The Cove Psihoyos

In the documentary “Blackfish”, directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite, she discussed the harmful events that have occurred when keeping killer whales contained for show and entertainment purposes. Cowperthwaite argued the fact that the killer whales become aggressive when held captive in an area too small for them and separated from their families. Throughout the documentary there were many horrifying stories about the attacks told by people who had saw the tragedies first-hand.

"People always wonder whether I believe SeaWorld should be closed down. I always say no. They have tremendous financial resources and could play a key role in creating sea sanctuaries which could be a profit-making endeavor. I believe people would flock to a site where a killer whale is being a killer whale for the first time -- something infinitely more satisfying than seeing a killer whale dance the Macarena." - Gabriela Cowperthwaite. Cowperthwaite, the director of the documentary film Balckfish, is one of many that urges for change at the infamous marine park SeaWorld. For years on end SeaWorld has been a place of family fun and amazement; using one animal in particular as their spokesman and main attraction, Killer Whales. However, in recent years that image has gotten more than just a meager makeover. Over the past six years, following the tragic death of Dawn Brancheau, SeaWorld and the captivity of Killer Whales has been under serious scrutiny. There have been several findings of how captivity negatively affects these great creatures and the conversation of keeping Killer whales has only been gaining momentum. It is clear that the death of Dawn Brancheau is what sparked societies ideological shift, yet another key part in the start of this discourse is, without a doubt, the release of Gabriela Cowperthwaite 's documentary film Blackfish.

In 1946 a group of 15 nations gathered together to sign a treaty aimed at conserving the whale population following their strong concern regarding the over-hunting of whales. The treaty led to the creation of an oversight body known as the International Whaling Commission (IWC) that was created under the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling. The Convention is intended to allow for the proper conservation of whale stocks and make the established development of the whaling

By discussing Ric’s many years of work with capturing and training dolphins, the movie gives the impression that he is an expert in his field. By giving Ric the status as an expert, the audience is given the idea that the statements Ric makes about how dolphins are self-aware and his activist work Ric does can be trusted. “Dolphins are free range and intelligent animals that belong in the ocean, not playing the clown in our human schemes” Ric says as to simplify his understanding of the creature he helps. Through this new found trust and the presentation of facts from an expert, people are inspired to change the morally incorrect industry. As a way to play off of the new desire to help, the movie presents an emotionally stimulating event that Ric experienced in his

The Cove (Louie Psihoyos, 2009) is a documentary, which follows activist Ric O’Barry and The Ocean Preservation Society to expose the brutal dolphin slaughter in Taiji, Japan. The film constructs a sense of realism through naturalistic aesthetic codes and conventions. These conventions relate to the texts content, style, form and audience response and reception. The Cove employs these four levels of realism to construct a sense of authenticity and to position the audience into understanding a negative point of view portrayed about the dolphin slaughter in Taiji. The convention of content in the documentary concerns the implementation of true events, as well as the casting of real people. The style of The Cove focuses on the manipulation of

For years the killer whale, also known as Orcinus orca, has been drawing the attention of the public through the entertainment industry. These marine mammals have been bringing in billions of dollars to amusement parks such as Sea World, but at what cost? An idea that these killer whales can live happily and content while in captivity may be going through the minds of the public, but this cannot be further away from the truth. To have such complex creatures in captivity is not morally correct and there are many points against it, such as their level of emotional competence, violence between the killer whales, violence of killer of whales towards trainers, shorter lifespans, physical harm, and their level of intelligence. After taking a look at how these creatures function and the conditions they are put in while in captivity, there is no question about whether or not these mammals should be kept in captivity; an experience such as this affects these marine mammals just about the same as it would affect a human because of their high highly developed emotions and complexity. Since these industries do not have a natural authority over these creatures no matter the cause, the best thing they could do for these killer whales is to stop capturing them and return those who are capable back to the wild.

Despite the name given to these intelligent animals, killer whales don 't seem to be killer... in the wild anyways. Yet, places like SeaWorld seem to have shown people unintentionally that keeping whales in captivity and such small areas leads them to be aggressive, and essentially living up to their name. SeaWorld is an attraction that has been in the United States for many years, and although it provides great entertainment for individuals and their families, it also is a place where whales are treated poorly and held in captivity. While people enjoy the tricks the intelligent mammals are commanded to do, they don 't realize the poor conditions that they have once the show is over. Between whale fighting, poor feeding, and small areas; it is clear that keeping whales in captivity provides is both physically and mentally harmful to these animals. Many debates and arguments revolve around keeping whales in captivity, but keeping them in such small areas seems to cause them to lash out and hurt others. However, after learning about whales both in captivity as well as the wild, the realization that they should not be captive is starting to become noted by animal activists, the media and even the public. As the recent controversy of the poor conditions of killer whales in captivity is becoming more publicly noticed, animals activists are working towards the rights of killer whales.

