It was summer 1989, and I had just arrived in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to assume management of a large retail store called Hathaway Outlet. This was my career since college graduation in 1975 -- retail clothing store management.
Myrtle Beach is on the Atlantic coast of South Carolina and is quite a beautiful spot with its white sand beaches and rich marine life. One such popular animal is, of course, the dolphin. They are easily spotted from the beach of this tourist destination.
One day in early October, I received a direct mail packet from International Wildlife Coalition of Massachusetts (IWC) explaining that they needed help in a campaign to stop the capture of beluga whales in Canada by the Shedd Aquarium of Chicago. I had no idea why this arrived, as I had never been an activist for dolphins or any other animal rights. I had donated to local humane societies and had a soft spot for all animals and their abuse by humans.
It is amazing to know that two days after this piece of mail arrived, an article appeared in the local paper, The Sun News, announcing Ocean Expo to be constructed in Myrtle Beach in 1991. It would have various species of fish, plus bottlenose dolphins, false killer whales, beluga whales, and Pacific white-sided dolphins plus sea lions. This alarmed me after having read the horror that occurs when beluga whales are captured in such a violent manner for aquariums.
I called the IWC office and spoke to the Executive Director Dan Morast. He was very interested to hear about this new problem of a $60 million aquarium . He explained that a local opposition must be developed quickly before the aquarium could start construction. I explained that I was only a retail store manager and had no idea what to do. I suggested he send someone to Myrtle Beach. Dan told me to call the local paper and explain that there will be opposition to the Ocean Expo. He gave me pointers on what to say.
So I took a deep breath and only three days after I received that alert about beluga whale captures, my life changed. I called The Sun News and spoke to a reporter. He was very interested in that he did not know of the controversy about the dangers of capturing marine mammals for show tanks. I used the notes Dan provided and got the story in the paper that ran the following day.
That afternoon the phone started ringing off the hook at the store, and it was not customers. The people calling said they wanted to help me stop the Ocean Expo. I said I had no idea what to do and just took their names and numbers and would get back to them. Remember in those days, there was no email , no cell phones , and no Internet.
I called Dan at IWC and told him things were quickly getting a bit overwhelming for me as I had no idea what to do. He gave me a list of ideas plus people to call:
I spoke to many of these folks over a few weeks. Ben told me to organize the people who called and set a meeting to form a group. I did just that. It was exciting to get see this start taking shape.
In early November 1989, we had a first meeting with 15 people at the local library. We formed the South Carolina Association for Marine Mammal Protection (SCAMMP). I got it incorporated so we could accept donations.
We organized the first public forum and had Ben White as the first speaker in mid-December. When I picked up Ben at the airport, he said he was impressed a guy in a tie would be trying to stop a huge development that would incarcerate dolphins. He said to not get my hopes up, as it is not easy to stop big money development, especially in a tourist area.
I told him I planned to stop it, or at least force the aquarium to have no marine mammals.
The library had standing-room only for Ben’s talk. Ben was a great speaker, as he was called a “preacher for dolphin freedom.” The newspaper and 3 television stations covered the event. The story made the Associated Press wires as well.
The developers sent in their people to observe and did not like what was happening. During the question and answer session, they said that Ben was a terrorist with Sea Shepherd. The audience booed these guys, and Ben explained he did nothing wrong over the years, only peaceful protests.
This one speaking engagement started to get people from the entire state talking about Ocean Expo. I started educating myself with information from many people involved in the issue around the country.
Mary Mosley provided Marine Mammal Inventory reports, compiled by the US National Marine Fisheries Service, showing the terrible damage of captivity back in 1989 and 1990 with all the mortality in the industry. We had video sent in showing graphically how dolphins and whales are captured. The fax machine I received anonymously from a donor was always running.
During all of this time I was of course running the store. A large profile about me came out in The Sun News. The upper mangement of the store did not like my activist work even though I was doing well making the store money. They thought I was bad for business as I was opposing a large tourism draw to Myrtle Beach. I told them this was not interfering with my job, and that I did this as a volunteer on my own time.
SCAMMP continued to have bi-weekly meetings at the library. The developers told the library to stop allowing us to hold our meetings there. The library told the developers that it is a public place that is owned by the people of the city and anyone can hold a meeting. The developers hosted a meeting in support of Ocean Expo that only had ten people show up to counter us. Tom Davis, the spokesperson for the developers, started harassing me and others in SCAMMP, but we did not let it get to us.
