The Cove (2009) Edit

A consumer may think they're buying healthy meat

A dam breaks and floods

A dolphin in the right spot can make a million dollars a year.

A few years ago, a friend of mine told me

A lot of marine mammal scientists get their money

A media blackout,

A number of fishermen showed up.

A small group of scientists

A systematic, deliberate cover up,

About being in the water with an animal like this.

About the levels of mercury

About the slaughter of large whales,

About three years ago,

About what was going on in Japan.

Actually, come back to the hotel and we have real rocks.

After two days of negotiations,

All kinds of chemicals like mercury, cadmium, lead.

All night long, you know, and...

All of these dolphin trainers will be lined up

All these beautiful temples are there,

Allowing more and more tons of meat to be consumed.

Almost nobody eats dolphin meat,

Along with the police.

And a couple guys from the boat,

And as Joe and I tried to walk down this path,

And as soon as we arrived,

And at the last minute,

And Cathy would watch herself on television,

And come back on her own power.

And conferences and glad handing each other,

And didn't take another one.

And eroding and diminishing our marine ecosystems

And every other neighbor wants a part of the goodies.

And every step of the ladder up,

And every time it came up for a breath,

And everybody goes away empty handed.

And explain to the world Japan's whaling policy.

And found that a lot of the packages

And get us out of the game.

And he goes, Wait,

And he got right in my face,

And he said, That's where all the dirty business happens.

And he's screaming at me with a camera.

And here's the guy that started it all.

And I almost hit this guy.

And I almost... man, I almost decked this guy

And I asked him, Do you know who's in that car over there?

And I can assure you that there is no product on the market

And I didn't tell him how

And I discovered that there was another peculiar reason

And I had been to Iki the year before.

And I lock eyes with that animal,

And I look down, and right there...

And I really, really hate this place.

And I spent the last 35 years trying to tear it down.

And I think we're learning some hard lessons

And I thought, let's get out of here.

And I thought, okay, all right.

And I wanted to scream at the same time.

And I'm not exaggerating.

And if that product is poison

And if they were killed other than this method,

And if you go to any one of these fish houses,

And it created all these captures.

And it involved a hunger strike.

And it just stayed there in front of me,

And it rolled right into my hand,

And it says Flipper goes over to the dock and picks up the gun

And it was noted.

And it was swimming straight for us and the shore,

And it's going to happen again.

And it's in that context I use the word suicide.

And it's not even acknowledged.

And Japan has decided that that's its loophole.

And just after that,

And knocked him off that rock.

And let it not be said that you didn't know about it.

And literally see the degradation of the oceans

And looked me right in the eye

And nerves of steel. He'll do anything.

And nobody wants to do anything without permission.

And now if there's a dolphin in trouble

And offer them financial support,

And on the surface of the next wave was a tiger shark.

And one of the first things we noticed

And other contaminants in the meat.

And perhaps we ought to be looking at what they can give to us.

And pointed with these red X's on the map.

And pushes it directly away from me and my buddy.

And put the... do that... to the spine,

And released some pilot whales and dolphins

And Ric O'Barry was supposed to be the keynote speaker,

And right in front of the house

And said, Don't go here, don't go here,

And see what's going on there.

And set them free.

And she committed suicide in my arms.

And she could tell the difference between herself and Suzy,

And so I wanted to get a better look into the lagoon,

And so it's a real problem

And so the way to stop it is keep exposing this to the world.

And so the way to stop it is to expose it.

And so they can end their life

And so they collect young females,

And some others which were nearing extinction.

And strangled her with her own belt.

And takes the... washes the road out and...

And that became sort of our template of where we had to go.

And that's happening.

And that's where Flipper was at the end of the dock.

And the coastline is majestic.

And the dolphins are released.

And the fishermen in Taiji

And the government knows this,

And the next hour they could be 25 miles away

And the obvious culprit is people,

And their babies are being slaughtered in front of them,

And then he's got to go out

And then it went down, and we never saw it again.

And then most of the animals are killed instantly.

And then out to sea we go,

And then swims down left to right.

And then, when they get here, to vote for Japan.

And there's Private Space.

And there's these three undercover cops talking to Ric.

