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Export would violate Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)
Contacts: David Phillips, Earth Island Institute, (415) 788-3666 x145
E-mail: davep@earthisland.org
Richard O'Barry, Save Japan Dolphins Coalition, Phone/Fax: (305) 668-1619
Mobile Phone: (786) 973-8618, E-mail: ricobarry@bellsouth.net
The scientific arm of the international trade body that regulates trade in dolphins has denounced plans by the government of the Solomon Islands to allow export of live dolphins to other countries. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), in a letter to the Solomons government, insists that any export of wild dolphins would violate CITES because studies on the status of local dolphin populations have never been done.
A copy of the letter is available here (.pdf, ~20k).
Solomons Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare asked earlier this week about scientific reasons for protecting the wild dolphins in their natural habitat. The expert marine mammalogists of the IUCN have now made these scientific concerns clear to his government.
The owner of the dolphin captive facility, Christopher Porter, claimed to have "direct communications with" the IUCN and CITES, but, tellingly, did not reveal the opposition of those bodies, for scientific reasons, to his proposed captures and exports of wild dolphins.
The IUCN is the world's premier scientific expert on wildlife, including marine mammals. CITES takes the recommendations of the IUCN as their basic scientific data on the status of endangered wildlife. The Solomon Islands joined CITES as a new member nation.
The Save Japan Dolphins Coalition includes Earth Island Institute, Elsa Nature Conservancy of Japan, Animal Welfare Institute, and In Defense of Animals. For further information on dolphins in captivity and the coalition's efforts, go to: www.SaveJapanDolphins.org