Fraudulent "Dolphin-Safe" Label

Earth Island Sues US over Fraudulent "Dolphin-Safe" Label

by Mark J. Palmer

Earth Island Journal, Winter 1999-2000

San Francisco - On August 18, 1999, Earth Island Institute, joined by nine other environmental groups and 87-year-old environmental activist David R. Brower filed a lawsuit in US District Court to overturn the governments decision to weaken the standards for the Dolphin Sate label on American tuna cans.

Additional plaintiffs include biologist and dolphin activist Samuel LaBudde, the Humane Society of the US, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Defenders of Wildlife, International Wildlife Coalition, Animal Welfare Institute, Society for Animal Protective Legislation, Animal Fund, Oceanic Society, and Environmental Solutions International.

On April 29, US Commerce Secretary William Daley announced his astonishing finding that chasing and netting dolphins does not cause "significant adverse impacts." Daley's decision - contrary to all available scientific information - allows a weaker definition of "dolphin safe" that permits tuna-boats to surround dolphins with nets to trap the tuna in the waters below. Under Daley's ruling, tuna-boats can chase, harass, net, injure and even kill dolphins in the pursuit of tuna. These activities all would be allowed so long as the on-board observers reported seeing no dolphins killed outright or "seriously injured."

The renewed harassment of dolphins by tuna vessels and the resulting physiological stress (some dolphin schools are chased and netted as often as three times in one day) are likely to harm dolphin health and reproduction. Many dolphins suffer injuries in the nets and die after release, but on-board observers do not record these deaths.

The lawsuit, filed by pro-bono lawyers Josh Floum and Ariela Freed of Legal Strategies Group in Emeryville, California, contends that this decision is arbitrary and capricious, and intentionally ignores biological research supplied by the Commerce Departments own scientists.

"The federal government's claim that chasing and netting of dolphins is 'safe' for dolphins is fraudulent and must be overturned," declared David Phillips, Director of Earth Island Institutes International Marine Mammal Project (IMMP). "They are promoting trade with Mexico at the expense of dolphins' lives. If the Secretary's decision is left intact, we believe foreign tuna industries will deliberately target and drown as many as 20,000 dolphins each year. We cannot allow that to occur."

Dolphin Safe tuna-fishing rules reduced observed mortality from more than 100,000 dolphins a year in the late 1980s to less than 3,000 annually during the past four years. Despite this dramatic improvement, federal scientists have determined that dolphin populations in the Eastern Tropical Pacific are not recovering as expected.

The use of on-board observers in the past has proven dismal. Before IMMP's campaign for "dolphin-safe" fishing practices, the National Marine and Fisheries Service (NMFS) required the tuna industry

to place observers on private US tuna boats to monitor the impact of fishing on dolphins. The observers were often pressured not to report dolphin deaths. In some cases, observers testified that tuna operators threatened them with death if they reported abuses to the NMFS.

Secretary Daley's ruling will be welcomed by powerful and politically connected Latin America drug dealers who have amassed fortunes smuggling cocaine hidden in the hulls of tuna boats.

The largest maritime cocaine busts in history have been aboard Latin American tuna boats. Drug money has corrupted customs and police officials in Mexico and the US, and it is likely that the drug cartels of Mexico and Colombia are using the tuna industry in those countries to launder drug money Earth Island Institute has raised these issues with the Clinton Administration, which has so far ignored the Latin American tuna industry s links with the drug lords.

Earth lsland Institute and other environmental and animal welfare organizations have obtained pledges from the world s three largest tuna processors - StarKist, Bumble Bee, and Chicken of the Sea - to stand by the strong "dolphin safe" standards. These three companies alone account for 90 percent of the tuna canned and sold in the US. The Safeway, A&P and Albertson supermarket chains and all Subway restaurants have joined these three tuna companies in pledging to sell only tuna caught without netting dolphins.

IMMP will publicize any instances of companies offering "dolphin deadly" tuna to US consumers. In the meantime, Earth Island will continue to defend the integrity of genuine Dolphin Safe tuna both in court and in Congress.

What You Can Do: Earth lsland will publicize any instances of "dolphin deadly" tuna being imported into the US sporting a phony "dolphin safe" label. EII will also identify stores and restaurants found to be using dolphin-deadly tuna. Check the IMMP website www.earthisland.org/immp] for the latest postings and help us by boycotting these establishments.

Mark J Palmer is the director of Wildlife Alive, an Earth Island project.

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