From Ryot.org http://www.ryot.org/ RYOT has been covering this year’s dolphin slaughter in Taiji, Japan for the last week, and the response from you guys has been overwhelming. The majority of you feel the same way we do: really, really upset. When emotions are running as hot as they are now, the most important thing is to do is be informed enough to take the right steps toward making real change. If you’re at all interested in the dolphin slaughter, you need to know these ten facts about it: 1. THE DOLPHIN SLAUGHTER ISN’T ACTUALLY A TRADITION. Proponents of the practice are quick to call it a “cultural tradition,” but the practice of en masse dolphin killing truly started when the motorboat engine was invented and adopted into the mainstream. “This is like one generation, and that’s not ‘traditional,’” says Lincoln O’Barry of the Dolphin Project. “[The Japanese] could go kill with traditional whaling and go in big 20 man canoes and paddle out and kill a whale, but they’d never slaughter 100s of dolphins before.” 2. . . . BUT EVEN IF IT WERE A TRADITION, IT COULD CHANGE. The Soloman Islands are one of few remaining indigenous and tribal areas on Earth, and they used to hunt dolphins for food and cultural reasons. When O’Barry visited them, they were using dolphin teeth as currency. After several months of living with the native people, O’Barry was able to educate them about dolphin conservation enough for them to alter their practices. “They stopped after a thousand years of tradition. It shows people can change.” 3. THE ENTIRE LOCAL FISHING INDUSTRY ISN’T BASED ON THE DOLPHIN SLAUGHTER. Taiji’s fishing industry isn’t entire contingent on the relative success of the dolphin slaughter. Stopping the slaughter would put “50 people out of business,” says O’Barry. While 50 out of 300 is still a considerable percentage, those 50 happen to be the richest people in the small town who make most of their profits specifically from the slaughter. “There are 300 other fishermen in Taiji that fish for other things, not dolphins.” 4. THE HIGHLY LUCRATIVE DOLPHIN CAPTIVITY INDUSTRY IS TRULY WHAT MOTIVATES THE SLAUGHTER. “A dead dolphin… is worth about $500 in meat. A wild dolphin,” like those captured in Taiji during the slaughter, “to keep in an aquarium alive can be worth over $130,000.” 5. A SMALL GROUP OF PEOPLE, NOT THE ENTIRE COUNTRY OF JAPAN, IS RESPONSIBLE. Many Japanese citizens aren’t informed of the practice, motivation and effects of the dolphin slaughter — not even the people in Taiji. “We printed copies of The Cove in Japanese, and actually put them in every mail slot in every house in Taiji,” O’Barry says of Dolphin Project’s on-the-ground efforts to change this horrific practice. “I would personally relate the numbers of slaughtered dolphins dropping to this.” 6. THE DOLPHIN SLAUGHTER ISN’T IN THE BEST INTEREST OF THE JAPANESE. Aside from a small group that profits immensely from the practice, most Japanese people don’t benefit at all from it. “No one in Japan mentions the word ‘mercury,’” laments O’Barry. Dolphin meat has some of the highest concentrations of the element, and consuming it can lead to severe neurological problems, from migraines to impaired motor skills. 7. THE JAPANESE ARE ALSO TAKING ACTION AGAINST THE SLAUGHTER. 2013 was the first year there was a Japanese activist standing up in protest at the cove. “This is about identifying and showing that it’s not all Japanese people,” says Lincoln. “There was a lot of anti-Japanese sentiment during the big whaling movement in the 1970s. All that really accomplished was that Japanese-American kids would get beat up on the playground. You can’t boycott a race of people just because of what a handful of people are doing in Taiji. That’s insane.” 8. LESS DOLPHINS ARE BEING KILLED EACH YEAR, THANKS TO AWARENESS AND GLOBAL PRESSURE. In 2009, 2,500 dolphins were slaughtered. In 2010, 2,000. In 2012, only 800 were killed. That’s still 800 too many, but it proves that change can happen when passionate people take action. 9. THE WAY TO SUSTAIN CHANGE IS BY CHANGING HEARTS AND MINDS. Getting mad doesn’t solve anything, and blaming a group of people doesn’t help either. The methods that have worked over the years and reduced the number of murdered dolphins are education and communication. O’Barry tells a powerful story about a Taiji dolphin hunter he knew: “There was a 3rd generation dolphin hunter that one day had a moment of epiphany that he couldn’t do it anymore. He’s now converted his dolphin hunting boat into a dolphin watching boat.” 10. YOU’RE NOT POWERLESS IN THIS SITUATION. From signing petitions to sharing the facts on social media, there is a lot that you can do to help change this situation. The strongest weapon you have is your voice — use it to speak out against this atrocity and inspire change.