Dear Minister of Agriculture Yoshiyuki Kamei and Honorable Officials of Japan:
February 27, 2004 marked the end of this year’s dolphin drive in Taiji, Japan—but the worldwide plea to stop the massacre will not go away until the drives end for good.
Every year hundreds of dolphins and pilot whales perish in the hunt. Village fishermen disorient the dolphins by traveling out to deep waters where they blare piercing sounds directly into dolphin pods. Once the dolphins’ sense of sonar is disarmed, fishermen herd the dolphins into dead-end coves and hack them apart with knives and sickles. The few who are “spared” are sold to aquariums and sea parks to live out their days in wretched captivity.
Please take prompt action to permanently halt this butchery in Taiji, Futo, and all coastal fishing villages in Japan. Drive hunts are not only inhumane; they are also ruinous for the region’s ecosystem. The decimation of entire colonies of whales and dolphins is simply reckless from a conservation angle.
The drive fisheries are also damaging from a credibility standpoint. These unscientific, unsustainable hunts defile Japan’s international reputation and fuel the global boycott of Japanese tourism and commerce.
From a health perspective, the mass slaughter of dolphins for human consumption is dangerous. Recent studies reveal dolphin meat laced with PCBs, heavy metals and other toxins. Dolphin meat surpasses pollutant levels established for human ingestion.
People around the world are outraged over Japan’s disrespect for ocean wildlife. Laws to criminalize activists or journalists who attempt to document the hunt further disgrace your nation. I respectfully ask you to repeal any law or rule that prohibits photographing, filming or videotaping the dolphin drives.
No public relations campaign can camouflage blood-filled bays where dolphins die in the most inhumane manner possible. It is in Japan's economic and international interests to shut down the drive fisheries.
Sincerely,
CONTACT INFORMATION
Please fax your letter to the following Japanese officials:
NOTE: If you cannot fax to all numbers listed in this alert, please send your letter to:
#1) The Japanese Fisheries Minister (first contact listed, Mr. Yoshiyuki Kamei)
#2) Send a copy to the Elsa Nature Conservancy.
Mr. Yoshiyuki Kamei
Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan
Fax: +011 81-3-3502-8220
Please fax a copy of the letter to:
Elsa Nature Conservancy
Fax: +011 81-29-851-1637
GOVERNMENT: TOKYO
Japan Fisheries Agency
Fax: +011 81-3-3502-0794
Mr. Junichiro Koizumi
Prime Minister of Japan
Fax: +011 81-3-3581-3883
LOCAL GOVERNMENT: WAKAYAMA/TAIJI
Fisheries Section of Wakayama prefecture
Fax: +011 81-73-431-2244
Mr. Yoshiki Kimura
Governor of Wakayama
Fax: +011 81-73-423-9500
Taiji Fishery Cooperative
Fax: +011 81-735-59-2821
LOCAL GOVERNMENT: SHIZUOKA/FUTO
Fisheries Section of Shizuoka prefecture
Fax: +011 81-54-221-3288
Mr. Yoshinobu Ishikawa
Governor of Shizuoke prefecture
Fax: +011 81-54-221-2164
Ito Fishing Cooperative
Fax: +011 81-557-35-0756