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Dolphin-friendly is a term used only for tuna fishing. The strictest monitoring system for dolphin-friendly fishing methods is the Earth Island Institute (EII) which controls and verifies that dolphins are not killed in tuna fisheries. All our tuna is EII regulated. So why don't we shout about it? Well there's a big problem with the whole concept of dolphin-friendly tuna - and the net effect has been to muddy the water and to accidentally assist in promoting a far worse method of fishing.
In fact we think many companies hide behind dolphin-friendly sloganeering to avoid talking about the real issues with tuna fishing (overfishing, declining stock levels, illegal fishing, resource theft, by-catch and the catch, kill and discard of endangered species and juveniles in by-catch) and to pretend that their product is not part of the problem. That's why we do not use the logo or go on about being "dolphin-friendly" although in fact our product is even more dolphin-friendly than some dolphin-friendly cans (see below)! "In the UK where over 95% of canned tuna is actually skipjack the dolphin friendly logo has about much as relevance as it would have on a box of chocolates." An explanation:Let's start at the beginning: One of the major tuna fishing methods is to use a purse-seine net, it's not the only method but it's become the most common. A purse-seine net has to be set on the school of tuna and there are 3 different type of sets:
* An unassociated set or 'free' set which basically means a moving school of tuna is targeted.
* a set on FADs, floating objects left on the surface of the sea that attracts tuna to it.
* a set on dolphins.
The set on dolphins applies only to mature or large
Yellowfin tuna that swim in schools with, or more precisely beneath, schools of dolphins in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. We've emphasized two words. Yellowfin is one of the main species of tuna accounting for 32% of the global tuna catch but it is second to Skipjack tuna which accounts for 51% of the global tuna catch. The Eastern Pacific Ocean accounts only for 23% of the Yellowfin catch. In other oceans, no tuna of any type habitually swim alongside dolphins and in the Eastern Pacific it is only the large Yellowfin that swim with dolphins because smaller tuna can't keep up and they tend to swim with schools of Skipjack tuna. By deduction, the problem of setting on dolphins only applied to less than
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5% of the total tuna catch and yet more than 90% of the tuna industry is certified dolphin-friendly. In the UK where over 95% of canned tuna is actually skipjack the dolphin friendly logo has about much as relevant as it would have on a box of chocolates.
Now over a period of twenty years, from the 1950s to the 1970s, an estimated 6 million dolphins were killed in the Eastern Pacific through sets on dolphins and populations have still not recovered so the EII has done some sterling work. Indeed, setting on dolphins continues, and this with EII inspectors on-board, but the method has changed to allow the dolphins who swim at a different level, closer to the surface, to escape and sets on dolphins are now one of the least damaging methods of fishing tuna. The really bad news is that the alternative preferred method of setting on FADs creates far more damaging by-catch. Garcia and Hall, two scientists who studied the Eastern Pacific from 1993 to 1997, concluded that the by-catch from setting on dolphins was 0.4% to 1.5% of the total catch, from 1% to 2.5% on a free set and from 14% to 18% on a FAD set. Hall estimated that saving 1 dolphin, by fishing around floating objects, costs 16,000 smaller or juvenile tuna, 380 mahimahi, 190 wahoo, 20 sharks and rays, 1200 triggerfish and other small fish, 1 marlin and 'other' animals. FADs are used with purse seiners in every single ocean of the world where tuna is fished and is the majority method accounting for most the skipjack and yellowfin catch.
It is clear to us that the greatest conservation danger in the tuna industry comes from the indiscriminate and irresponsible use of FADs and then longlines. This is confirmed time and time again by marine experts and NGO's including WWF and Greenpeace who have actually called for a ban on Purse Seiner sets on FAD's.
Addendum: dolphin friendlier-than-thou In the above explanation, we talk about sets on dolphins and that dolphins are now allowed to escape from the sets making it a "dolphin-friendly" method too - but that's not quite the end of the story. Marine researchers have looked into the Eastern Pacific Ocean and have wondered why dolphin populations have not yet recovered. The theory is that although sets on dolphins now do not kill them, the stress of the chase encirclement continues to have a negative impact on dolphin populations. This is especially true of calves that become separated from their mother and then find it hard to survive. Whilst the evidence is still being assessed or is not clear, our position is precautionary: we will not buy yellowfin tuna from dolphin sets. |
