A runaway Congress could reverse years of progress on protecting dolphins on the high seas, but Earth Island Institute, along with a coalition of over seventy environmental and animal welfare organizations, Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Joseph Biden (D-DC), and Congressmember George Miller (D-CA), are fighting back. Senators Boxer and Biden, the original authors of the dolphin-safe tuna program, have introduced S. 1460, the Dolphin Protection Act (H.R. 2856 by Rep. Miller in the House of Representatives), to continue preventing dolphins from drowning in tuna nets.
Three legislative efforts to weaken U.S. policy on dolphin protection have been introduced. The first of these threats surfaced in September 1995, when U.S. Representative Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA), joining hands with the so-called Wise Use Movement, took aim at dolphin protections by introducing H.R. 2179. If passed, the bill would repeal the federal definition of "Dolphin Safe" and allow dolphin-unsafe tuna to flood the U.S. market. H.R. 2179 would further allow U.S. tunaboats to once again kill dolphins, setting an international dolphin kill quota as high as 55,000 or more dolphins annually. David Phillips, Director of Earth Island Institute's International Marine Mammal Project, quickly labeled H.R. 2179 "the Dolphin Extermination and Consumer Fraud Act."
H.R. 2179 had barely been introduced when Mexico and several compromise-oriented environmental groups issued the "Panama Declaration" after a series of secret meetings in Washington, DC. The declaration represents an international effort to force Congress to lift the ban on the import and sale of dolphin-unsafe tuna and to change the federal definition of "dolphin safe" in a way that hides the truth from consumers. The current definition of dolphin safe, under the Boxer-Biden Dolphin Protection & Consumer Information Act of 1991, sponsored by Earth Island Institute, prohibits all chasing, capturing, and setting of nets on dolphins. The Panama Declaration, by contrast, redefines dolphin safe to mean no observed dolphin mortality, allows the U.S. tuna fishing fleet and the fleets of countries that want to export tuna to the U.S. to resume setting purse seine nets on dolphins to catch the tuna that swim beneath them, and would permit up to 5,000 dolphins to be killed each year. The actual number of dolphins observed killed by the fishery last year was 4,095, so the Panama quota would allow killing of almost 1,000 more dolphins every year. The Panama deal also calls for allowing dolphin-unsafe tuna imports into the U.S. in the name of free trade, a reversal of the four-year-old U.S. tuna embargo against countries whose fleets' dolphin safety practices are not comparable to our own.
Senators Ted Stevens (R-AK) and John Breaux (D-LA), who have long opposed the dolphin-safe program, introduced S. 1420 in the U.S. Senate in November 1995, to implement the Panama Declaration. In December, Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD) introduced the same bill as H.R. 2823 in the House of Representatives.
Unfortunately, the pro-trade Clinton Administration is currently in support of the Dolphin Death Act, as are five environmental organizations. Greenpeace, National Wildlife Federation, World Wildlife Fund, Environmental Defense Fund, and Center for Marine Conservation are inexplicably supporting drastically weakening dolphin protection. However, U.S. tuna processors are standing firm in their commitment to buy only tuna caught without setting nets on dolphins.
The proposed changes in U.S. law could have grave consequences for the dolphins that swim with yellowfin tuna in the Eastern Tropical Pacific. For 30 years, dolphin populations have been horrendously depleted by disastrous fishing practices. Eastern spinner and northeastern spotted dolphin populations are currently estimated at only 44% and 23%, respectively, of original numbers. Even dolphins that are not killed in nets are subjected to chase by high-speed powerboats and to entrapment in nets, both of which are extremely stressful for dolphins. There is growing evidence that the physiological repercussions of this trauma may cause mortality never observed by Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) monitors and cumulative long-term effects that may reduce reproductive success for those dolphins repeatedly chased and encircled. Further, dolphins with injuries, such as torn fins or broken jaws, would not be counted as "observed" dolphin mortalities. Dr. Naomi Rose of the Humane Society of the United States explains, "It is not simply a matter of direct mortality. The concept of 'take' encompasses more than killing. This type of harassment may have serious physical consequences. Considering how severely depleted these populations are ... this is not good management." Proponents of H.R. 2179, S. 1420, and H.R. 2823 argue that there is nothing to worry about. Biologically, however, it is not known what numbers are needed for successful breeding and regeneration of depleted dolphin herds.
