Thanks to activists, Senator Barbara Boxer and environmental
organizations, including REEF RELIEF and Earth Island Institute,
the "Dolphin Death Act" H.R. 2823 and S.1420 was stopped in the Seante and
will not become law. This act would have removed the current U.S. ban on
import and sale of tuna caught by methods known to slaughter thousands of
dolphins annually. "Dolphin Safe" would have allowed the chase, harassment,
encirclement and capture of dolphins with deadly nets. Your activism
counts. So keep informed, keep writing and calling your legislators to
let them know what you want.
Today, only tuna caught by methods that do not kill or injure dolphins is
allowed to be sold in the U.S. . But new legislation proposed to repeal the
ban and change the legal definition of "dolphin safe" to allow chasing, injuring,
harassing and encirclement of dolphins, as long as no dolphins were observed
dead in the nets. Of course, many dolphins drown in the mile-long nets, without
being observed and the new definition invited cheating.
America's hunger for shrimp is having devastating effects on the environment around the world. For every pound of shrimp caught by fishing, approximately 12 pounds of unwanted by-catch (fish and other marine-life) are caught, killed or injured and thrown back into the sea as waste. And every year, approximately 155,000 endangered sea turtles become entangled in shrimp nets and drown. As these shrimp trawling nets are dragged along the ocean floor, they also inflict extensive damage on coral reefs.
So, we'll just eat farm-raised shrimp then. Not so fast. Unfortunately, the growing shrimp agriculture industry is no better: clear-cutting mangrove forests, siphoning precious freshwater supplies, poisoning the ecosystem with antibiotics and waste, and removing an important source of protein for many coastal people. REEF RELIEF joined more than 30 non-governmental organizations at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in New York in April to work on solutions to this worldwide problem. As a step in the right direction, the Sea Turtle Restoration Project forced the U.S. to instate an embargo against all shrimp-exporting countries without regulations requiring Turtle Excluder Devices, an inexpensive way to save thousands of endangered turtles and reduce by-catch. For now, REEF RELIEF asks that you consider reducing your impact on the environment by requesting non-farmed Turtle-Safe Certified Shrimp (with the turtle logo shown) or not buying shrimp.