Solomon Star 11 Dec 09;
THE government yesterday chuckled as it mutely shied away with $2.2 million and watches nine harmless bottlenose dolphins left our shores for Malaysia.
The nine dolphins left at about 10am on a chattered flight which arrived on Wednesday afternoon.
Six of the nine dolphins were exported by the Solomon Islands Marine Export Limited while three from the Solomon Islands Marine Wildlife Park.
Director of the Solomon Islands Marine Export Limited Robert Satu confirmed he had exported six bottlenose dolphins in the shipment.
While Mr Satu refused to disclose the name of the company that bought the dolphins, airport officials revealed that the shipment was heading for Malaysia.
Mr Satu said the government earned $1.5 million through tax from the six dolphins and more than $700,000 from Wildlife Park’s three dolphins.
“There is nothing to hide because this is a legal activity and the government earned that much money in just a day from the export,” he said.
He said the 25 per cent tax was huge money that no company in the country would pay to the government at once like they did.
He said the Ministries of Fisheries and Environment received $10,000 and $50,000 respectively as well from the export.
The government has allowed an export of up to 100 dolphins a year – a move which sparked outrage from conservative environmental agencies around the world.
These groups have been actively campaigning to discourage the export of these mammals from our shores on grounds that there is no evidence of the abundance of stock in our waters.
More than 30 dolphins have exported to Mexico, Dubai, and the Philippines in the last few years.
By EDNAL PALMER
Solomons Government called on to stop live dolphin trade
Radio New Zealand 14 Dec 09;
The environmental organisation, Greenpeace, is criticising Solomon Islands’ latest export of live dolphins.
The Solomons have exported nine dolphins reportedly to Malaysia, earning nearly 300,000 US dollars.
Shipments have been ongoing since a 2007 court ruling overturned a 2003 ban on live dolphin exports.
Greenpeace’s oceans campaigner, Lagi Toribau, says the export of live mammals is unacceptable.
“Dolphins form a great part of the marine ecosystem and any extraction of dolphins without a proper environmental management plan or any concrete impact assessment on what it does to the ecosystem is not a good practice. This is truly been done from an economic perspective and we truly urge them to consider the wider ecosystem impact on this.”
Lagi Toribau
Over the past few years more than 30 dolphins are thought to have been exported from Solomon Islands.