I learned who was to be his marine mammal expert: Moby Solangi. This dolphin catcher and trader has been responsible for catching and selling over 200 bottlenose dolphins from the Gulf of Mexico in the 70s and 80s. Luckily in 1989 captures ended, but Solangi had a number of parks to draw from to stock ocean expo with bottlenose dolphins, but for the other species he would need to get permits to capture from the wild. Ben and Mary had a lot of information on Solangi’s machinations and provided this to me for the media.
In January 1990, Henry Brzezinski of the Humane Society of Colombia SC contacted me to say he knew a representative in the SC State House, Alex Harvin, who was a compassionate gentleman toward people and those with no voice. At our request, Rep. Harvin introduced a bill to ban the captivity of cetaceans in South Carolina. This caused even more controversy. Through immense lobbying from people worldwide through faxes and letters, this law actually got passed in early 1991.
Henry helped shepherd this bill through the state house while SCAMMP continued to hammer against the ocean expo. We attended hearings of the planning commission stating that the environmental impact of this aquarium were unknown, asking how many concessions were given by the city and county to the land purchase, tax breaks etc., to promote the scheme.
Developers of the Charleston SC Aquarium, already in planning, denounced dolphins in captivity, stating that wild dolphins are always seen free off the Carolina coast. Ripley’s Believe It or Not was seeking to open a fish tunnel-type aquarium and also denounced having captive marine mammals. The pressure was mounting more and more as we continued this fight. All we had were newspapers, television and radio, and the public forum in the library in Myrtle Beach and Charleston.
SCAMMP continued to lobby the investors and the Myrtle Beach City Council to not allow cetaceans to be displayed. This was a relentless task fighting millions of dollars.
Then we received a gift. The chief silent investor was exposed to our side. The owner of the Charlotte North Carolina Hornets professional basketball team, George Shinn, was to be the main investor for Ocean Expo of Myrtle Beach. He was the type who did not like controversy. He was always in the background. When I learned of George Shinn as the investor, I started a new letter campaign plus notified the media that the Charlotte Hornets would be stinging dolphins and torturing them into captivity. This new target helped us push Ocean Expo off the cliff.
After two weeks, Mr. Shinn notified the media he had no intention of investing in the Ocean Expo. This collapsed the whole project, and it soon was announced Ocean Expo would not be built, period. The minor investors had put up cash for the conceptual drawings and for a lobbyist, Tom Davis, to get it all the permits needed. But the millions needed to build the dolphin prison was to be backed by Shinn as he would invest and guarantee the loans. WE won, and a $60 million aquarium (in 1991 dollars) never got built.
The new law was in place as well having been signed by the late Governor Carroll Campbell, a Republican. He said dolphins need to be wild and free and only seen in their home waters off the coast.
In 1992, SeaWorld paid a lobbyist to get the South Carolina dolphin law repealed in a rider to a shrimp fishery bill.
I had moved on to work at Earth Island in California, having lost my job in retail for killing the park. When we learned the news about the SeaWorld attempt, we sprang into action once again. From Earth Island, I worked with Henry Brzezinski of the Humane Society South Carolina to get the shrimp bill killed that would have repealed the dolphin law. SeaWorld brought in its so called experts.
A hearing was held in the capitol in Columbia, SC, before a packed house. Our side had Ben White, Henry, the author of the bill Rep. Harvin, and a huge number of people that wanted dolphin freedom. A memorable statement was made by one Hicks Harwell, representative of Horry County, who told the SeaWorld suits that he did not appreciate folks from the North coming to our state and telling us how to run our affairs. He told them that they were not welcome.
Richard Donner, the Producer and Director of the hit movie Free Willy even sent the Governor a letter saying to not repeal the law or Warner Brothers would not come to South Carolina to make films. Mr. Donner then called the Governor.
In the end, the Governor refused to sign the bill --.he vetoed it. Needless to say, the shrimp fishermen were furious with the lobbyist and SeaWorld. The lobbyist lost his credential in the state house.
So, this proves if an activist puts his mind and heart to it, and never gives up, there can be victory. This launched my career from retail to working at an international NGO for dolphin freedom. After 24 years, I am still in this line of work and plan to continue for years to come.