Marine Connection are delighted to learn that "The Cove" won the Oscar for best documentary feature at the 82nd Annual Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles.

News that the movie won the Academy Award for best feature documentary was greeted with surprise in Japan because many Japanese hadn't heard of it even although the film documents the largest dolphin slaughter in the world which takes place in their country every year - exposing the slaughter of more than 2,000 dolphins and porpoises in Taiji and how their meat, containing toxic levels of mercury, is being sold as food in Japan and other parts of Asia, often labelled as whale meat. Although dolphin meat is dangerously high in mercury, this mislabelled food has been served to Japanese school children for lunch.

In addition to the Oscar, "The Cove" has won many other awards since it was first shown at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2009, where it won the U.S. Audience Award. The film has been honoured by the Writers Guild, the Directors Guild, the National Board of Review, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the NY Film Critics, and the Toronto Film Critics organizations.

Having spearheaded the UK section of the annual protests against the hunts in Taiji, the Marine Connection have great pleasure in sending our sincere congratulations to our colleague Ric O'Barry and all involved in the making of this documentary, which at times put them in great danger - a job well done, thanks.