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Why
protect dolphins?
1.)
Dolphins are important to maintain fisheries.
Dolphins
- like al high level predators - are mainly
prey on old and ill fish. This way they
are playing an important role in fighting
infectious diseases among fish populations
and ensure the reproduction of fisheries
resources. By killing dolphins we are killing
the sanitary police of the oceans, which
may result in more diseases and diminished
fish populations. To kill a dolphin therefore
means to directly damage sustainable fisheries.
© Stefan Austermühle: Diver with
Bottlenose dolphin
2.)
Dolphins are important natural resources
themselves
Tourists
all over the world are spending huge amounts
of money in order to observe dolphins and
whales in their natural surrounding. For
example the Islands of Hawaii are visited
each year by around 400 000 tourists that
mainly come to the islands in order to see
whales and dolphins, thereby contributing
to the local economy with around 19 million
$US per year. With its high diversity of
whales and dolphins Peru has a great potential
for whale watching as an alternative source
of income for local fishermen. Sadly dolphins
are not yet recognized as being a tourism
resource in Peru. Mundo Azul therefore promotes
whale watching tourism involving local fishermen
in Peru and is in process of initiating
a first ecotourism dolphin watching project
together with fishermen of Pucusana. The
meat of dolphins can be sold only once and
for little money. By involving themselves
in tourism fishermen could earn thousands
of dollars during the 40 years of life span
of a dolphin. To kill a dolphin means to
destroy an important natural resource, to
harm the fishermen involved in tourism and
to destroy the economical future of our
children.
more
whale watching in Perú - click
here
© Mundo Azul: Bottlenose dolphin
3.)
Dolphins are intelligent and social creatures
Dolphins
have an elaborate and complicated language
using more than 4000 whistles to communicate.
Each dolphin has a personal whistle used
like a name and different groups of dolphins
speak different dialects. We don't know
any other species in the animal kingdom
that have such an elaborate communication
system.
Dolphins
protect humans. There are dozens of well
documented cases where dolphins have rescued
castaways and defended them against shark
attacks. Killing a dolphins means to kill
a friend.
And
what if a dolphin drowned in a fishing net
?
Nobody can
differentiate if a piece of dolphin meat
in a restaurant or a local market comes
from a dolphin that drowned accidentally
in a fishing net or that was actively and
illegally hunted. Allowing the consumption
of dolphins caught as bycatch therefore
would be a loophole for dolphin smugglers
and illegal hunting. It would be impossible
to enforce the Peruvian law. Therefore the
consumption of dolphin meat is banned without
exception.
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