What I Watched -- The Cove

The Cove is a documentary about the dolphin-fishing industry in the town of Taiji, Japan. In two words, I can sum up the film this way: shocking, horrifying.

The film exposes the massive and impressively coordinated government cover-up of the activities of the dolphin fisherman. The cove itself, where the killing happens, is naturally protected by the landscape, with fortifications in the form of fences, razor wire, and foot patrols. Even the neighboring cove, where dolphins are rounded up and sold for dolphin shows around the world, is jealously guarded by the fisherman. They hold huge signs saying "No Photos" in front of anyone with a camera, and try to provoke a fight to justify involvement of the authorities. Any dolphins not of the right type or size to be used in dolphin shows are dragged around the tip of the cove and out of sight, where they are killed. The Japanese delegation to the International Whaling Commission blatantly lied about what the fishermen were doing. The Japanese Minister of Fisheries (maybe? I forget, exactly?) refused to acknowledge the illegal dolphin killing even after being confronted with video footage taken by the filmmakers.

A lot of the meat from those dolphins is, apparently, falsely labeled as whale meat and sold in supermarkets. The filmmakers tested a number of people involved in the cover-up for mercury poisoning, and they all tested positive. According to the film, the major consequence of this will be an increase in birth defects in children born to mothers who have high mercury levels. There was even a plan to serve dolphin meat in the Taiji schools, which has supposedly been scrapped since the production of the film.

There is also something inspiring about this film, though, in the extreme lengths that the activists who made it are willing to go to to expose the plight of the dolphins. It is important to keep this in mind: they are activists. They make no bones about the fact that they have an agenda.

However, even if you watch the movie on mute so you don't hear their words, there is no denying the horrifying, secretly-captured images of fishermen repeatedly stabbing dolphins, whose blood turns the water Kool-Aid red while they attempt to escape from The Cove.