After The Cove: Ric and Lincoln O'Barry Discuss Their New Series, Blood Dolphins

This Friday, Animal Planet will premiere Blood Dolphins, a show inspired and created by the makers of the Academy Award-winning documentary The Cove. In the documentary, Ocean Preservation Society co-founder Louie Psihoyos and dolphin trainer-turned-activist Ric O'Barry teamed up to expose the secret annual slaughtering of 20,000 dolphins in Taiji, Japan. Now, O'Barry and his son O'Barry have developed a three-part TV miniseries to continue spreading their message. I spoke with the father-son duo about their mission, their Ocean's 11-style setup, and bringing their cause to TV.

TV.com: Can you tell us what to expect from the new series?

Ric O'Barry: Well, my son Lincoln should probably do that. He's the executive producer and director. I'm just the dummy activist.

Lincoln O'Barry: The series is definitely inspired by The Cove, and I basically put my own team together. The first episode, we revisit Taiji and it's a follow-up of what's happened since The Cove and what changes have taken place. In other episodes we will be going to other places in the world where similar types of slaughters and exports of dolphins happen.

Have you seen any changes in Taiji as a result of the documentary? Why was it important to continue your mission with a TV series?

Ric: The dolphin killing season begins September 1st every single year and lasts through March. So it will begin again soon and we'll be there. We have to keep the pressure on Taiji and in the news until it stops.

Where else have you traveled as part of the show?

Lincoln: The Solomon Islands in the South Pacific. It happens [there] for a different reason. In that episode, there's an indigenous tribe that, for 400 years, has hunted dolphins for their teeth and meat. In the Solomon Islands, the teeth are actually a form of currency. When a man wants to get married he has to give the bride's family between 1,000 and 4,000 dolphin teeth. But the villagers do realize that years ago, they were able to get dolphins right off of the coast near their village. Now they have to paddle their one-man canoes 20 miles to find the dolphins and then bring them back 20 miles in. They realize that this is not sustainable, they want to change and don't want to buy bribes with teeth anymore. They want to use currency. So we were actually able to negotiate a deal the day that we were there filming. The hunt officially ended after 400 years. And it was probably the largest slaughter of dolphins in the world.

Ric: We didn't put out a press release although it's a historic moment. After, can you imagine, 400 years? It came down like the Berlin Wall. And we want people to see it on Blood Dolphins. This is big news.

Lincoln: What we found is that, typically, countries that will allow the slaughter of dolphins will allow the export of dolphins. So by doing this series, we're closing the circle. We are making the chances smaller for dolphin dealers to to supply dolphins to the aquarium industry.

Who else is on the team that you've assembled? What are the different roles?

Lincoln: I have my sort of Ocean's 11 team. There's four of us: There's my dad and me, and then there's someone named Kate Tomlinson who is a still photographer. She and I usually go on the first mission undercover, as a sort of goofy tourist couple. And we're able to film things in the raw form. And then later, I bring the rest of the team. One of the other main team members is a guy named Peter Zucalini, who's probably the top underwater cinematographer in the world. He shot underwater sequences for all the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Into the Blue, and Jumpers. In each place, we use a lot of technology and hidden cameras. The technology that we use to film is also a sort of character on the show.

What we saw in the documentary—the mass dolphin slaughterings taking place in Taiji—was overwhelmingly disturbing and graphic, albeit necessarily so. Will Blood Dolphins be similar, footage-wise? Have you experienced any restrictions in terms of what you're allowed to show?

Lincoln: No, but we are careful to not lose the viewers by showing anything too graphic. We try to water down the slaughter as much as possible. The name Blood Dolphins doesn't pertain so much to the slaughter as it is a reference to the trafficking and trade of dolphins, just like Blood Diamonds.

How are you liking the father-son collaboration so far?

Ric: Well, we do different things. I'm not a filmmaker and Lincoln is. I work for the Earth Island Institute, so I'm not really paying attention, I'm just doing my sort of normal day job. But it's a wonderful thing, working together. I have to be reminded. Like I hear "Hey dad, we're trying to do a TV show here."

Lincoln: I found that after The Cove, a lot of people asked me questions and wanted to know a lot more about my dad. And so it's coming from a father-son relationship. It's more of a personal point of view, giving insight into his personal life and motivation.

What would you recommend to viewers who would like to take action and support your cause?

Ric: Real education is about getting all the information to make up your own mind. Having said that, we're hoping that the viewers of Blood Dolphins, will think twice before buying a ticket for a captive dolphin show. Because that's really the solution. The consumers have all the power, but they don't have the information. They've been brainwashed by this industry into thinking dolphins actually belong in captivity. They've been brainwashing people since 1938 into thinking that there's some connection between performing dolphin shows and conservation. It's a big lie and I think that's exposed in Blood Dolphins.

Lincoln: People can also go to the Earth Island Institute website and get involved in letter writing or other forms of support. For instance, in the Taiij episode, we focus a little bit on a man named Mr. Ishii, who was a former fifth generation dolphin hunter. One day, he had his moment of epiphany and couldn't do it anymore. And now he's converted his dolphin hunting boat into dolphin watching. So it's about supporting people like that.

One thing we really hope to expose in this show is the one question people don't ask when they go to aquariums. They ask, 'What are the dolphins' names?' and 'How long do they live?' But they don't ask, 'Where do these dolphins come from?' And we're going to reveal where captive dolphins that are supplying the aquarium industry are coming from. And you find how these dolphins are captured and how these dolphins are slaughtered. I think people will never buy a ticket again.

So, what's your next mission?

Lincoln: We are currently in production on a few other countries, but I can't say where just because of the nature of the filming that we're doing. We're in surveillance mode and I don't want to jeopardize the crews that I have there. [Dolphin slaughter] is not just isolated to Japan or the Solomon Islands. It happens all over the world. So we will be going to all these places.

How will Blood Dolphins continue as a full series?

Lincoln: It's not like a normal TV show where you can go in for two weeks and get your hour show. A lot of our trips take multiple missions and it's really kind of impossible to save the world in two weeks. So Animal Planet's been nice enough to give us a very flexible shooting schedule.

Blood Dolphins premieres on Friday, August 27 at 11 p.m. on Animal Planet.