By Todd Crowell
TOKYO
The Japan Association of Zoos and Aquariums (JAZA) voted this week to ban members from buying wild dolphins for their collections from the Taiji dolphin hunt, insisting that aquariums replace their stock with animals bred in captivity.
Japanese aquariums had been in the habit of buying dolphins from the small Pacific coast town of Taiji -- the focus of an annual winter dolphin drive. During the hunt, fishing boats find pods of dolphins off the coast before driving them into a narrow cove where they are killed.
Some end up as dolphin meat on local restaurant menus -- Japanese still eat dolphin and whale meat -- or are sold as performing animals to aquariums and other sea shows.
The annual Taiji drive became famous -- or notorious -- as the subject of a 2009 Oscar-winning documentary called “The Cove.”
The film was highly controversial in Japan, where many complained that it was anti-Japanese -- or more accurately, that it put Japan in a bad light. Many theaters had declined to view it.
The mayor of Taiji has responded to the JAZA action by saying the annual dolphin drive would continue as usual.
Last month, the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums suspended the Japanese chapter, threatening to expel it unless it agreed to stop acquiring dolphins from the Taiji hunt.
The local chapter gave in for fear of the potential damage of exclusion from the worldwide organization to its 152 members.
The world association said it took the unusual step of suspending the Japanese chapter due to the “cruel” way in which the animals were caught.
Two of the largest dolphin shows in Japan, SeaWorld in Chiba prefecture near Tokyo and Marine World in Fukuoka, reported that their collections have both Taiji and domestic-bred animals. They pledged to redouble efforts at breeding replacements.
Breeding dolphins, however, is no easy task.
A pool dedicated to the purpose is necessary, and Motoi Yoshioka, professor of fish reproduction at Mei University, told the Japan Times that some of the smaller aquariums will find it harder to replace their animals without the cooperation of larger institutions.
Many Japanese zoos that do not have dolphins welcomed the decision. Expulsion from the world association would have made it more difficult for them to borrow or buy rare animals -- such as polar bears -- from overseas, a spokesman for Ueno Zoo in Tokyo said.
Japan hosts many of the world’s largest and most elaborate aquariums, with even the ones not hosting dolphin shows being popular among Japanese and tourists.
Members of an island nation, the Japanese have an intimate relationship with ocean creatures -- which feature in much of their cultural cuisine.
