Good News from the Solomon Islands

[Guest guest]

(NOTE: As Mark Berman noted in his earlier e-mail today, this article sparked a

strong response from the Premier of the Western Provinces, Alex Lokopio, who

said no dolphins would be capture or exported from his area. -- Mark J. Palmer)

 

SOLOMON STAR NEWS

 

http://www.solomonstarnews.com/?q=node/17143

 

Boycott threat West dolphin export arrangements

Submitted by drupal on Thu, 2008-03-06 10:32.

By JOY A. RIKIMAE

 

ANIMAL welfare groups worldwide will boycott buying Solomon tuna if Western

Province agrees to export live dolphins overseas says Earth Island Institute

associate director Mark Berman.

 

Mr Berman said Australian tourism organisations too will boycott visiting

Western Province if the province allowed the export of live dolphins.

 

Mr Berman revealed this after Solomon Islands Marine Mammal Education Centre

(SIMMEC) representative Robert Satu seek to obtain license from the province to

export dolphins.

He claimed that Mr Satu was planning to export dolphins from the Western

Province.

Mr Satu last month told the Solomon Star that he would be identifying sites in

the province where dolphins will be trained and tamed to attract tourists.

 

This was after he signed an agreement with the province to fish and export fish

overseas.

But a document from the Western Provincial Government had showed that Mr Satu

had plans to export dolphins from the province.

 

He was seeking the provincial executive's approval of $5000 as license fee to do

dolphin trading for purposes of export and tourism.

 

The document also asked the executive to consider the export of dolphins in

light of the current assessment and monitoring project to be implemented by the

Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources.

 

However, Mr Berman and Earth Island Institute regional director Lawrence Makili

warned that tourism in Western Province could suffer if the provincial

government accepted Mr Satu's application.

 

They said even the tuna industry in the province will suffer.

 

" Dolphin export should not be the way for Western Province. Dolphin watching is

what supposed to be encourage but not dolphin export, " Mr Berman said.

 

" Exporting of dolphins is totally illegal. "

 

Meanwhile, Soltai general manager Milton Sibisopere has urged Earth Island

Institute to exempt the company from the tuna blockage.

 

According to Mr Sibisopere, Soltai is a wholly owned national company by the

Solomon Islands Government.

 

He said only a minority is owned by the Western Provincial Government.

 

He said if a tuna blockade is made it would certainly cause enormous damage to

the economy.

 

" Moreover, it would injure 1000 Solomon Islands employees plus their families,

let alone the countless rural peoples' lives and living who directly and

indirectly benefit from Soltai's commercial business, " Mr Sibisopere said in a

letter to Earth Island Institute (EII).

 

He said Soltai has a commercial cooperation with TriMarine International, which

is also a member of EII dolphin safe policy and displays dolphin safe logo on

its canned tuna labels.

But Mr Berman and Mr Makili said Western Province though had little ownership of

Soltai, its provincial government should not allow export of dolphins to happen.

 

" This is what happens when owners of a tuna company goes against the dolphin

safe policy, " Mr Berman said.