Help Us Speak Out Against Dolphin-Deadly Regulations

by Campaign for Eco-Safe Tuna
May 2, 2013

As many of you already know, on April 5 NOAA released proposed regulations to “tighten” the standards for dolphin-safe tuna in the United States. If you’re wondering why we put “tighten” in quotes, it’s because these proposed regulations do nothing of substance to provide additional protection for  dolphins, much less sharks, sea turtles, rays or any of the  other animals that constantly fall victim to bycatch.

But despite their ineffectiveness, some lawmakers and national media outlets have wrongly applauded NOAA’s draft regulations as a victory for animal rights and conservationism.

Well, Eco-Safe Nation, we need to set the record straight. From now until midnight on Monday, May 6 the draft regulations are open for comment at regulations.gov. It’s time for us to speak up!

We’re calling on all followers of the Campaign for Eco-Safe Tuna to leave as many comments as possible explaining why the proposed NOAA regulations duck on “dolphin-safe” labeling. Back in January, Greenpeace Australia got 20,000 Aussies to demand more sustainable fishing practices from their tuna industry; help us do the same!

Click here to leave a comment on the NOAA proposed regulations.

Below we’ve provided some background information to give your comments some muscle:

 

• The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) proposed regulations will not create a sustainable, eco-safe approach to fishing for tuna.  Rather, the regulations continue to fail to fully inform consumers about harm to dolphins in the capture of tuna (outside of the eastern Pacific Ocean) that bears the dolphin safe label.

 

• The proposed regulations fails to provide real information to consumers about the capture of tuna using fish aggregating devices (FADs), a popular fishing method outside of the eastern Pacific Ocean where most U.S. tuna is caught.  FAD fishing is a method of fishing that has had devastating impacts on the sustainability of global fisheries.

 

• The NOAA draft regulations will continue to motivate U.S. and international fishermen to fish on FADs, which according to Greenpeace, Pew Trusts and others, results in incredibly high levels of bycatch and discards of millions of sharks, billfish, endangered sea turtles, juvenile fishes and dolphins.

 

• Instead of requiring 100% independent verification (such as in place in the eastern Pacific Ocean), the NOAA draft regulations rely on tuna fishermen to self-report dolphin mortalities. This self-certification process effectively makes the defendant both the judge and the jury.

 

• The United States should embrace a system that requires 100% on-board independent scientific observer coverage by a trained observer. This system, the Agreement on the International Dolphin Conservation Program (AIDCP), already exists successfully within the eastern Pacific Ocean.