>> today, on "earth focus," killing dolphins and dying for lobsters. an original investigation exposes dolphin slaughter in peru, and filmmakers uncover the human cost of lobster diving in nicaragua. coming u up on "eartrth focus."" >> lima is one of the largest cities in south america, the capital of peru and the heart of its fishing industry.

i'm standing inin one of half a dozen fish markets that dot across lima in peru. behind me here are dozens of species of fish, but one of these dishes, toyo, or shark, is particularly popular. caught in huge numbers around the peruvian coast, this shark dish is comining at a cost, say environmentalists, a cost to dolphins. they claim that every yearar thousands of dolphins are being bbutchered illllegally out at sa in order to catch these sharks. we're going to go and find out. one environmentalist worried about the dolphins is marine biologist stefan austermuhle. >> the pacific ocean in fronont of the peruvian coast is the most t bioproductive ocen in the world. we are catching here 10% of the world's fish catch. that meaeans there's a lot of fd around in form of anchchovies

and other small pelagic fish. and where there's a lot of food, all the g guys that eat that fod will come by and have their part. and that means wewe have here more than wh--uh, 30 species of whales and dolphins. the fact that dolphins are killed in shark fisheries here in peru is an open secret in the entire industry. everybody that works in the fishing industry knows it. all the government representatives know it. and even the n ngos working in the ocean, they know it. but nobody talks about it, because you can't prove it. how do you want to prove something that appears-- that happens tens or hundreds of miles offshore that you have never even seen? >> we were introduced to a former fisherman who agreed to speak openly about the hunting of dolphins. >> [speaking spanish]

>> i went to see for myself if these stories are true, if fishermen really are hunting dolphins on the open seas. so, we've arrived at this desert fishing town

in the middle of peru. this is where we've arranged to meet the long-liner fishing boat that's going to take us out for the next week out into the pacific ocean. in exchange for payment towards fuel costs and on strict condition of anonymity, we managed to gain access onto a shark fishing boat. once on board, the captain agreed to an interview, but only if we concealed his identity. >> [speaking spanish]

>> if we kill an animal to eat it, a cow or a pig or something like this, we have very strong regulations. the animal has to be killed within very few seconds. but if you have an animal, and you get a harpoon rammed into it, and have it then struggling for 10 or 15 minutes on a line to get weak and to bleed out slowly... and then you lift it on board, and you cut into the living animal, a still living animal, with a knife, in order to cut deep into it, around the neck and have it bleed to death, that's not humane. that's not a humane killing. that is cruel, very painful, and a very lonong death.

>> after the crew brought the dolphin on board, they slaughtered it for bait. the following footage is graphic, and some viewers will find it disturbing. what we saw yesterday was the hunting of wild dolphins. it's never been caught before on film, and we managed to record it.

the killing of intelligent mammals, like dolphins, is...terrible, at the best of times. the killing of them to be used as fish bait is unthinkable. >> [speaking spanish]

>> these sharks are the catch after fishing for one day, using the dolphin as bait. traveling back to lima, i wanted to talk to people who knew more about the hunt. i showed my footage to stefan austermuhle, who works for the conservation group mundo azul, which first spoke out about the hunting of dolphins in peru a decade ago.

>> we have been hearing for many, many years now, from basically every fisherman we talk to, that,h,h, in any fishing trip for sharks, up to 4 to 5 dolphins are g getting killed. so, makeke your math-- that's 5,000, 15,000 dolphins per year,r, depending on how mamany, uh, shihipping trips you're-- yoyou're countnting. >> the kililling of dolphins in peru has also caught the attention of scientists throughout the world. in recent decades, studies have tried to track the dolphin deaths, both accidental and deliberate. >> there are 15, 20,000 dolphins and porpoises being killed per year in peru, which is a globally significant----it's a huge number of dolphins and d porpoises, along thee coat of peru, still dying, and th--that's what we believe is happening to this day. we're talking serious impact on dolphins and porpoises. >> the dolphin that was killed in your footage is a dusky dolphin.

that's an offshore population. these are dolphins that live in groups. they can travel in groups of 3, and they can travel in groups of a thousand or more animals. and they travel all the time behind the big fish swarms, and they hunt on the fish. they're very fast swimmers. and, according to science, their population is threatened. >> how do you feel, knowing that these dolphins are being killed in huge numbers simply for shark bait? >> knknowing that dolphins are killeled in such numbers fofor shark bait is just crazaz. it's driving me crazy, becausese you kill one top predator in order to kill another top predator, so you takeke away all the top predators. so you change entirely the balance of the ecology in the ocean, because the role, the function of these top predators-- sharks and dolphins alike, they're a team here, they keep the ocean healthy. they catch the old, the sick fish,

and they keep the fish population healthy. if you don't do that anymore, you will get diseases, you will get all kind of negative effects, and, basically, you're killing the resources the fishermen n need. >> but the fishermen aren't only using dolphins for bait. some of the meat ends up being sold alongside fish. >> some of that meat comes back for human consumption, but then it's hidden under fish, or in sacks, and no official observer would see that on the pier. so it's a well-organized smuggling system for--- for human consumption. nowadays, dolphin meat is the cheapest meat that you can find on the market. a kilo of dolphin meat is sold for about 4 soles-- thaat is about $1.6060 for an entire kilo of meat. you will find it only on the markets where the poorest people in peru go shopping, and it't's a cheap source e of proteinin.

