Japanese villagers in Taiji have dismissed the Oscar win for The Cove, a documentary about its dolphin whaling practices.

The film, which stars Isabel Lucas, is set in southwest Japan, where the village of 3,500 people - aka 'Whale Town' - has been hunting dolphins and whales since the early 1600s, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Hisato Ryono, a local councilman who claims he was tricked into appearing in the film, said the dolphin whaling dubbed a big secret was known to all the locals. 'Everyone around here knows about it. The water nearby turns red during the hunt. The actual killing is done in a concealed area because it is unpleasant to look at, as is true of killing cows or pigs or any other animal.

'This is a close-knit group of fishermen. The more they feel squeezed, the more they will close off to outsiders. They won't stop this hunt because of such pressure.'