As surfers we are always stoked to see dolphins roaming through a line up. They are a display of natural beauty and we want to make sure they can continue to share waves with us for generations to come. In order to do that we need to help support the World Animal Protection organisation which is calling on the public to boycott particular travel companies that are encouraging dolphin hunting by selling tickets to wildlife entertainment venues where the mammal is kept captive and used for shows.

Every year in Taiji, Japan, from September until February, a certain number of dolphins and whales are hunted, the majority of which are slaughtered for their meat and then a small percentage is kept alive and sold to entertainment venues around the world.

This year’s dolphin hunt in Taiji has already begun. Hundreds of dolphins will be hunted up until February. The exact figure is yet to be released, but is expected to be made public in the coming days.

According to a report titled ‘Waves of Profit: How the tourism industry profits from the Taiji dolphin hunts’, Taiji has a long history of whaling dating back as far as 1606. However, the hunt for dolphins to supply wildlife entertainment venues began much later in the 1960s. The Taiji Whale Museum opened in 1969, signaling the start of a lucrative captive dolphin industry for the small town.

In a rare interview with The Guardian in 2017, Taiji dolphin hunters revealed that dolphin meat only generates a ‘modest profit’ of around $500-600 USD per animal. Whereas, hunters can sell a live dolphin to brokers for around $8,000 USD and a fully trained dolphin can be worth up to $40,000 USD. There have also been reports of dolphins being sold to overseas entertainment venues for up to $150,000 USD.

Olivia Charlton, Campaign Manager for World Animal Protection, explained that this is the reason why the organisation is particularly targeting the entertainment side of things, as this creates the biggest profit opportunity for dolphin hunters.

“We completely condemn dolphin hunting and anything to do with it. Our campaign is targeted at the travel companies who are selling tickets to venues that have purchased dolphins from the hunts in order to disrupt the financial incentive of purchasing Taiji dolphins. We want  the travel companies to remove these venues from sale and we want them to work with World Animal Protection to implement a wildlife friendly policy which eliminates low welfare venues such as those who have sourced from Taiji, but also more broadly to include all harmful wildlife activities.”

As part of the campaign, World Animal Protection is targeting a number of specific travel companies. These are; Trip.com, Klook, Traveloka, Get Your Guide, Tui and Groupon.

When asked what the general public and Tracks readers can do to help, she offered a number of options;

“Firstly, we know that surfers are very unlikely going to be attending these venues as they see dolphins in the wild and have a general respect for the ocean and the animals in our oceans. However, if anyone is still visiting such venues, we encourage them not to. Before booking holidays, people should research any travel company they are booking with. If the company offers opportunities to ride, pet, bathe or hug a wild animal then avoid booking with them.

“Most importantly, tell the company about it. A quick email on why you chose not to book with them is a powerful tool to apply pressure to these companies. As an animal protection group, they expect this message from us, but as travelers this message can come across as increasingly powerful.”

In the 2023/24 hunt 401 dolphins were slaughtered and 14 were captured.

“Previous seasons captures have been much larger than the 23/24 season. We assume as Taiji has ‘stocked up’ the venues already the captures have declined. However, the conditions for the dolphins at these venues does not secure a long life so we want to act now before a cycle begins of more captures again,” said Olivia.

So next time you go and book a holiday through a travel company, do your research and make sure you’re not indirectly supporting dolphin hunting. As surfers we want to continue to see dolphins roaming our line ups for generations to come.

To view the growing list of wildlife friendly travel companies, click here and to sign the organisation’s Taiji petition click here.