Dolphin Project Back in Taiji

Dolphin Project is back on the ground in Taiji, Japan, where the dolphin drive hunt season is currently underway.

Over the past few years, we have been hard at work preparing and sorting through documentation with Japanese NGO Life Investigation Agency (LIA), and currently have several cases to defend dolphins in litigation in Japanese courts. To-date, Dolphin Project and LIA have won all lawsuits we filed against the dolphin hunting and captivity industry. Together with LIA and a growing network of independent Japanese citizens, we believe that shifting our campaign focus to lawsuits, legal actions and education within Japan will have a greater chance to not only expose aspects of the hunts that were previously inaccessible, but also to end the hunts as a whole.

Our team is on the ground in Taiji for the remainder of the 2024/25 drive hunt season. And while our priority in Taiji is on collecting photo, video and other documentation for use in legal actions to defend dolphins, we will continue to share periodic posts reporting on drives and the captive dolphin trade as much as possible.

Dolphin hunting boats head out in search of unsuspecting dolphin pods for slaughter or captive selection. Credit: DolphinProject.com

“While we value the many years of documenting the hunts in real time, our efforts are evolving into gathering information on certain aspects we believe may be illegal or against the permit guidelines.” ~ Tim Burns, Campaign Coordinator, Dolphin Project

What has changed in Taiji?

Documents acquired as a result of one of our legal actions reinforce the reality that the aquarium and marine park trade are inextricably tied to Taiji’s dolphin drive hunts, and that the desire for captive dolphins fuels the continuation of these captures.

In recent years, a growing number of places around the world have banned importing dolphins from Taiji, largely due to the documentation showing the cruel treatment during the drive hunts or have banned captivity altogether. These are positive steps in the right direction, but there is still much work to be done. The dolphin captivity industry is very interconnected, and many dolphinariums that are not currently purchasing dolphins from Taiji still have international influence – newer marine parks in China with orca and dolphin stadiums bear a striking resemblance to the biggest-name marine parks in the United States. In addition, in past years, both Dolphin Project and LIA have documented foreign dolphinarium employees being trained in Taiji.

Read more about our campaign in Taiji, Japan.

Legal actions take a great deal of time and resources. Please consider making a donation in support of our efforts to end the dolphin hunts.

Featured image: Dolphin Project Cove Monitor Alex watches as the boats go out in search of dolphin pods, Taiji, Japan. Credit: DolphinProject.com