WDC Blog - From the Front Line

"Most of the time while I was here the weather was good, cozy and dry and therby quite the opposite of the dolphin hunts which were horrible." That's what Hans Peter told me before his departure from Taiji. Since I've been here the weather has been the opposite of what Hans Peter described. It's raining from time to time, and in the Kii-mountians nearby it's snowing. Today it rained cats and dogs. And on top of that the wind blows and there are high waves. Therefore it's impossible for the dolphin hunters to leave the harbour.

So we're enjoying really nice, wonderful weather. It's the 5th day in a row that no dolphins had to die in the notorious Hatajiri-bay near Taiji. That enables other activities. There are fantastic cultural treasures close by; shrines, temples and abbeys. Perfectly preserved and with great ambiance. They have gained the honor "Unesco world cultural heritage" - and they live up to it too!

I seized the day to visit some holy places. The longer I stay here, the more I realise how many wonderful and beautiful places near Taiji exist, waiting for us to explore them. I would return to this place as a tourist immediately and at any time, but only if the cruel slaughter of the dolphins in the cove of Taiji is history.

Florian Koch

Here's a lost blog from Hans Peter Roth we thought needed to get posted.

Once more bottle-nosed dolphins are the victims

(09.02.2011)

"They started before seven o'clock" - This was told to us by the friendly man from the coast guard who has already watched us at the marina of Katsuura. He's speaking of the dolphin hunters. It has been raining the whole night for the first time since I've arrived in Japan for more than four weeks ago...  Just in time as we're going to sail the sun begins to shine.  But today our mood is by far not as good as yesterday.

The sea is astonishingly rough today. But even though they're hunting.  Obviously, they've made a find. Now, all we can do is hoping that the pod is able to escape.  The boat from the coast guard is heading directly towards us, which is unusual. And shortly after, a man, standing on the bow of the armed, fast and maneuverable blue vessel, is giving unmistakable signs.

"Stop!" Michae Yoshiko is shouting. He is sitting at the steering wheel. "Stop!" We bring the ship about and the coast guard approaches us. One man fetches a megaphone. "Massive waves, wind", they shout from the megaphone. "Please drive carefully and not too far off". They are stopped us to tell us that, I ask? "More likely to see if we're going to comply with their orders" Michael answers. Again, a shout from the megaphone: "And please do not approach the dolphin hunters!" Gotcha. We gather speed again. Michael complies with the orders. We keep distance. It's eerie to watch the hunters and their doings.

It doesn't look good for the dolphins. We can't see well what's going on, due to the rough sea and the distance we have to keep. But yet, the formation of hunting boat has passed the narrows between the little lighthouse on the rock and the fishermen's gillnets.  An escape is getting more and more unlikely. Suddenly, everything happens pretty fast. We decide to head to the Marina as soon as possible in order to see what's going to happen in the cove. Florian, Kyoko and I are already taking off, while Michael and Yoshiko moor the boat.

We are too late to see much. And first, Florian is stopped by the police, who wants him to identify himself. From the public viewpoint directly above the cove we become witnesses of a boat who is hiding his dead carriage under green tarps and carrying it out off the cove to the harbor where the slaughterhouse is.

"They slaughtered about 20 to 25 bottle-nosed dolphins," Nicole explains sadly. She watched the whole scene on behalf of Sea Shepherd. "But they chose no living dolphin". Bottle-nosed dolphins are again the victim. The classic Flipper-dolphins. The girl's voice of the speaker from the whale museum and dolphinarium walks notable in our direction. The childish voice is telling about the show. The show with the bottle-nosed dolphins.

The latest from Taiji.
By Hans Peter Roth - WDCS rep on the ground.

After five weeks my trip to Japan draws to an end. It was by far the most difficult and most shocking trip I have made. But it has also been the most intense, the most exciting and the most hopeful journey.

At this point I once more want to give my sincere thanks to all the people and societies who with all their different efforts made it possible for me to be here.

One special thank is going to the WDCS. Without you, I (literally) wouldn't be where I am now! Thank you so much for your relentless efforts! Many thanks also to OceanCare and Pro Wildlife.

