Timeline

IMMP launches campaign to end the largest killing of dolphins in history as a result of commercial tuna fleets chasing and netting dolphins to catch yellowfin tuna in the Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP). 80,000 to 100,000 dolphins are being killed every year in tuna nets during the 1980s.

IWC moratorium on whaling goes into effect. Major countries, notably the Soviet Union, end commercial whaling. But several insist on whaling.

Biologist Samuel LaBudde, aided by IMMP, obtains undercover video of dolphins dying in tuna nets. The footage, shown on national television news, creates a sensation.

A consumer boycott of canned tuna gains steam, a lobbying campaign in Washington, DC, is started, and a federal lawsuit, through the work of Attorney Josh Floum, claiming a series of violations of the Marine Mammal Protection Act is filed.

Federal Judge Thelton Henderson rules in favor of IMMP and orders the entire U.S. tuna fleet back to port and requires each vessel to carry an official observer to monitor dolphin mortality.

That summer, the hit movie Lethal Weapon 2 includes a scene where the characters talk about the tuna/dolphin crisis, with one actress wearing an IMMP t-shirt.

IMMP’s placement of full-page ads in newspapers across the country, legal victories, and widespread international press attention about the senseless slaughter of dolphins by the tuna industry continue to grow.

IMMP’s campaign achieves historic victory when H.J. Heinz, owner of the largest tuna company in the world (StarKist), agrees to meet our demand that they cease all purchasing, processing, and sale of tuna caught by chasing and netting dolphins. Within a week, Chicken of the Sea, Bumble Bee, other tuna companies around the world agree to join the Dolphin Safe pledge.

David Phillips, IMMP Director, testifies before Congress, leading to enactment of the Dolphin Protection Consumer Information Act, based on IMMP’s standards for the US Dolphin Safe label. This is the first conservation label enacted into law, predating "organic," "fair-trade," "forest sustainability," and "marine fisheries" sustainability labels.

Federal Judge Thelton Henderson releases blockbuster ruling in favor of IMMP, ordering the embargo of all tuna imports from countries failing to enact dolphin safety practices that are required of US fleets. Attorney Deborah Sivas joins Josh Floum in successful legal action for dolphins on behalf of IMMP.

The tuna embargos roil the international tuna industry, and the Mexican government files challenges before GATT (the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and predecessor of the World Trade Organization). This becomes the first trade/environment issue adjudicated by that body.

IMMP establishes the Dolphin Safe International Monitoring Program to ensure that tuna companies around the world comply...

The success of the Dolphin Safe label rests with the outstanding work of IMMP’s long-term tuna monitors, including Dr. Paolo Bray (European Director), Trixie Concepcion (Asia Pacific Director), Dr. Angel Herrera (Latin America Director), Walter Anzer MBE (Administrator of the Dolphin Safe Logo and International Adviser on European Union Affairs),Ulrike Kirsch (Germany), and Jacqueline Sauzier (Indian Ocean).

Mexico brings a second challenge to GATT charging that laws in the US to protect dolphins are illegal trade barriers. IMMP and the US Trade Representative’s Office vigorously oppose these challenges.

IMMP joins with a wide coalition of organizations to successfully press the United Nations to ban use of high-seas plastic drift nets, called "curtains of death" that take a massive toll on whales, dolphins, sharks, rays, and other marine life.

Congress passes the International Dolphin Conservation Act, blocking tuna imports from countries that fail to adhere to US Dolphin Safe standards. In response, numerous European, Australian, and Canadian tuna companies adopt Dolphin Safe fishing policies.

Dolphin mortality in the Eastern Tropical Pacific caused by commercial tuna fishing operations is reduced by more than 95% as a result of the changes in Dolphin Safe policies.

Warner Brothers releases Free Willy, the hit movie about an orca whale in a theme park and a boy determined to set him free. IMMP works closely with the film producers to include an IMMP tollfree hotline urging viewers to get involved in efforts to protect the world’s whales. Callers to the hotline urge that something be done for the star whale in the movie, Keiko.

IMMP forms the Free Willy/Keiko Foundation to lead an unprecedented worldwide effort to convince Keiko’s owners to donate him to our foundation, build a new facility in Oregon to bring Keiko back to health and potentially to have him be the first captive orca ever returned to his original home waters.

Mexico and the Mitsubishi Corp. announce plans to build a massive industrial salt plant in San Ignacio Lagoon, the last relatively pristine gray whale birthing lagoon in Baja’s El Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve. IMMP soon joins Mexican and US environmentalists in fighting construction of the salt plant.

The Clinton Administration, in league with Mexican tuna interests, attempts through Congress to weaken the Dolphin Safe label and end the ban on imports of dolphin-deadly tuna from Mexico. IMMP leads a strong campaign in opposition, rallying 85 environmental and animal welfare organizations together to fight the legislation.

