The Cove Discussion Questions

1. The biggest environmental problem I saw was the fact that scientists believe our whole ocean ecosystem will collapse in 40 years due to overfishing. That is sad when another scientist said that 7 out of 10 people rely on fish as their main source of food. I hate that with overfishing comes the excess of fish and a lot of it just goes to waste just because fishermen want more money. There are enough fish in the ocean to feed a lot of people and the animals that live in the ocean, but because of our selfish wants we are in danger of killing an entire ecosystem.
2. The fact that the Japanese government does not tell its people what is in their meat really scares me. In America we have the movie Food Inc. which reveals a lot about where fast food chains and easy to cook meals get their meat and veggies, but it can't be the whole story. I hate how we have GMOs and artificial meat. I know these items can't be healthy for humans and yet our government does not try to control or stop it because there is too much money in GMO and the population is increasing way too much. I try to eat local and organic as much as possible but even then I can't be 100% sure where my food comes from.
3. I believe that even if O'Barry had never introduced dolphins as an attraction, the Cove would still be a harsh reality and dolphin slaughtering would still occur. The Japanese government is telling the fishermen that the dolphins are pest that are eating all of "their" fish. Without O'Barry going through what he did and finding out what he had he would not be the activists he is today. What he went through was absolutely necessary for him to become what he is today and try to stop the slaughtering of thousands of dolphins.
4. O'Barry and he crew handled the confrontations with the people of Taiji extremely well and better than most would have. He is so focused on his goal that he did not let the irritating camera men get to him. He did not let them win by giving them the power to get him mad enough to harm them. He knew that if he even touched them that he could and would be arrested which would only set him back with his goals. He did not give them the satisfaction. I have so much respect for him because I do not know many people who could hold themselves back when someone was making them so angry. He is a great man.

The Cove Reaction

I heard about this movie and how sad it was but I never realised how disturbing it is. Not only is it disturbing on how they get all the dolphins together, but the sickest part was how in Japan you can see a dolphin show while eating dolphin. It is sad to think that the fishermen who do this care nothing about the dolphins or how they look to the rest of the world. It really made me angry when the Japan representative was fallind asleep during the meeting about fishing for whales and dolphins. As sad as this makes me I realised that when the representative said that he did not understand why dolphins were so important I thought about what we do to cows and even horses in some parts of the of the U.S. With dolphins it is a little different because they are more intelligent and belong in the wild. It makes me sick to think that Sea World is more interested in making money then the overall health of the dolphins. I did not know they could get ulcers from stress and that all the places do is give them pills to help it. I reallt feel bad for the man who "began" it all because I know he must feel extemely guilty and the story about the dolphins "suicide" in his arms really made me tear up that is the saddest thing I have ever heard. I cannot wait to finish the movie and I really hope that by exposing this evil it can stop because money is not as important as preserving our wild life.