Dolphin tradgedy and the debate over whether the red water (shown) is fake

After a long absence from the page that is BoingBoing, I checked it out today. As is the usual situation, there was something highly exercising and interesting hanging around. Amongst the general chit-chat about technology; gif photos that 'move' and such came this:

Fishermen in the Taiji area of Japan regularly hunt dolphin during the October to April season. This year they've caught over 60 dolpins under the quota system which the government uses to 'regulate' their capture. The meat is processed and sold to supermarkets and restaurants. There's a tiny clip of video of the hunt which the group managed to film showing the fishermen dragging dolphins into the boats they're using. From the number of dolphins 'harvested' in the catch filmed, the number of dolphins taken this year seems astonishingly low despite the fact that there's only been a month of hunting.
The fishermen corral the dolpins into a tight space and then slash at them with sythes and such. It's a brutal practice made even more so considering how intelligent the dolphin is and how they'd realise just WHAT was happening to them...


Metafilter discussion
American anti whaling group's own details of the hunt
Seashepherd's video of the fishermen
bluevoice
another metafilter discussion of the topic
personal home page
conservation group page showing the graphic red blood in the water following a whaling

horrible stuff