall. It's in a national park! If you were to write this as a novel, people would say it was too over the top. My journalistic instincts turned on. I thought, this is a great story. But here's the problem: All the dirty business happens in this secret cove, but you can't see it. People have been coming for decades to try to document it. At that point, I realized I was no longer just a journalist covering a story. By trying to get into the cove, I was becoming an activist."
According to Alabaster's report, Taiji fishermen have been hunting whales and dolphins since the 1600s. Some will see that as a justification for continuing the indiscriminate killing of sea mammals. Personally, I've always believed that the world would be an infinitely better place if unethical traditions were left in the past. Taiji's dolphin-slaughtering just proves my point.
The Cove will have a limited release in Japan in June.
Photo: Todd Wawrychuk / ©A.M.P.A.S.
First off, the annual Taiji dolphin slaughters have been well-known and -documented for many decades. I have personally known about them for well over twenty years, as could anyone who cared to read much about dolphins and whales, and the ongoing threats to their survival.
The Taiji hunt is not the only hunt of its kind; there is a similar hunt in the Faeroe Islands involving pilot whales, and several others around the world, though of them some have ceased in recent years.
In answer to your question, there are a number of ways in which we could feed the world far less destructively than to continue to biologically strip mine our seas, and aquaponics is one of the best methods currently available, which is gaining many converts individually and commercially.
Put simply, aquaponics is the combination of aquaculture (growing fish and/or other marine life) with hydroponics (growing food-bearing plants without soil.) By combining the culture of fish, vegetables and fruit into a closed-loop system, the plants clean and oxygenate the water for the fish, and the fish waste fertilizes the plants. And, because any chemicals added would be potentially toxic to the fish, aquaponic systems are usually able to be certified organic, thereby increasing the perceived value of the food thus produced.
The best thing about aquaponics is that an amazing amount of food can be produced in a small area, and since all the water is constantly recirculated, it uses as little as 10% of the water used through traditional soil-based farming methods, making it a godsend for arid regions of the world where potable water is increasingly scarce. In addition, both the plants and the fish are healthier – and therefore more nutritious – than those grown in separate culture systems.
The ancient Egyptians and Chinese both farmed fish with vegetables and/or grains, as did the inhabitants of Israel 500 years before Christ; tilapia, which are one of the most commonly farmed fish, are native to the Sea of Galilee, as well as much of the African continent. This may well be where part of the loaves and fishes story comes from – five tilapia, if they were an adult male and four adult females, truly could feed 5,000 and more given as little as eight months to a year, as they are highly prolific breeders and can breed at as little as four or five months of age.
A number of nonprofit organizations went into Haiti, immediately following the earthquake, to set up aquaponic systems to help the local villages. Several of those organizations were based in and around the Tampa Bay area of Florida, including http://www.morningstarfishermen.org. Please make a donation if you are able to help them to continue this and their many other valuable educational programs.
For more information on aquaponics check out my blog at http://www.blog.keyspoet.com (which I will be updating soon.)
I am so thrilled for this exposure of our urgent problem, and I watched the movie in horror and was enlightened by what you brought to awareness……. it is the fishing of ALL animals that worries me, especially these mammals. What are the solutions to finding alternate ways to feed our planet?