Fisheries Minister Leni says no law is broken in lifting ban on live dolphin trade
The Solomon Islands government has defended the decision to lift the ban on live dolphin exports to overseas markets in light of wild accusations from animal welfare groups.
Minister of Fisheries Nollen Leni yesterday said the Solomon Islands Government has never broken any laws to export dolphins.
Mr Leni said the exporting company has followed the investment regulations of Solomon Islands when it set up its dolphin training facilities at Gavutu Island.
He said the courts have ruled in favour of the company twice when animal welfare groups pressured the government to block the lucrative trade.
Mr Leni said arguments expressed by animal activists based on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species on endangered species (CITES) were completely baseless.
“Nobody, especially the hopeless NGOs’ has told us what laws we have broken to allow the export of dolphins,” he said. “We will never be convinced by any arguments that based merely on unproven data”.
The Minister said a recent survey of the dolphin population in several provinces in the country revealed that there are more dolphins in the country’s waters.
Mr Leni said the CITES is not a body of law, arguing that it is just a set of agreed principles by countries to put in place measures to manage their resources.
Solomon Islands ratified the CITES early this year.
The Minister said the CITES Secretariat wrote to him this year putting in place clear guidelines to be followed if Solomon Islands wants to export live dolphins.
He said the dolphin exporting company, Solomon Islands Marine Mammal Education Center and Exporters (SIMMECE) has developed internationally required standard pens to train dolphins captured from the wild.
“The company has met all the required international standards similar to the ones in the US,” he said. “I am surprised that some groups fail to acknowledge this”.
Mr Leni said activists have failed to rally international criticism against other bigger countries in Central America that involved largely in dolphin trade for many years.
“It is crazy that they pick on a small country that has just started venturing into dolphin trade,” he said. Perhaps they’ve just woken up”.
He further said that activists never provided data on the number of dolphins killed by activities of bigger fishing companies overseas.
The Solomon Islands government has imposed a 25 percent export tax on each dolphin.
The Minister said each dolphin is priced approximately at US$200,000 in the Dubai market.
Source: GCU
Minister of Fisheries Nollen Leni yesterday said the Solomon Islands Government has never broken any laws to export dolphins.
Mr Leni said the exporting company has followed the investment regulations of Solomon Islands when it set up its dolphin training facilities at Gavutu Island.
He said the courts have ruled in favour of the company twice when animal welfare groups pressured the government to block the lucrative trade.
Mr Leni said arguments expressed by animal activists based on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species on endangered species (CITES) were completely baseless.
“Nobody, especially the hopeless NGOs’ has told us what laws we have broken to allow the export of dolphins,” he said. “We will never be convinced by any arguments that based merely on unproven data”.
The Minister said a recent survey of the dolphin population in several provinces in the country revealed that there are more dolphins in the country’s waters.
Mr Leni said the CITES is not a body of law, arguing that it is just a set of agreed principles by countries to put in place measures to manage their resources.
Solomon Islands ratified the CITES early this year.
The Minister said the CITES Secretariat wrote to him this year putting in place clear guidelines to be followed if Solomon Islands wants to export live dolphins.
He said the dolphin exporting company, Solomon Islands Marine Mammal Education Center and Exporters (SIMMECE) has developed internationally required standard pens to train dolphins captured from the wild.
“The company has met all the required international standards similar to the ones in the US,” he said. “I am surprised that some groups fail to acknowledge this”.
Mr Leni said activists have failed to rally international criticism against other bigger countries in Central America that involved largely in dolphin trade for many years.
“It is crazy that they pick on a small country that has just started venturing into dolphin trade,” he said. Perhaps they’ve just woken up”.
He further said that activists never provided data on the number of dolphins killed by activities of bigger fishing companies overseas.
The Solomon Islands government has imposed a 25 percent export tax on each dolphin.
The Minister said each dolphin is priced approximately at US$200,000 in the Dubai market.
Source: GCU
posted by TARD @ 11:41 AM
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