On February 7, the Taiji fishing collective captured a family of 10 orca whales and confined them in Hatajiri Bay on Japan's southeast coast. Fishers hammered on hollow metal pipes suspended boatside, driving their prey inland. Videotape taken by activists at Hatajiri Bay reveals the orcas huddling, thrashing their flukes and calling out to one another. Fishers gradually tightened a wall of containment nets and forced the whales into shallow water. Staff-wielding boatmen separated and restrained orcas bound for marine parks.
Japan is the only nation to condone orca captures.
That means the pod's future lies in the hope that the two others were female and can get their lives back together and bear offspring. For too long, Japanese officials have justified the annual slaughter of thousands of dolphins and whales as traditional, subsistence harvesting practiced by indigenous people. In recent years, however, these fishers have discovered the profitability of working with Japans whale and dolphin entertainment facilities. Failing this, the delegation might try to produce evidence that marine parks existed in ancient times and were stocked with animals caught by fishermen exercising traditional capture rights.