And therefore, St. Kitts and Nevis support this proposal.

And these substances are causing real problems,

And they are determined to see that something be done about it.

And they can't sell it in Okinawa,

And they can't sell it in Taiji,

And they can't sell it wherever else they're selling it.

And they create a wall of sound which frightens the dolphins.

And they don't have any dolphins,

And they don't have any dolphins.

And they finally figured out

And they got really fired up.

And they just wait till the dolphins come by.

And they put a map on the table

And they took me off the list.

And they were all running for their lives,

And they were just trying to get me angry,

And they were protected

And they're flown to different parts of the world.

And they're used because dolphins get ulcers,

And think about fourth.

And this one poor dolphin, it...

And this somehow kind of misses the point

And we don't want to acknowledge that.

And we started to realize that they were hiding something.

And were immediately arrested for that.

And when you become conscious of this nonhuman intelligence,

And when you have those sorts of subsidies in place,

And with all the proper authorities.

And you could go back to the same dive spot year after year

And you could see the last couple of breaths it took,

And you knew that that next morning that would be the end of it.

And you're both experiencing a thing

And... took a breath...

Antigua and Barbuda supports this declaration in its entirety.

Anybody who wants to talk to me,

Anyone can watch the capture process go on from the road.

Anywhere in the world,

Are contaminated with high levels of mercury.

Are obtained by confessions during those 28 days

Are slaughtered and sold for their meat.

Are using specific made knife

Are world class freedivers.

Are you aware of the Mayor of Taiji's plan

As a scientist,

As I told you, I don't want to talk about if stories.

As lower of a profile as possible because...

As well as the cell phone numbers of our other two phones,

At a hotel in downtown Tokyo.

At getting together and holding meetings

At Industrial Light and Magic,

At midnight, I'm sleeping.

At midnight, I'm sleeping.

At the same level of a food chain.

At the time, about 33,000 whales a year were being killed.

Because dolphins don't have hands,

Because I really didn't know how we were going to do it.

Because if you didn't know what's going on over here,

Because it has nothing to do with fishing.

Because it was the Flipper TV series

Because of the dolphin meat.

Because people and dolphins feed

Because the international captivity trade is so lucrative,

Because the Japanese government's paying them to be interested.

Because there's a lot of stories throughout history

Because they can torture you legally.

Because they want to get to work and start out.

Because they're all stressed out.

Because we'd been up many days in a row

Becoming neon lit whorehouses for the Japanese.

Before your very eyes.

Beyond the level of survival.

But 23,000 are slaughtered every year,

But a dolphin's smile is nature's greatest deception.

But for some reason,

But he can't find anybody to help him.

But I didn't do anything about it.

But I hear it all the time.

But I just thought, you know,

But I thought, in America,

But I was as ignorant as I could be for as long as I could be.

But it is the only organization that does exist.

But it would be clanky, it would be noisy.

But it's not a disease. It's not caught.

But of course it made it very difficult to return.

But Ric pointed out

But still dolphin meat contains some valuable nutrients.

But the Japanese are trying to legitimize a practice

But there's nothing discreet about Westerners

But they can get more than $150,000 for a live show dolphin.

But they never ever seem to accomplish anything.

But they're also poisoning

But we didn't know how deep it was.

But when you live with them

But you have to understand

By any stretch of the imagination.

By exposing to the world

By Japanese taxpayers,

By not taking the next breath.

By rewarding the fishermen for their bad behavior.

By the time they get to the lagoon,

By their standards.

Bye bye bye bye.

Can we prosecute him?

Can you go straight?

Can you help us?

Can you imagine that?

Clearly has the best interest in leaving those out,

Coastal small type whaling communities like Taiji.

Come on!

Come on. Let's go. Go.

Come up and really seek out affection and touch.

Could we just hang on to that for reference,

Currently, Japan has research programs

Demanded an end to all whale killing.

Determined to see if humans and dolphins

Did I?

Does have a mandate

Dolphin meat is generally considered to be a less desirable commodity,

Dolphins and other whales are not automatic air breathers,

Dolphins are acoustic creatures.

Dolphins are whales.

Dolphins can understand how to manipulate situations,

Don't go here, don't go here.

