Submitted by John Stauber on
"Two former government scientists who
spent years investigating stress in dolphin populations
charged this week that superiors at their federally
financed laboratory shut down their research because it
clashed with policy goals of the Clinton and Bush
administrations. The scientists ... said their research indicated that the practice of chasing and encircling dolphins to catch tuna exposed the
dolphins to dangerous amounts of stress. The accusations, by Dr. Albert Myrick, a wildlife
biologist, and Dr. Sarka Southern, a research associate,
came days after the Bush administration relaxed the
criteria for declaring tuna netted by Mexican and other
foreign fishing boats to be 'dolphin safe.' In making that
declaration last week, Commerce Secretary Donald L. Evans
said that chasing and corralling dolphins and the tuna that
often accompany them into purse nets had 'no significant
adverse impact' on the dolphins. The ruling cleared the way for Mexican and other Latin
American tuna producers to place a dolphin-safe label on
cans for American shelves."
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