Dolphin-Safe Tuna Status Report

In the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean (ETP), some schools of yellowfin tuna associate with dolphins. Fishermen there have consequently found that setting nets on dolphins to catch the tuna swimming underneath is a lucrative technique for tuna fishing, despite the fact the practice is extremely injurious to dolphins. In the past 40 years this practice led to the deaths of over 7 million dolphins.

Defenders of Wildlife is doing our best to protect dolphins from this harmful fishing technique.

April 7, 2003: At a Federal court hearing in San Francisco, Defenders of Wildlife and its allies request a Preliminary Injunction to block the Bush Administration's New Year’s Eve decision to weaken the Dolphin-safe tuna label until our lawsuit can be heard on its merits. Our lawsuit also seeks to restore the meaning of the Dolphin-safe tuna label to its strong, “no encirclement” definition and to prevent thousands of cans of Mexican tuna, falsely labeled as "Dolphin Safe," from flooding into the U.S. market.

Take action now and send a free e-mail to the Secretary of Commerce asking him not to follow through on his intention to weaken the "dolphin-safe" label. Unless he hears from thousands of Americans like you, Defenders is concerned that the politics of trade are likely to win over conservation and the lives of millions of dolphins. Read the government report. Read the letter from the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission urging Secretary Evans not to weaken the "dolphin-safe" label.

December 31, 2002: Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans issues a "final label finding" claiming that chasing and intentionally netting dolphins in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean (ETP) does not have significant adverse effects on dolphins. Secretary Evans’s decision flies in the face of the government’s own experts’ conclusions, as described in a government report, that dolphin populations in the ETP are not recovering and that chasing and netting dolphins causes physiological stress and injuries, separates mothers from dependent calves, and causes untold numbers of unseen dolphin deaths.

Within hours, Defenders and our allies filed a lawsuit to overturn Secretary Evans’s decision.

December 6, 2002: Defenders obtains a draft report by government scientific experts that demonstrates the ETP tuna fishery is likely the cause of depleted dolphin populations’ lack of recovery.

November 4, 2002: Defenders presents oral arguments to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in our case challenging the government’s failure to follow U.S. law in issuing regulations governing the catch and import of tuna associated with dolphins. Defenders is seeking to have the U.S. government fully implement the dolphin-safe label and to stop admitted over fishing in the area by other countries. Defenders expects a decision in early 2003.

August 2002: Release of National Marine Fisheries report on the effects of the tuna fishery on dolphins in the ETP. Findings from the National Marine Fisheries Service studies indicate that despite the reported decreases in dolphin mortality, these species have not recovered to anticipated population levels. In fact, at least one still appears to be declining, indicating that years of setting tuna nets on these dolphins has indeed had a significant harmful effect on their populations.Read the government report.

July 23, 2001: In an important win for biodiversity and the environment, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejects the Commerce Department's appeal to weaken the "dolphin-safe" label.

January 2001: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit hears arguments regarding the federal government's appeal of Defenders' win in the Label lawsuit.

September 2000: Defenders, with the help of its dedicated members, hears word that illegally-labeled tuna has made its way to U.S. supermarkets (see label below). Sending out an emergency DENlines, Defenders urges consumers to beware.

Summer, 2000: After hundreds of letters from Defenders’ members and others, Wal-Mart and Food Lion agree to only sell tuna that was caught without harming dolphins.

May 19, 2000: The Clinton Administration announces it will appeal last month’s court ruling that rejected the government’s efforts to weaken the "dolphin-safe" label.

April 12, 2000: The Clinton Administration lifts a 10-year embargo on Mexican tuna. Mexico was previously banned under U.S. law from exporting its dolphin-netted tuna to the U.S. for failing to take adequate dolphin-protection measures. As a result of yesterday’s win regarding the "dolphin-safe" label (see below) Mexico’s dolphin-netted tuna may enter the U.S. but not identified with a "dolphin-safe" label.

April 11, 2000: Defenders and co-plaintiffs win our lawsuit filed against the Commerce Department for its weakening of the "dolphin-safe" tuna labeling standards. The judge ruled that the Secretary of Commerce acted contrary to law and abused his discretion when he weakened the standards last April. The judge’s ruling restores the meaning of the "dolphin-safe" label, prohibiting its application to tuna caught by intentionally netting dolphins.

Feb 2000: Defenders and others sue the Clinton Administration for its failure to follow US law in issuing regulations governing the catch and import of tuna associated with dolphins. Read the full text of the brief submitted by Defenders to the court, or read the full text of the amicus brief submitted to the court by dolphin experts.

Jan 2000: The National Marine Fisheries Service, a branch of the US Department of Commerce, issues regulations to implement the 1997 International Dolphin Conservation Program Act, an amendment to the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The regulations contain numerous loopholes and fail to meet the requirements of the law.

August 1999: Defenders and others sue Commerce Department for weakening "dolphin-safe" tuna labeling standards.

April 1999: The Department of Commerce announces a weakening of the definition of the "dolphin-safe" label that will allow it to apply to tuna that was caught by chasing, harassing, and netting dolphins as long as an on-board observer reports no dolphins were killed or "seriously" injured during the course of the fishing trip. In making its decision, the Administration has ignores reports from its own scientists, whose research suggests that setting tuna nets on dolphins has been the source of significant adverse impact on depleted dolphin populations, and specifically that it has been the likely cause of the failure of some depleted dolphin populations to increased to healthy levels. Three dolphin stocks in the ETP, the northeastern offshore spotted, the eastern spinner, and the coastal spotted, are listed as depleted by the MMPA.

In 1990 Americans' concern for dolphins brought about the "dolphin safe" tuna program. This program ensured that the "dolphin-safe" label could not be applied to tuna caught by intentionally encircling dolphins with tuna nets. Other provisions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) put in place a ban on the importation and sale of tuna caught by intentionally netting dolphins. These provisions have decreased tuna-related dolphin deaths by 97%.