ACT TO SAVE DOLPHINS FROM DEADLY TUNA NETS!


Earth Island Institute Campaign to Keep the "Dolphin Safe" Tuna Label Honest: NO NETS ON DOLPHINS!

BACKGROUND
Posted January 22, 1998 by International Marine Mammal Project

Earth Island Institute is organizing to keep the "dolphin safe" label, found on all canned tuna in the U. S. since 1990, honest.

This March, Secretary of Commerce William Daley will be making a decision on whether to seriously weaken the "dolphin safe" label. Without public pressure, the definition of "dolphin safe" will be weakened to allow chase, harassment, netting, injuring, and even killing of dolphins when catching tuna, as long as an on-board observer reports no dolphins were killed outright or "seriously injured. We cannot let this happen!

The "dolphin safe" label now means no dolphins were intentionally chased and encircled with deadly tuna nets. Tuna fishermen in the Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP) target schools of dolphins because giant schools of tuna are known to swim beneath them. Over the past 4 decades, the tuna fisheries have killed more than 7 million dolphins. In 1990, consumer pressure brought about the "dolphin safe" tuna program, which has significantly decreased dolphin deaths by 97% since its introduction.

However, last year the tuna industries and governments of Mexico, Colombia, and Venezuela teamed up with free-trade advocates in the Clinton Administration and Congress to undercut U. S. dolphin protection laws and open U. S. markets to dolphin-deadly tuna.

Scientific evidence demonstrates that the chasing and netting of dolphins is causing serious harm to dolphins. Even with reduced dolphin mortality reported, there still has been no signs of recovery to the greatly diminished dolphin populations. Furthermore, it has been proven that U. S. consumers do not want tuna caught by methods that kill and injure thousands of dolphins each year. Chasing and netting dolphins is NOT "dolphin safe"!

We cannot let the Clinton Administration and foreign fishing industries sell consumers falsely-labeled tuna stained with the blood of thousands of dolphins! We must fight to keep the label honest and keep the nets off dolphins!

What You Can Do!
1. Write a letter to the Secretary of Commerce William Daley, and urge him to keep the current strong federal standards for the "dolphin safe" tuna label in place. Do not let him fool you by claiming that standards that allow the chasing, netting, injuring and killing of dolphins can be sufficient for "dolphin safe." Keep the label honest; keep the nets off dolphins!

Ask that your letter be added to the official record.

Address:
Secretary of Commerce William Daley
14 Street & Constitution Avenue, NW,
Washington DC 20230
Fax: (202) 482-4576


2. Write letters to the heads of the three major tuna companies, urging them to maintain their strong, current standards for "dolphin safe" tuna (no encirclement of dolphins with nets during the entire fishing trip!)

Addresses:
Mr. Dennis Mussell
President
Chicken of the Sea International
Van Camp Seafood Co. Inc.
4510 Executive Drive, Suite 300
San Diego, CA 92121
Fax: (619) 597-4282

Mr. Peter Bowen
President and CEO
Starkist Tuna
Starkist-Foods Inc.
One Riverfront Place
Newport, KY 41071
Fax: (606) 655-5888

Mr. Mark Koob
President
Bumblebee Seafoods, Inc.
3990 Rufin Road
San Diego, CA 92123
Fax: (619) 715-4355

For more information, please contact:
International Marine Mammal Project
Earth Island Institute
300 Broadway, Suite 28
San Francisco, CA 94133
Phone: (415) 788-3666
Fax: (415) 788-7324
Email:

[email protected].

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