Worldwide support for Keiko helps IMMP succeed in getting Keiko’s owners to donate him and also to build his rehab center. In January, Keiko begins the first leg of his remarkable journey, flying from Mexico City to the Oregon Coast Aquarium, there to be brought back to health.Keiko no longer is involved in performances and is only viewed by the public through underwater windows. Life Magazine puts him on their cover in 1996, calling him the happiest whale in the world.

Congress passes a "compromise" bill that lifts the ban on dolphin-deadly tuna imports. The bill further would weaken US Dolphin Safe standards so long as the Commerce Department concludes that the current setting of nets on dolphins in the ETP does not harm depleted dolphin populations.IMMP opposes this, as it could open the door to weakened standards for the Dolphin Safe tuna label in the US while allowing the killing of thousands of dolphins to catch tuna, falsely labeled as Dolphin Safe.

Keiko’s health improves, his weight is now normal, his papilloma skin virus gone, and he is able to catch live fish. IMMP and the Free Willy/Keiko Foundation succeed in persuading the Icelandic government to permit the return of Keiko to Iceland.

A healthy Keiko flies to a sea pen in Iceland, where he will continue to gain experience in the ocean and eventually to have opportunities to get outside of the bay pen and swim in association with wild orcas. Keiko continues to make significant progress.

US National Marine Fisheries Service scientific assessments indicate that dolphin populations do not appear to be recovering as expected from past and current Mexican tuna fishing practices. Despite that fact, the Clinton Administration proceeds to make a finding that there isn’t sufficient evidence that the fishing operations are having significant adverse impacts, leading to Josh Floum and his colleague, Ariella St. Pierre, to sue on behalf of David Brower and IMMP.

Judge Thelton Henderson rules again in favor of IMMP and reverses the government’s decision to allow the weakened Dolphin Safe standards to be used. The government appeals this decision to the appellate court and therefore the Mexican dolphin deadly tuna could again be imported and mislabeled in the US. IMMP and David Brower immediately sue in federal court.

Mexico’s President Zedillo announces the proposed building of a massive salt plant in San Ignacio Lagoon is dead. The lagoon remains a safe harbor for whales and other wildlife.

A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upholds dolphin protections and the Dolphin Safe tuna label and rules to uphold Judge Henderson’s 2000 decision.

The Secretary of Commerce makes a "final finding" that the intentional setting of nets on dolphins is not having a significant adverse effect on depleted dolphin populations, again attempting to weaken the US Dolphin Safe tuna label standards. IMMP sues again, together with Humane Society of the United States, Defenders of Wildlife and others.

Judge Thelton Henderson issues a stinging rebuke, imposing an injunction against the weakened Dolphin Safe standards sought by the government of Mexico and the US administration. He asserts that best available scientific information demonstrates that the practice of setting nets on dolphins has damaging effects on the recovery of depleted dolphin populations. Judge Henderson states that in his 24 years on the bench he had "never reviewed a record of agency action that contained such a compelling portrait of political meddling." Yet again, the government appeals the case.

IMMP organizes the "Sunny Summit," an international conference focusing on assisting and coordinating worldwide efforts to coordinate progress in ending the captivity of cetaceans. A long-term passion of staff member Mark Berman, this conference marks the ramp-up of IMMP’s anticaptivity work.

IMMP launches our Save Japan Dolphins Campaign to bring the plight of the dolphins of Taiji and other places in Japan to the world’s attention. Many dolphins are slaughtered annually for meat, but the driving force of the dolphin hunts is to sell wild-caught dolphins to marine parks around the world.

The ultimate ruling on the fate of the US federal Dolphin Safe decision is made by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on April 27, 2007. The Court of Appeals upholds Judge Henderson’s 2003 decision that the action by the US Commerce Secretary was arbitrary and capricious and influenced by foreign policy considerations rather than science. The Court also finds that the decision to weaken dolphin safe standards was not based on best available scientific evidence and that strong standards for Dolphin Safe tuna must stand. This hands IMMP a stunning victory over the Bush Administration, the Mexican government, and all others working to weaken dolphin safe protections.

After several years of undercover filming with IMMP staff, The Cove documentary is released, showing the world the terrible slaughter of dolphins in Taiji, Japan. The documentary shines the most intense spotlight on this issue than has ever been possible.

The Cove wins the Academy Award for Best Documentary. The killing of dolphins declines by 60% from 2004, fueled by IMMP’s work publicizing the dangers of Japanese consumers and school children eating mercury-contaminated dolphin meat.

The government of India recognizes dolphins and whales as "non-human persons" who should not be confined, blocking future captivity projects. IMMP helps local Indian organizations petition their government for this recognition.