But the ending of my trip to Japan doesn't mean that no one is left to observe what's happening here! One week ago my dear friend from Switzerland, Florian Koch, arrived here. During the time we both were here together I was able to explain the most important details to him and show him everything he has to know. Therefore he's already up to speed.

Florian has been interested in marine mammal conservation for many years. He has already been part of two research trips on the Mediterranean, made one TV-broadcast on the issue of the dolphin hunts and has even met Ric O'Barry in person.

He came to Japan on his own free will and with private capital, without the help of any society, and we are very thankful that he is willing and able to step in and fill the gap. Until the 22nd of February he is going to report the recent events from here - so you will see that future blogs will be from Florian.

Many thanks for your efforts, Florian!

Hans Peter Roth

Latest news from Taiji
By Hans Peter Roth - WDCS rep on the ground

It's a very special feeling if you're suddenly able to leave the harbour of Katsura - nearby village of Taiji - in your 'own' boat. "Welcome!" Michael Dalton smiles friendly and mischievous and signals us to climb aboard. Together with Yoshiko Wada, a young japanese woman, who has been helping us with our efforts to stop the dolphin hunt in Japan since December 2010, we are driving with the boat towards the open sea.

A splendid vessel from the coast guard is already waiting for us. People from the 'West' driving around off Taiji in their own boat is a cause of sensation! The whole story is indeed quite juicy. The boat belongs to Ady Gil, an animal-loving millionaire from Los Angeles. He is the one who in 2009 gave $1million to Sea Shepherd so that they could buy the black powerboat which helped to give the Japanese whalers in the Southern Ocean a hard time.

But the futuristic speedboat named "Ady Gil" was rammed by a Japanese whaling vessel and sank one year ago. A rather strange incident. For me - and lots of others - it seems like it was a mistake made by the pilot of the speedboat... Anyway, in the end it all went too far for Ady Gil and he now invests his money in a little project off the coast of Taiji. That's what he told me in person when I met him here in January. The little yacht, in which Michael, Yoshiko Kyoko, my good friend Florian from Switzerland and I are going to drive around off Taiji for a few hours, is part of this project.

The mood is as marvellous as the bright sun of the quiet morning. I wouldn't have believed that such a journey was possible. But here we are and we are suddenly able to observe everything from the ocean perspective. The harbour, the dolphinarium, the cove... And again, we become aware of the beauty of the landscape surrounding us. It couldn't be more perfect for tourists. But then we discover the hunting boats while we are still 'accompanied' by the coast guard. The happy mood gives way to tension. For the first time, we are watching the dolphin hunters from this perspective.


(Nautical map showing the area off Taiji. The harbour, the lagoon of the dolphinarium and in between the cove can be found as the grey coloured peninsula at the right of centre (c) Hans Peter Roth)

The hunting boats are approaching a lighthouse on a rock about 1.5 miles out of Taiji. Is this a drive hunt? Everything seems chaotic. The boats are obviously on their way to the harbour - but this clearly can't be a drive hunt. The hunters are returning without prey. The death cove remained empty for the sixth day in a row. We as well are returning to the harbour - relieved! In front us, a quiet day without new anguish.

Hans Peter Roth

Latest news from Taiji

By Hans Peter Roth - WDCS rep on the ground

Shocking new Images from the Death Cove are making Waves 

The close-ups are unbelievable. Both in what they are showing and in their quality. One video shows from striking distance how pacific white-sided dolphins where beastly slaughtered. One of the dolphin hunters drives a sharp spike into the back of a dolphin and pokes around in the body. After he extracted the spike from the body he rams a wooden plug into the wound, so that no blood flows out, which could turn the death cove red.
This 'new' way of killing is labeled as 'humane' by the Japanese Ministry of Fisheries. It’s said that the hunter cuts through the spinal cord of the animal and that the dolphins would die instantly. Another cynical lie.

The animal shown in the close-up is still alive, obviously for several long minutes. It even manages to break loose from the rope. This barbaric torture hardly ever kills instantly, as the recordings show. Several sequences, published at different points of time, show the cruelty from different perspectives and are of different origins, where all shot within January 2011.

