[Fwd: Dolphin Controversy in JAMAICA: Articles from Gleaner and Observer]

From: Potter at Island Resources

[Some issues I don't even understand why there are two sides . . .bp]

> Gleaner ...
>Date: Sun, 28 Sep 2003 19:07:40 -0500
>
>Commentary - Give Flipper a break
>published: Sunday | September 28, 2003
>
>Max E. Lambie, Contributor
>
>DIANA MCCAULEY of the Jamaica Environ-mental
>Trust has made it clear, that she disapproves of
>the dolphins kept in captivity over at Ocho
>Rios' Dolphin Cove and the matter has generated
>some debate with us both participating in a
>local radio programme on the matter.
>
>Except for the fact that our competitors are
>busily installing additional dolphin attractions
>I would let the issue lie. But in the particular
>case of attractions in Ocho Rios, I am perplexed
>that any other institution other than the Urban
>Development Corporation (UDC) should take an
>interest in what happens at Dolphin Cove. After
>all, the site is a part of the Designated Area
>Order of 1968 which by Article 4.(4) of the
>Urban Development Corporation Act (1968) gives
>them the sole authority to monitor and preserve
>the marine shoreline and environment under its
>jurisdiction.
>
>CONFLICT OF AUTHORITY
>
>In fact, I am further perplexed how it is that
>the enabling legislation that established the
>National Environmental and Planning Agency
>(NEAP) can supersede the UDC Act. In Cuba and
>Cancun, Mexico, such conflict of authority would
>not happen .
>
>But regardless, I find it necessary to counter
>and clarify statements made by Ms. McCaulay. For
>one, she says that literature supporting her
>charge that captivity is harmful and inhumane to
>dolphins kept in pens "is readily available".
>That is not so. I have contacted the four
>premier institutions that monitor the northern
>Caribbean and none have such information. They
>are: the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute of
>Massachusetts, the Script Institute of San
>Diego, California and the Marine Studies
>Institute of the University of Florida and the
>Agencie de Medio Ambiente of Cuba. In addition,
>there is the 24-member Association of Island
>Marine Laboratories (ASIMLC) headquartered in
>Puerto Rico which publishes regular newsletters.
>They have never held the view that dolphins such
>as those penned at Dolphin Cove do the mammals
>harm and are environmentally unsound.
>
>Moreover, the Marine Mammal Protection Act of
>1972 (MMPA) enacted by the U.S. Congress has a
>specific provision that authorises the "holding
>of marine animals in captivity for the purpose
>of public display". In addition, since the
>passage of the MMPA the U.S. federal government
>requires the National Marine Fisheries Service
>to monitor marine mammals in marine parks. True,
>there is a fringe cult calling themselves the
>Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) that
>is against the use of marine animals in
>attractions. This seems to be the source of Ms.
>McCaulay's theses. But in the U.S., HSUS's
>research is no match for that by the
>1,100-member public-display Alliance of Marine
>Mammal Parks and Aquariums (AMMPA) that develops
>protective procedures for the use of dolphins in
>attractions. They also operate captive-breeding
>programmes that now supplies 71 per cent of the
>dolphins used in attractions. Which brings up
>another point. Cuba is one of the few areas that
>has an oversupply of dolphins, so much so that
>it plays havoc with their fishstock which unlike
>Jamaica, supplies 60 per cent of its meat.
>
>This marine haven on its south coast is
>facilitated by having a deep 20-mile continental
>shelf that yields the most verdant fishlife in
>the Caribbean. In contrast, the narrow shelf at
>Galena Point is only half a mile deep. Ms.
>McCaulay further says that I said that "very
>little is known about Caribbean [fish]
>"populations". I never said that! In fact, I
>said just the opposite. I come from three
>generations of "fishermen and boaters" in the
>St. Ann's Bay area, (my late father was the
>first Chairman of the Beach Control Authority).
>I said in my article that I know from my own
>research that there was a pod of 120 dolphins
>off the Pedro banks and none on the north coast.
>She says that "Cuba and Jamaica in all
>likelihood" share a dolphin stock. This is a
>speculative statement . But on the radio
>programme I refuted this inference by stating
>that none of the boat operators that ply the
>Port Antonio to Santiago route has ever seen a
>migratory dolphin path between the two
>countries. In fact, my intimate knowledge of the
>oceanography of the Cayman Trench between here
>and Cuba makes it almost impossible for even the
>60-miles-a-day swimming dolphins to cross this
>treacherous channel. Very few sea life lives or
>crosses this channel. The reason? The trench is
>21,000 feet deep (the second deepest in the
>world) and drops precipitously to that depth
>only one mile out of shoreline. It makes the
>U.S.'s famed Grand Canyon seems like a road, 0
>ditch. There are no reefs for feeding fish and
>none in the 130-mile channel and even at its
>narrowest point the current will not allow a
>dolphin to cross back and forth between Cuba and
>Jamaica. Moreover, the water temperature is the
>hottest in the world as it is fed by underwater
>hot gases from the fault and that kills the
>dolphins.
