The Cove (Documentary) Review

The Cove is the Winner of the 82nd Academy Awards (2010) for Best Documentary Feature. It is an impeccably crafted documentary that analyzes and questions Japan’s  illegal dolphin killing.

(Director of The Cove :  Louie Psihoyos) 

The director's aim was essentially to bring awareness about this terrible situation, cease the hunting, change Japanese hunting culture and lastly, to educate people about the dangers of mercury poisoning from dolphin meat.

So why do these Japanese fishermen kill dolphins?

• Profit. Supermarkets trick consumers into thinking that dolphin meat is whale meat, which is not sold at a higher price as compared to dolphin meat, so as it generate more profit.
• The Japanese have defended themselves by saying that dolphins are like pest, they eat a large number of fish everyday. Since Japan relies heavily on its fishing industry to feed its people and for economic growth. Dolphins need to be killed  as a form of  'pest control'.
• Also, they have tried to justify their cruel ways by saying that dolphin hunting has been their way of life for many years now.  In fact, in Taiji, the area where the documentary was mostly filmed, has a 400-year history of whale and dolphin hunting. 

Why is it wrong to kill dolphins and whales? 

(Does this look okay to you?)

• The method that is used is dolphin hunting called "drive fishing". Fishermen in boats bang metal poles with hammers to create a sound beneath the water. This severely disorientates the dolphins confuses the dolphins and allows these fishermen to drive them into the shallow coves where they are eventually shot with the use of harpoons. I believe and accept that animals have rights and thus killing them in that way is simply inhumane. It is cruel.

(Bottlenose Dolphin)

• Dolphins to begin with, are already endangered species hence,  are not as numerous as tuna for example. If people are allowed to kill dolphins or kill dolphins at an unsustainable rate, then very soon, dolphins will become extinct. As a result, not only will there be a loss of biodiversity which will have a negative impact on ecosystems but also, future generations will not be able to interact and learn from with these intelligent and friendly creatures.