FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

[Guest guest]

International Marine Mammal Project

Earth Island Institute

300 Broadway, Suite 28

San Francisco, CA 94133

 

CONTACTS: David Phillips, Director

(415) 788-3666 x145

davep

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 6, 2008

 

 

Premier Will Block Western Provinces

Capture and Export of Live Dolphins

in Solomon Islands

 

 

 

(San Francisco) The International Marine Mammal Project of Earth Island

Institute is thanking the Premier of the Western Provinces of the Solomon

Islands for rejecting the capture and export of live dolphins. Mr. Alex

Lokopio, Premiere, stated that no dolphins would be caught and no dolphins would

be exported; instead, he said, the dolphins of the Western Provinces of the

Solomon Islands would remain free.

 

Premiere Lokopio was responding to concerns that Earth Island would not

allow global companies to catch and export tuna from the Solomons if the

government allowed exploitation of wild dolphins for captivity, a violation of

the international standards for Dolphin Safe tuna.

 

Trafficking in live dolphins has become a lucrative source of funds for

international operators who sell such dolphins to aquariums and

" swim-with-dolphins " programs that are popular in tourist spots. These dolphin

traffickers are especially active in countries that do not have strong

environmental laws. But the wild dolphins involved often die during the capture

and transport process, and have shortened life spans in captivity. Captures can

seriously deplete local dolphin populations.

 

David Phillips, Director of the International Marine Mammal Project of Earth

Island, stated: " We are very pleased Premier Lokopio has come out so forcefully

against the trafficking in Solomon Islands dolphins from the Western Provinces.

Dolphins are worth more to the people of the Solomon Islands alive in the wild,

as part of a careful eco-tourism program, rather than putting them through the

stress of captures and exports, providing a few dolphin traffickers with money

at the expense of the Solomons' natural heritage. "

 

Lawrence Makili, a representative of Earth Island in the Solomon Islands and

a member of the city council of Hononiara, noted: " Our tourism base could have

been hurt by capture and export of dolphins, but Premiere Lokopio has wisely put

a stop to this exploitive scheme before it got going. We thank the Premiere and

pledge to work with him and the people of the Western Provinces to protect

dolphins and other marine life. "

 

Dolphins can still be exported from other areas in the Solomon Islands, as

the current government removed a ban on capture and export of dolphins last

year.

 

Earth Island staff vowed to end the exploitation of wild dolphins in the

Solomon Islands as part of its global program to prevent the killing of dolphins

in tuna nets and to stop cruel captures of wild dolphins for captivity.

 

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

 

 

 

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Earth Island Institute is a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to

protecting the diversity of life on Earth.

 

The International Marine Mammal Project works to protect whales, dolphins and

other marine mammals around the world.