Hardy Jones (1943 – December 12, 2018) was a wildlife and conservation filmmaker. He began his career in radio at WNOE in New Orleans and worked for United Press International, The Peruvian Times, and CBS News. He had been a television documentary producer since 1978 and produced over 75 films for PBS, Discovery, TBS, and National Geographic. His first film, entitled DOLPHIN, depicts a school of spotted dolphins residing 40 miles north of Grand Bahama island. Beginning in 1978, Jones returned countless times to the Bahamas to visit these dolphins and film them. Some of the dolphins have become internationally famous. Chopper, a 27-year-old male, was filmed by Jones for the first time in 1979 and appeared in the 2005 PBS film The Dolphin Defender.[1]
In 2000, Jones joined film actor and ocean activist Ted Danson and founded BlueVoice.org (a website dedicated to the protection of dolphins and whales and particularly stopping the hunting of dolphins in Japanese fishing villages).[3] The organization uses television and the internet to publicize ocean issues. One of the group's main concerns is the alarming level of contamination in the oceans - bio-accumulating in the foodweb from plankton to fish, marine mammals, then humans.
Jones’ book, The Voice of the Dolphins, was published in 2011.[4] It recounts more than thirty years of work with dolphins in the wild as well as the efforts of BlueVoice.org to end the killing of dolphins in Japan and the increasing menace of chemical contaminants in the marine food chain.
In 2003, Jones was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer often linked to exposure to toxic chemicals such as dioxins.[10] His recent work was researching the relationship between persistent organic pollutants to cancer and other health problems in humans and marine mammals.[11]
Jones died on December 12, 2018, after a long battle with multiple myeloma. He is survived by his wife Deborah Cutting and his sister Betsy Jones.[12][13]
