National Audubon Society Specials: If Dolphins Could Talk

If dolphins could talk, they would tell a pretty sad tale of woe is what host/narrator Michael Douglas implies in this chilling look at the fishing industry's wholesale slaughter of the gentle marine mammals. The first part of the program focuses on the life and lifestyle of the dolphin, and is characterized by gorgeous underwater photography. This is followed by a roll call of horrors--particularly those happening abroad, where Japanese fisherman massacred a thousands of dolphins in retaliation for a low-yield yellowtail fishing season (most likely the result of pollution and overfishing, rather than from dolphins), and Latin American catch hundreds of thousands of dolphin in their tuna nets, where they die of suffocation. In America, legislation has forced commercial fishermen to reduce the number of fatalities from 1/4 million to 20,000, but most agree there's still room for improvement. Interestingly, a re-edited section of the program points out that when If Dolphins Could Speak first aired, Starkist was besieged with some 7,000 letters, resulting in the company's insistence on "dolphin free" tuna from its suppliers. The visual image is very strong, and very powerful--the Starkist response is a prime example of the visual medium's ability to make significant changes in the real world. Highly recommended. (See AMAZING GRACE for availability.)