Dolphins are used as shark bait.| Photo by Stefan Austermuhle, Mundo Azul.

Dolphins are precious and intelligent creatures. They put a smile on our faces with their happy sounds and graceful movements. Yet in places where dolphins are not a protected species or where the enforcement of protective laws is lacking, the reality is very different.

Stefan Austermuhle is a German biologist who had been involved with animal conservationism for 30 years, raising awareness around the world about the killing of dolphins to be used for shark bait.

After emigrating to Peru in 1998 to work on conservation, Austermuhle discovered a culture of illegal dolphin feasts as well as the use of dolphin meat as shark bait. In 2013, he spent one month undercover aboard a Peruvian shark fishing boat, where he secretly filmed the killing of dolphins and sharks to show the existence of these practices to the world.

Witnessing

Austermuhle confesses that it was very hard to see this world of cruelty and he battled for some time to come to terms with it. Gathering enough evidence to prove and stop the slaughter of dolphins, which is illegal in Peru, is what kept him going.

He was always surprised when Peruvian shark fishermen harpooned dolphins and clubbed them to death when they came to ride the bow of the fishing boats. After, the dolphins were cut into pieces and used as shark bait.

“I have seen unbelievable suffering of sharks being fished and killed in a gruesome way. Newborn baby sharks died between the agonizing bodies of their mothers. Every morning we stopped the night-time fishing being covered in blood from tip to toe. Dolphins and sharks are massacred alike. I will never be able to forget this,” says Austermuhle.

All his work and recorded material is used for education at local and overseas schools, field research, work with the media and political lobbying, advocating for more drastic legislation on this topic.

Conservation work

Austermuhle serves as executive director of Mundo Azul, a conservation non-governmental organization that has worked for 16 years in Peru. His work in the field started as an activist with Greenpeace and later he was intrigued about the lack in policing of dolphin killing.

The world of a conservationism goes further than relaxing, happy adventures and traveling paradisiac lands – it involves science and activism. Many conservationists’ journeys are filled with dead threats and military training is sometimes needed in order to defend their lives, according to Austermuhle.

“Some biologist colleagues I had were killed by drug mafias and illegal loggers,” he says.

His work also involves collaborating with the police, organizing raids to eliminate groups dedicated to illegal hunts.

The Lecture

Stefan Austermuhle working in the field with a dolphin.| Photo by Stefan Austermuhle, Mundo Azul

Austermuhle will discuss his experiences and the insights gained from them in a March 28 lecture to the Vancouver Institute. The lecture, titled “Travelling with Dolphin Killers: What I Learned Working Undercover”, will raise awareness about species in the world and the possible impact for the future.

“I think it is important for people to understand that everything on our planet is connected. There are no isolated problem. In the age of globalization, global over population and climate change we must understand ourselves as global citizens and be aware that our local actions most of the time have global relevance,” says Austermuhle.

“Travelling with Dolphin Killers: What I Learned Working Undercover”

Lecture by Stefan Austermuhle

Lecture Hall No. 2, Woodward Instructional Resources Centre, UBC

March 28, 8:15 p.m