The West Coast of Australia is right now cheerfully boasting one of the longest and most lucrative whale-watching seasons in the world, as Humpbacks migrate from the Antarctic to the warmer calving grounds of the Kimberley–attracting thousands of visitors and creating an economic boost to tour operators and businesses in the Northern tourist town of Broome.
Img: Broome Whale Watching
On the opposite side of the country, following the Pacific Ocean’s North Easterly Kuroshio, or more aptly named, Japanese “Black Current,” dolphins and smaller whales will also begin one of the longest migration seasons. But for these animals, their migration is one that will only attract dolphin killers during 6 long months of destruction, death and despair.
Img: Peta Wilson The Broome Solution
Dolphin Hunting season in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan is only two months away and yet again the citizens of Broome, absorbed only in their annual celebrations of pearls, eco-tourism and fortune in the famous cosmopolitan town, will fail to address or even acknowledge the brutal and inhumane killing of dolphins and small whales in its also famous but notorious dolphin slaughtering sister town of Taiji.
The ties-that-bind-us-are-more-important-than-dolphin slaughter mentality of Broome town citizens will again condone the taking of hundreds of dolphins from the wild, herded into the killing shores of Taiji by a small group of dolphin profiteers and killers.
Some of those dolphins stolen from the wild will be exported around the world to spend the rest of their enslaved lives in dolphinarium pens, providing swim-with encounters to the oblivious paying public looking to tick an item off their to-do bucket list. Those dolphins not selected to fulfill the self-absorbed dreams of the ‘wanna- be’ dolphin huggers and trainers of the world will be slaughtered for their toxic meat, sold to the unsuspecting Japanese consumer as whale meat or simply disposed of as vermin and ground up as pet food or fertiliser.
Img: Black Cove
Animal welfare organisations, politicians and individuals in Australia and across the globe for years have been calling on Broome to use its sister town influence to help put an end to the brutality that will see an estimated 1800 of these sentient animals driven to the killing cove of Taiji again this season. Those calls will no doubt fall on deaf ears as usual and the citizens of Broome will again remain mute, too busy enjoying the spoils of their lucrative tourism and pearling industry built in part off the backs of the ancestors of those very sister citizens that the world’s dolphin welfare advocates despise.
When questioned in June 2016 about the continued acceptance of an Australian Sister city relationship with a town that partakes in such a despicable practice, at complete odds with the protection Australia affords these animals, the West Australian Premier Colin Barnett stated that “contemporary issues such as dolphins, are best dealt with by the Broome community and, in particular, by the Broome Shire Council.” The Premier places the responsibility of this sister relationship and any discussion about it, squarely on the shoulders of the citizens of Broome. He further stated that “I believe that the appropriate course is to continue dialogue within the Shire and the Broome community”.
Img: Premier Colin Barnett, 2nd Left, 75th Anniversary of the Japanese Air Raid on Broome
However, when approached, the Shire of Broome, without fail-remain contemptuously silent; they simply refuse to discuss the issue with “people who do not live or participate in our community.” This is an interestingly arrogant position, given the Broome Shire’s sister town agreement with Taiji states that “this friendship, it’s “not just the two towns, but Australia and Japan. More, it is our firm belief that our efforts will contribute to the peace of the whole world.”
Broome, when last checked, is not a republic, so it is simply astounding that it appears the entire country of Australia has, according to the Broome Shire, no say in this sister relationship that remains a shameful stain on all Australians who care about these sentient beings.
The Shire clearly believe they are beyond reproach and are accountable to no one.
They fail to respond to legitimate letters, emails and phone calls, even from respected organisations, filtering all mail and providing only automated responses.
Even the Australian media refuse to acknowledge attempts to engage on the subject of Broome, Taiji or dolphin butchery.
“The Australian media must ask questions about how a town can have a cultural connection with a place of such misery and disgusting cruelty as Taiji Cove” -Dominic Dyer, Born Free Foundation
It beggars belief that Broome, a small town of approximately 17,000 people and a Shire council of only 7 individuals, have possibly held in their hands the fate of tens of thousands of cetaceans since becoming sister towns with Taiji in 1981. And make no mistake, the Broome Shire councillors were well and truly aware of the atrocities that were (and still are) taking place every year in their sister town, at the very least, since 2009.
The Shire came under immense pressure in 2009 to cut ties with Taiji after the premiere of the academy award winning documentary ‘The Cove’ exposed the hunts to the world. Broome town councillors at the time did suspend their relationship for a few short weeks but reversed their decision soon after and even followed it up with a visit to Taiji to further strengthen ties. Whilst visiting the town they sickeningly interacted with the captive dolphins they knew had experienced the brutal captive selection process and likely the slaughter of their family members.
It’s mind boggling that to this day the Shire of Broome refuse to address the inhumane and abhorrent practice of dolphin drive hunting that continues on in their sibling town of Taiji. The councillors hearts must truly be void of all compassion or empathy for these animals. Their apathy astonishing.
And what of the 17,000 citizens of Broome, who are responsible for holding their Shire council to account? Apparently, even though very few families remain in Broome that have any ancestoral links to Taiji, they choose to maintain their grotesquely narrow-minded perspective on the issue.
