MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION — Annual Report for 1995 



States in reducing dolphin mortality under the Marine 

 Mammal Protection Act was offset by increasing 

 mortality from foreign operations. This prompted 

 Congress to amend the Marine Mammal Protection 

 Act in 1984 and again in 1988 to establish compara- 

 bility requirements for nations seeking to export tuna 

 to the United States. In an effort to reduce dolphin 

 mortality further, provisions were also added to the 

 general permit under which U.S. tuna fishermen 

 operate. 



Table 9. Estimated incidental kill of dolphins in 

 the tuna purse seine fishery in the 

 eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, 1972- 

 1995 1 



These estimates, based on kill per set and fishing effort data, 

 are provided by the National Marine Fisheries Service and the 

 Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission. They include 

 some, but not all, seriously injured animals released alive. 

 Preliminary estimate. 



As shown in Table 10, the requirements enacted in 

 1988 and the threat of tuna embargoes resulted in 

 substantially reduced dolphin mortality by foreign 

 fleets. There has been more than a 95 percent reduc- 

 tion in dolphin mortality since 1988 and 1989. While 

 there has been some decline in the number of sets 

 made on dolphins in recent years, reduced mortality 

 has, by and large, been the result of drastic reductions 

 in the average number of dolphins killed per set. 

 While the number of dolphin sets per year has de- 

 clined by about 30 percent over the past eight years, 

 dolphin mortality per set is only one-twentieth of what 

 it was in 1988. These factors led to record low 

 dolphin mortality in 1995. 



Subsequent to enactment of the 1988 amendments, 

 some environmental organizations began to push for 

 a consumer boycott of tuna caught by encircling 

 dolphins. In response, the three largest U.S. tuna 

 canners announced in April 1990 that they would no 

 longer purchase tuna caught in association with 

 dolphins. This announcement led to further shifts in 

 the eastern tropical Pacific tuna fishery as more U.S. 

 vessels relocated to the western Pacific. It also 

 prompted Congress to pass the Dolphin Protection 

 Consumer Information Act, which set standards for 

 labeling tuna as being "dolphin-safe." 



Efforts to reduce dolphin mortality began to take 

 on a more international flavor beginning in 1990. At 

 a special meeting of the Inter- American Tropical Tuna 

 Commission, participants from all nations with a 

 significant interest in the eastern tropical Pacific tuna 

 fishery, whether or not members of the Commission, 

 met and adopted a resolution calling for an expanded 

 dolphin conservation program. The program was to 

 include limits on dolphin mortality, 100 percent 

 observer coverage, research to improve fishing gear 

 and techniques and to investigate possible alternative 

 fishing methods that might eliminate dolphin mortali- 

 ty, and a training program to improve operator 

 performance throughout the international fleet. 



Also in 1990 Mexico challenged the imposition of 

 an embargo of its tuna under the Marine Mammal 

 Protection Act as being inconsistent with U.S. obliga- 

 tions under the General Agreement on Tariffs and 

 Trade (GATT). As discussed in previous annual 

 reports, the dispute resolution panel found the unilat- 



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