(The following is a response to comments made by Prime Minister Christie during his appearance on 102.9 FM January. This is the second in a three-part series)
This question was posed to the Prime Minister regarding dolphins, “Why is it that your government has reversed the policy of the FNM government to allow the capture and export of Bahamian dolphins?”
The Prime Minister as follows: “I do not know that my government has reversed a policy of the FNM on the export of dolphins. Or the capture of dolphins.”
Surely, as Prime Minister, he would make it his business to know what the policy on captures of dolphins is, especially as it was Prime Minister Christie, then Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, who allowed the capture of 9 Bahamian Atlantic bottlenose dolphins from the waters surrounding Abaco in 1990. Outraged and determined that this would not happen again, reEarth, along Animals Require Kindness and the Bahamas Humane Society, fought off the establishment of ensuing dolphin facilities for years, which resulted in the following statement from Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham in 1995:
“The policy of my Government with regard to the capture and export is clear and will be incorporated into a new Marine Mammal Protection Act.” (No. OPM/A&F/4.2) “It is Government’s intention to give legal effect to its current policy which prohibits the capture and export of marine mammals from The Bahamas.”
MAF/FIS/12 A)
The importation of dolphins was also to be included in the policy. This represents a regression for the animal welfare policies of the Bahamas as a whole and makes a mockery of even establishing a Marine Mammal Protection Act, especially one that allows corporate bodies with high-revenue tourism schemes to circumvent our legal system and the social consciousness, desires, and morality of our people.
Contrary to Prime Minister Christie’s statement ” I would like to reaffirm, Mr. Carter, with respect to this question of Sam Duncombe about why we’ve reversed the FNM policy. In fact I am now reliably informed by the Minister responsible who confirms that there has been no change in policy on capture or export of the dolphins under the PLP. It just hasn’t arisen so I don’t know where that came from.” I remain stunned by the present administration’s misinformation and decision to rescind the policies discussed and agreed upon by the FNM government to prohibit the capture, import and export of dolphins.
It says that as a people we cannot rely on the continuance of government – but foreign developers can – and that when a government in power makes a promise to its people it can be taken away without any regard for the years of work that went into arriving at that decision.
The Prime Minister continued, “It was very clear in my discussions with the Atlantis group that we are now settling the draft of new legislation to govern the use of dolphins here that it has not come to my government for a policy decision to change any policy decision …” If the policy has not been “changed’ why then would the government, led by the Prime Minister’s top environmental advisor, hold “stake holder” meetings and draft legislation and that allows for the capture, import, export buying and selling of marine mammals in and from Bahamian waters?
The Prime Minister said; “What I have insisted on is that, yes, there will be a dolphin presence in the Bahamas other than Blue Lagoon under the strictest circumstances that will be put in place, a regime to insure that they are properly done and managed.And most certainly what our government must do and that’s what we’re committed to doing is to have the safest regime protecting the dolphins in captivity. ” The government has allowed the facilities to dictate to the government what should or should not happen in the draft legislation – they dictate how many people can interact with the dolphins at one time, whether there should be a vet on premises, whether or not their records should be made public, whether a pregnant dolphin should be made to work. These are OUR dolphins stolen from our waters and as such belong to the Bahamian people! We have a right to govern and monitor their care! How does the fox guarding the chickens create the kind of legislation that truly protects dolphins in captivity?
Mr. Christie continued to muddy the waters and throw the public off track when he said. “I understand in the Bahamas we have some dolphins peculiar to our waters, the spotted dolphin. I most certainly never ever entered or had any consideration of anyone going out there and capturing them.”
This was duplicitous and deceptive as he knows full well that the dolphins used in these facilities are Atlantic bottlenose dolphins, not spotted dolphins. By the way, NOWHERE in the draft legislation does it exclude spotted dolphins or any other of the 20 plus marine mammals species that pass through our waters. Shame!
The Prime Minister went on to chastise those of us who believe it to be immoral to capture and imprison intelligent animals with the following; “.we had better think very carefully about our country. I say to those who are concerned about this because every single country in this region is not only putting dolphins in place, but expanding existing dolphin facilities.” Does it make it right because everyone else is doing it? This is inexcusable and simplistic. οΎ In fact, on January 17, 2005, The Solomon Islands declared that they would no longer export dolphins after world outrage at their capturing some 200 dolphins. And there is also a moratorium on dolphin captures in the United States.
As tourism leaders in the region, why aren’t we doing something uniquely Bahamian – things done nowhere else – instead of following everyone like lemmings? How about kayaking with dolphins up creeks, guided by Bahamians? Or inviting Cirque du Soleil (the all human circus) to create a show specifically for Atlantis?
In other words, Mr. Prime Minister, LEAD INSTEAD OF FOLLOW!
The Prime Minister continued, “Without our having to capture them (dolphins) here in the Bahamas, without our having to export them from the Bahamas, that’s not our intention.” Why then would the draft legislation allow for capture, export, import, buying and selling of marine mammals in the Bahamas? This is completely disingenuous to say that we will not be capturing dolphins; this suggests that we will be taking them from other country’s waters. This presents exactly the same issues as taking them from ours. The Bahamas, The Caribbean, The Pacific Island nations and other third world countries have no clue what their dolphin populations are, and as such are not and will not be in a position to determine dolphin captures for years, as it takes several years to properly study a pod’s familial and social dynamics and interactions with other pods.
The proposed Marine Mammal Protection Act legislation that his government drafted does not make any provision for or address in any way:
. Conservation of dolphins in the wild
. Human-caused noise (including active sonar) in the ocean environment; (the stranding of 16 whales – and the subsequent death of at least 6 -was caused by a 16-hour mid-frequency sonar exercise in Abaco on March 10, 2000)
. Marine mammal habitat protection
. Bycatch (the unintentional capture injury or death) of marine mammals in commercial fishing gear or fisheries in general.
. The need for long term research before and after the capture of any wild dolphin
Neither does it take into account the significant body of science that recognizes that capture is stressful and can kill, that dolphins are self-aware, a trait shared to date with only Chimpanzees and humans, the importance of key individuals in a pod, and the disruption to feeding, breeding and communication among/between pods that their removal could cause.
Another glaring inadequacy we face is that the Department of Fisheries is understaffed and inadequately funded. There are simply not enough fisheries officers now to monitor what fish are being caught by hundreds of fishermen, much less to have to dispatch them to monitor dolphin facilities. It would be interesting to know how many times in the last year Dolphin Encounters or UNEXCO were inspected, or for that matter the aquarium at Atlantis.
It is clear that legislation to date remains cursory, inadequate, incomplete and contradictory, and does not provide The Bahamas with laws that protect and conserve our marine mammal resources. It is no longer acceptable to apply an ignorant, cavalier attitude towards conserving our biodiversity.
As Ghandi aptly said “The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”
By Sam Duncombe
The Tribune, February 1, 2005
Sam Duncombe is the founder of the environmental organization reEarth. reEarth is a nonprofit, environmental watch group founded in 1990 dedicated to increasing public awareness and understanding of environmental issues. See tomorrows paper for the third installment.