Despite living in a town that protects and respects dolphins and whales, local citizens choose to vehemently defend the historical ties between Broome and its dolphin slaughtering sister. They fail to give any real consideration to the notion that perhaps their sister citizens, not involved in these despicable hunts, would welcome an end to the spotlight being focused firmly on their town as arguably the most despised place on the planet.
The Broome community appear to have never even considered that they could use their unique position of influence and their Japanese investor contacts to do what no one else in the world seems able to achieve-to end the hunts and allow dolphins and whales their right to be free to migrate as nature intended and to simply live.
Surely there is no reason this notion could not be considered whilst still maintaining the deep historical bond between the two towns who’s relationship has survived a World War and even a Japanese bombing of Broome?
In an article in the West Australian newspaper celebrating this year’s Humpback migration of thousands of Humpback whales along the Australian West coast and a booming whale-watch season in Broome, Environment Minister Stephen Dawson was quoted as saying that “humpbacks had gone to the brink of extinction in the 1960’s because of hunting by commercial whalers.”
It is astounding that the West Australian Premiere, Environment Minister, Broome Shire Council and citizens of Western Australia take great pride in the rejuvenation of this cetacean species whilst still lying in bed with a town in Japan that it seems is hell bent on driving other dolphin and whale species to that very same brink of extinction.
In October 2013 the Environmental Investigation Agency reported that there had been
It went on to say that Japan’s coastal hunts “represent the largest directed hunt of cetaceans in the world” and “A comprehensive analysis of the available scientific data demonstrates unequivocally that there are grave concerns regarding the sustainability of these hunts.”
The report further stated that the unsustainable hunts “are on track to wipe out key species while also threatening human health with toxic meat products contaminated with mercury and other pollutants”.
Over the last decade a slowly decreasing quota for the capture and kill of seven species of cetaceans have been targeted by the Taiji hunters. They include: Striped dolphins, Bottlenose dolphins, Pacific white-sided dolphins, Pantropical spotted dolphins, Risso’s dolphins, Short-finned pilot whales and False killer Whales.
Despite growing concerns, increased awareness and pleas from international and Japanese welfare groups, on May 30 2017, the Japanese Fisheries Agency approved the inclusion of two additional species for capture and/or slaughter for the 2017-2018 dolphin drive-hunt season.
Migrating Rough-toothed dolphins and Melon-headed whales will now also be hunted to death in Taiji, Japan.
Img: WDC US, Melon Headed Whale
Img: WDC US, Rough Toothed Dolphin
Whilst it’s lovely to hear a Broome Whale Watching owner describing migrating humpbacks along the WA coast as “being on a mission to get to Broome,” in Taiji the migrating dolphins and whales don’t stand a chance and often they dont “get” anywhere. Their journey is cut short by the hunters who lie in wait on their 12 ‘Banger Boats’ to drive pods from their migratory path to another path that leads them to a shore-where their close knit family groups face only torture, decimation and death.
Broome Shire and the Taiji Mayors office, in unison, claim these hunts are Japanese culture. If this statement were true, does it then make it ok that this barbaric practice continues? The fact remains, these hunts are not cultural, they are a modern and commercial operation involving: professional hunters with motorised boats, scuba-divers, dolphin trainers, dolphin dealers and Marine Parks.
The worlds peak dolphin trainer organisation, IMATA, the Government of Japan and even the IUCN bodies established to protect the very wildlife they continue to allow to be exported from these hunts for commercial use are all participants in this deplorable industry .
Img:Telegraph UK
The Government of Japan self regulates the practice of dolphin slaughter and the export of these animals for commercial use to places like China and the Middle East under the guise of “culture”, no different to the commercial slaughter of whales in the waters of the Southern Ocean disguised as “research” that every year outrages all Australians.
September 1st marks the beginning of the Taiji drive hunting season where killers will again head out in search of their prey, every day, for 6 long months until March.
It is appallingly sardonic to think that beginning that very same week on September 2nd, Broome will launch ‘Shinju Matsuri’, its cultural festival of the pearl to celebrate the historical bonds that tie these twisted sisters together.
Broome and Taiji have a history and no one denies that this history should be celebrated and remembered. But is it right to maintain sister city ties with a town that regards dolphins as “the cockroaches of the sea” whilst we love and respect them here in Australia? Is it right that Broome citizens should close their eyes to the cruel way in which these animals are treated before their capture, or the inhumane way in which they are slaughtered?
Img: Liz Carter, Blue Cove Days Everyday Forever
There is no doubt that Broome is in a unique position to influence Taiji, whether it be by cutting ties with the town and sending a strong and clear message that the practice of dolphin hunting is unacceptable to Australians, or could Broome use its sister role to offer assistance–to help Taiji move to a more sustainable industry such as dolphin and whale-watching tourism, in turn benefiting the entire town of Taiji as it has Broome?
We may never know, and the good citizens of Taiji may never have the opportunity to test an alternative for their town whilst they remain held to ransom by the dolphin hunters, dealers, dolphinarium industry and the citizens of Broome who continue to turn a blind eye to their dolphin slaughtering sisters ways.
Sign The Petition: https://dolphinproject.net/blog/post/broome-must-end-its-sister-relationship-with-taiji/
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* The views and opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of the original authors unless otherwise referenced.
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