U.S. Lists Tropical Pacific Dolphin Species as Depleted

A type of dolphin found in tropical waters from Baja California to Central America was declared a depleted species Monday, increasing pressure on foreign governments, especially Mexico, to force commercial tuna fishermen to use “dolphin safe” techniques.

After a two-year review, the National Marine Fisheries Service determined that northeastern spotted dolphins have declined by as much as 80%, leaving them below the optimum population considered sustainable for a species.

Dolphins have been protected by U.S. law for 20 years, and the federal agency’s decision does not immediately put new restrictions on the international tuna-fishing industry. But environmentalists say the new “depleted” designation shows that the spotted dolphin, which inhabits the eastern Pacific, still is at risk.

“The decline in these dolphins is severe to the point of staggering,” said Christopher Croft, marine wildlife coordinator for Defenders of Wildlife, one of several environmental groups that sought the designation.

“We needed to list the population as depleted to show the magnitude of destruction that has been taking place in that fishery since the late 1950s. This (listing) has very significant impact.”

The spotted dolphin is the second species of the popular marine mammal to be classified as depleted in the past two months. The eastern spinner dolphin, which inhabits ocean waters off California, was listed in August.

Most of the losses came between 1960 and 1976, when 190,000 northeastern spotted dolphins a year were killed by fishermen who chased and corralled them in huge purse seine nets to catch the tuna that swim beneath them, according to an August report by the National Marine Fisheries Service.

U.S. fishing fleets have been prohibited from chasing dolphins into the nets since the early 1970s, and since 1990, foreign-produced tuna caught without the use of dolphin-safe techniques have been barred from sale in the United States.

The practice, however, continues in many countries, including Mexico, which has the largest tuna fleet in the eastern Pacific. U.S. environmental groups have tried for years to persuade Mexico to ban use of the nets and require dolphin-safe fishing.

Mario Aguilar, minister for environmental affairs at the Mexican Embassy in Washington, said he was unaware of the new U.S. designation, which was published Monday in the Federal Register.

But he said Mexico already has made great strides in reducing the dolphins killed without banning the nets. Under a dolphin conservation program that includes Mexico, the United States and nine other nations, observers are required on all tuna fleet operations, and special procedures are required to reduce accidental kills of marine mammals.

Aguilar said 51,000 dolphins were killed by Mexican tuna fleets in 1989, 9,000 in 1992 and fewer than 3,000 this year. He said 99.94% of the dolphins caught in the nets are freed.

“That has been achieved without diminishing the tuna catch. . . . That is a very important accomplishment,” he said. “When you compare the catching of the Mexican fleet to other countries in other oceans, you will find it is one of the most dolphin-friendly.”

Although the kills have dramatically declined and dolphins are starting to rebound, the populations remain low enough to be considered depleted, said Brian Gorman, a National Marine Fisheries Service spokesman.

A marine mammal is classified as depleted if it falls to less than 60% of its original population. In 1991, federal researchers reported that there were between 658,300 and 2.2 million northeastern spotted dolphins, about 25% of the population in the 1950s. More severe losses are required for a species to be classified as endangered or threatened.

The federal agency’s review began two years ago, when Defenders of Wildlife, Environmental Solutions International, Greenpeace and several other environmental groups sought protection for spotted dolphins under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

James Joseph, director of an international dolphin research commission based at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, said the new classification may not mean many changes in international fishing, especially since an embargo is already in place for Mexican and Venezuelan tuna.

But environmentalists want extra protection, mainly because they fear the proposed North American Free Trade Agreement could weaken safeguards for dolphins. Croft said that under NAFTA, a U.S embargo of Mexican tuna that has been in place for several years could be struck down because it restricts trade.

The National Marine Fisheries Service has one year to come up with a plan to conserve the dolphins, which could include kill limits. Gorman, however, said the agency will wait because the marine mammal act is up for reauthorization by Congress next year.