Overfishing: Oceans Are Dying
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| More dolphins held captive |
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| Thursday, 23 July 2009 16:17 | |||
 Two more dolphins have arrived in the Cayman Islands and have been taken to the captive facility at Dolphin Discovery in North West Point Road. According to a release from the company the two Atlantic Bottlenose marine mammals arrived last Friday, bringing the total number of Dolphins held at the marine facility to eight. The Department of Environment confirmed that the two marine mammals, which have reportedly come from Tortola, had CITES certificates. However, the facility still does not have an operating license.
There are now 14 dolphins held in captivity in the Cayman Islands at two different facilities in West Bay, both of which have caused considerable controversy as a result of the declining acceptability world wide for what is seen by many as an exceptionally cruel form of entertainment. Billy Adam, Cayman’s leading activist against what he calls the dolphin ‘abusement’ industry, said he was sickened by the arrival of yet more dolphins in Cayman and continues to be appalled by the government’s failure to uphold the law surrounding the facilities. “The attorney general, the police, the Department of Agriculture and now the new government are all allowing a blatant disregard of the law, as this facility as well as Dolphin Cove are carrying on their abusive entertainment business without operating licences as required under the law,” he said. He also noted that the standards by which the two facilities are supposed to be operating are still a secret. Adam explained that the two facilities say they adhere to the standards set by the US Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks, a private association which will not publicize what those standards are. “This business is an appalling, corrupt, deceptive and cruel trade and we are allowing these people to operate in contravention of our laws and we are not even able to see what standards it is that they are supposed to abide by,” Adam added. Although the latest two dolphins have arrived from Tortola from the firm’s facility there with CITES certificates, Adam lamented the fact that the Cayman government is not conducting audits regarding the real origin of the creatures, tracking exactly where they came from and how they were actually captured. “We are dependant on what other nations say is the case when it comes to the CITES certificate. There is no audit done to see if the governments from where these dolphins come from have been honest about their origins. As a result there can be no guarantee that these creatures do meet CITES standards. No one in our government wants to ask difficult questions so they can continue with this plausible deniability.” Adam stated that the entire industry is dependent on corrupt practices but it seems that the government denies the brutality and those making the money do not care about it. “This cruel industry could not operate without corruption, and anyone who saw the showing of 'The Cove’ recently can testify to that,” he said. “We cannot know that these animals did not leave young dolphins who are still dependent on their mothers, even after that have stopped feeding, to learn things like migration routes and feeding grounds. Left without their mothers the baby dolphins will starve to death.” (From caymannewsservice.com)
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