Solomon Islands - Keep Promise to Ban Dolphin Exports
- by: Judith B.
- recipient: Gordon Darcy Lilo, Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands
Last September, the government of the Solomon Islands promised to ban the capture and export of live dolphins from the first of January this year. The state had allowed bottlenose dolphins to be caught and sold to the aquarium industry.
This involves intense trauma to the wild dolphins dragged away from their lives and families. Those dolphins that don't die during or shortly after capture end up in aquariums abroad, where their lives are miserable and often very short. The conservation impact could also be serious. The ban looked like good news for the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins.
However, the Solomon Islands government has been vague about keeping the promise, with no confirmation beyond press articles. The country is being pressurised by CITES - Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species - to at least officially agree to exporting no more than 10 dolphins a year, something else it has yet to respond to.
Ask the Solomon Islands to officially confirm their ban on exporting bottlenose dolphins.
We the undersigned ask that you officially confirm the ban on the capture and export of bottlenose dolphins, which was supposed to begin from January the first of this year. Although the ban looks like good news for the Solomon Islands' dolphins, official confirmation is needed for the international community to be certain of the decision.
Thank you for your attention.