Thanks to the staff of Senators Boxer and Biden, and Representative Miller and Gerry Studds (D-MA), the bills on the Senate and House floors are being watched closely to block any back-door deals. Earth Island Institute is working to stop passage of S. 1420, H.R. 2179, and H.R. 2823. By contrast, S. 1460 (Boxer/Biden) and H.R. 2856 (Miller) would keep dolphin protections in place. S. 1460 and H.R. 2856 would also help to resolve trade issues by supporting research and observers, as well as giving further incentives to dolphin-safe fishermen by allowing their tuna to be imported from countries that are currently embargoed.
Earth Island Institute has been joined in support of dolphins by the Sierra Club, Humane Society of the United States, Defenders of Wildlife, Public Citizen, and dozens of other grassroots environmental groups in support of the Boxer/Biden/Miller Dolphin Protection Act (S. 1460/H.R. 2856).
We need your support in fighting the efforts to weaken U.S. dolphin protections. Free trade at the expense of dolphins is a bad deal.
What You Can Do:Senator ______________Rep. _________________ U.S. SenateU.S. House of Representatives Senate Office BuildingHouse Office Building Washington, DC 20510Washington, DC 20515
Capitol Switchboard:(202) 224-3121
Also write a letter to President Bill Clinton, The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20500, and urge him to stop supporting the Panama Dolphin Death Deal and S. 1420/H.R. 2823!
For further information, contact Earth Island Institute, International Marine Mammal Project, 300 Broadway, Suite 28, San Francisco, CA 94133; (415) 788-3666.
or: Mark J. PalmerA bad B movie? Good guys versus bad guys theatre? If only it were so simple.
The Boxer/Miller legislation discussed continues the problems inherent in the present "dolphin safe" status quo. Legislation introduced by Senators Breaux and Congressman Young (S.1420 and HR2823) addresses these problems and is supported by Greenpeace, the Center for Marine Conservation, World Wildlife Fund , Environmental Defense Fund, National Wildlife Foundation, tuna fishermen, twelve countries, the Clinton administration, the State Department, Commerce Department, Timothy Wirth (undersecratary of state for global affairs) and dozens of groups all across America. Why? Because the marine mammal bycatch reduction program implemented in the eastern Pacific's yellowfin tuna fishery is an environmental success story worthy of support from the U.S. We need to support the efforts of responsible fishermen and programs that work.
Considering that marine mammals are present in all the world's oceans and therefore all the world's fisheries, why are we not supporting the only program that has ever succeeded at reducing fishermen's impact on these creatures to biologically insignificant numbers? Do we help dolphins or fishermen who are trying to address all sorts of bycatch issues worldwide if we do not support the most effective bycatch reduction program ever implemented on the high seas?
The eastern Pacific's yellowfin tuna fishery covers an area almost three times t he size of the U.S. and there are about 10 million dolphins present in this fishery. Around the U.S., the Marine Mammal Protection Act allows fishermen an allowance for interacations and some kills of marine mammals. If these allowances were moved to the international fishery of the eastern Pacific, the U.S. government would allow a take of about 55 to 60,000 dolphins annually. But the eastern Pacific high seas fleet committed to a higher standard and reached that standard, reducing marine mammal losses to less than 5,000 animals. We need to support this.
Call your Congressional representatives in support of Breaux S.1420 and Young HR2823. Oppose Boxer S.1460 and Miller HR2856.
The Fishermen's Coalition,