Why are these island residents looking for dolphins?

The invitation of the shell of the fishermen from the dolphin from their family. Under the moonlight, mixing the six men to the village church.

There was a priest who led them in a whisper prayer, barely his voice heard on the sound of the shattered waves; The high tide was that day. The salty water collected in parts of the village, which is located on the island of Vanali, is a spot of land that forms part of the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific.

They were blasphemy in wooden boats before the first light, and they penetrated the darkness until they were miles away from the beach. Hours after wiping the horizon, one of the fishermen, Leslie Fujoy, saw the glass water fin. He raised the 10 -foot bamboo column with a piece of fabric linked to the end, alerting others to discover it. Then he made a phone call to his wife. He found dolphins. You will start hunting.

These men are from the last Dolphin fishermen in the Solomon Islands. Some conservative specialists say that slaughter is cruel and unnecessary. But for the population 130 or so in Vanali, traditional hunting has acquired renewed urgency as climate change threatens their home. They say they need dolphins for their profitable teeth, which are used as a local currency, to buy lands on the highest land and escape from its steady house.

All teeth bring 3 dollars Suleiman (about $ 0.36) – the price set by Vanali presidents – and one of about 200 dolphins can bring tens of thousands of dollars, more than any other economic activity on the island.

“We also feel sorry, to kill the dolphins, but we have no choice,” said Mr. Fujoy. He added that he will be ready to give up fishing, if there is an alternative way to secure the future of his family.

It is no longer possible to grow crops on Vanlie, which is about a third of a third of the Central Park size in New York City. The fertile land was destroyed once by infringing on salt water. The government has strengthened marine herbs as an income source, while conservation groups abroad offered money to end the fishing. But the ocean is still an existential threat and the most profitable village supplier. Government research indicates that the island can be underwater by the end of the century.

“For a low island like our islands, we are witnessing with our own eyes how the sea height affects our lives,” said Wilson Fili, Vanlie’s president.

Over time, Dolphin Teath allowed villagers to pay the costs of a new church, sea wall and extend the local primary school.

During the hunting season, which lasts from January to April, people here can kill up to a thousand dolphins, but the fishermen say that the weather has become increasingly unexpected, making it difficult for them to locate the pod.

While dolphin meat is eaten and barter with the islands adjacent to food, genital nuts and other products, the teeth are the real prize for hunting. It is used for cultural activities, and the potential groom’s families buy it by hundreds to give a woman during the traditional bride’s price ceremony.

In recent years, most villagers have escaped to a neighboring island. They continue to search for dolphins from there, saying they need to buy more lands to accommodate those who left behind and support their growing population.

Dolphin hunting is a societal relationship in Vanali. When Mr. Fjoy raised his knowledge that morning, he set out from the joy of joy. Children climbed trees to watch the fishermen and chanted “Kerio” – Dolphin in the Local Language Language – so that every resident knows that hunting has started. Men in hanging boats near the beach stormed the waves in the open ocean to help the fishermen form a dolphin around the dolphins and send them to landing.

The teeth are shared, as soon as they are collected, between each family according to the strict level system: the fishermen receive the largest share (“First Prize”); Married men who did not participate in the next part gets; The remaining teeth are divided between widows, orphans and other families without a male representative.

Village leaders have set aside part of the teeth in what they call a “societal basket” for the main works. One day, they hope that this will include buying lands to expand the resettlement village on the largest South Maleita Island.

These stocks were an important safety net for residents such as Eddie Sawa and his family. Mr. Sawa was one day a skilled hunter and a vibrant Hunter who had become a mysterious paralysis from the neck to the bottom two years ago, and he has been bedridden since then. These days, during the high tide, the flood of his home.

“We must be afraid of these floods, because this is what will make us act to save our lives,” he said, watching salty water on both sides of his bed.

The wife of Mr. Soth, Florence Bobo, said in the local language, especially after her husband was unable to support the family as he did one day. Both of them eventually hope to get enough money to move outside the island.

“If we do not have Dolphin teeth, we will have no other option but eating rocks,” said Mr. Sawa jokingly.

But the successful chase is never confirmed. After discovering the dolphins, Mr. Fujoy and other fishermen began hitting the rocks with an underwater fist to lead the pod towards the beach. But a hunting passed away, the roar of his engine drowned in dull diving in their rocks. Dolphin scattered and men returned empty -handed.

In the middle of this year, there was only one successful chase in the Suleiman Islands, where a village was killed near Vanlie more than 300 dolphins.

Experts say it is unclear whether the dolphin hunting is sustainable. “Some of the most common species that are caught have healthy groups,” said Roshil Constantine, a marine biologist who is studying at Oakland University, and Cabini Avia, an environmentary and environmental researcher from the Suleiman Islands. But the effects of fishing are still unclear on coastal and smaller dolphins.

For the people of Vanli, the most urgent question is not the future of dolphins – it is their survival in the face of the emerging seas.

Mr. Fujoy said: “Dolphin hunting may be our identity, but our lives and the lives of our children – this is important.”