WILD TIME spoke to Cetaceansound.org's Luca Giovagnoli about a sound system devised by the group that aims to use sound under water hoping that the wall of sound created will make the wales and dolphins avoid death traps like hunters or killing coves.
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I'm an activist whose worked in Taiji to end the dolphin drives. I'm on the Board of Advisors at Ric O'Barry's The Dolphin Project. I would love to see something that worked, but unfortunately this system will not, and Mr. Giovagnoli has no documentation or evidence stating otherwise.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, what he does have - on his facebook profile is images of captive dolphins at a marine theme park. When I asked him if he performed vet services at the park he responded to me that he "studies their language".
Our work in Taiji is not only to end the killing of small cetaceans, but to end captivity. By working with captive dolphins, it only continues to encourage the problem. Dr. Lori Marino led groundbreaking cetacean research on captive dolphins and performed the "mirror test", which led to the scientific discovery that dolphins were self-aware. After this finding Dr. Marino made the decision to no longer work with captive dolphins. This is the kind of attitude we need in the scientific community.
Mr. Giovagnoli also claims that he'll deploy the devices he creates in "international waters" and that he "knows the migration routes of dolphins".
It is impossible to know the migration routes of wild dolphins in international waters. That data simply does not exist and it would cost millions of dollars to even begin such a large documentation project. Even along the Kii-coastline of Japan (i.e., Taiji's coast) the people that hunt dolphins only loosely have an idea where migration routes are at - and that's along the coast, not in the open vastness of international waters. Therefore, Mr. Giovagnoli's story simply does not hold up.
And finally, the devices that Mr. Giovagnoli is claiming he is inventing is not new, such devices already exist. They often have been tried emitting the sounds of wild orcas in hopes that these would "scare" dolphins back out to sea. However, such testing on wild dolphins shows that its just as likely to scare the wild dolphins closer to land. Dolphins can and will go to the shallows where they may feel they have the upper-hand advantage in mobility against a wild predator. Such actions along the Kii-coastline would only make it easier for the Taiji fishermen to capture these dolphins.
Speaking for myself, I challenge Mr. Giovagnoli to provide documentation and evidence of his body of work. And I wage extreme caution to anyone who is considering supporting Mr. Giovagnoli and his work, since there is no evidence of that work in current existence.
Brian Barnes