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Defenders in Action: Commerce Department Weakens 'Dolphin-Safe' Labels
Defenders of Wildlife is challenging a Bush
administration decision that would result in the deaths of thousands more
Pacific dolphins.
The Commerce Department weakened the requirements for
using "dolphin-safe" labels on cans of tuna fish sold in the United States. The
ruling would permit companies in Mexico and Ecuador to ship tuna to the United
States even if fishermen caught the tuna by purposely encircling dolphins in
their nets. Thousands of dolphins are killed every year by Pacific tuna fishing
fleets when they encircle dolphins to catch the tuna swimming underneath.
"We have great confidence that the courts
will strike down this blatantly illegal decision," says William Snape, Defenders
of Wildlife vice president and chief counsel.
The Commerce Department
acted despite a long-awaited scientific study by the National Marine Fisheries
Service that contradicts claims by U.S. and Mexican officials that fishing
practices have improved. The study, which only became public after it was leaked
to the news media, found depleted populations of dolphins are not recovering in
the Pacific.
As they are chased by tuna fishing fleets and their
helicopters, untold thousands of dolphins die from stress, severe injury and
separation of calves and mothers, according to the study by U.S. government
scientists.