>
>Finally, Ms. McFarlane states that dolphin
>mortality increases six-fold during capture and
>transportation. Who knows how dolphins fare in
>the wild? Not the Oceanographic vessels of the
>Woods Hole and Script Institute who are the ones
>that gave me the data which allowed me to
>partially refute the charge made by the former
>U.S. Ambassador that our beaches are polluted.
>
>These vessels often can be seen anchored
>offshore in Ocho Rios and visit often. The Cuban
>Aquariums that raise dolphins have offered to
>have Ms. MacCaulay visit their institutions so
>that she can observe how dolphins are handled
>which is in variance with her assertions of
>"increased mortality" and "manhandling".
>
>· The art of compiling tourism numbers
>THERE IS a difference of opinion among
>Government officials on what is significant to
>Jamaican tourism. Investigations reveal that the
>manner in which statistics are compiled leaves
>much room for variations which can distort the
>true picture of tourism in Jamaica today.
>
>A recent study, however, has devised comparative
>figures on the seven destinations of the North
>Western Caribbean market that takes a somewhat
>novel approach to measuring the visitor appeal
>of the leading spots in Jamaica's market.
>
>One technique is to adjust the number of cruise
>visitors on the basis of spending power to make
>the numbers equivalent to stop-over visitors.
>
>This adjustment assumes it takes between 5.5 and
>8.0 cruise passengers to equal a stop-over
>visitor. The cruise visitors are divided by that
>number and then added to the stop-overs to
>obtain a total figure.
>
>=======================================
>---- Original Message
>Dolphin Cove plans to import or capture more dolphins*
>Construction of US$4-m lagoon starts tomorrow
>BY DAVID PAULIN Observer writer
>Sunday, September 28, 2003
>
>
>A young visitor participates in the swim
>programme at Dolphin Cove. (Observer library
>photo)
>DOLPHIN Cove, the seaside nature park in Ocho
>Rios whose popular 'swim-with-the-dolphins'
>attraction has angered animal rights
>campaigners, begins construction tomorrow on a
>second lagoon for 12 additional dolphins.
>
>The dolphins would be captured or imported, once
>appropriate permits are granted.
>
>Despite objections from local environmentalists
>and animal-rights activists, the park's owners
>received environmental permits last week to
>construct the 30,000-square-foot enclosed lagoon
>costing US$4.1 million.
>Stafford Burrowes, who owns the 30-month-old
>park with Adrian Foreman, said the new lagoon
>would make Jamaica competitive with other
>Caribbean destinations boasting sea parks that
>feature dolphins.
>"We hope to have it (the lagoon) ready for the
>last few months of the tourist season," he told
>the Sunday Observer.
>
>Dolphin Cove is the only facility of its kind in
>Jamaica. At least seven other Caribbean nations
>already have such coastal enclosures or "sea
>pens", where thousands of tourists each pay
>hundreds of US dollars to participate in dolphin
>swims -- or "encounters" as the facility's
>operators call them.
>
>The new lagoon will be next-door to a
>13,000-square-foot enclosed lagoon, and, like
>that facility, it will run 12 to 15 feet deep.
>
>The current lagoon is home to seven playful
>dolphins: six that are "rented" from their owner
>in Mexico, and another that was rescued after
>stranding itself on a local beach.
>
>In the Caribbean, dolphins sell for US$100,000
>or more, but they are usually "rented", with an
>option to purchase them, said Burrowes.
>
>The park draws 400 to 700 visitors a day, most
>of them cruise ship passengers. The big
>attraction is the dolphins that swim freely,
>frolic, and even mate. At least 240 visitors per
>day participate in dolphin swims, and "we are
>sold out (for the swims) before the cruise ships
>arrive", said Burrowes.
>
>Dolphin swims are part of a trend catering to
>vacationers who want an "adventure and
>experience", rather than Jamaica's traditional
>fare of beaches and night spots, said Burrowes.
>
>He added that such attractions can help revive
>Jamaica's sluggish tourism industry, which took
>a nosedive after the terrorism attacks of
>September 11, 2001 on the United States,
>Jamaica's main source of tourists.
>The additional dolphins will create millions of
>US dollars in tourism revenues and create
>hundreds of jobs in direct and indirect
>employment, Burrowes calculated.
>
>Eventually, he wants to establish a breeding programme.
>
>But Burrowes' upbeat plans have been met with
>fierce protests from animal rights campaigners,
>both here and abroad.
