15,454 Dolphins Killed by Villagers, For 70 Cents A Teeth

This just makes me mad with rage.

A recent study has uncovered that villagers from the Solomon Islands have killed a minimum of 15,454 dolphins on the period from 1976 to 2013.

Source study

The method of hunting a dolphin was simple - 30 or so canoes would be used to drive the dolphin to the shore, where it was killed.

The villagers would then take the teeth, which could be sold at 70 US cents a teeth. The teeth were also used as ornaments.

We all know dolphins are non-human persons - seeing that a relatively small number of villagers killed about 16,000 of them really damages my faith in humans.

The worst is, technically, dolphins are not classified as a threatened specie - thus they have limited protection from international laws.

But then, compassion should transcend all laws. I mean, really - who in their right mind kills a dolphin?!

*facepalm*

some (sad) context is needed.
Go check the island and it's inhabitants, the place is certainly beautiful, but it's safe to assume that these people are cut off and not aware about much of what happens in the world, and most probably live off the land and don't have much education to speak of.
from wikipedia:

Solomon Islands' per-capita GDP of $600 ranks it as a lesser developed nation, and more than 75% of its labour force is engaged in subsistence and fishing. Most manufactured goods and petroleum products must be imported

They are just being taken advantage of by people that probably should know better, and whoever created this market is who we need to go after.
the idea of using teeth or any animal part as an ornament is beyond stupid, but as we know, if someone can make a buck off of it, it will be done :/

While I agree, killing dolphins sucks, it seems this has been a tradition of theirs for a VERY long time. And from the article it seems the entire dolphin is used. That is, on average, 417 dolphins per year, which is not that many when you consider how many other animals we kill for food only in other countries. They use the teeth for a variety of things, mostly island based from the article:

The main objective of the drive hunt is to obtain teeth that are used as traditional currency, bride price, adornment and, more recently, for cash sale. However, the meat from the carcasses is also consumed, either within the hunting villages or after being sold locally on other islands and especially Honiara, Guadalcanal [7]. The practice of drive hunting was first documented during the early twentieth century [8], but it remains unclear when and where the hunt was initiated or introduced into the culture. Based on oral history, it most likely predates the arrival of the first missionary in the mid-nineteenth century [4]. However, it could potentially be much older.

It also sounds as though it is not about money for them as they were part of an agreement for a while that gave them monetary benefits to stop the hunts, but went back on it after it caused tensions in the islands because the hunts had a long history and tradition.

It was our impression that the people of Fanalei were puzzled by the attention they attracted in resuming the recent dolphin hunt. To them, it seemed that the agreement with EII represented only a rather brief lapse in a long history of hunting. They explained that stopping the hunt had brought much tension in the village and that resuming it brought back peace among community members. Therefore, they made it clear that they intended to continue the hunt. However, it was also our impression that the hunters were aware of, and willing to discuss, the conservation implications of over exploitation. They also expressed concern about dolphin ‘by-catch’ by purse seiners in the Solomon Islands, seeing this as a threat to their local resource. They were not very receptive to the idea of introducing a quota or catch limit for the drive hunt, as they are concerned that would be too restrictive. On the other hand, they could see the value of collecting scientific data that might help increase the probability that the drive hunting could continue in future generations.

Imagine what would happen if you cut the meat supply off from any society that had hunted for that long and told them no more.....would you expect a different reaction?

It seems they are also open to talking about and working on the conservation efforts while continuing to hunt.

It also doesn't really allude to them being sold at $.70 US anywhere, more that this is the value placed on them within the village as a currency, which is what the article states they are typically used for.

Also, not sure where you got numbers on population of people there, but it is not that small. The Solomon Islands Malatia (Fanalei) population as of 2014 was around 140,000. 16,000 dolphins over the course of 39 years for 140,000 people is not that much.

Also, I believe when you are talking about Dolphin being similar to humans, you are speaking of the bottle nosed dolphin? If that is the case, they do not hunt those as the teeth have no trade value in their society apparently.

I was reading a bit about the use of dolphin teeth in the islands of the Pacific. The islanders use them as currency.
We should switch them over to coins.
Dolphins have 40-200 teeth depending on the species. Bottlenose dolphins have 80-100. If we use 100 teeth per dolphin as a figure, 1,600 (the 2013 kill) dolphins could have been saved by paying the villagers $112,000 (@ $.70 / tooth).
But the villagers do eat the dolphin's meat, so we would have to arrive at a value for the meat also to reimburse them for the cost of buying food to replace the dolphin meat.

a reply to: Vasa Croe

I trust you do realize... that given your previous behaviour (for which I have yet to see an apology), I have much reluctance in engaging any further discussions with you?

originally posted by: butcherguy

But the villagers do eat the dolphin's meat, so we would have to arrive at a value for the meat also to reimburse them for the cost of buying food to replace the dolphin meat.

You make a fair point. But if I may point out... Can the villagers not fish for the food?



Dolphin is hardly the only seafood in existence...

originally posted by: swanne
a reply to: Vasa Croe

I trust you do realize... that given your previous behaviour (for which I have yet to see an apology), I have much reluctance in engaging any further discussions with you?

I am not trying to get off topic here but since you bring it back up are you talking about my previous calling you out based on your shady editing tricks of your posts, which was apparently taken care of my the forum mods because it was considered shady and you are no longer doing it?

a reply to: Vasa Croe

Here we go again.

Check your U2U inbox.

originally posted by: swanne
a reply to: Vasa Croe

Here we go again.

Check your U2U inbox.

