Documentary: "The Cove"

In class, we watched a documentary about the slaughter of dolphins in a hidden "secret" cove in Taiji, Japan.
Here are my answers to the odd numbered questions on the question sheet:

1) The documentary is about Ric O'Barry, a former dolphin trainer and currently an activist against dolphin killing and whaling.

3) Ric O'Barry realized that dolphins and other cetaceans were miserable in captivity and often got stressed and died (even committing suicide, in some cases). He was devoted to this cause after his beloved dolphin, "Flipper," died.

5) Dolphins fall under the mammalian order cetacean.

7) The whalers get paid a lot for live dolphins and whales.

9) Some of the dolphins (mostly the females) are taken into captivity by aquariums and marine parks. The rest are killed for their meat (which is toxic to humans but is still sold as whale meat to the unknowing population).

11) The point is to reveal what is happening in Japan, as this isn't common knowledge even among their own people. Also, it sheds light on the lives of dolphins and whales that are held in captivity in aquariums and marine parks.

13) Biomagnification is the process of a certain chemical (or pollutant) becoming more concentrated in species higher up in the food chain. For example, dolphins, which are at the top of their respective food chain, have a high concentration of mercury. This occurs because the smaller concentrations in other organisms get absorbed by the dolphins and it adds up.

15) The reason many fishermen turned down offers of money to discontinue their practice of whaling was because of a sense of nationalism; they didn't want the west to have any ore influence on Japan's actions. This is due to the large effect the west had on Japan after World War 2.

17) The cameras are disguised as rocks and placed in vantage points.

19) The crew member shows the Deputy of Fisheries footage (obtained form the hidden cameras), which shows numerous dolphins being slaughtered in an inhumane manner.

21) They see an injured baby dolphin trying to flee from its assailants, leaving behind a trail of blood, only to die partway through and sink. :(

23) Dolphins and cetaceans are highly intelligent and social creatures which undergo a lot of stress under captivity. Marineland and other  marine parks / aquariums obtain their supply of animals from places like Japan. As long as these parks continue to purchase dolphins, whaling and dolphin capturing will continue. In a way, people who go to marine parks such as Marineland are indirectly (and often unknowingly) contributing to whaling practices elsewhere in the world.