>
>Diana McCaulay, head of the advocacy group,
>Jamaica Environment Trust, and who steadfastly
>opposes the new lagoon and capture or
>importation of additional dolphins, contended
>that the lagoon would cause environmental damage
>and was no place to contain free-spirited
>creatures like dolphins.
>
>In an effort to stop Dolphin Cove's expansion,
>McCaulay had enlisted two US dolphin experts and
>research scientists, Naomi Rose and Toni
>Frohoff, who recently visited Jamaica. They
>questioned marine parks, their educational value
>and the international trade in captured dolphins.
>
>Rose said research showed captive dolphins
>suffer slightly higher mortality rates than wild
>dolphins, even though they get regular medical
>care and live free of predators.
>
>"The cost for the dolphins is much higher than
>any amount of money that tourists can spend,"
>she said.
>According to Frohoff, captive dolphins and those
>in swim-with-the-dolphin attractions had
>displayed a variety of stress-related behaviour,
>including "self-inflected trauma, stress-induced
>vomiting, and excessive sexual behaviour,
>submissiveness and aggressiveness".
>
>The researchers are associated with The Humane
>Society of the United States, which has
>advocated a tourism boycott of hotels and
>resorts profiting from dolphin swim programmes.
>
>Burrowes failed to obtain environmental permits
>on his first try. He appealed and won after
>offering to transplant coral reefs that would
>have been damaged by extensive dredging needed
>to create the new lagoon. He plans to build two
>beaches, and to construct two groins and five
>breakwaters.
>
>In another potential battle, Burrowes wants
>permits to import or "humanely" capture 14 more
>dolphins. He proposes to put two in the current
>lagoon, and 12 in the new lagoon.
>
>He has applied for permits to import six
>dolphins that, he said, occupy a "congested"
>tank in Cuba, one of the region's main sellers
>of the mammals. It would be cheaper, however, to
>capture the dolphins in Jamaica's waters.
>
>"We are still hoping to get permission to
>capture animals from the south coast of
>Jamaica's waters. We have applied (for capture
>permits)," he said.
>
>McCaulay, however, is insisting on a survey of
>the region's dolphin population, before permits
>are granted for the importation or capture of
>the animals.
>
>The animal rights campaigners insist that parks
>like Dolphin Cove, no matter how
>idyllic-looking, support a cruel and poorly
>regulated international trade in the mammals,
>which they say are traumatised and even killed
>when captured. They cite the recent capture of
>up to 200 dolphins in the Solomon Islands, 28 of
>which went to a marine park in Cancun, Mexico.
>
>Referring to the enclosed lagoons and "sea
>pens", McCaulay said: "Dolphins swim 60 to 100
>miles per day, dive to great depths, and hunt
>fish. Under no circumstances can those
>conditions be replicated in captivity."
>But some vacationers enjoying the freedom to
>swim with the dolphins expressed surprise when
>told animal rights activists were upset about
>the facility. They said the dolphins seemed
>happy.
>
>"I have always wanted to swim with the dolphins,
>and this was the opportunity to do it," said
>Kris Wright, 30, a native Jamaican, who works as
>a payroll manager in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
>
>"They are totally magical animals," said Jason
>Diioli, a 32-year-old railway inspector from Los
>Angeles.
>He and his wife, Monique, 24, spent nearly $400
>(after their hotel's mark up) for a 30-minute
>dolphin "encounter". "It was absolutely worth
>the money," she said.
>
>The cost of the dolphin swims range from $39 for
>20-minute "touch encounters" to $155 for
>30-minute "swim encounters" in which two
>dolphins push and pull swimmers, and perform
>other tricks, under the supervision of two
>trainers.
>
>Burrowes said his marine park and swim
>programmes met or exceeded US and Jamaican
>standards. His critics, he complained, were
>rigid in their views and based their research on
>poorly-run swim programmes and old-style marine
>parks, which confine dolphins in large swimming
>pools.
>
>"Our ratio of square footage for dolphins is the
>best in the Caribbean," he said. His dolphins,
>moreover, "work" no more than two hours per day,
>six days per week, during sessions lasting no
>longer than 30 minutes, he said. His new
>facility will have an opening to allow dolphins
>to freely swim in and out to sea.
>
>Burrowes, a dog lover, insisted dolphins were
>similar to canines, in that they grow fond of
>people who provide them affection and food. They
>thus stay close to home, he said.
>
>"When you see a dolphin there, and it's going in
>and out (of the lagoon), it would be very hard
>to say it's in prison," he said. His critics, he
>added, appeared to have a lack of "hands-on"
>experience with dolphins.
>McCaulay, however, brindled at the suggestion
>that dolphins are similar to dogs and are
>content in anything but the open sea.
>
>"They are not like dogs! They are intelligent
>and social creatures. They are more like
>people!" she said.
>
Received on Mon Sep 29 08:08:47 2003