Last year, the town of Taiji in Japan was shoved under the spotlight when the documentary, The Cove, exposed the slaughter of dolphins—thousands of them—by fishermen. Netting and corralling them in a lagoon by a cove (thus the title), they kill the dolphins with harpoons and hooks. To see the activity first-hand, the film crew and its “stars” (conservation experts, free divers, engineers and scientists), went undercover. They wore camouflage, used infra-red cameras and sound-sensitive equipment, gaining an access to the cove barricaded with barbed wires and Keep Out signs.

23,000 dolphins killed yearly

Dolphin hunting is not a rare activity as one thinks. In Japan, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forest and Fisheries reported that there were about 13,080 cetaceans killed in its waters last year. The movie claims the real number hovers around 23,000. Dolphins are primarily hunted for their meat. Those captured alive are sold to marine parks and aquariums (fetching as much as $150,000 apiece), driving a billion dollar dolphin entertainment industry.

Despite the seeming abuse and over-hunting of dolphins, nothing concrete has been done to protect them. While the International Whaling Commission has outlawed commercial whaling in 1986, it is yet to take a definite ban against hunting “small cetaceans.” The film alludes to a conspiracy in an international scale.

Saving dolphins as a mission

The man behind The Cove is Ric O’ Barry, a one-time dolphin trainer (he was responsible for the training of all five animals which assumed the character of Flipper) who had a change of heart when a dolphin closed its blowhorn and died in his arms. His advocacy led him to the waters of Taiji where he saw how the dolphins were brutalized. Seeing an opportunity to deliver a message, O’Barry convinced filmmaker and former National Geographic photographer Louis Psihoyos and the Ocean Preservation Society to come with him on a trip.

The team went to Taiji under the guise that they would be filming the degradation of ocean reefs. As officials became suspicious of their actions, they tried to drive them away. Armed with surveillance cameras and high-tech equipment, they undertook what the New York Times calls as “one of the most audacious and perilous operations in the history of the conservation movement.”

Not about Japan

Though the film takes place in Japan and shows the fishermen in the role of villains, O’ Barry emphasizes that the movie is not a criticism of the country. “This isn’t about Japan or Japanese culture,” he says. “The majority of the Japanese people we’ve talked are opposed to dolphin hunting and they are completely unaware of the corruption in the government that has allowed mercury-tainted dolphin meat to continue to be sold.”

The Cove plays heavily to the health risks in eating dolphin meat. Studies reveal that dolphin has a mercury level five times higher than normal. Studies have shown that an abnormal level of mercury could cause a host of diseases, including cardiovascular disease, infertility, and high blood pressure.

“Propaganda dressed with cinematic appeal”

Not everyone is all praises about the movie. David Cox of the Guardian zeroes in on the cultural and culinary difference between the East and the West. “The film's spearspersons are certainly puzzled,” he writes. “Westerners, they point out, kill and eat cows. Easterners eat dolphins. What's the difference?”

A commenter on the New York Times who identified himself as Jan from Washington DC wrote the process of hunting the dolphins is not specific to Taiji and that a traditional practice should not be viewed from the point of view of an observer. “If film critics and audience had done their little research…aggregate trapping and polespearing (not that far different from harpooning) are common techniques used by fishermen worldwide to hunt their catch. Dolphins have served as food for Japanese for centuries. And I see no reason why we should bully them to throw away their traditional practice.”

Cox also writes that the by putting so much focus on the dolphins, people tend to neglect much more vulnerable creatures. “We swoon over dolphins, whales and those furred and feathered creatures that strike us as cute. Meanwhile, the overall case for animal rights goes pretty much by the board.”

Jan sums up The Cove as “just a piece of propaganda dressed with cinematic appeal!”

Impact

It’s difficult to quantify the impact of this film although majority of its audience has shown outrage to dolphin hunt. After the release of the film, school officials in Taiji have taken off dolphin from their lunch menu. The Japanese government has warned pregnant women from eating dolphin meat, although it has not altogether discouraged its consumption. In April 2010, the film will be commercially released in Japanese cinemas in April 2010.

The movie is likely to gain additional steam come March: it is nominated for best documentary at the Oscars. The team behind the movie hopes for a wider audience and that the issue of dolphin hunting will be front and center in the discussion of the International Whaling Commission. Despite the suspenseful and dramatic quality of the film, director Louie Psihoyos says that The Cove is essentially “a love letter. I'm giving you the information your government won't give you.”