Bloody Taiji Dolphin Slaughter Season Ends
By Mark J. Palmer
Warning: Graphic Images that Might be Disturbing
Every year in September, the Taiji hunters stop fishing and go to chase and harass dolphin pods, pushing them into the notorious Cove, herding them like cattle to their doom, during a six-month-long season.
The current season recently ended, going from Sept. 1st, 2025, through Feb. 28th, 2026.
Our friends in Japan, Kunito Seko, the photographer living in Taiji, and Ms. Megumi Matsuda have pulled together estimates on how many dolphins were slaughtered for meat and how many have been caught for a miserable and short life in captivity.
Striped Dolphins: 134 killed, 0 captives
Bottlenose Dolphin: 1 killed, 81 captives
Risso’s Dolphin: 68 killed, 0 captives
Rough-toothed Dolphin: 1 killed, 1 captives
Melon-headed Whale: 128 killed, 0 captives
Short-finned Pilot Whale: 61 killed, 2 captives
TOTAL: 393 dead dolphins; 84 captured for captivity.
(Estimated Numbers: Thanks to Kunito Seko and Megumi Matsuda.)
Hundreds of dolphins die during the hunt season, who are sold for meat in Japanese markets.
But the real money in Taiji comes from capturing live dolphins for aquariums around the world. Many of these captured dolphins, torn from their families (who are usually slaughtered once the selection of “show quality” dolphins is made by the hunters and attendant aquarium staff), will end up going to aquariums in Japan or being exported to China (a major market for live dolphins for entertainment), Thailand, and Bahrain.
In addition, once again, a number of species that were normally caught in past seasons are absent this year. The dolphin hunters have attributed this to possible changes in currents and global warming effects, but there is not much evidence for this case, as the dolphin migrations have never been adequately studied.
A Dolphin is Caught in the Net. Photo Credit: Kunito Seko
Another possible scenario is that years of hunting these species have seriously depleted the local populations, such that few are now swimming past Taiji anymore. In addition, markets for dolphin meat are fairly small – few Japanese eat any whale meat, and even fewer still ever eat dolphin meat, mostly local people.
The species for which the hunters had quotas, but were not captured or killed this season, includes:
Pacific White-sided Dolphin
Pantropical Spotted Dolphin
False Killer Whale
In a word, Taiji hunters had quotas from the Japan Fisheries Agency to kill or capture for aquariums a total of 1,824 dolphins from nine species for the season.
In fact, the hunters were only able to kill about 393 dolphins (versus 298 last season) and capture 84 (versus 92 last season).
Some dolphins were released after aquarium specimens were picked (notably the bottlenose dolphins, which are the most popular for aquariums, so the hunters seldom kill many in order to save the species for future captivity purposes).
It is unlikely that released dolphins, once they have been herded into the Cove, are able to resume normal activities. In the Cove, nets are pulled shut to prevent their escape, and then their families are broken up through the removal of animals for captivity or meat. Such a traumatic experience for the dolphins is not easily shaken. These are intelligent animals that mourn the loss of family members in the hunts. Releasing them after this trauma is not exactly a kindness – more like a crude attempt at conservation of the population.
One bit of good news – the number of dolphins slaughtered for meat this year is up slightly from last season, but way down from the 2023-24 season. That season resulted in 833 dolphins killed for meat (still lower than the quotas). Compare that number to this season’s total of 393 dolphins killed. This continues a trend of fewer and fewer dolphins being killed for meat, while each year, around 100 dolphins are captured and sold for captivity.
Still, there is no excuse for a rich nation like Japan to continue to hunt dolphins to provide mercury-laden meat for the table. Japanese consumer demand for dolphin and whale meat has declined so dramatically that most is stored in freezers.
Additionally, confining dolphins and small whales in concrete tanks for entertainment is considered cruel, evidenced by the growing number of countries banning cetacean captivity and shutting down display facilities, such as France and Canada. The fact that so many dolphins are still captured for aquariums demonstrates just how poorly these animals fare in captivity – the existing wild dolphins brought into tanks soon die, and Taiji is happy to provide replacements, at a high cost.
We must keep pressuring the Japan Fisheries Agency and the hunters to end the vicious killing and capture of these wonderful animals for profit and entertainment.
Sign our petition: https://savedolphins.eii.org/take-action/take-action-save-japan-dolphins
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The International Marine Mammal Project (IMMP) helps support Kunito Seko’s work, and IMMP further salutes the other activists who report on the Taiji dolphin hunts. You can help the dolphins of Taiji and dolphins around the world by signing our petition and donating to IMMP. We are a small but very active organization dedicated to saving whales, dolphins, and their ocean habitats. We established our Save Japan Dolphins Campaign in 2004, and continue to work to end the slaughter. Thanks for your support for the dolphins and whales!
