HSUS Calls On Bush Administration to Heed Warnings in Commerce Dept. Study as Deadline for Decision On Dolphin-Safe Label Looms

12/5/2002

From: Rachel Querry of the HSUS, 301-258-8255 or rquerry@hsus.org

WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 -- The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is calling on the Bush Administration to heed warnings on depleted dolphin populations found in a Commerce Department report as the deadline for a decision on whether to weaken the familiar dolphin-safe label on canned tuna approaches.

The Secretary of Commerce has until the end of the year to determine whether the tuna fishery in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean is having a significant adverse impact on dolphin populations. If, as expected, the finding is "no significant adverse impact," the Commerce Department will weaken the dolphin-safe label by broadening the definition of dolphin safe to include tuna caught by fishing methods that include chasing and encircling dolphins.

"A no significant adverse impact finding would be contrary to the scientific evidence presented in the report by the government's own scientists," said Kitty Block, special counsel to the HSUS' United Nations and treaties department. "The Humane Society of the United States encourages the Commerce Secretary to base this decision on science rather than politics, in which case there is clearly only one correct decision -- to maintain the current standards for the dolphin-safe label."

The Mexican government has been lobbying for this change to give the Mexican tuna industry access to the lucrative American market, which currently has the highest standards in the world for protecting dolphins who were dying by the hundreds of thousands in tuna nets before boycotts and trade embargoes forced changes in the fishery in the late 1980s and early 1990s and American law blocked imports of dolphin-deadly tuna.

In the mid-1990s, Mexico threatened action against the United States on the grounds that the U.S. dolphin-protection laws violate the free trade rules of the World Trade Organization. Clinton administration officials backed the Mexican government and advocated not only for opening U.S. markets to Mexico's dolphin deadly tuna but also for changing the definition of dolphin safe to allow tuna caught by methods that harm dolphins to be sold under the dolphin-safe label. A lengthy legislative and legal battle ensued, with dolphins receiving a temporary reprieve as the Commerce Department complied with a Congressional mandate to develop a study of dolphin populations before changing the criteria for using the dolphin safe label.

Scientists completed that report this summer, but the Commerce Department has yet to release it, undoubtedly because it demonstrates ongoing concern about dolphin populations.

Earth Island Institute obtained the report and released it late yesterday. Primary results of the report show:

-- Northeastern offshore spotted dolphins are at 20 percent and eastern spinner dolphins at 35 percent of their pre-fishery levels

-- One model predicts recovery in 78 years for northeastern offshore spotted dolphins and in 65 years for eastern spinner dolphins. A second model, equally supported by the data, predicts that neither stock would recover in 200 years.

-- The tuna fishery is cited as one of the major reasons for this lack of recovery in dolphin populations. The tuna fishery is responsible for deaths caused by separating calves from mothers and stress resulting from chasing and encircling dolphins.

"A finding of no significant adverse impact is simply impossible based on these findings," said Block.

The HSUS is the nation's largest animal protection organization with over seven million members and constituents. With active programs in companion animals, wildlife, animals in research and farm animals and sustainable agriculture, the HSUS works to protect all animals through legislation, litigation, investigation, education, advocacy and field work. For more information, visit the HSUS' Web site -- http://www.hsus.org.