The Cove, may have won the 2010 Academy Award for Best Documentary Film, but its makers will most likely not succeed in their goal of stopping the Taiji dolphin hunt.
This is not because the Japanese are deeply committed to hunting dolphins. In fact, dolphin is not generally eaten in Japan, it is a little-known regional dish. Before The Cove brought publicity to the practice of eating dolphin meat, very few Japanese were aware of it.
Also, the Japanese are just as charmed by dolphins as any other nationality, “swimming with wild dolphins” is a popular activity for Japanese tourists.
On the other hand, the idea that dolphins are as intelligent as humans is not generally accepted in Japan. The Japanese (and Chinese) word for dolphin, iruka, means “ocean pig,” if translated literally. That fact suggests that dolphins have traditionally been viewed as a food source in East Asia, and most Japanese find it hard to understand why it’s O.K. to kill cows and pigs for their meat, but it’s not O.K. to kill dolphins for the same purpose.
I think it’s important to bear in mind that the dolphins which are killed and captured in Japan are not endangered species, and that they are hunted in a sustainable manner. Another point that one should at least consider is that perhaps the idea that dolphins should be given a privileged position and special dispensation from being hunted is a Western cultural peculiarity.
Japanese journalist Katsuichi Honda makes the following comments in an essay he wrote regarding the 1980 case of Earthtrust president Dexter Kate who was arrested for releasing 200 dolphins from the nets they had been corralled into in Nagasaki Prefecture. During the course of discussions with Kate’s supporters, Honda made the following points:
“Whether this distinction [superior intelligence]between dolphins and other animals is valid or not, a more important issue is why no question arises on killing animals of lesser intelligence. Why can we slaughter cows with no problem? The activists provided no justification to explain less-intelligent animals’ destiny, while they rationalized that cows can be controlled as livestock and therefore we can slaughter them. I asked them whether we can domesticate dolphins and then slaughter them. Their response was in effect that this would be pathetic and barbaric. Their argument is not logical but rather emotional, deeply rooted in their own history and culture.
For those born and raised in Western culture, dolphins and whales are animals that frequently appear in ancient Greek or Roman mythology. A comparable animal in India is the cow, which is regarded as sacred and has never become livestock for slaughter and consumption. Thus, the difference in cultural or historical background is significant…I asked them what they would think if Indians went to ranches in the western United States and liberated cows.”
I think that the points Mr. Honda makes are valid. But that doesn’t mean that I view this as a one-sided issue. There are good and bad points on both sides of the debate-with the bad points being more emotional than logical. The Japanese tend to react to criticism of their nation’s hunting of whales and dolphins (and even bluefin tuna) with emotion and nationalism. But for that very reason, the confrontational approach that the makers of The Cove have taken is destined to be counterproductive in terms of convincing those fishermen or the Japanese government to stop hunting dolphins.