I am currently in Crystal River, FL. as part of my project Giants of the Caribbean. For the next couple of days I will be shooting pictures for my book. My project is not-for-profit, all benefits of this project will go to local conservation projects. Today I swam for the first time with Manatees, it was truly amazing. Manatees are super inquisitive, intelligent and loving animals that do no harm. In the water, Manatees come close up and like to be rubbed on their bellies. Some even come up to hug you! I can’t wait to be in the water with these animals for the next couple of days.

Unfortunately human development has taken its toll on Manatee numbers, with today only about 4000 left in the United States. Even though numbers have increased of the last decade due to conservation efforts, the Manatees are still under threat, mainly because of boat traffic, fishing, habitat destruction, and… politics.

The West-Indian Manatee in other parts of the Caribbean is even more threatened, and in some places already extinct. Next week I will travel to Trinidad & Tobago where I will hopefully be able to find some of the last remaining Manatees.

I recently spent 3 weeks aboard the Fleur de Passion as part of the Changing Oceans expedition (http://www.changingoceans.org). The Changing Oceans Expedition is a ten-year adventure through the world’s most important marine eco-regions to bring the world the latest update information on the state of our oceans. We just completed the last mission in the Red Sea, where we sailed from the Deep-South of Egypt to the Northern region around Hurghada. It has been a very enjoyable and satisfying expedition, although the outcome of the research on the health of the Red Sea is far from positive. You can find some of the pictures I took on my Flickr page (http://www.flickr.com/photos/vincentkneefel), I will post a detailed report on the expedition as well as more pictures in the upcoming weeks.

Having spent time in Taiji has give me many insights on a multi-faceted, complex conservation issue. Taiji is a prime symbol how humans are  disrespecting the ocean’s life, and the ending of the slaughter and life dolphin trade needs to be set as an example for the future conservation of our oceans. While spending time in Japan, none of the Japanese people I spoke to outside of Taiji are aware of the slaughter and issue seems to be completely ignored in politics and national media. The Japanese take great pride in their culture and feel offended by western NGO groups that come to Taiji to tell the Japanese to stop hunting dolphins. These are the traditional ingredients for a conflict, having two opposing partners that do not listen to each other. One of the key resolutions to this issue is engaging with the Japanese public; none of the NGOs working in Taiji had Japanese speaking people on their team; very few of Japanese people I met around Taiji spoke English. This makes the process a lot more complicated than it already is.

In my opinion Japan has to get serious about the international reputational effects (and economical damages) of the dolphin hunt and whaling in relation to the return it gets from these activities. Many western people are starting to form an image about Japan that is unjust for its amazing culture. While Japan traditionaly is a very closed country, it will have to open up more to the world if it wants to maintain it’s position in international economics and politics.

Meanwhile the dolphin I discovered (thanks to my Canon 100-400L IS USM), is making headlines. You can follow the status on Misty’s situation here.

I have a strong feeling that I will return to Taiji in the near future and that there will be a day when all cetaceans in Japan (and worldwide) are protected. I will not rest until this is fact.

Taiji is a bizar place. On the outside Taiji seems like an amusement park from the 70s (that has not been well maintained), located on an amazingly beautiful coastline. It is like Sea World on steroids. Everywhere there are whale statues and images. If you would visit Taiji without knowing anything, you would think this is a place where people love whales and dolphins. The hidden side of Taiji is the tradition that goes back 400 years. Until the 1980s Taiji had a prosperous economy from commercial whaling. Because of the international ban on commercial whaling, Taiji fisherman started to hunt for dolphins localy. Mostly out of frustration and selfenrichment, thousands of dolphins are slaughtered annualy. It is hard to imagine such cruelty can exist in modern times and with the whole world watching over their shoulder in disbelief.

However, it is not just Taiji that is the problem. The Japanese government allows about 19,000 dolphins to be killed each year. Taiji hunts about 2,000 dolphins every year for meat — a lot less than other places — but is singled out in part because of its “oikomi” method of herding and killing the dolphins in a brutal way near shore.

