Protecting Asia's marine mammals

by Maria Teresa Concepción
International Marine Mammal Project

Since 1992, the International Monitoring Program (IMP) in the Philippines has been monitoring all tuna canneries within its territory, and all Philippine tuna canners have adopted a dolphin-safe corporate policy. All local large-scale tuna suppliers have been boarded by IMP's Vessel Monitoring Program, and have likewise adopted a dolphin-safe fishing policy.

Two full-time monitors and a handful of volunteers monitor major fish deliveries, especially of imports, at the 13 tuna processing companies in the Philippines.

In 1998, both the Philippine and Thailand offices of the IMP rapidly expanded monitoring as canneries from China, Papua New Guinea, and Indonesia asked to be accredited by EII. These include Jie Yang Rex Foods and Ningbo Xiayu Mingda Food Corporation (China); RD Tuna Canning (Papua New Guinea); P.T. Karya Manunggal Prima Sukses, C.V. Samudra Raya, P.T. Biak Minajaya, Tri Sejati Tatafood, and P.T. Maya Food Industries (Indonesia).

Captivity and dolphin-meat

IMP monitors in Asia also saw that dolphins are being used for human food, for fish food, and for entertainment. Dolphinariums and ocean parks, closing in the US and Europe, are relocating to Asia. China, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Taiwan have existing or planned dolphinariums. Confirmed sources of dolphins for the entertainment industry in the region are Japan and Indonesia; China may capture dolphins for its dolphinariums but that has yet to be documented. Dolphins are also used for food in China, Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

Marine mammal issues in the Philippines

Even with existing laws protecting dolphins and whales in the Philippines, there are still numerous media reports and oral accounts of dolphins found in markets from Luzon Island all the way to the eastern Visayas Islands. Economics and rapidly degenerating marine ecosystems are the primary reasons for the local take of dolphins.

On November 26, 1998, on the fishing island of Samar, Philippines, dolphins were reported as being hunted with explosives, and dolphin meat as being found daily at the markets. IMP monitors found out that while some reports were exaggerated, dolphin takes are common. Usually, dolphins snagged in fishing nets aren't released, but eaten by fishermen and their families.

In response, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) directed its field offices to investigate and to conduct education campaigns among the fishers in the area.

Other countries in the region, while not directly consuming dolphin meat, use dolphins for bait. On April 24, 1999, the Philippine police and environmental groups apprehended nine Vietnamese fishermen in Philippine waters near Palawan. They were found with four butchered dolphins, three tons of shark, and 70 kilos of shark fins. The anti-poaching groups that apprehended them say that it is not the first time they have caught foreign vessels with dolphins in their boats. The Philippine government has filed charges of illegal fishing and poaching against the nine fishermen amid protests by the Vietnamese government.

Since the anti-captivity campaign against a dolphin show in Makati City, Philippines, in June and July of 1998, IMP monitors have opened a campaign desk to raise awareness on animal welfare issues as well as to campaign against threats to marine mammals by the entertainment industry or by dolphin takes.

International Marine Mammal Project 's Monitoring Regional Coordinators

• Mark Berman (Co-Director)
• Monchaya Jadson (Thailand)
• Maria Teresa Concepción (Philippines)
• Dr. Paolo Bray (Europe)
• Gome Gnohite Hilaire (Ivory Coast)
• Angel Herrera (Costa Rica)
• Jacqueline Sauzier (Mauritius)
• Ana Maria Escobar Uribe (Colombia)
• Carlos Ruiz Blanco (Spain)