Special investigation Revealed: brutal reality of world's 'biggest dolphin hunt'

[Judi Lynn]

Special investigation Revealed: brutal reality of world's 'biggest dolphin hunt'
17th October, 2013

Undercover filming by the UK investigative agency Ecostorm has exposed - for the first time - the brutal hunting and killing of dolphins for use as shark bait off Peru's Pacific coast. Jim Wickens reports

The car glided swiftly out of Lima, skimming past brightly-lit barrios before plunging into the darkness of the desert road. We were heading for a midnight rendezvous with a shark fishing boat. The owner of the rough and ready vessel had agreed to show us how they catch sharks in Peru: by killing dolphins and using the bloody chunks as bait.

Rumours of an illegal dolphin harvest have swirled around Peru for years, a secret slaughter involving thousands of dolphins, dwarfing the high seas drama of the annual whale hunt in Antarctica. Known as "sea pigs" by fishermen in Peru, dolphins are reportedly harpooned and diced up on deck, before being skewered onto hundreds of hooks strung out on long-lines at sea to attract sharks. It's a bloody business but it can save fishermen hundreds if not thousands of dollars in costly fish bait every trip. Dolphin meat is particularly enticing to sharks, and while substitutes are available, to the hard-bitten men who brave these high seas, all that matters is that it is free.

Until recently, nobody was ever able to get close enough to prove the Peruvian dolphin hunt exists. The fine for getting caught would bankrupt a small fisherman. And so the hunt remained no more than a rumour, denied at every opportunity by both the fishing industry and the government in Peru.

More:
http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2122747/revealed_brutal_reality_of_worlds_biggest_dolphin_hunt.html

[Nihil]

1. K&R for yet another disgusting example of human behaviour

The article is truly a heart-rending read (for anyone with a heart of course).

There are some people that I would love to feed to the Humboldt squid ...

[stuntcat]

2. K&R

I don't know anyone who gives the least damn about this. Or anything else posted in this forum for that matter.
In real life I don't know one single person who'll pay even a second of attention to any of this news.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Rise in shark fin exports from Peru leads to thousands of dolphin killings

Rise in shark fin exports from Peru leads to thousands of dolphin killings
By Agence France-Presse
Friday, October 18, 2013 21:15 EDT

Peru has dramatically increased its sales of shark fins to Asia, triggering the slaughter of about 15,000 dolphins a year used as bait, officials said Friday.

Shark fin is viewed by many Asians as a delicacy and is often served as a soup at expensive Chinese banquets.
Most of Peru’s shark fin exports, which jumped 10 percent in recent years, go to Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and other Asian Nations, the Production Ministry said.

Although shark fin is authorized when regulated, some fishermen are engaging in “criminal activity” by fishing illegally, and must be punished, Fisheries Deputy Minister Paul Phompiu told reporters.
“We are outraged by this situation. Peru condemns the illegal fishing of dolphins and sharks because they are a protected species,” he said.

The Mundo Azul protectionist group said this week that 15,000 dolphins are slaughtered each year in Peru and their meat is used as bait to catch sharks.

More:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/10/18/rise-in-shark-fin-exports-from-peru-leads-to-thousands-of-dolphin-killings/