TAIJI, Japan — Fishermen here, whose annual dolphin slaughter was depicted in the 2009 Oscar-winning documentary “The Cove,’’ say they will resume the hunt this week because the 400-year-old tradition is the foundation of their industry.
“We have no intention to stop hunting dolphins,’’ said Miyato Sugimori, administrative chief of the Taiji Town Fisheries Association. “Our young fishermen can’t continue to live in this town without the hunt.’’
Of Japan’s annual quota of 20,000 dolphins, about 1,500 are killed or sold to aquariums by fishermen in the town in Wakayama prefecture, south of Osaka. Taiji’s “oikomi,’’ a method of hunting in which dolphins are herded into a bay for slaughter, drew worldwide criticism after the documentary was released.
“It’s a horrific way to kill them,’’ said Sakae Hemmi, a spokeswoman for Elsa Nature Conservancy, a Japanese environmental protection group. “Even if they let them go, the structure of the dolphins’ group is disrupted.’’
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