The owner of the shocking close-ups is the German NGO Atlantic Blue. How they got the video is however left open. This gives leeway to rumors...

Cross cutting sequences in the same video, shot from a different perspective are showing that the black curtains, which are normally used by the fishermen to hide the massacre, were partly left open on the day the video was filmed. A strange 'coincident'… In the meantime, even 'The Sun', England's major daily newspaper, issued the video. (Attention: heavy and disturbing stuff!) As a consequence of the publication, local watchmen, police officers and coast guards once more intensified the measures of safety and observation around the cove. More about this disturbing 'milestone' in the next update.

Hans Peter Roth

Latest news from Taiji.
By Hans Peter Roth – WDCS rep on the ground.
(02.2.2011)

The month February is only 2 days old and already over 20 rissos dolphin had to give their lives in the death-cove of Taiji. I will never get used to the sight of the hunting boats lining up on the sea and starting to chase the dolphins towards the cove, when black smoke rises from their chimneys due to the quick manoeuvres they have to take
too block the paths of the cetaceans.

And I will never get used to the noise when fishermen knock against their boats to stampede the dolphins and to disturb their communication.

Yesterday they killed eight and today around fifteen dolphins. This can't be true – but it is the bitter truth!

At the same time another tragedy happened in Taiji.

At the “Dolphin Base” in Taiji, a dolphin trader complex, about half a mile from the infamous cove, 3 pacific white-sided dolphin where taken from their enclosure and loaded into three small wooden boxes for transport. After several hours on the road, northwest of Osaka, the truck driver came into a snow storm and lost the control over his vehicle and crashed into the guard railing.

It took estimated eight hours before the truck was able to continue his journey. All along the three dolphins had to hold out in their small, cold and dark prison. Members of “Sea Shepherd” followed the truck with a rental car and reported afterwards that the journey, all in all, took over 30 hours. The cruel journey ended at Tsukumi Dolphin Island, a dolphinarium in the prefecture Oita, on the island Kyushu, which shell be opened by April this year. The fact that another dolphinarium will open his doors, sadly shows that the number of dolphinariums - and therewith the demand for living dolphins – is still raising in Japan.

Latest news from Taiji.

By Hans Peter Roth – WDCS rep on the ground.

(31.01.2011) 
A month of horror – and of hope

January 2011 ended in Taiji as calm as it has begun.

During the last three days no dolphin was killed. Today the hunting vessels remain in the harbor. But yesterday there was a hunt. Once more pacific white – sided dolphins were the victims. Again the hunters lined a horseshoe-shaped net, several hundreds of meters away from the harbor. Sadly, two dolphins walked into that trap – and will have to carve out a miserable existence in captivity for the rest of their lives.

It’s time for a quick review of the past month: Approximately 185 dolphins were killed in January. According to our own observations of the killings we counted 25 bottlenose dolphins, 120 Striped dolphins, 38 Rissos dolphins and 2 Pacific White-Sided dolphins. 20 of these animals were selected for aquariums, mainly Bottlenose dolphins and White-sided, but also some Rissos dolphins. These numbers may be not accurate as a precise counting is not always possible from our viewpoints – especially when the hunt get chaotic, like we reported on the Striped dolphins hunts.

And now it’s time to talk about the horror. The brutality and the suffering I had to witness surpassed my worst expectations. Every claim saying the new killing method (severing the spinal cord as more “human” and killing the animal in seconds) is a sheer and cynical lie. There is enough evidence from this month the 'new' killing method results in senseless suffering and the slow and painful death of the animals. (I will get back to this in another blog soon).

What the dolphins have to go through before their death is also indescribably cruel. The drive and the associated underwater noise that is created to stampede those dolphins. The fear. The total exhaustion – until death -  due to the hunt. The expectation of their own emanant death, tied up by their flukes while another individual from their group is killed.

And these dolphins – like those Striped dolphins – that strand on the razor sharp rocks in panic. That abrade until they exsanguinate. Once we had to witness stranded striped dolphins half dry writhe due to the pain up to one hour exposed to the sun, bleeding, until the hunters dragged them away from the rocks.

