The Japanese town of Taiji has announced a plan to build a park where anyone can swim and play with dolphins, while tasting various marine products including whale and dolphin meat.

They are supposedly aiming to have the park as a spin-off of their annual custom of rounding up and killing thousands of dolphins, as its meat is considered a delicacy.

A town official said, "We already use dolphins and small whales as a source of tourism in the cove where dolphin-hunting takes place.

"In summer swimmers can enjoy watching the mammals that are released from a partitioned-off space. But we plan to do it on a larger scale."

And organisers say they want tourists to be able to eat dolphin and whale meat as they watch the captive animals frolic, reports Vice.com.

But he insisted that far from having caved in to pressure from conservationists who want an end to a yearly hunt that turns waters red with blood, the project was aimed at helping to sustain the practice.