AR-News: (U.S.) Feds Knew "Dolphin-Safe" Rules were being Broken

[Mary Finelli]

TUNA FISHY
Feds Knew "Dolphin-Safe" Rules Were Being Broken
Daily Grist, April 28, 2004


In 2002, the Bush administration relaxed restrictions on foreign-caught 
tuna, allowing boats that netted dolphins to sell their tuna as 
"dolphin-safe" in the U.S. as long as the dolphins were released.  The 
relaxed rule relied on the fact that observers were placed on boats to 
report on whether dolphins were caught in nets. Turns out, though, that in 
Mexico -- a major source of foreign tuna -- those observers are regularly 
bribed with payments of $10,000 to lie about dolphin netting.  And it gets 
better:  According to an internal Commerce Department email, U.S. government 
officials have been aware of the bribes for five years -- aware, in other 
words, that the system of observation was doing little to protect dolphins. 
Last year, enviro group Earth Island Institute sought and received a court 
injunction suspending the new rule; government lawyers have argued that the 
email is "irrelevant" to the rule, a claim U.S. District Court Judge Thelton 
Henderson called "specious."

straight to the source:  San Francisco Chronicle, Glen Martin, 28 Apr 2004
http://www.gristmagazine.com/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=2377

_________________________________________________________________
MSN Toolbar provides one-click access to Hotmail from any Web page – FREE 
download! http://toolbar.msn.com/go/onm00200413ave/direct/01/