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One
Voice is pleased to announce that Graham Dundas Simpson of Reno,
Nevada, is facing a $70.000 fine by the Civil Penalties Division
of the Office of Foreign Assets and Control (OFAC), a division of
the U.S. Customs and Treasury Department, for the illegal purchase
of six Cuban dolphins. In January 2000, Mr. Simpson exported the
dolphins to his newly opened captive dolphin swim program on the
Caribbean island of Anguilla. For a US citizen to conduct business
with Cuba is a violation of the so-called Helms-Burton Act of the
United States. Simpson recently sold his operation to Dolphin Discovery,
another captive dolphin swim program based in Cancun, Mexico. |
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Dolphin Discovery is next
One Voice applauds the OFAC decision to fine Simpson for the illegal
trade. Richard O'Barry, Marine Mammal Specialist with One Voice,
and Canadian dolphin campaigner Gwen McKenna have asked the US
Treasury Department to investigate Mike Wood and other US citizens
who are operating Dolphin Discovery. Dolphin Discovery has purchased
at least 33 dolphins from Cuba, although the number could go as
high as 70. The evidence has been turned over to the US Treasury
Department.
Dolphin Discovery has been in business since 1994 and operates
dolphin parks in the Mexican tourists destinations of Cancun,
Cozumel and Puerto Aventuras, and in the Caribbean islands of
Tortola, Antigua and Anguilla. „We have reason to believe
that all of their facilities are holding Cuban dolphins,"
O'Barry said.
Major supplier
According to United Nations records, Cuba and Russia are the world's
two leading exporters of dolphins. In the past ten years, Cuba
has supplied more than one hundred dolphins to captive dolphin
swim parks in Europe, Mexico, Latin America and the Caribbean.
Since a voluntary moratorium against dolphin captures went into
effect in the United States in 1990, Cuba has become one of the
world's largest exporters of dolphins for dolphinariums around
the world. Customers are willing to pay as much as $150 for twenty
minutes in a tank or sea-cage with dolphins. As a result, the
trade in dolphins has become a profitable business. A newly captured
dolphin can bring in from $40,000 to $70,000 US dollars.
Caribbean Islands campaign
Captive dolphin swim programs are expanding into the Caribbean
at an alarming rate. The swim programs target tourists who pay
large amounts of money for a close-up encounter with the exotic
animals. The cruise industry plays an important role in the growth
of tourism in this region. It is estimated that the cruise industry
in the Caribbean region hosts about 50% of the cruise ship passengers
in the world. Captive dolphin swim programs are seen as easy moneymakers
in this luxury market, and dolphin-encounter programs have been
established in Cuba, the Bahamas, Jamaica, Bermuda, Mexico, Venezuela,
Honduras and the Dominican Republic. Since 2001, captive dolphin
swim programs have been set up in the Netherlands Antilles, Anguilla,
Tortola, Dominica and in the dual-island nation Antigua and Barbuda.
Furthermore, Dolphin Discovery is now planning to expand their
operation into the Cayman Islands that attract over one million
cruise ship visitors each year. The Cayman Islands government
has already issued a permit to import the dolphins. Dolphin freedom
advocates are concerned that the dolphins slated for the Cayman
Islands are Cuban dolphins that were purchased illegally by US
citizens.
One Voice is currently campaigning to stop captive dolphin swim
programs in the Caribbean Islands. "We need to ensure that
the expansion of dolphin swim attractions and the illegal trade
in Cuban dolphins are stopped," said Muriel Arnal, One Voice
President.
Read Miami Herald story here: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/9519340.htm
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