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DEFENDING DOLPHINS
Dolphins bring joy into our lives. They make us feel good. They help us to learn. At first sight the dolphins themselves seem to have few problems. They can fend off sharks and are quite capable of surviving in the wildest storms simply by diving beneath waves that could cause ships to founder. But dolphins do have a problem. A very big problem. And that problem is us humans.
The most widely publicised problem is the accidental netting of dolphins by tuna fisherman. Methods of fishing have been changed to reduce deaths from this cause, but many still get caught and die. So to say a tin of tuna is “dolphin friendly” is just not true. It’s like putting a safety catch on a gun and saying that it’s “human friendly”.
Sadly this bicatch as it is called is just one of many threats we impose upon dolphins. We use the oceans, their home, as a place to dump our waste. We are scouring the bottom of the sea with nets to remove the fish they need to eat to live. Dolphins use sound or sonar to communicate and find their way around whilst we fill the sea with noise from ship’s engines and echo sounders. We use explosives called depth charges in war. In peace we use seismographic explosions when searching for oil under the seabed. We pour toxic chemicals on the land, which drain into rivers that run into the sea and put poisons into their food chains. So much so that dead dolphins are treated as toxic waste when they are washed ashore in some parts of the world. In other parts of the world the dolphins are caught and used as food. They are even occasionally chopped up and used as bait. The answer to this horrifying list of threats to the survival of dolphins lies in what this book is all about, namely education. We have to tell the world that we love dolphins and want to protect them.
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Understanding dolphins
In order to protect dolphins we need to understand their needs and how they fit into the underwater environment. Aquariums are continuously seeking to make their exhibits more realistic and the large ones give a real feel of what life is like beneath the sea.
Museums are also good sources of information. Interactive exhibits generate experiences that remain longer in memory than when the same data are presented in a conventional manner in the classroom. The Natural History Museum at South Kensington in London is one of the best in the world. It contains a full size model of a Blue whale which is larger than the skeletons of the dinosaurs also on display. The awesome size of the Blue whale compared with that of the model porpoises in the Whale Hall brings home the immense diversity in size and lifestyles of the sea mammals, known collectively as cetaceans, that live in all of the seas and some of the large rivers of the world.
Countries draw arbitrary lines around their land masses and claim them as territorial waters. These have no meaning to the creatures that roam the seas. Dolphins don’t stay in waters where they may be protected. Looking after dolphins is an issue which requires international agreements and legislation. In 2000 International Dolphin Watch* launched a Safeguard the Seas Crusade in which it invited everyone interested in helping dolphins to join the fight to protect them.
So what can each of us, as individuals, do?
Firstly we have to make the world aware of the problems. Then we have to offer solutions. Fortunately we have a weapon that can be put to good use in this mammoth task. It can be used by everyone who is computer literate. It is the World Wide Web. In the battle to save the dolphins every computer user can become a Superman or Superwoman i.e. a Website Warrior.
International Dolphin Watch supplied its Website Warriors with a campaign File. It contained details of threats to dolphins and sample letters that could be posted or e-mailed to politicians and governments to make them more aware of the problems. The aim of the crusade was to bring pressure to bear to get new laws introduced and implemented.
One of the issues targeted was that of industrial fishing for sand eels. Those small silvery fish which gather in huge numbers are a vital link in the food chain in the North Sea. Many birds such as puffins and larger fish such as mackerel and salmon feed on them directly.
 Because they congregate in dense shoals sand eels can be fished on an industrial scale. As a result unimaginable quantities, amounting to millions of tons, were sucked out of the sea in the 1990’s. They were then processed to produce fish meal which was used mainly to feed and fatten livestock.
At the same time so much surplus food was being produced on the land that European farmers were being compelled to set aside part of their land and take it out of production. We therefore had the ludicrous situation of fish stocks plummeting and fishermen being put out of work because pigs and other farm animals, that could be raised on food grown on the land, were being fed fish meal. The knock on effect of this madness was that the wildlife in the oceans, including the dolphins, were being starved of the food upon which they were totally dependent for survival.
Website Warrior
In a world driven by economics politicians have the unenviable task of trying to satisfy the demands of electorates most of whom, understandably, put staying in employment and wanting more money, highest on their list of priorities. This almost inevitably gives rise to conflicts of interests which for the most part are resolved by compromise.
One such agreement that was reached in the European Economic Union in 1998 was the setting of an annual catch limit for sand eels of 1 million tons. This figure, which amounts to approximately 35,000,000,000 sand eels, was considered to be far too high by conservationists. Those who wanted to preserve the richness and diversity of life in the oceans and maintain sustainable levels of fish for human (and dolphin) consumption continued to lobby politicians. In 2001 tens of thousands of signatures were gathered on petitions and handed in at 10 Downing Street, the home of the Prime Minister, to make him aware of the importance of the humble sand eel.
Changing attitudes, bringing in laws and implementing them calls for involvement. It calls for passion. It calls for concern. A personal letter expressing such feelings that touches the heart of a politician can be the first link in the chain reaction that ultimately brings about the changes in legislation needed to protect dolphins. All Dilo devotees should be cajoled to write letters and/or send E-mails to politicians. It’s certainly one way of putting their English to good use.
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