No, really. They intend to build a sea park in the same cove where they slaughter the animals they want to show off.

The town of Taiji in Japan, made infamous by award-winning documentary The Cove, plans to repair its reputation by building a sea life park in the self-same cove where annually hundreds of dolphins and whales are herded, captured and slaughtered by local fisherman.

The town intends to section off part of the cove and turn it into a place where people can swim and kayak alongside small whales and dolphins, according to a Japanese news agency, calling it “a marine safari park.”

“We want to send out the message that the town is living together with whales,” Taiji Mayor Kazutaka Sangen, was quoted as saying.

Scenes from the documentary included observing the fishermen herding the dolphins and whales into the cove with boats, where they could be sorted for sale or for slaughter.

The Cove is a 2009 Academy Award-winning documentary made by American conservationists and filmmakers to bring attention to the plight of dolphins and whales that frequent the seas around Japan.

The titular cove is a rocky inlet near the seaside town of Taiji (on the south-western coast of Honshu island, near Tokyo) where a prevalent local industry involves trapping pods of dolphins and whales inside the cove and then fishing some out for sale, while the rest are slaughtered in the water and dredged out for their meat.

The documentary featured activists and filmmakers infiltrating the heavily guarded cove to film the bloody activities of the annual dolphin hunt. Needless to say the visuals were gruesome. The purpose of the film was to bring the often secretive whaling and dolphin-hunting culture prevalent in Japan to light, at odds with Japanese promises to stem the practice of whaling, and the international efforts to conserve and protect ocean cetacea.

While the documentary gained international acclaim, the hunting of dolphins and whales in Japan continues largely unabated. Last year, according to Wakayama Prefecture, where the town of Taiji is situated, over 900 whales and dolphins were killed in the infamous “cove” alone.

The Cove didn’t pull any punches in showing the graphic slaughter of the animals in the water, as the sea ran crimson with their blood. Presumably not something for the park’s programme of activities.

Local fishermen defend their practice of culling whales and dolphins for meat and sale as part of their Japanese cultural heritage, a heritage it is hoped the sea life park will attempt to better represent. Presumably the park won’t be open when the waters of the cove are stained crimson with dolphin blood. Indeed locals are adamant the hunts will continue, park or no.

A Taiji town official, who declined to be named, told reporters that the town “is no way going to stop” its annual dolphin hunt, adding local residents see “no contradiction in both watching and eating dolphins”.

[Sources: AFP, Malibumag, Thefilmtalk, Xzonenews]