IMMP ramps up the campaign to confront the suffering and cruelty to whales and dolphins in captive display facilities, including seeking ways to challenge the false statements by captivity theme parks. The campaign presses for retiring captive cetaceans to seaside sanctuaries, and for stopping whale and dolphin capture and export schemes.

SeaWorld seeks permits from the California Coastal Commission for expansion of its San Diego theme park. IMMP and other groups convince the Commission to include in the permit a condition that bans orca breeding and imports at their San Diego facility. At first, SeaWorld sues the commission (IMMP sought to intervene in support of the commission position), but later relents, under fire from response sparked by the documentary Blackfish, as well as public pressure from IMMP and other groups.

IMMP Director Dave Phillips joins Dr. Lori Marino and Michael Mountain as inaugural Directors of the Whale Sanctuary Project, a non-profit organization with a mission to establish a model seaside sanctuary for captive whales and dolphins.

On March 17, 2016, SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. announces that it will immediately end breeding, import, and export of orcas in all its facilities, pledging that the captive orcas they currently confine in tanks will be the last orcas they will ever hold. IMMP criticizes the step as a half-measure that fails to retire any of SeaWorld’s captive orcas to seaside sanctuaries and also fails to stop the breeding of dolphins and beluga whales.

The World Trade Organization, after ten years of litigation, issues a final ruling upholding the strong US Dolphin Safe tuna label standards. The WTO ruling finds that the dolphin safe label is a scientifically valid conservation measure and rejects Mexico’s contention that the label "discriminates" against Mexican tuna caught by killing thousands of dolphins. Lead IMMP staff member Mark J. Palmer works closely with the US President’s Office of the Trade Representative to help win this critical victory for dolphins.

Working with Russian grassroots marine conservation allies, IMMP helps coordinate international opposition to a horrific scheme to undertake the largest capture and sale of orcas and beluga whales in history. The orcas and belugas are destined for captive facilities in China. The captures from the wild, later deemed illegal, take place, resulting in 10 orcas and 87 belugas being held in the notorious "Whale Jail" in Russia. Through local Russian environmental efforts and scorching outrage from around the world, our campaign successfully pressures the Russian government to shut down the operation, and to release all 97 whales back to their home waters. At least three of the released orcas have been documented joining and swimming with wild pods.

Three plaintiffs (IMMP is a consultant) file "Anderson v SeaWorld," a major lawsuit to stop SeaWorld’s deceptive business practices and false claims to the public that confined orcas in their concrete tanks are healthy and happy in captivity. SeaWorld spends more than two million to discredit the plaintiffs and wins a ruling on "standing" in 2021 that prevents adjudicating the merits of the case. Orca health records and scientists’ statements in the court tell a damning story of the deadly conditions in which orcas are held, but they are sealed in the court records. IMMP continues working to get the courts to unseal the records so that they can be made public.

Mystic Aquarium files to import five beluga whales from MarineLand park in Canada, ostensibly for scientific research, but clearly for breeding purposes. IMMP and a coalition of groups strongly oppose the import and the breeding scheme.

The US National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) allows Mystic Aquarium to import five beluga whales, but conditions the permit to ban the breeding of these beluga whales, as well as to prohibit their use for performances and entertainment purposes. This is the first such restriction enacted in the US and a victory for captive cetaceans, IMMP and our coalition.

IMMP joins Friend of the Sea in launching an effort to install Closed Circuit Television systems on tuna vessels to further monitor fishing practices and their impacts on marine mammals and other bycatch. It also aims to bolster the safety of onboard government observers.

As a result of a worldwide pressure campaign against the 2018 orca and beluga capture and export fiasco, Russian President Vladimir Putin endorses Duma legislation to ban live captures of dolphins and whales in Russian waters for uses in captivity. IMMP continues its efforts to mentor Russian marine conservationists involved in marine mammal protection efforts.

On July 27th, 2022, IMMP releases a compelling report about the impact of plastics on marine mammals, titled The Plastics Plague: Marine Mammals and Our Oceans in Peril. The report documents the widespread dangers to marine mammals from entanglement in fishing gear, ingestion of plastic trash, and potential health issues caused by microplastics. The report further names the names of plastics and fishing gear manufacturers and proposes bold steps to end the plastics plague in our oceans.

IMMP’s Earth Island Philippines office initiates efforts to protect a population of rare Irrawaddy dolphins. Our office prepares and presents a legal petition, endorsed by more than 50 organizations, to the government to list the Irrawaddy dolphins as critically endangered and establish a reserve to prevent impacts from boat traffic and fishing nets.

IMMP joins efforts with thousands of organizations and individuals fighting against amendments proposed by Senator Joe Manchin that would mandate more oil leasing and drilling on public lands and waters. IMMP staff meet with Congressional staff and members to object to the amendments. Senator Manchin withdraws his amendments in the face of opposition. IMMP continues efforts to end offshore oil drilling.