Dolpin meat is often used in Japan as camouflaged expensive whale meat. While the demand for whale meat is in steady decline, Japan is trying to keep whale and dolpin meat on the menu as part of their national heritage. Dolphin meat often contains high levels of mercury and can be toxic. It can also cause birth defects and spontane abortus.

An often heard argument by Japanese fisherman that hunting for dolphins is the same as farming cows or pigs. An important point, also made in the The Cove, is that dolphins are very concious and intelligent. Humans have an EQ of about 7. Chimpanzees and gorillas a little more than 2. Dolphins have an EQ of 4-5.

What I came to realize after spending a day in Taiji is that the slaughter is not primarily caused by the meat business. The acquariums and zoos that demand dolphins for their shows help maintain the dolphin killings. This industry has representatives that buy the best dolphins for their  shows and swim with dolphin activities. A trained dolphin will sell for anywhere between 100.000 USD and 200.000 USD. Because a trained dolphin sold to a dolphinarium brings in a much higher profit than a dolphin sold as meat, the hunt continues in large part because the life dolphin trade reward the fishermen with thousands of dollars for animals that are deemed suitable for commercial exploitation in captivity. The process of selecting dolphins for captivity or slaughter goes on for hours, during which time some dolphins die from shock, injuries or exhaustion. Dolphins that are not selected are slaughtered in the Cove. Most of the life dolphins stay in Taiji for training and are later on sold to the international markets. These buyers (SeaWorld and others) do very well know that the dolphins they are buying are ‘blood’ dolphins.

Today I visited several solitary confinments where dolphins are held captive, the circumstances are unbearable. We found one dolphin all alone in a tank no bigger than 4 square meters. The Whale Museum in Taiji is about the history of whaling and holds a dolphinarium with several dolphin species held captive. These are dolphins that where caught by fishermen from Taiji. Among them are a pair of Risso’s dolphins. These dolphins are some of the shyest animals I have encountered in the wild and they are used to travel vast distances. These two dolphins were hardly moving with their faces pressed against the net. I can only imagine where they would rather be…

From beginning next week I will be in Taiji, Japan, to witness dolphin drive hunting continues to go on. For you who have not seen the Cove yet (trailer above), highly recommended, it also won an Oscar for best documentary this year. The only NGO present in Taiji is Sea Shepherd, you can follow their campaign here. Unlike Whale Wars (operation No Compromise) the Sea Shepherd campaign in Taiji does not involve any violence and is solely meant to bring attention to the ongoing slaughter. This is also one of the reasons why I planned my visit; to share my experiences with others and to find out more about the exact motives of the few people who are still involved in the slaughter. Only very few people in Japan consume whale or dolphin meat, many Japanese people do not even know about what is happening inside Taiji (The Cove was actually censored in Japan until this summer). Exposing the horrendous activities by some of the fisherman in Taiji and using the public opinion of the Japanese public, could stop the hunt for dolphins for once and for all.

There are only 3 other places in the world left where people hunt for Cetaceans in drive hunting, these are the Faroer Islands , Solomon Islands and Peru. Other nations where dolphin hunting was a tradition have banned this practice.

Taiwan
On the Penghu Islands in Taiwan, drive fishing of Bottlenose Dolphins was practiced until 1990. When the practice was outlawed by the government. Mainly Indian Ocean Bottlenose Dolphins but also common Bottlenose Dolphins were captured in these hunts.

Hawaii
In ancient Hawaii, fishermen used to hunt dolphins for their meat by driving them onto the beach and killing them. In their ancient legal system, dolphin meat was considered to be kapu (forbidden) for women together with several other kinds of food. Today, dolphin drive hunting no longer takes place in Hawaii.

Kiribati
Drive hunting existed in Kiribati at least until the mid 20th century.

Arsenic is a naturally occurring toxin present in minerals and also introduced into the water by oil spills and the wastewater from oil rigs. Usually, the ocean can filter out arsenic through the sediments on the sea floor. However, researchers from Imperial College London have found that the presence of oil in seawater disrupts the ocean’s ability to filter out arsenic, which means it can build up and enter the food chain, causing anything from birth defects to changes in behavior among marine animals. That means the oil spill in the Gulf could be deadly in a whole new way in years to come.

Captain Paul Watson from Americas Business Council on Vimeo.