House Votes To Lift Ban On Dolphin-Unsafe Tuna ‘Dolphin-Safe’ Label Redefined To Enhance Trade With Mexico
Despite warnings that thousands of dolphins will be killed, the House voted Wednesday to lift the tuna import embargo and redefine when to label canned tuna “dolphin-safe.”
The legislation, which has sharply split the environmental community, would end a 7-year-old U.S. embargo of tuna that is caught by encircling with giant nets. Strongly supported by the Clinton administration, it now goes to the Senate where its prospects are uncertain.
The 262-166 vote by the House capped an hour-long debate that had lawmakers disagreeing whether the bill would lead to more, or fewer, dolphins being killed by tuna fleets trawling the eastern Pacific Ocean.
The bill would allow the continued use of the “dolphin-safe” label even if tuna is caught by encirclement, although an observer must verify that the nets killed no dolphins.
Tuna encirclement has been blamed for the loss of millions of dolphins, which in the eastern Pacific swim with tuna. The U.S. import ban has led to a dramatic decline in dolphin deaths, from more than 100,000 in 1986 to an estimated 2,700 last year.
But supporters of the bill argued that the ban now is standing in the way of even stronger protection of dolphins under international agreement. Nearly a dozen countries, including Mexico, have said they would walk away from a voluntary dolphin protection agreement unless the U.S. market is reopened.
If the U.S. ban is lifted, 11 other nations that have tuna fleets in the Pacific will agree to fishing practices that aim to not only protect dolphins, but also other marine life such as sea turtles that are often killed along with tuna, the bill’s supporters argued.
But other lawmakers strongly disagreed and said the legislation amounts to the United States capitulating to Mexico, which has large tuna fleets.
“We are here because of international trade,” said Rep. George Miller, D-Calif.
Rep. David Bonior, the No. 2 Democrat in the House, accused supporters of the bill with trying to “pull a fast one on the American public” by changing the dolphin-safe label. He and other critics argued that even though no dolphin might be found dead in tuna nets, the mammals could still be severely harassed and injured, only to die later.
The legislation has produced a sharp split among environmental groups.
It has the strong support of such leading environmental organizations as Greenpeace, the Center for Marine Conservation and the Environmental Defense Fund. They all argue that an international agreement will only help lower dolphin deaths.
But other groups, including some that were key in exposing the slaughter of dolphins by tuna fishermen in the 1980s and early ‘90s, have strongly criticized the bill.
“It’s the Dolphin Death Act,” said David Phillips, director of marine mammal studies at the Earth Island Institute, which led the campaign against tuna fleets a decade ago. He said his group and others are ready to resume a boycott of canned tuna if the legislation becomes law.
xxxx HOW THEY VOTED Here’s how Northwest lawmakers voted on whether to lift the tuna import embargo. A “yes” vote is a vote to lift the embargo. IDAHO Republicans - Chenoweth, yes; Crapo, yes. WASHINGTON Republicans - Dunn, yes; Hastings, yes; Metcalf, no; Nethercutt, yes; Linda. Smith, yes; White, yes. Democrats Dicks, yes; McDermott, no; Adam Smith, yes.