Don't take pictures.

Don't touch the girl.

During the Greek era,

Echoed through London's Trafalgar Square,

Enjoy our wonderful UNESCO site.

Environmental catastrophes of all time.

Especially when you get the facts

Even though there's obviously no words spoken,

Eventually, the Japanese government will say

Every breath they take is a conscious effort.

Every cetacean known to man is endangered

Every island in the Eastern Caribbean...

Every scientific catch, to me,

Everyone there, show us your passport.

Everything that the whalers were saying.

Feeding or socializing.

Fin whales, sei whales, and humpback whales.

First he'll look at himself in the mirror,

First morning we arrived in Taiji,

First of all, the government

Firstly to get them to join the IWC

Fisheries complexes.

For participation in the International Whaling Commission.

For the plight of the people of Japan?

For this... most ghastly slaughters of dolphins.

For trying to free some captive dolphins.

Forget about the bigger issues.

Freediving in its simplest terms,

From Hub Research Institute,

From the coast of Taiji

From whales from the southern hemisphere,

Getting these into Customs

Go on the...

Go to small bankrupt nations

Governments are really great

Grenada, Dominica...

Had I known what I know now,

Have already gone into disuse

He decided that it would be a good idea

He doesn't want to know about it.

He doesn't want to know.

He got right in my face.

He has to get up every day.

He looks over there, and he goes, Chief of Police.

He said, Oh, you have to wear a mask.

He says, Well, I'm going next week.

He wanted me to hit him.

He was from the Whaling Museum,

He's a adrenaline junkie.

He's a talented guy from Japan with a real hard job to do.

He's been sail master on The Pirates of the Caribbean.

He's the guy that has a heart of gold

He's traveled all over the world on photo assignments.

Here in Taiji,

Here it is... the town of Taiji.

Here you go.

Here you have this dolphin,

Hey. How are you?

High fences surrounded by razor ribbon.

How can it be their culture, their tradition,

How do I say?

How long we can hold our breath.

How many times have you been arrested?

How to create innovatively out of their own imagination.

Howdy. How are you doing today?

However, we cannot ignore the fishing effort has been decreasing.

Hundreds of thousands of dolphins have died there.

I brought the BBC, The London Times,

I came to realize

I can only speak for Ric O'Barry.

I can tell if there's any movement over there.

I cannot speak for anybody except myself.

I cannot speak for anybody except myself.

I cannot speak for OPS.

I captured the five dolphins myself.

I could have my own dolphin facility somewhere in the Caribbean

I could read that body language.

I could see it.

I couldn't... I wanted to laugh,

I do want to say that we try to do the story legally.

I don't believe that the fishermen here are aware of that.

I don't know who that is.

I don't know.

I don't know.

I don't know.

I don't normally touch anything in the water,

I don't think so.

I don't think that a similar tragedy would happen

I don't think they're going to let us carry this on.

I feel somewhat responsible

I go first with the thermal camera.

I had to actually translate that into action somehow.

I have to ask you to leave the hotel.

I have to tell you that there is very strong evidence

I hear it in my sleep.

I hope we'll be able to find them again

I just let her go,

I knew then they were self aware,

I like this.

I lived there all year round for seven years.

I mean, literally thousands of them would... could be killed in a day.

I never planned on being an activist.

I put my hand out in front of me,

I recognize it. Do you?

I remember distinctly a phone call

I said, Dolphin slaughter? What's... What's that about?

I spent ten years building that industry up.

I started to set up this team,

I talk to anybody about mercury poisoning.

I think brown and gray would be better.

I think I can actually hear the banging,

I think it was the double channels. Yep.

I think the Commissioner might be...

I think there's some humpback whales...

I think this is going to be a primary for us

I think you... correctly misunderstood.

I thought of all the possibilities of what could happen,

I thought, oh God, that's interesting.

I told Ric that I'd help him out,

I took all the other stickers off, see?

I visited Japan earlier this year,

I want to hide Hi Def cameras in a rock.

I want to show you some video that I just saw.

I wanted to have a three dimensional experience

I wanted to hear everything that the dolphins were doing,

I wanted to hear the dolphins from the lagoon,

I was buying a new Porsche every year.

