Dolphin kills may provoke US ban

-- A SRI LANKAN research team has
dismissed as "biased" and "rushed" a
UN study that claims the country is
among the world's top five dolphin-
catchers. The release of the team's
report this month is keenly awaited
by Colombo, which fears that if Sri
Lanka continu6s to be identified with
a high kill figure, the US may attempt
to ban its fish exports.

Its worries have been heightened
by proposed US legislation that
would authorise the commerce secretary to place US observers on any
country's ocean-going vessels if it
was felt they were involved in regular and significant "marine mammal
encirclement" (when creatures such
as dolphins become trapped in fishing nets).

But Pauline Dayaratne, director of
the marine biological resources division in, Sri Lanka's National Aquatic
Resources Agency, criticised the UN
Environment Programme (UNEP)
report as being based on extrapolations from "too small a sample".
UNEP estimates the country's annual
dolphin catch at 49,863, or 10 per
cent of the global kill. But Dayaratne
told Down To Earth her agency's
year-long study, in collaboration
with the UN Food and Agriculture
Organisation's Bay of Bengal Programme, puts the figure at just 6,000.

"Dolphin fishing is quite
marginal in Sri Lanka," says
Dayaratne. "Sri Lankan fishermen
traditionally do not hunt dolphins as
it is not socially acceptable, and dolphins are not favoured by local consumers." Nevertheless, dolphin meat
is gradually finding a market in Sri
Lanka, though usually disguised as
dugong, "which, ironically, is almost
extinct in the region".

In addition, adds Dayaratne,
some dolphins are caught by trawler
crews for sale as bait.

Dayaratne says dolphins are
caught mainly by "multi-day'boats"
and not by the small, traditional fishing vessels as has been extrapolated
in the 1990 UNEP study. Her study,
indicates only 1,800 dolphins were
harpooned by the fishermen, while
the UNEP researchers, led by
Stephen Leatherwood, who heads
the World Conservation Union's
Ceta6ean Specialist Group, put the
figure at 5,000.

Extinction possible
The London-based campaign group,
the environmental Investigation
Agency (EIA), used Leatherwood's
data to set the annual dolphin catch
at 60,000. Warned EIA chairman
Allan Thornton: "Unless urgent
action is taken immediately to roll
back the intense pressures threatening the survival of the Earth's most
delightful species, many dolphin
populations are likely to become
extinct by 2000."

The EIA document, which was
discussed by the International
Whaling Commission, claimed to contain the most up-to-date information in 15 years. Its acceptance as
definitive by Sri Lankan official
resulted in widespread concern
about the need to clear Sri Lanka's
name by controlling the dolphin
trade, but when the police started
taking action, the Sri Lankan
fisheries minister had to concede
there was no law in the country
against the trade.