Saturday, April 18, 2009

Hunting Dolphins

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In some parts of Brazil, there is a belief that dolphin eyes kept in ones pockets attract both money and women. This has resulted in illegal poaching of dolphins that is causing a major problem for environmental convservation efforts in Brazil.

In this blog we show two videos. The first shows the beauty and intelligence of dolphins as they play with bubbles. The second shows images from Brazil captured by an underground operative of an actual illegal fishing expedition.





I have translated and transcripted the conversation. The transcript appears immediately below:....
(NOTE: IBAMA is an acronym for the Brazilian Institute Of Environment And Renewable Natural Resources, written as Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis in Brazilian Portuguese)

(TV Commentator):In order to catch poachers in the act, a specialist contracted by IBAMA took part in an illegal fishing expedition for several days.
The images caught from the coast of Amapá show the annihilation of dozens of dolphins.
When caught in the meshes of the fishing nets, the dolphins are not able to surface to breathe, and drown.
When the nets are drawn in, there's the confirmation that the dolphins did not have a chance.
(Camera man): You are seeing yet one more there, yet one more there. With this there are now 42....
(Commentator):The crime against enviromental conservation was discovered by IBAMA researchers who study the environmental impact of fishing in the North Region. Just on this vessel alone on this fishing expedition, there were 83 dolphins caught. Still out at high sea, the dead dolphins are sold buyers on other boats. The dolphin flesh will serve as bait for catching shark. One of the people aboard the vessel jokes about the incidence...
(Camera man):I'm filming captain, I'm filming guy...Everyone will be imprisoned after this film is done(laughter)....
(Government Official):It's a crime, yes, the penalty is upto one year in prison. If the animal dies the penalty is 1 year and 4 months.
(Commentator):IBAMA says that it did not charge anyone because it was not able to identify anyone in the boats. Here in Pará the researchers know that illegal fishing has also been going on off the shores of the state. The researchers want to identify the locations where the dolphins are being caught as a step towards prohibiting the illegal fishing of dolphins.
(Researcher): We are going to create these locations of exclusion through discussion with the fishermen themselves. It's fundamental that the fishermen know that the region has its fauna, they don't fish there, so that we are able to carry out both fishing activities and conservation efforts for dolphins.
(Commentator):Some of the dolphins can be found at the Ver-o-Peso market in Belém. The teeth are used in costume jewellery, and the eyes are turned into small amulets sold illegally. This lady who does not want to show her face says that she sells up to 50 eyes a month.
(Lady):They put them in their wallets, their billfolds, in order to 'attract' money. And they also attract women. Generally the men buy the eyes to put in their pockets to attract women.
(Commentator):Popular beliefs that motivate the hunting of dolphins
(Researcher):We need to have intensive inspections on these fishing activities and we need to work from there in the environmental education for the society as a whole in order that this behavior and this culture change.
(...End of video...)


Credits for making the videos should be forwarded to
i)the owner of the site http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMCf7SNUb-Q for the beautiful video on the intelligence of dolphins
ii)the owner of the site http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIc9R_xhYNk for the video of the TV show highlighting the dolphin poaching problem in Brazil.


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