>> o other fishermen we spoke t, however, suggest that dolphin hunting g doesn't take placece. filiberto sanchez dias works s for the artisanal fisheries assosociation. >> [speaking spanish] >> i am surprised to hear that they claim they don't know it happens, because, you know, th--there's a lot of published literature in the scieientific community, as well as, um, non-government groups. there's no way that anybody can deny this is happening. the proof is there, the photograph, the film, um, it--it's all there. >> there are, at the last count, in 2010, over 500 boats like the one we traveled on for a week. if, as the testimonies we've recorded are true, on each trip they kill

an average of 2, 3 dolphins, and they're doing over a dozen trips each year. that means thousands, thousands of dolphins being killed to be used as shark bait. >> if you kill animals at this level, it's going to have a severe impact on their numbers. and i--i fear for dolphins and porpoises in peru. i really ddo. i thihink it's--it's decades now of imimpact at this level, so, um, i think that it--it's urgent. we need to take action now to secure their future, definitely. >> 1,600 miles north of peru, in nicaragua, another industry, lobster fishing, is causing harm to both the environment and people.

in their film "my village, my lobster," filmmakers josh wolff and brad allgood capture the untntold story of lobster tails. >> "my village, my lobster" is a one-hour documentary about indigenous miskito lobster divers alongng nicaragua's miskito coast, who risk their lives diving for the regionon's most lucratie resource, the caribbean spiny lobster. commercial lobster diving in nicaragua and honduras is one of the most dangerousus jobs inin the world. they dive to depths that are unsafe, they do not follow fe diving g practices, and the gear that they use does not allow them to--to dive safely.

>> commercl l fishingg forr caribbean spinyny lobst i s a multitimillion-dollar industr. half of the lobster caught in central america, worth about $28 million annualllly, comes from fisishermen in o one countryry--nicaragugua. >> along n nicaragua''s caribbeanan coast, lobster divig is the largest inindustry, soso there's a fininancial incentive for them to dive for lobster. right now, lobster divers are making somewhere between $2.50 to $3.50 per pound of lobster tail that they catch. and there are few other economic opportunities for miskito indians along the coast,, and there's not a lot of educational and professional opportunities, uh, as well. >> there used d to be so many lobsters s that you could walk out into the sea and just f--fish them out by hand. and then the commercialization of lobster diving wass introduced, and that sped up, you know, the depletion of the lobster stock closer to shore, and it's just moving

deeper, and deeper, and deeper. and that, in turn, is causing thesinstances s of decompression sickness, becauaue these men are diving deeper, and they're staying out for longer periods of time. >> when diversrs get the bends at sea, ththeir only h hope is t to be rushehed to shorere. there, they receive emergency treatment in nicararagua's only hyperbaric chamber. if they don't receive treatment quickly, the chanceces ofaralalysis and permanent injury are almost certain. >> [speaking spanish] >> for pica, an injured diver, it was this rapid treatment in the chamber that saved his life in 2007. >> [speaking miskito]

>>treatmentnt in the chamber is not anan end-all solution fofo injured d divers. it can reverse some of the acute symptoms of decompression sisickness, but divers' limbs are rendered unusable without physical therapy, that can last for months or even years. > a lot of times s diverson't gett the--the physicical therapy that ththey need,d, and they don't get the medical care that they need to either recover or to prevent

serious infections, and-- and, possibly, eventual death. >> [speaking spanish]

>> [speaking english] [speakaking spanish] >> andrew begegan diving fofor lobster at t the age of 1. when he was 22 years old, he suffered a severe case of the bends. he's been paralyzed ever since. >> [speaking spanish]

>> since the early nineties, over 90%0% of the lolobster caught in n nicaraguaa has been exported to e united s states, and sold via distributors like the sysco corporation, the largest food service distributor in north america. >> since over 90% of the lobster that's caugught in ninicaragua is exported to the u.s. and d consumed i in the u.s.,, on a coconsumer levevel, we can do a lot to incentivize the--the industry. never before have we been so far f from the sources

of our food, , so i thinknk one ofof our objecectives, one f our goals with ththis film was to educate viewers, too educate an american audience about one source of our food, and the value chain or the supply chain behind that, which is, in this case, lobster. >> people often ask us, you know, whhat-- do--what do we want the film to achieve, ultimately? what's the--the bigger message? i--i think it's a complicated question. i think, wh--when i go back and i think about my experiences on the coast and working with these people and being on the boats and--and seeing the level of suffering, uh, that some of the e men expeperience aand the famamilies thatat experirience it, i i think thehe several ideas at--at play. one is a more--creating a more diverse economy y on the coast. i thihink there can be a tourism industry within the--within that area, whether it's s diving, whether it's, uh, deep seaea fishing,, something that can be brought to the coast, and created, locally, that can help

create a more diverse, uh, economy for the workforce. >> because the lobster industry is the largest industrtry along the c coast, the industry wields a lot of power. and until there's international pressure, or internal pressure, or private sector investment in alternatives, i don't think that--that lobster diviving, commercial lolobster diviving, as i it exists today, is going to end. >> ininternational organizazatis have attempted to catalyze changege in the reregion, bringing together small-scale fishermen, commercial divers, the lobster industry, and government agencies to promote a conversion to trtrapping. but nearlyly all efforts for industry reform have been met with strong resistance anand lack of incentiveve to ch. >> [speaking spanish]

>> with few economic alternatives along the coast and the absence of government or international pressure to comply, commercial lobster diving is likely to persist, dedespite the new legislslation. and i it's the mimiskito divers and their families that will continue to suffer the consequences.

welcome back to nhk