the fishers are allowed to catch and kill up to 2,000 dolphins a year in taiji. for the small town, it's big business. >> whales and dolphins have always been part of our culture. i wish people from abroad would finally appreciate that. >> we eat other animals after all, pigs, chickens, cows. i don't see what the problem is with dolphins. >> hunting might be an old tradition, but there's more to the story than that. while many of the dolphins are killed for meat, some of the strongest young specimens end up in live exhibits, as acrobats of the ocean. the local whaling and maritime museum complex includes a dolphinarium. taiji also exports its prize prey to other marine parks the world over, from china, thailand and vietnam to dubai, turkey, and ukraine. it's a very lucrative business. a single animal can fetch up to $150,000 u.s. >> people shouldn't get so emotional over dolphins. they're only interested in them because they're so cute and smart. >> earlier this year the dolphinarium made a high-profile but controversial capture, an extremely rare albino. estimat