Please apologize my radical language.

January 2011 – a month of hope, too? I’d say: Yes. I got to know several Japanese who now engage actively in the conservation of Japanese dolphins. Courageous women and men with different backgrounds, everyone of them contributing their own part to achieve the common goal. A growing grass-roots movement in Japan! This is very important. Furthermore the number of killed animals in this hunting season is low compared to the last season. In sum 660 to 690 dolphins were killed. In the last hunting season 1,700 animals had to die. It’s very likely that this number will not even be approached.

There is the hope of understanding that it simply is not okay that one single nation – unjustified – is undertaking acts so backward to the majority of the world's public. Although it is just a small group of backward people in a remote village that continues the barbaric killings with the blessing of corrupt officials and subsidized with tax money of a nearly bankrupt* government.

Hans Peter Roth 

* On January 27th the Rating agency Standard & Poors downgraded the solvency of Japan due to increasing national debts.

The latest news from Taiji

By Hans Peter Roth – WDCS rep on the ground.

The most beautiful days are those, when the dolphin hunter are not going out at all. Here the boats are driving the dolphins with the help of an artificial wall of noise in front of them. By banging on metal rods, the hunter scare the dolphins under water and drive the animals where they want them to go, it can be heard miles away.

From time to time, they come back from an unsuccessful hunt when the dolphins are able to escape their agitators. Today was such a day. Apparently, twelve boats followed a pod of dolphins but the dolphins were able to divide and finally escaped into the ocean. What a bother for the tormentors who had to return without any prey after five plus hours of searching and hunting. What a waste of working time and fuel!

A kind of dry season dominates the region. Since my arrival three weeks ago I haven’t seen a single drop of rain. Everything is bone-dry. That makes the observation on the one hand easy, but unfortunately on the other hand it also creates perfect hunting conditions for the dolphin tormentors. Nearly every day the ocean is calm like a lake, yet there is a possibility of waves from a land breeze which would make the search and hunt more difficulty.  


you can see the area where the dolphins are in the lower left hand corner.

Hans Peter Roth

The latest news from Taiji
By Hans Peter Roth – WDCS rep on the ground.

Chaotic Pursuit
26.01.11

Pacific White-Sided Dolphins are among the fastest and most athletic of dolphin species. These beautiful black and white marked marine mammals usually don’t stray too close to land.

Today the hunters have managed to herd a particularly large school of about 50 dolphins. The baiting doesn’t last long. But eventually the tormentors chase their prey closer and closer to the fatal Cove of Taiji.

But, just as we have settled down in our look-out, something happens that makes me rejoice inside. Suddenly, the dolphin school divides itself up and both groups start tearing towards the open ocean at full speed. The chimneys of the hunting boats release billows of black smoke. The hunters try to regain control of the fleeing dolphins with chaotic manoeuvres. Almost all of the dolphins manage to escape successfully. The baiters give up. Only three dolphins get tangled and caught in the nets.

Beyond the harbour, the nets hang horseshoe-shaped in the open water. One dolphin is thrown, alive, into an enclosure in the harbour. The rest die. The baiters try to transport the lifeless bodies past us unnoticed. But the drive to the slaughterhouse makes everything crystal-clear: captured alive and killed – once again simultaneously.

Hans Peter Roth

The latest news from Taiji
By Hans Peter Roth – WDCS rep on the ground.

No mercy for bottlenose dolphins
25.01.2011

Early in the morning this day dolphin hunters spotted a group of dolphins near Taiji.

Already at 8am they chased the stressed mammals directly into the killing cove. The highly social animals were huddling and circling their youngest. The hunters usually show no mercy – no mercy for babies or mothers or pregnant dolphins.

Soon the boats with the hunters return. They’re accompanied by dolphin trainers from Taiji Whale Museum who are carrying the typical slings for catching live dolphins. How can these trainers assist the hunters?

The boat with the trainers leaves the killing cove after a short while. The slings are empty, and the killing of 10 bottlenose dolphins begins.


Hans Peter Roth