A recent story has been surfacing about a large scale industrial purse seine vessel that was caught illegally fishing in the marine protected area of Cocos Island National Park in Costa Rica. The irony of this story is that while the boat was busted for illegal activity, the catch can still qualify as environmentally friendly because of the narrow definition of dolphin-safe tuna.
On January 29th, “Tiuna”, a Panamian flagged ship , was caught 9.5 miles offshore, well within the 12 mile no take zone off Cocos Island. 12 tons of live tuna were released from the purse seine nets, and 280 tons of tuna were confiscated in its hold.
According to the Costa Rican NGO PRETOMA, the illegal operation of purse seine tuna vessels inside Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) of the Eastern Tropical Pacific is not an isolated incident, as there have been similar recent reports in Galapagos (Ecuador) and Malpelo (Colombia). Tuna purse seiners scour these waters because they know that local authorities lack the resources to patrol these waters.
Further, according to Randall Arauz, Director of PRETOMA, tuna illegally caught in MPAs still qualifies for a “Dolphin Safe” certification, because the duty of Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) observers is only to report the dolphin kill, not other illegalactivities.
“If we can´t trust IATTC observers to report pirate activities in MPAs, in spite of their UN Humanity Heritage status, can we trust them to report true dolphin kill figures?” wondered Randall Arauz from PRETOMA. “The most recent information regarding dolphin populations in the Eastern Tropical Pacific tells us we can`t, because of which consumers of canned tuna should think twice before they purchase tuna with environmental protection labels”.
The Dolphin-Safe Tuna label is not a bad thing. It has saved the lives of thousands of dolphins from needlessly drowning in tuna nets and compelled major changes in industry practice and set the stage for subsequent ecolabeling.
However, it is important for labeling systems to continue to expand and to strive to protect entire ecosystems rather single species. What good is a label if it turns a blind eye to illegal activities that undermine other conservation measures such as marine protected areas?
Learn more about the Cocos Island here.
