How ‘dolphin safe’ is canned tuna, really?

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The three largest U.S. tuna brands are facing class-action lawsuits claiming that they’re misleading shoppers with claims about dolphin safety and a commitment to sustainability

since the 1950s. The researchers report that roughly 80,000 dolphins are now killed as bycatch annually.

The tipping point came in 1987, when a 31-year-old biologist named Samuel LaBudde went undercover as a cook on a Panamanian tuna vessel. On a four-month voyage,"Drowned or snagged in the net, the dolphins fight a losing battle for life," LaBudde said, narrating the graphic video, broadcast on television and presented before the U.S. Congress.

“The U.S. dolphin safe program has been very effective,” says Sara McDonald, a senior fisheries scientist at Monterey Bay Aquarium. “Dolphin mortality in the 1980s was 130,000. In 2018, there were 819 documented deaths. If your product has a dolphin safe label, you are legally obligated not to sell tuna where dolphins were injured, killed, or set upon. It doesn’t mean dolphins aren’t interacting with the tuna fisheries; it means that tuna can’t be sold in this country.

“Either the companies should stop accepting tuna from these fishing practices or be up front with consumers that they’re not dolphin safe, even though they may be in compliance with the law,” says Stuart Davidson, one of the lead plaintiff attorneys in the lawsuits. “We want restitution for everyone in the country who paid more than they should have because the tuna was caught with these methods.”

“The misconception is if it’s not hurting dolphins, then it must be okay,” says oceans expert and renowned environmental author Carl Safina, who spearheaded a sustainable seafood guide when he was working for the National Audubon Society in the 1990s. “But the reality is it’s likely to be hurting some other non-target species in a big way, or simply depleting the species. The overwhelming majority of tuna populations are overfished.

Shoppers pay a premium—up to six dollars a can—for eco-friendly tuna brands. Wild Planet founder Bill Carvalho says the higher cost is unavoidable because there’s more labor involved with sustainable fishing. “You can’t do this for 59 cents a can,” he says. “Cheap tuna comes at an astronomically high environmental price. They’re dumping endangered species overboard.”

 

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YES! Stopped eating anything from the seas many years ago. StarKistCharlie BumbleBeeFoods COSMermaid have lied and will continue to lie. They have no intention of committing to a dolphin safe rape of the oceans.

The bigger question is, why are eating juvenile tuna? Tuna species should be left alone for at least 5 years, and only after further census of their stocks should we be fishing for them again! In the meanwhile, we can improve our methods!

Humanity Love Peace! Religion Royalty Government InhumaneHumanity InhumaneHumanities 🌍🖤❤🧡💛🤍💚💙💜🤎🌍 PTSD Anxiety MentalHealthMatters ConnectWithNature BeKind AntiRacist PlantTrees Recycle ClimateCrisis BreakFreeFromPlastic ActNow ThoughtsAndFeelsDiary

Watch Seaspiracy, it explains a lot.

yup

Glad i am a vegetarian! Conscious planet save soil To help save the source of all life on earth. 🙏

I feel bad man. I’ve been buying canned tuna a lot.

I don’t really care. Dolphin is tasty too!

There are laws specifying how many rat feces and how much rat hair can be in a can of tuna. Other laws should be enforceable too.

It's not. The label on the can means nothing since no one is really monitoring the catch. It's all based on trust of the fleet captains.

Dolphins should just become vegan

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