The Cove - Doco about Taiji's Dolphin killings

[stewsmith 14]

We could not get to a cinema to see this film when it was being screened but watched it at the weekend on dvd. A truely tear jerking film/documentary. So sad to think that for several months a year the cove is turned into a crimson pool of death.

 

Stew

[davephdv 0]

Saw this film on the Nautilus explorer in January. Last week it was shown at the Santa Barbara International film festival and an award given to the director.

 

What I took from this film was how many of the worlds captive dolphin shows get their dolphins from this hunt. I would encourage people to educate friends and family on how these show get their dolphin performers. So that they can make an educated choice on it they want to support such shows.

[xariatay 1]

The Cove just won an Oscar for the Best Documentary Feature! http://oscar.go.com/nominations/nominees/the-cove/3211 Hope it brings more awareness!

 

Please Do Not buy tickets to watch the dolphins (& other marine mammals) in captivity!

[Drew 0]

That just shows how skewed the AMPAS members are to being 'lobbied' to vote on pictures by studios. To me, the very unlobbied for Burma VJ was a much better documentary about the Rangoon demonstrations than the Larry Clark vehicle. It's sad when only 1/600th of the members have an idea what Myanmar is about. Or am I too generous?

Someone once said to me the Oscars are great for the goodie bags and the parties after. If you're a member of the AMPAS, then it's great almost all year round with people having parties to promote their movies.

[DeanB 19]

The Cove just won an Oscar for the Best Documentary Feature! http://oscar.go.com/nominations/nominees/the-cove/3211 Hope it brings more awareness!

 

Please Do Not buy tickets to watch the dolphins (& other marine mammals) in captivity!

 

Its fantastic news

 

Well done the Oscars for this momentous decision to make more awareness on such a hideous crime to the natural world in the name of 'Tradition'

 

WELL DONE THE COVE!!!

 

Dive safe

 

DeanB

Edited March 9, 2010 by DeanB

[fotoscubo714 0]

I just watched a story on ABC7 6pm news in LA. "The Cove" production did a sting and has reported for investigation a local renown sushi restaurant ,The Hump, for illegally serving whale meat. Congrats for sticking to your guns and do more than making an excellent documentary. Congrats on your Oscar!

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/...whale-meat.html

 

 

 

The Cove just won an Oscar for the Best Documentary Feature! http://oscar.go.com/nominations/nominees/the-cove/3211 Hope it brings more awareness!

 

Please Do Not buy tickets to watch the dolphins (& other marine mammals) in captivity!

Edited March 10, 2010 by fotoscubo714

[xariatay 1]

I just watched a story on ABC7 6pm news in LA. "The Cove" production did a sting and has reported for investigation a local renown sushi restaurant ,The Hump, for illegally serving whale meat. Congrats for sticking to your guns and do more than making an excellent documentary. Congrats on your Oscar!

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/...whale-meat.html

 

Thanks for the link! Hope the restaurant gets a heavy fine.

Guess many people think that "rich" people are into expensive & exotic food, to show-off their wealth & their "unique taste"...

[davephdv 0]

Animal Planet is going to have a series based on this movie. Named Dolphin Warriors.

 

Allegedly the killing still goes on. They have moved it out of the cove into offshore nets.

 

According to the LA Times.

[fotoscubo714 0]

Thanks for the link! Hope the restaurant gets a heavy fine.

Guess many people think that "rich" people are into expensive & exotic food, to show-off their wealth & their "unique taste"...

 

Allegedly, the whale plate went for $60.

 

Besides facing federal charges for serving whale meat they are also facing local health code violations. I would imagine that the lead-chef will be made the scapegoat, although the ownership/management probably knew about this expensive plate.

 

With this bad publicity, the restaurant will probably close and start over with a new name and management. Maybe another Chef Ramsey episode?

 

 

Bo

[Drew 0]

I think a little perspective is in order here. Once again, there's a huge drive and loads of money being made by people who push the anti-cetacean hunting agenda in the rest of the world, while in Japan, especially in places like Taiji, where there may have been a semblance of a twitch of a movement in stopping the hunts for health reasons. All that is now overwhelmed by nationalism, fueled by the negative press of such practices in the west since the Cove came out and the wholesale cetacean trade continues unabated. All this while again, the Faroese and other nations doing similar hunts get very little press.

While the Japanese people need to learn more about their whaling industry (something that isn't really in the culture, to dig into government policies), some of the western countries need to learn that bully publicity tactics only work for places which can't afford to lose the PR war. Negative campaigns have not worked on the Danish (Faroese), the Norwegians, Iceland and it will not work for the Japanese. I'm actually inclined to think there is a smidgen of racism involved in picking on the Japanese by the public.

The Hump serving kujira only shows that there are some people who will always desire it, even if it is illegal. Anyone who goes to the insider Japanese restaurants which serve all Japanese clients (Nobu does not qualify ) will see an extension of Japan in that little microcosmic bubble, complete with whale meat, blue fin tuna and even (gasp) smoking in the restaurant!

I don't doubt Ric's intentions here but ask any organization working hard on conservation how much such 'positive' publicity is actually negative in ending the practice it protests against.

2 Japanese men are facing trial in Japan for trying to expose the whale trade and misuse of government resources to the Japanese. That sort of publicity is needed for the Japanese to understand what is happening. Too bad these guys are attached to Green Peace, otherwise it'd be more effective.

[xariatay 1]

Race, nationality are sometimes quite useful "excuses"... Maybe the Chinese would start to say that they wouldn't & couldn't be bullied into giving up consuming shark fin??

[Drew 0]

Well Xaria, if you examine the phenomenon of sharks fin, it's a product of the Asian economic boom, and thus is about 30 years old whereby the demand increased so quickly that the shark population were decimated. Soft campaigns informing the Chinese have been in place since the 90s by various groups. None of the confrontational campaigns have taken the media spotlight. Plus the finning fleets are worldwide and multinational, albeit usually the buyer is of Chinese origin.

Juxtaposed against that is a movement of anti-Japanese sentiment that also began in the 80s with the cetacean hunting movement, which coincided with the hugely stupid anti-foreigner sentiment in the industries where the Japanese were killing the EU and US manufacturers with better (oh Toyota how you have fallen) and cheaper products.

The point is it doesn't matter how we foreigners see the issue, the Japanese politicians and media in general favor nationalism in these times. The media and populace backlash against the Japanese is much higher than the other nations which do similar activities. The unbalanced criticism has to come from somewhere other than hating Toyota's faulty brakes.