The Cove Research Paper

In 2009, Louie Psihoyos brought attention to what was previously and undiscussed topic. His documentary The Cove showed the world a tragedy that occurred in Taiji, Japan every year. From September to March thousands of dolphins and porpoises are killed in the waters of a small cove. The film makes a strong argument about the heinousness slaughter. This mass killing in Taiji is without reason, could end in the extinction of the species, and is giving the world a bad perception of Japan. Many Japanese government officials claim that killing dolphins is part of Japanese culture and tradition. Despite these claims, historians have found no evidence of dolphin hunting in Japanese history (Hume). Also, as shown in The Cove, many Japanese citizens …show more content…
Currently, the number of dolphins in the world is decreasing significantly every year due to the mass killings in Taiji, Japan. With every killing season, dolphins and porpoises get closer and closer to being added to the extinct species list. The elimination of these animals would have countless untold effects on the ocean’s ecosystems. Dolphins and porpoises are top level predators that keep everything in their ecosystem secure and balanced. If these species were to be wiped out, all levels of the food chain would be thrown out of balance. The animals that dolphins and porpoises feed on would see a significant rise in population. These middle levels of the ecosystem would become too big for those below to support, causing a collapse (Choi). As activist poke holes in their claims of tradition, the Japanese government began to state that the dolphins are eating too many fish and ruining the Japanese economy. So fishermen were ordered to begin killing dolphins for pest control. While these government officials are correct that dolphins are eating many of the fish that are so important to Japan’s economy, killing off this top level predator could have more consequences than benefits when it comes to the oceanic