Source: http://www.thecovemovie.com/
The movie "The Cove" tells the story of illegal dolphin fishing occurring off of Taiji, Japan. Dolphins would be captured in a secret cove where they would be sold for cash. Whatever dolphins were not sold for cash were then killed for dolphin meat.
What was interesting was how the movie portrayed several issues beyond illegal dolphin fishing. The movie mentioned a bit about mercury content in the dolphin meat that would be sold illegally in Japan. It made me wonder if that type of mercury content existed in the meat before the industrial age. With so much junk being tossed into the ocean it is no wonder the content of mercury has been surging in sea food in recent years.
What was also sad was how the movie showed the effects of mercury on humans. I recall reading labels at Albertsons last time I purchased shrimp mentioning the effects of mercury. The movie displayed the full effects of mercury by showing newborns with birth defeats due to mercury. When pregnant women consume food with high mercury content it really does have a severe effect on the child. Although fault cannot be placed strictly on the parent since the movie made mention of Japan's failure to mention meat being sold was dolphin meat. The way the movie explained it, they would portray it as regular fish meat but in reality it was dolphin meat.
Another sad fact was how Japan justified this by stating that by killing the dolphins they would "equalize" the ecosystem. I laughed at this since the ecosystem got along just fine before human's began consuming sea food goods. The movie displayed not only human's compassion for animal life, but also failure to keep the earth clean.
