Today, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued new rules to establish uniformity in Dolphin Safe standards for different methods of tuna fishing. The new rules bring the US into compliance with recent World Trade Organization (WTO) findings on the Dolphin Safe label.
“Contrary to claims by the government of Mexico, the Dolphin Safe label standards are intended to focus on tuna fisheries that regularly and deliberately net and kill dolphins,” noted David Phillips, Director of Earth Island’s International Marine Mammal Project (IMMP). “The WTO has ruled that the label standards have a valid scientific and conservation basis, but ruled narrowly that documentation regulations must be consistent over all fisheries in order to prevent discrimination against Mexico.”
“The new regulations demonstrate that the US is taking extraordinary effort to ensure uniformity as sought by the WTO," Phillips added. “There is no circumstance in which it makes sense for Mexico to use the Dolphin Safe tuna label when they engage in the intentional chase and encirclement of dolphins during fishing operations. No company should get the Dolphin Safe label under such circumstances. NOAA’s new regulations would prevent that from happening, which should demonstrate to the WTO panel that Mexico is not being singled out.”
IMMP maintains monitors around the world to verify that tuna catches meet the Dolphin Safe standards for canned tuna. Our monitors inspect fishing vessels, storage units, and canneries globally.
Mexico and several other nations in the Eastern Tropical Pacific continue the calamitous and dolphin-deadly practice of intentionally chasing and netting dolphins to catch tuna. As dolphins do not associate regularly in other oceans with tuna, the problem area is confined to the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean. NOAA’s new regulations standardize provisions meant to avoid any dolphin deaths in all oceans, requiring a chain of custody for the Dolphin Safe tuna and that boat captains get special training in avoiding harm to dolphins.