SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Earth Island and other groups, who developed the "Dolphin Safe" label in 1990, have charged that the Clinton-Gore administration seeks to weaken US dolphin protection laws for the animals in order to accommodate tuna industries in Mexico and other countries in the name of free trade.
The organization, along with nine other environmental groups, and 87-year-old environmental activist David R. Brower, filed the lawsuit last August in US Federal District Court to overturn the decision by the government to weaken the "Dolphin Safe" label on American tuna cans. David Phillips, Director of Earth Island Institute's International Marine Mammal Project, stated "President Clinton and Vice President Gore are trying to mislead consumers and harm dolphins with a phony 'Dolphin Safe' tuna label, all to placate a handful of foreign tuna millionaires."
Additional plaintiffs included biologist and dolphin activist Samuel LaBudde, the Humane Society of the US, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Defenders of Wildlife, International Wildlife Coalition, the Animal Welfare Institute, the Society for Animal Protective Legislation, the Animal Fund, the Oceanic Society, and the Environmental Solutions International.
Before the illegal finding by the Commerce Secretary in the lawsuit, the "Dolphin Safe" label could only be used for tuna caught without any chasing and netting of dolphins. Tuna fishermen in the Eastern Tropical Pacific region target dolphins because tuna often swim below dolphins. More than seven million dolphins have been drowned in tuna nets over the past four decades. But since 1990 and the advent of the "Dolphin Safe" tuna program, dolphin deaths have decreased by 97 percent in the Eastern Tropical Pacific.
Federal scientists have determined that dolphin populations in this region are not recovering as expected, even with the dramatically lower reported kills of recent years. Harassment of dolphins by tuna fishermen and problems arising from the consequent physiological stress (some dolphin schools are chased and netted as often as three times in one day) are likely factors that cause harm to dolphin health and reproduction. Many dolphins suffer injuries in the nets and die after being released, but are not counted by the on-board observer. Mothers are separated from calves, and undercounting may be occurring onboard some Mexican tuna boats. For more information see: www.earthisland.org