I was going to free every captive dolphin I could.

I was shocked

I was sitting with this friend of mine,

I was welcome then.

I watched Flipper as a child.

I went halfway across the world to end up in this car,

I went surfing on the east coast of Australia.

I would get the script,

I would have raised enough money

I would take my television set from the house

I would try to keep them

I'd met this guy that spoke English.

I'd never seen so many dolphins before,

I'm just a cute little innocent rock.

I'm not entirely sure

I'm not OPS, no.

I'm not OPS.

I'm not sure of the details

I've been doing that to them all week.

I've got to hunch over and change my shape

I've nursed them back to health when they're sick.

I've traveled all over the world throughout my entire life,

If he'd take us on a tour

If not their lives, their livelihood to speak out.

If saving cetacean species from extinction

If the Japanese people don't even know about it?

If these fishermen could catch me and kill me,

If they're hiding in the bushes,

If we can't stop that, if we can't fix that,

If we could dream it, Simon could build it.

If we got arrested, how long before they charged us?

If we lose access to fish in the sea,

If you get in their way...

If you looked at bottlenose dolphins...

If you're around Ric, they... they know you're trouble.

Iki is a tourist destination for Japanese

In 2003, I sent a crew to Taiji.

In 2007, when I wanted to do something

In a few years,

In a place where there are no Westerners with big black cases,

In a swimming pool filled with their own excrement.

In all of these captures,

In Dominica, we have a $22 million fisheries complex

In March of this year,

In my opinion, this has been sufficient enough time

In one of these temples, they have a dry rock garden

In order to perpetuate this cultural argument,

In order to shut this down.

In other words,

In other words, if you leave the boats tied up at the dock,

In that moment...

In the 1960s,

In the background,

In the International Whaling Convention

In the wild, they're traveling 40 miles a day.

Interestingly, the fisheries complexes built by Japan

International Fund for Animal Welfare.

International Whaling Commission is essentially killing

Irony of ironies.

Is a dark spot on the record of this commission.

Is a toy compared to the dolphins' sonar.

Is a version of American Sign Language,

Is based on supply and demand like any other product,

Is because of a media cover up,

Is because of a media cover up,

Is because the whaling nations that set this thing up

Is becoming more of emotions.

Is get us arrested and get it on video.

Is going to be the trick, I think, next.

Is he really?

Is presently interested in the whaling commission

Is that what you had in mind?

Is the hydrophone... high tech sound devices

Is the only international body dealing with whales

Is to pregnant women.

Is to pregnant women.

Is when there are no dolphins in the lagoon.

It can be very, very dangerous.

It created this desire to swim with them and kiss them

It creates the illusion they're always happy.

It does sink, but it's very slow,

It doesn't just knock you over dead.

It had been swimming with me for so long,

It has nothing to do with nutrition.

It hasn't even got to do with politics.

It is clear that the fisheries of the world are on decline,

It is one of the most incredible experiences ever.

It is so transparent to even the least perspicacious onlooker

It really has to do with the...

It really runs counter to logic

It says Welcome to Taiji for all we know.

It sinks very slowly, this line.

It sometimes amazes me

It takes a while.

It was already dead, but they held it up and cut its throat,

It was blockaded, but we went up there.

It was called Tsunami Park.

It was gorgeous,

It was mind boggling.

It was probably the scariest night of my life

It was punishable by death to harm a dolphin.

It's a big spa hotel,

It's a good night.

It's a lot easier getting down the left side of the lagoon.

It's a relatively small group of people who are doing this.

It's a work of art, man.

It's about consciousness.

It's all about respect now, not exploitation.

It's an industry that is massively subsidized

It's as Margaret Mead once said...

It's astounding to think that this horror happens

It's basically a toothless organization,

It's because the filtration system was making a lot of noise.

It's better to refrain from taking those meats...

It's clear the issue of whaling

It's funny driving into Taiji.

It's hard to see the problem.

It's kind of like The Twilight Zone.

It's like deep snorkeling.

It's like in a glass case in a wall...

It's not about intelligence.

It's now going back up again.

It's seriously hard to take that PowerPoint demonstration seriously.

