Whales and Dolphins - Our Friends of the Sea

Wild Dolphins - this summer I could finally fulfill my dream of coming face-to-face with them.  On the whale watching boat from Shibetsu Port in Hokkaido, I fervently kept my eyes on the surface of the ocean.  Suddenly, our boat was surrounded by a group of Pacific White-sided dolphins.  Their powerful breathing could be heard from right beside out boat.  The dolphins were enjoying bow-riding and playing around.  Before long, they started speeding up as if they were racing our boat, and then suddenly three of them broke through the surface of the water ahead of us and leaped into the air!  With their sleek bodies and shining eyes, they seemed to be full of happiness.  How free and full of life they looked!

I have seen dolphin shows at various aquariums, but the wild dolphins were jumping of their own free will.  I was so moved by that sight that my whole body started to shake.  How can we put those dolphins, who are used to swimming in vast oceans, into tiny aquariums?  Especially, if we take orcas, which have a highly advanced society and culture, away from their families and put them into aquariums, the dorsal fins of the males will pitifully droop to the side, when they are supposed to be erect.  Knowing this, would you like to see such dolphins in an aquarium?  Aren't we humans being too self-centered in our relation to them?

Recently, advances have been made in research on whales and dolphins.  Special attention should be paid to the fact that they have a mysterious power to heal people.  When I visited Zamami Island in Okinawa, I heard a strange story from Captain Murata on our whale watching boat.  Once when he had an autistic child on board, a humpback whale which appeared kept surfacing by the child's side., the whale appeared to the right, and when he moved to the left, the whale surfaced to the left.  It seemed as if the whale was talking to him.  The child's eyes lit up.  In addition, free diver Jacques Mayol says, "If we treat dolphins with respect, they will surely accept us.  They don't have hostile feelings."

What have we humans given those kind creatures in return?  Imprisonment in aquariums, rackless fishing, huge amounts of garbage, poisonous substances ... I was shocked to see an unborn two-headed dolphin in a photo taken by Dr. Nobuyuki Miyazaki formerly of the National Science Museum.  It can't be denied that the deformity might have been caused by pollution.  According to Dr. Miyazaki, who is collecting specimens of dolphins from around the world and studying pollution of the oceans, amazing amounts of mercury and PCBs found in the bodies of dolphins.  Pollution of the sea is certainly advancing in places unseen.  What can we do about it?

Since becoming a junior high student, I've been picking up empty cans and litter on the way home  from school whenever possible.  Sometimes I way "P.U." or "Yuck", but I won't give up.  I also did a check on the water quality of the Tenryu River.  These are just small things, but I want to keep on doing what I can, one thing at a time.

The ocean is the mother of life.  The seas of both Okinawa and Shibetsu that I visited were clear and blue.  They nurture those wonderful whales and dolphins.  However, both those blue seas and lively dolphins are now facing the dangers of pollution.  If they become extinct, that will mean the death of the oceans, with the end of mankind not far away.

Are the land and sea just for us humans?  I don't think so.  The whales and dolphins, the rulers of the sea, have never once polluted it.  It is time that we humans, the rulers of the land, started learning from them.  Let's promise our friends of the sea that we will do our part in protecting our earth.  I wish for the sea I love to be a truly beautiful sparkling blue one.

(The First Prize of the 51st Contest, 1999)

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