First Wave of Opposition Hits Taiji Shores

In the wake of the controversial and highly acclaimed movie “The Cove,” the first wave of opposition has arrived in Taiji, Japan on the opening day of the dolphin slaughter season.

Ric O’Barry, the star of “The Cove,” successfully made it into Japan and to Taiji along with other Save Japan Dolphins staff and news crews from the U.S., Germany, and the U.K., and for the first time ever – three Japanese television crews.

The dirty little secret in the cove near Taiji is now an international scandal. The Australian sister city of Taiji, the Shire of Broome in Western Australia, recently suspended it’s sister city status until the killing of thousands of dolphins is ended.

The police were waiting for Ric O’Barry and his crew when they arrived, and initially it was a tense scene but Ric made it very clear that the purpose of the visit was educational and that no laws would be broken. The police acted professionally but kept a close watch on the crew and the journalists.

No dolphins were rounded up by the fishermen. It is hoped that the presence of crew and the cameras will keep the fishermen from their annual killing spree.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society plans to send in a second wave of opposition later this fall to continue defending the dolphins.

Report from Ric O’Barry (http://www.savejapandolphins.org/blog.html) 

URGENT UPDATE FROM TAIJI

September 1, 2009: A Good Day for Dolphins

By Richard O'Barry, Director

Save Japan Dolphins Coalition

Today is September 1st, the first day of the dolphin slaughter season in Japan. But when I arrived today by bus from Kansai Airport with media representatives from all over the world, the notorious Cove from the movie was empty. There were no dolphin killers in sight.

So today is a very good day for dolphins!

I vowed to be back in Taiji when the dolphin killing began. I've often been here alone, or accompanied by a few environmentalists. Sometimes, I was able to talk a major media organization into sending someone.

But the people of Japan never learned about the dolphin slaughter, because none of the media in Japan (with the exception of the excellent Japan Times) have ever sent reporters to the killing Cove. Until today!

When I got off the bus at the Cove this afternoon, I was accompanied by my son Lincoln O'Barry's film crew, a crew from Associated Press, Der Spiegel (the largest magazine in Germany), and the London Independent.

No dolphins and no dolphin killers. We would not have had a story at all, except for the police who were there, waiting all day for us to appear. Nine policemen came to talk to us.

Now, I have said this repeatedly: Unlike the Cove fishermen, the police from this Prefecture have always acted professionally, courteously, and fairly. I have never been mistreated or threatened by the police here. I think they are a microcosm of the people of Japan - the very people I am trying to reach about the dolphins!

And as I was talking with the police, as the international journalists stood around listening, suddenly a camera crew arrived from Japan! And then another! And then still another!

You have to understand that this is SO IMPORTANT. These TV stations have REFUSED to cover the story in Taiji for years and years. NOW, for the first time, they have shown up, with cameras rolling. The head policeman talking with me even said, for the cameras, that the police are not there to support the dolphin killing fishermen. We shook hands, and they left.

As I said, it is a good day for the dolphins. And for me personally, as the police only wanted to talk with me, not arrest me!

"The Cove" movie led to the strong action by the city of Broome, Australia, in suspending the sister-city relationship with Taiji. So now, the Japanese media are sitting up and listening, for the first time.

And I'm telling them: "This tour is to show journalists the GOOD things about Taiji." You see, with "The Cove" movie out now, we don't have to show the BAD things about Taiji. Soon, the whole world will know about the Taiji dolphin slaughter. And all Japanese will soon know about the cover-up that has occurred by the government in refusing to stop mercury-contaminated dolphin meat from being sold to unsuspecting Japanese consumers and children.

But Taiji can change this image of shame, if they want to. I will be telling them that the town of Nantucket used to be the capitol of the whale killing industry in the US. Now, it uses its history of whaling combined with whale-watching to market tourism very successfully. Whales and dolphins are worth more alive then dead. Taiji can do this, too. But the killing has to stop.

Yes, today was a good day for dolphins. Tomorrow, I will take journalists with me around town to show them Taiji. Tomorrow, too, I predict will be a good day for dolphins. Every day that we are here and the fishermen KNOW we are here, will likely mean no boats going out to round up dolphins for the killing Cove.

And because of "The Cove" movie, the dolphin killers must now fear hidden cameras and microphones, even when they THINK we are not here.

And soon the world spotlight from "The Cove" will shine a very bright light on Taiji.