Japan dolphins and other sea species 'face extinction'
BBC News online -- 31 October 2013
The EIA says that dolphins are trapped and then sold to aquaria or slaughtered for consumption
Japan's
hunting of dolphins, smaller whales and porpoises is threatening some
species with extinction in its coastal waters, a report by a British
environmental group has said.
It says that each year thousands are killed despite conservation concerns.
The Japanese government has not commented on the report.
But it has consistently defended its coastal whaling as a longstanding tradition, a source of livelihood and necessary for scientific research.
The government has also argued that small cetaceans should be excluded from the International Convention on Whaling.
The BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Tokyo says that the Japanese practice of driving many dolphins and porpoises onto beaches to be slaughtered has drawn international condemnation.
The EIA says that porpoises, dolphins and
small whales are often chased until they become exhausted and within
range of hand-held harpoonsOne study found people living in one dolphin-eating community in central Japan have mercury levels five times higher than normal.
"A comprehensive analysis of the available scientific data demonstrates unequivocally that there are grave concerns regarding the sustainability of these hunts," the EIA report says.
It goes on to accuse the government of "displaying a lack of responsibility" in ensuring the sustainability of small cetacean populations in Japanese waters - warning that its annual quota of 16,000 dolphins is far too high.
The EIA says that the quota is based on 20-year-old data and that dolphin populations are much lower now.
The conservation status of each species varies, the report says, depending on its range and hunting practices.
Catch limits for Dall's porpoises are 4.7-4.8 times higher than the safe threshold, it claims.
For the striped dolphin, once the mainstay of the industry but now endangered and disappearing from some areas, catches have dropped from more than 1,800 in the 1980s to about 100 today.
Our correspondent says that anyone who has seen the documentary The Cove will know how controversial Japan's annual dolphin hunt can be.
Hundreds of animals are driven into a bay where men jump into the water and cut their throats, turning the sea red.
The EIA says there is a long history of unregulated exploitation of Dall's porpoises in Japan
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Labels: Animal Welfare, Environment, Japan, Nature
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