Here we go again? You brought it up....I posted perfectly on topic with my post. You chose to bring another subject in.

Go after the people buying the teeth. They would not kill the dolphins for their teeth if they could not sell the teeth.

It shouldn't be hard to find the people buying the teeth, after all, it is a small island and I am sure they can track what comes and goes from there.

originally posted by: swanne

originally posted by: butcherguy

But the villagers do eat the dolphin's meat, so we would have to arrive at a value for the meat also to reimburse them for the cost of buying food to replace the dolphin meat.

You make a fair point. But if I may point out... Can the villagers not fish for the food?

Dolphin is hardly the only seafood in existence...

No, but I don't think that fish equate with dolphin in nutritional value.
Also, in many cultures, cooking oils are derived from mammal fats exclusively.

originally posted by: rickymouse
Go after the people buying the teeth. They would not kill the dolphins for their teeth if they could not sell the teeth.

That's the problem.....they are being used as currency within the islands, not necessarily being sold to other countries as a means for monetary support. These also are not the bottle nosed dolphins everyone thinks of when they speak of dolphins in the human sense. Their teeth have been used as a currency in these islands for years.

originally posted by: butcherguy

originally posted by: swanne

originally posted by: butcherguy

But the villagers do eat the dolphin's meat, so we would have to arrive at a value for the meat also to reimburse them for the cost of buying food to replace the dolphin meat.

You make a fair point. But if I may point out... Can the villagers not fish for the food?

Dolphin is hardly the only seafood in existence...

No, but I don't think that fish equate with dolphin in nutritional value.
Also, in many cultures, cooking oils are derived from mammal fats exclusively.

Yep...similar to the Makah whalers....they typically use every part of the animal for something.

a reply to: Vasa Croe

While I agree, killing dolphins sucks, it seems this has been a tradition of theirs for a VERY long time.

Good point.
The natives in Alaska are still allowed to hunt whales, seals and walrus as they always have.

a reply to: Vasa Croe

I went back and read some more posts after I wrote my last post. I see what you mean. As long as they do not waste the meat and consume it, I see no problem. But greed can make someone kill a dolphin just for the teeth. That is not a good thing. They should change the money system to something other than dolphin teeth. The more dolphins they kill, the more money in circulation and the prices will eventually get inflated. I suppose that they can't be trading teeth for metal to make coins.

that is a crap excuse ,that they need the teeth for money ,this could be substituted by many things even paper like the western world.
and yes they could feed off many species in the sea.
this is killing a sentient animal and thats a fact!

dolphins have every right to live on this planet with out humans thinking they have the right to kill them.
vasa are you actually serious?

how can you call yourself a educated mind and defend this

originally posted by: stuthealien
that is a crap excuse ,that they need the teeth for money ,this could be substituted by many things even paper like the western world.
and yes they could feed off many species in the sea.
this is killing a sentient animal and thats a fact!

dolphins have every right to live on this planet with out humans thinking they have the right to kill them.
vasa are you actually serious?

how can you call yourself a educated mind and defend this

Did you read the article?

Again, this is not the "dolphin" you are thinking of....as in bottle nosed dolphin. And the teeth are used as local island currency between the "tribes people" as it has been done for years. The number of dolphin killed is from the 1970's until now and based on the population of the people it is not a lot on average. This is a way of life for them and they don't seem to be exploiting it at all.

An educated mind can defend this by understanding that these people live off of this mammal and have done so longer than you or I have been around. They use every single part of the dolphins they kill, including the teeth, which, as I said earlier, are used for local currency. The title of the thread is a bit misleading in that it suggests they are selling the teeth for US dollars somewhere. They have no use for US dollars....that is just a value that was put on them to show what they WOULD be worth in their trading in their islands to give the reader an idea.

You can't just run in to a population of people and suddenly tell them that they have to use paper for currency. It has no value to them and as such they have no use for it. Try using cotton balls to buy something at your local store and see how far you get trying to convince them it has value.

I am in no way defending the slaughter of dolphins as some fisheries do, but this is a way of life for these inhabitants of the islands that is tradition and not over fishing or indulgence.

I suggest reading the entire article then researching the people of the island a bit before condemning them for their fishing practices.

it does not matter that they have hunted it for years.
we live in the here and now ,and some of us realise that most of life is sentient no matter if they are the dolphin that have teeth or not.

life is evolving on this planet ,and these people need to evolve with the times to ,we all do

originally posted by: stuthealien
it does not matter that they have hunted it for years.
we live in the here and now ,and some of us realise that most of life is sentient no matter if they are the dolphin that have teeth or not.

life is evolving on this planet ,and these people need to evolve with the times to ,we all do

You are talking about them as if they live with computers, phones, cars and all the 1st world goods we have available to us as we type on this forum. A "tribe" of people such as these, that are still using teeth as currency, are not exactly in the know on the PC world that is raging around them.

We eat cows, pigs and chickens, slaughtered in the millions every year......we kill for sport.

The problem comes when people, like us in 1st world countries, decide we know better than those that have lived off the land for their entire lives because we are "cultured" and they are not.....to me, that is a ridiculous way of looking at this. This is their way of life and they are not exploiting it according to the article, nor anything I could find about them online. They are feeding themselves, and not really a lot of dolphin compared to the population. When you look at the numbers, this is hardly their main source of meat, or they don't eat much meat....

it is also ridiculous to claim because you did something in the past that it should continue today.
we used to have black slaves in the past are you saying that should continue today because we used to do it?????
britain used to colonize countries should we continue today as we used to do it??????????????


as there is no way i can agree with your stance ,i tap out.