It's so bizarre

It's so cool.

It's so cool.

It's so humbling that this wild creature

It's surrounded on three sides by steep cliffs.

It's the captivity industry that keeps this slaughter going

It's the fetus that's most sensitive to these levels of mercury.

It's the result of this toxicity.

It's the stress that kills them.

It's unbelievable, really.

It's...

Its fins were down, and it was in the zone.

Jane Tipson, she was murdered.

Japan has a history of this terrible Minamata tragedy,

Jesus.

Jim had the idea

Joe Chisolm organized rock concerts,

Joe.

Joji Marshita is the Deputy Commissioner for Whaling.

Just in case something shits the bed.

Just like we did for the Flipper show.

Just like we did for the Flipper show.

Just to stand up and be counted in Japan.

Just... I just got here yesterday.

Let's go, then, with three cameras...

Let's take a quick break.

Letting me rub its belly.

Like the props, they went back to the Miami Seaquarium.

Like there's an understanding between the two of you.

Like they did with the large whales.

Like we are.

Listen to me.

Locked up with this paranoid guy.

Look, this is not working. It's a PR nightmare.

Looked into the records

Loss of hearing, loss of your eyesight.

Louie, Louie, are you there?

Louis knew what he was getting himself into.

Mandy Rae's owned

Maybe I use that location that has a branch,

Me?

Mercury starts in the environment

Most of the population doesn't even know this is going on.

Mr. O'Barry, you know I'm here.

My friend Jim Clark and I started this organization...

My heart went out to them.

My only interaction with whales are what I see on television.

Never ever depend upon governments or institutions

Nice to see you.

No one's going to be aggressive.

No, no, no.

No, no, no.

No! No photograph.

No.

No.

No.

No. No.

Nobody has actually seen what takes place back there,

Not just to dolphins, but to people,

Not me.

Nothing more we could do in that scenario.

Now they can never come back.

Now we're approaching the area that's most important.

O'Barry was arrested three times in Florida

Of dolphins saving the lives of humans.

Of other Japanese that he's selling the meat to?

Offer them whatever it takes,

Okay? Jesus.

On Earth Day, he was arrested for the same thing

On one breath we see how deep we can go in the ocean,

On our initial trip to Japan,

On our left here is the infamous Taiji Whale Museum.

On the Island of Bimini.

Once we plant them.

Once you get right here, you're safe.

One day, it all ended.

One morning I didn't have my camera,

One neighbor got the goodies,

One of my best friends and my first assistant

One thing leads to another,

OPS wants to talk to me, I talk to them.

Or we can do a combination of brown and gray.

Otherwise, they'll know that we're here.

Our first encounter with the fishermen

Our killing method has been improved substantially,

Outside these few remote villages,

Over one of the greatest

Particularly if they happen to be eating them.

People going by in robes,

People would never go on a Sunday to watch rocks.

Pest control.

Picking up where they've left off.

Please return dry.

Preparing for this.

Private space.

Private!

Quick, quick, quick, quick.

Relies upon the International Whaling Commission,

Rely as their principal protein on seafood.

Remember that?

Ric is world famous for his work with dolphins.

Ric O'Barry met us at our hotel.

Ric O'Barry was incredibly frustrated.

Ric pointed down to the secret lagoon,

Right now I'm focusing on that one little body of water

Right. I know.

Running from this wall of sound.

Same thing, same problem.

Save the Whale demonstrators were out again today.

Save the whales!

Saying I needed to be in Japan.

Science has been tantalized for years at the prospect of talking

Scott Baker set up a portable DNA lab

Selecting the ones that they want for the dolphinariums.

Set it down.

She can go down to 300 feet on one breath of air

She is safe.

She seems to sense that she has come home,

She swam into my arms

She's the second colleague I've worked with that was murdered.

Simon created all these weird ways

Sir, I asked you very nicely to turn off your camera.

Size doesn't matter.

Small cetaceans, dolphins and porpoises, aren't protected.

So I began documenting reefs around the world.

So I called up and said, I've got this idea for a project.

So I just put a couple weights on it.

So that begs the question,

So the meat is distributed much more widely than we recognize.