Did you know that in the last 50 years over two million whales have been killed? The United States views whaling very differently than Japan does. It is a complicated and controversial topic. Many people have opinions about whale hunting. However, everyone should know both sides of the whale hunting issues before they act on the issue. To start out I am going to tell you a little about whaling. The first whale hunters were in the prehistoric times. At first they would just kill and eat beached whales. That became such a habit that they started hunting them. Most whale hunters use harpoons, guns, lances, or bombs that blow up inside the whale. They use catcher boats, or kayaks. In 1925, whalers developed

Mass dolphin murder is one of the many issues that are happening in our world today in the 21st century. The Documentary Called “The Cove” would make the viewers open their eyes of what this world is actually and the secret Taiji, Japan is trying to keep. It would show them why these activist struggle so hard to stop this social issue for the reason that fishermen’s murder dolphins behind the scenes in the cove of Taiji, SeaWorld’s organization and the captivities of the dolphins. Dolphin meat being sold to people without knowing and potential health risk. Lastly, activist being at risk from helping dolphins. These are the countless causes that dolphins goes through and how activist risk their life for a change in society.

When the commercial whaling was prohibited in 1986, Australia has formed a major anti-whaling campaign, which is well known as the sea shepherd. Sea shepherd’s job was going out to the sea and use action to defend the whales from getting hunted by the Japanese. Australia’s anti-whaling action tells people around the world of the serious situation about whaling. Our action leads people to start paying attention to the consequences of not stop the whaling. In 2010 Australia has been initiated legal action to proceeding against the Japanese, intention to end the scientific whaling in the southern ocean.

Holding animals such as killer whales in captivity goes against their natural functions entirely. The facilities humans build provide unnatural living habitats that don’t cater to the enormous size of the animal. They also separate families, something unnatural to how a killer whale lives in the wild. These factors lead the animals to sometimes show aggression against their trainers. Once we question Sea World’s role, it leads to broader implications about the role of humans in the environment. Just because we have the power to hold animals such as these captive, should we? It is vital that the human race learns not to overstep our roles in the natural environment. Even though we have the power, it doesn’t mean we should always use it.

The enemies in The Cove are obvious. They’re the committees set up to bring about change but who get so caught up in legislation that they create little progress. They’re the fisherman and multi-million dollar companies who feel their livelihood threatened by the activists determined to make a difference. With all these enemies for the activists to face, it’s good that we have a hero to root for and in this film it’s Ric O’ Barry. For years, O’ Barry was known as the best dolphin trainer in the world, having trained many of the dolphins who appeared in the Flipper TV series. It was this particular job that convinced him that dolphins were not meant to be kept in captivity but to be free in the

Not only is Richard attempting to save the dolphins, but also the oblivious people of Taiji and the people eating the dolphin’s meat. Mercury is a poisonous metal that should not be ingested, and dolphin meat is brimming with mercury. Mercury levels can be 20 to 5,000 times higher in dolphin meat than regulatory levels recommended by the UN World Health Organization and the Japanese Ministry of Health.“Specifically, the tests of 1,137 Taiji residents last year revealed that average MeHg (mercury) levels were 11.00 parts per million (ppm) for men and 6.63 ppm for women — compared with an average of 2.47 ppm for men and 1.64 ppm for women at 14 other locations in Japan.” as said by Boyd Harnell in an article of The Japan Times. This quote proves that the Japanese government’s disregard for health safety is a prominent danger, and that the people of Taiji’s oblivion is life-threatening. Richard does not want to see a world poisoned by the mistreatment of dolphins, and in turn, the mistreatment of health codes and human safety. Although Richard does not Abide certain laws, it is evident he does it all for a good

In 1946 the newly formed International Whaling Commission enacted a global moratorium on commercial whaling (Robbins). The IWC was formed in hopes of protecting whales and making sure that whales were spared. Without enforcement of the rules and restrictions for any nations, the problem has not gone away. Without whales the ecosystem begins to falter, the whale being one of the vital producers, and consumers of the ocean. There are countries that refused to agree to the terms of the moratorium, regardless of the damage such actions would cause. The moratorium permits whaling for scientific research, and that is the mask current whaling countries hide behind (Zelko). They argue that they are not violating any restrictions, because Article 8 of the 1946 moratorium states that whaling for scientific research is not part of the agreement (McCurry). During the 1970’s people began to care about the whales that were being killed faster than they could reproduce (Robbins). In 1986 whaling was officially banned, some nations ignored the ban, and still do. In 1993, meat DNA tested at a fish market in Japan showed that whale meat was clearly being sold, but there were no consequences. The ban made by the IWC is not

Whaling has become a global environmental issue as vast numbers of whales are killed commercially and scientifically every year. Intense debate on the necessity of whaling has been stirred but failed to be resolved due to the lacking of pragmatic measures employed by the responsible parties. Whaling nations continue to defend their whaling right for cultural and research purposes. Yet, ethical and humanity issues are among the controversial disputes raised by concerned public. In February 2010, International Whaling Commission (IWC) proposed a plan of lifting whaling ban by limiting scientific whaling activities with the intention of reducing overall number of whales killed besides solving the current impasse between pro