The controversial export of live dolphins from the Solomon Islands to Dubai looks set to go ahead after a judge dismissed an environmental group’s legal bid to stop the shipment.
The application for an injunction preventing the air shipment this week of 28 dolphins was rejected in the High Court in Honiara on Monday, environmental campaigner Lawrence Makili said.
But he warned that if the export, to a Dubai marine park, went ahead Solomons tuna products would be boycotted by tuna buyers around the world.
The dolphin shipment has been organized by Canadian Chris Porter who operates a dolphin park on the island of Gavutu, near Honiara.
His Solomon Islands Marine Mammal Education Centre and Exporters Limited was expecting two DC-10 aircraft to arrive in Honiara to fly out the dolphins.
Company director Robert Satu would not disclose who bought the dolphins or the price paid, but said the animals would be looked after with “great care†on their 30-hour flight to Dubai.
The Solomons government agreed to resume live dolphin exports after the High Court earlier this year ruled that an export ban imposed by the previous government in 2005 was illegal.
That ban was imposed after 28 bottlenose dolphins were flown from the Solomons to Mexico in 2004, sparking international outrage, including protests from the Australian and New Zealand governments.
Makili, who works with the San Francisco-based Earth Islands Institute, said alerts would be sent to tuna buyers across the world to boycott Solomons tuna if the dolphin shipment went ahead.
â€If those dolphins are airlifted out, nobody will buy Solomons tuna products, that's definite,†he said.
â€This government has a no-care attitude, they don’t see the long term negative impact of what they are doing. It’s the tuna industry that is for the long term benefit of this country.â€
Makili said the Solomons tuna industry was very concerned about the prospect of boycotts, but the government was overriding those concerns.
The Earth Islands Institute oversees an international program of dolphin-safe labels for tuna canning companies.
Dolphins fetch tens of thousands of dollars on the world market to entertain crowds at aquatic parks.
An Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman said Australia did not support the commercial export of dolphins.
Any export would need to be in strict accordance with the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which the Solomons signed up to in June, he said.
Under CITES, there must be a scientifically robust determination that any trade in dolphins would not be detrimental to the survival of the species, the spokesman said.
â€Australia has encouraged Solomon Islands to make its non-detriment finding publicly available to alleviate concerns about the export,†the spokesman said.
â€If the non-detriment finding undertaken by Solomon Islands is scientifically robust, then they are within their rights under CITES to export the dolphins.â€