So they go buy them in Taiji now.

So they think I'm just some old Japanese guy.

So they're very sensitive to sound.

So this is inherently a very one way process.

So we all get in the vehicles,

So we got the lay of the land.

So we utilized our time over there doing reconnaissance, planning.

So we went off to do some sightseeing outside Taiji.

So you have all these wonderful signals,

So you have to stay focused on that one lagoon in Taiji, I think,

Some of the fishermen came and actually butted chest against us.

Some of the most beautiful temples in all of Japan.

St. Kitts, Antigua, St. Vincent., St. Lucia,

Suddenly I got this idea.

Telling them what to do and how to do it and when to do it.

Than World Health Organization recommendations.

Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you so much, and...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thanks, Flipper.

That actually worked out

That allows a nation to take whales for science,

That are also the target of fisheries.

That can conceivably be more intelligent than we are.

That created this multi billion dollar industry.

That dolphins have been using for thousands of years,

That exceeds any of their standards.

That has any kind of power at all in that country.

That I was the only surfer in my surfing community

That I'm connecting with an intelligent being.

That involve killing minke whales,

That just about every country in the world has said no to.

That kind of thing.

That knew about this,

That may be aggressive...

That means that we look in the mirror,

That no harm will come to her now.

That nobody could see where dolphins that weren't selected

That pass through our waters from time to time.

That people come from all over the world to contemplate.

That says the nail that sticks out must be pounded down,

That sound never goes away once you hear it.

That the consumer affairs and health ministries are looking after,

That the dolphin are eating too much fish in the ocean.

That the free lunchmeat that their children are getting

That these animals were singing.

That these are all gray.

That they have prostituted themselves for a few yen.

That was easiest to get into.

That was profound.

That was the point to me, is get both sides.

That we constructed for the movie Evan Almighty.

That we had to import into Japan,

That we'll fix this, we'll change this.

That were labeled as expensive meat from larger whales

That whales are consuming huge quantities of fish

That whales, seals, and dolphins have.

That would have been the right thing to do.

That you can't consciously communicate with,

That's a dolphin's worst nightmare right there.

That's a good night.

That's a very strong word, suicide.

That's Flipper, by the way...

That's how I reacted to it.

That's officially recognized by the United Nations.

That's purely for joy

That's the cell phone number for the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo

That's the IWC...

That's the only two words he knows in English...

That's their primary sense,

That's their primary sense.

That's where mercury poisoning was first discovered.

The 23,000 over here being slaughtered.

The best sonar that man has

The boats then put these long poles in the water

The children were starting to be born deformed.

The Chisso factory?

The Chisso factory?

The cops were on our tail,

The dolphin is jumping and smiling,

The dolphins were put on a helicopter,

The effort wasn't just to show the slaughter.

The entire crew turns to with battle station teamwork.

The first time I connected with him in recent years

The first time I went to Taiji was in 1980,

The fishermen here who do this tell you This is our tradition.

The fishermen told me.

The fishermen who are eating dolphin

The Government of Brazil wants to put on record

The guys that come out of the tunnel.

The house that you see on the Flipper set

The hydrophones, underwater cameras.

The International Whaling Commission

The International Whaling Commission.

The IWC has presided

The IWC will go down in history as a ship of fools.

The Japanese government pays our fees, our annual fees,

The Japanese literally control the world marketplace in fish.

The little town with a really big secret.

The mayor of this town actually gave me the key to the city.

The men handle this creature with infinite care.

The most serious health risk of these high levels of mercury

The nerve center of any dolphinarium is the fish house.

The next day, I was in the Bimini jail

The next morning,

The Oceanic Preservation Society, OPS.

The only guy that had military experience.

The only safe time to go in Tsunami Park

The only way they can get us out of here

The people that they're selling it to.

The reality is the International Whaling Commission

The reason they don't know about it

The reason why small cetaceans are not popular with the IWC

The remnants of a traditional notion of empire.

The right side is right in the center of the killing cove.

The second mission,

The secret cove is a natural fortress.

The sign says Don't take pictures.

The slaughterhouse.

The symptoms are memory loss,

The Taiji dolphin hunters

The thing that really struck me

The way the law works in Japan,