ack in 1999, we applauded the Clinton
administration for its decision to approve the harvest of Eastern Tropical
Pacific tunas via the dolphin-encirclement method, provided that the
dolphins were released from the encircling purse-seine nets with no or
insignificant injury or mortality. Scientists had found that those tuna
that make it a habit to swim below pods of dolphins, are generally fully
mature adult males. It is not known if the fact that the two species occur
together is a decision of the dolphins or a "decision" of the
tunas. Regardless, a method of safe encirclement and subsequent dolphin
release has been developed that has been cited as so successful, that the
Commerce Department has found dolphin mortality to be almost entirely
eliminated, in contrast to earlier years when many thousands of the animals
were injured or drowned. Today, tuna fishermen look for schools of
dolphins, and set the purse seines around them, knowing that when the
drawstring on the bottom is closed, that large, mature tunas will be
inside.
Extremists Non
Governmental Organisations (NGOs), however, have used the former high
mortality of dolphins, and the fact of a film made years ago by a green
advocate, to entirely intimidate the three major tuna distributors in the
United States. StarKist, Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea all refuse to
buy tuna from Mexico, regardless of the fact that the Mexican fishermen
have now successfully passed the US government-imposed test of greatly
reduced dolphin mortality. After the first of this year, the Bush
administration declared that the Mexican boats are producing tuna that can
fairly be labeled "Dolphin Safe".
Qualifications for this label are extremely rigorous; there are
independent observers on each vessel, and if a set on tunas results in any
dolphin injury or mortality, then that catch can not be given the
label. Small boats and sometimes, divers in wet suits, are used to herd the
encircled dolphins out the back of the net, and reportedly, once a pod of
the animals has learned what will happen, they all head for the marker
buoys in the back, which is the point at which the top of the net is
relaxed down so that they can safely escape. Clearly, this new system works
to "save" the dolphins. The tunas caught in the method are truly
"dolphin safe" because of the success of the new technology.
The same NGOs hate this improvement, because it threatens to reduce
their impact on tuna marketers. Their power is threatened. Greens have
convinced tuna importers and distributors that the public can be adversely
influenced by green public advertisements and statements that the imported
tuna is responsible for dolphin deaths. These large corporations want to
take no chances. They will sell only tuna that have been certified that
they are caught without dolphin encirclement. Incidentally, studies have
shown that when tunas are caught in the absence of dolphins, the school
contains many young and female fish, so the practice does not contribute to
sustainability of the tuna harvest.
Clearly, science has demonstrated that tuna management and dolphin
conservation are both enhanced by the dolphin encirclement method of tuna
fishing.
Thus once again, science is demeaned by extreme NGOs who seek to
preserve their power over commerce and government policy. Humane Society of
the United States, Defenders of Wildlife, and Earth Island Institute are
suing the US government for allowing Mexican tuna to be labeled
"dolphin safe".
IWMC applauds the US government for its impressive efforts in
determining that there is a scientific basis for the dolphin safe label.
This is just one more test of the power of green groups as they intrude
into the traditional government domain of public conservation policy. We
wish the US Commerce Department and NMFS the best in the process that will
be played out in the courts this year. The dolphin safe label fight
promises to set precedents for years to come.
