For the first two weeks of this season’s hunting no dolphins or small whales have been driven into the cove. There have been a couple of occasions where pods have fought hard and outsmarted the hunters. The dolphins are in my mind and thousands of other peoples’ each night as the boats go out. We all focus on the Cove being blue which means that no capture or killing has taken place that day.

Even though the hunt as been unsuccessful thus far there are captive dolphins being held at the Cove which are being trained for human entertainment.

Photocredit – Sea Shepherd Cove Guardians

Sea Shepherd report that

Captive dolphin holding pens located in Taiji harbor.
These dolphins are being conditioned to eat dead fish and are sold to marine parks around the world. They are untrained and usually sell for less than trained dolphins.
Included are Bottlenose, Pantropical Spotted and Pacific White Sided dolphins all taken from the killing cove from last season.
A security van is parked on the grass to monitor activity and to the left is a Japanese Coast Guard zodiac. This vessel is used to guard the killing cove during a slaughter.

There are ways that you can campaign against this brutal enterprise. I found this information on the Sea Shepherd Cove Guardian Facebook page and it is so useful that I transferred it here.

Cove Guardian Facebook
Sea Shepherd USA Facebook
Cove Guardian Twitter
Sea Shepherd USA Twitter

Help us end the brutal Taiji dolphin slaughter by voicing your concerns to the authorities in Taiji as well as the Japanese Embassy, US Embassy to Japan, US and Japanese Ambassadors to the UN, and the US Senate members of the Committee on Foreign Relations.

PRIME MINISTER OF JAPAN
Prime Minister Shinzo- Abe
Cabinet Office, Government of Japan
1-6-1 Nagata-cho
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo. 100-8914 JAPAN
+81-3-5253-2111

Copy the links and paste into your browser
Website: http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/index-e.html
Online comment form #1: https://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/forms/comment_ssl.html
Online comment form #2: https://form.cao.go.jp/kokusai/en_opinion-0001.html

Japanese Embassies Worldwide:
Websites of Japanese Embassies, Consulates and Permanent Missions

List of Embassies and Consulates-General in Japan:
List of Embassies and Consulates-General in Japan

US Embassy in Japan:
Caroline Kennedy – Ambassador of the United States to Japan
Telephone: 011-81-3-3224-5000
Fax: 011-81-3-3505-1862
Send E-mail to the U.S. Embassy in Japan
Please thank Caroline Kennedy for her defense of the dolphins

Japanese UN Representatives:
H.E. Mr Kazuyoshi Umemoto – Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
japan.mission@dn.mofa.go.jp

H.E. Mr. Jun Yamazaki – Deputy Representative of Japan to the UN
japan.mission@dn.mofa.go.jp

United States UN Representative:
Samantha Power – US Ambassador to the UN
Samantha Power’s Twitter
United States Mission to the United Nations Contact Form

US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations:
US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations

Wakayama Prefecture Office, Fishery Division:
E0717001@pref.wakayama.lg.jp
Telephone: +81-73-441-3010
Fax: +81-73-432-4124

International Whaling Commission (IWC)
The Red House,
135 Station Road,
Impington,
Cambridge,
Cambridgeshire CB24 9NP, UK.
Tel: +44 (0) 1223 233 971
Fax: +44 (0) 1223 232 87
Email: secretariat@iwcoffice.org

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) / Convention on Migratory Species (CMP)
UNEP/CMS Secretariat
Platz der Vereinten Nationen 1
53113 Bonn, Germany
Tel: (+49 228) 815 2401
Fax: (+49 228) 815 2449
Email: secretariat@cms.int

Hotel Dolphin Resort/Dolphin Base:

Telephone: +81-0735-59-3514
Fax: +81-0735-59-2810

Japan Fisheries Public Content Form:
Contact the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries

WAZA: The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums
secretariat@waza.org

IMATA: The International Marine Mammal Trainers’ Association
info@imata.org