The government sent a team to the Solomon Islands to inspect a facility from which Kerzner International plans to bring in a pod of dolphins, but it looks like that export will never happen.
The owner of the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island is developing a new dolphin attraction facility as part of the resort’s Phase III expansion, but a law passed in parliament recently prevents dolphins from being taken out of Bahamian waters.
It means that Kerzner will have to bring the friendly mammals in, but at this point it’s not clear where the company will get them from.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported on Thursday that the Solomons government said it has never changed its decision to ban exporting dolphins.
The report said the ban on the export of live dolphins from Solomon Islands is due to be officially legalised and the permanent secretary of Fisheries confirmed that it was do to be gazetted this week.
It was also reported that international environmental groups have threatened to ban the import of tuna from the Solomon Islands if more dolphins are exported.
Kerzner International has had little to say on the issue, except that its dolphin attraction facility is in the planning stage and international reports on the planned import are inaccurate.
Earlier in the week Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries V. Alfred Gray said that he was satisfied that the facility where the dolphins are being kept in the Solomon Islands are up to standard and he said once the mammals are transported to the Kerzner facility in The Bahamas “they would not even know where they are”, meaning they would also be well cared for at the Kerzner facility.
The World Society for the Protection of Animals blew the whistle on the planned import, saying that it was illegal under international law and pointing to the Solomons ban.
The allegation reportedly prompted New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark to write to Prime Minister Sir Allan Kemakeza, seeking an assurance that the ban on live dolphin exports remains in place.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that the Solomons government says the reports are false and the government has never changed its decision to ban exporting dolphins.
In his interview with The Bahama Journal, Minister Gray had said, “We are not too concerned about these animal rights activists because if you listen to then, quite frankly, you would not catch a fish to eat-or you would not cut down a tree to build a house.”
Sam Duncombe, spokesperson for the local environmental group, reEarth, said in a statement issued yesterday that the Minister’s comment displays his total disregard of the “very real issues to do with animal welfare and conservation and his complete ignorance of the supporting scientific evidence.”
“Mr. Gray should recognize that concerns about conservation are inextricably linked to the future existence of the tourism industry which puts food on our tables,” Mrs. Duncombe said.
“If our tourism is not sustainable and our practices here are frowned upon internationally then we risk the survival of our tourism industry.”
By: Candia Dames, The Bahama Journal
