Dolphin Fishing

When I was studying at the University of Oslo a few years ago, I got to help a friend do some research on a presentation about Norway's politial parties. My friend was focusing on Kystpartiet, or the Coastal Party. The party has a controversial history for (among other things) their stand on the protection of the whaling industry. At one point, the party even handed out whale burgers outside the parliment building to gain awareness.
I learned a lot about not only politics, but also the whaling industry, while helping my friend, including the fact that Norway is NUMBER ONE for whale hunting (globally). Norway has even registered an objection to the International Whaling Commission moratorium, and is thus not bound by it. You can also easily find whale meat at the grocery store in Norway (at east in Oslo...it comes in patties and tastes a little like chicken).

Anyways, I know we learned about whaling in primary school at some point and that many species of whales are now going extinct because of the process. Therefore I was also surprised to learn that - in addition to Norway - there are still many countries that participate in whaling; most 'reasons' stem from Inuit cultures or I noticed that a lot of current whalers are in the Caribbean. I also knew that Japan played a big role in this industry, but was not aware of how big a role.

While the Japanese government justifies the whaling with the fact that it is mostly for scientific purposes, Japan has the second largest industry for whaling in the world. In 2005 Japan announced that they would significantly expand their whaling. Anti-whaling and animal rights groups have fought this announcement and movement, with the most vocal opponents of the push for commercial whaling in Japan being Australia and the United States.

So with all of this background information, it was not completely surprising when I stumbled upon a news story about the 'secret' fishing industries of Japan while looking at Asian news this week. Where it led me, however, was pretty shocking.

I will warn you that this can be hard to watch, but I think the following video is important to show. The story follows members of a Save the Dolphins Campaign that are trying to stop a dolphin slaughter taking place in Japan. I guess in addition to whaling, Japan is active in slaughtering dolphins and doesn't consider them different from any other fish. As one member of the group says in the video, "it is shocking to realize that these sorts of things are still going on in this day and age."

I grew up with pets and love animals, but I am generally not very involved in the animal rights movement. Maybe I was influenced by my kid's speech on Animal Rights last weekend? I don't know. Either way, it's worth raising awareness about.

Here's the video: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=843_1193927344