The four-year-old civil war in the Solomon Islands has left the South Pacific nation teetering on the edge of bankruptcy and social disorder. Thousands of houses have been burned; at least a hundred people have been killed; and according to the latest reports, several dozen dolphins have been captured for overseas sale in a shameless attempt to exploit the country's unrest for private gain.
In what may be the worst case of the live capture of dolphins in decades, a foreign consortium has allegedly capitalized on the Solomon Islands' chaos by paying cash-strapped locals a few hundred dollars to capture the animals and take them to shallow holding pens at various locations. Word is that people associated with the consortium are training the dolphins to perform basic tricks, and that they intend to export the majority of the animals to marine parks around the world, perhaps fetching as much as $30,000 per dolphin.
Their first customer is allegedly Mexico, where the company Parque Nizuc has reportedly received permits to import 33 of these dolphins, a transfer that may happen as soon as July 21.
"It is appalling that anyone would take advantage of political and social upheaval like this to exploit wildlife for a quick profit," says Dr. Naomi Rose, marine mammal scientist with The HSUS.
"These foreign businessmen are war profiteers of the worst sort—very possibly wiping out or damaging beyond repair an entire population of dolphins just to turn a buck, while the local government is in disarray and unable to protect its resources," Rose adds.
The Australian government, which has agreed to lead a peacekeeping force into the Solomon Islands to restore order, issued a statement on Thursday, July 17, that said it would work to stop the export of the dolphins.
"The Australian government is gravely concerned by these reports [of dolphin captures] and once they were brought to our attention, we requested our diplomatic post in Mexico to make urgent representations to the Mexican government that they act immediately to stop the import of the dolphins," said Dr. David Kemp, Australia's Minister for the Environment and Heritage, in a media release. "As a Party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES), Mexico is obliged to prohibit the import of species listed in the Convention unless there is an appropriate permit and the trade will be non-detrimental to the species," Kemp added.
The bottlenose dolphins found in this area of the South Pacific belong to the species Tursiops aduncus, which is listed on CITES Appendix II. Since Mexico is a party to the CITES convention, the country must hold the Solomon Islands, a non-member, to the requirements of Appendix II; that means an export permit could be granted only if the proper authority in the Solomon Islands confirms that the dolphins were not captured in violation of any local laws and that the capture does not threaten the species. The HSUS is fairly confident that, ultimately, these dolphins will not be exported to Mexico, as international condemnation is reaching a fever pitch over the deal. But if the deal does go through, the foreign syndicate stands to gain potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars. The dolphins, on the other hand, could lose everything—not only their previous existence in a natural habitat, but maybe even their lives.
Rose notes that newly-captured dolphins need a great deal of attention to maximize their chances of adjusting to confinement. Even with expert attention, the scientist says, far too many dolphins do not make the transition: They fail to thrive and refuse to eat, gradually weakening until they are released or die.
In the critical first days of confinement, wild-caught dolphins face a six-fold increase in mortality rate, versus the average mortality rate they experience in captivity generally, Rose says. With 60 dolphins (and perhaps more), the consortium will be stretched to its limits to oversee the animals' care, she adds. Published reports have already noted that a crocodile killed one dolphin.
"That would be a terrifying death for an animal normally at little risk from such a predator," Rose says. The shallow-water pens are also a concern. Hygiene and temperature are hard to control in shallow enclosures, Rose says. The pens also ensure that the dolphins cannot feed themselves. Journalists on the island say that the consortium is employing local fishermen who have apparently resorted to using dynamite to catch enough fish to satisfy the demand.
Time is of the essence for these captive dolphins. "The captures apparently occurred sometime in April," Rose says, even though the story only broke in early July. "If the dolphins are rescued soon, they should be able to return successfully to the wild—traumatized but without any loss of their survival skills. The longer they remain in their substandard enclosures, the greater stress they will experience, and the more likely they will weaken, become ill, and even die."
Rose says this is perhaps the largest capture of wild dolphins in decades, with some reports putting the total number in pens at 200. Given that the intent appears to be sale for public display, this case could represent the worst example of wildlife exploitation in recent memory.
Captures of one to ten dolphins occur fairly regularly, Rose adds, particularly in the Caribbean and Asia. In 1997, ten orcas were captured in Taiji, Japan; five were eventually sent to marine parks, and five were released. Two of the captives died within five months. Last August, eight dolphins were captured in the Dominican Republic; one has already reportedly died. So why do these captures occur with such regularity? Mostly because people will pay money to go see a dolphin perform in a marine park. The dolphins held in state-of-the-art facilities in the United States are kindred spirits to the traumatized dolphins lingering in pens in the Solomon Islands. The connection between the sanitized marine parks of the developed world and the ramshackle facilities of the developing world is direct, no matter how remote the relationship may seem between the two.
Entrepreneurs see the profits made by big, slick marine parks (in places like Florida, California, Japan, and Canada), and they seek to replicate them wherever they can. The harm to the welfare of the dolphins and to the local environment in the Solomons has its roots in the continuing popularity of dolphin exhibits worldwide.
"People must stop patronizing the dolphin exhibits at marine parks," Rose says. "They must stop buying into the myth of the happy, smiling captive dolphin. The people who buy tickets to a U.S. marine park have taken the first step on a path that leads to those who would capture a wild dolphin with little regard for his safety or welfare."
The dolphins in the Solomons can be rescued. If enough people around the world express their outrage at this environmental crime, those who seek to profit from the dolphins' misery may find that this infamy will follow them wherever they go. It will be their Scarlet Letter, forever labeling them as outsiders in a humane world.
What You Can Do
Please write to the following government officials in the Solomon Islands and in Australia and New Zealand, which are partnering in a peace-keeping effort on the island nation. Tell them to use their influence to effect the release of these animals. Also, write to the Mexican Ministry of the Environment to urge the revocation of the import permit issued to Parque Nizuc.
The Honorable Nelson Kile
Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources
P.O. Box G13
Honiara
SOLOMON ISLANDS
Fax: 011 677 38730
The Honorable David Holosivi
Ministry of Forestry, Environment and Conservation
P.O. Box G24
Honiara
SOLOMON ISLANDS
Fax: 011 677 22825
The Honorable Brian P. Baldwin
British High Commission
P.O. Box 676
Honiara
SOLOMON ISLANDS
Fax: 011 677 21549
The Honorable Alexander Downer
Minister for Foreign Affairs
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
AUSTRALIA
Fax: 011 61 2 6273 4112
Senator the Honorable Robert Hill
Minister of Defence
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
AUSTRALIA
Fax: 011 61 2 6273 4118
The Honorable Dr. David Kemp
Minister for the Environment and Heritage
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
AUSTRALIA
Fax: 011 61 2 6273 6101
The Honorable Phil Goff, MP
Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade
Parliament Buildings
Wellington
NEW ZEALAND
Fax: 011 64 4 495 8444
The Honorable Chris Carter, MP
Minister for Conservation
Parliament Buildings
Wellington
NEW ZEALAND
Fax: 011 64 4 472 8034
The Honorable Victor Lichtinger
Secretario
Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales
Periférico Sur No. 4209, 6° piso
Colonia Jardines en la Montaña
14210, México D.F., México
Fax: 011 52 56 28 06 44
Read a letter from The HSUS about the Solomon Islands dolphin captures.
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