Environmentalist flips over Solomon Islands' dolphin forum

Pacific Beat's Sam Seke

Last Updated: Fri, 20 Mar 2009 23:18:00 +1100

Solomon Islands' outspoken environmentalist, Lawrence Makili, has labelled a forum on the dolphin trade in the country a farce.

Stakeholders in the controversial industry gathered in a Honiara hotel where the Government had organised a meeting to debate on Thursday the export of live bottlenose dolphins.

However, the meeting seems to have generated more problems than solutions.

Trading on tradition

Traditionally, hundreds of dolphins are killed every year in Solomon Islands for food.

Their teeth are also used for traditional money and ornaments.

But since 2003 live dolphins have also been exported - a practice that has since generated international protests.

The Minister for Environment and Conservation, Gordon Darcy Lilo, invited all the stakeholders to a forum in Honiara to discuss the issue.

"We believe that this opportunity should provide an avenue for all of us to air our views and establish an understanding as how to we would move forward," he said.

But the Regional Director of the US based Earth Island Institute, Lawrence Makili, said the forum was called by the Minister just to re-enforce the government's annual export quota of 100 dolphins.

Raw deal

"In fact it was a farce, I thought, made by the Minister for Environment and Conservation.

"In fact at the end of the conference I just realised I was called in just because the Minister would like to announce the stance of the current government about the quota of dolphin exports.

"So it was not really a consultation effort to get views from all the stakeholders.

"It was only designed in a way that dolphin traders came in an were happy with the Minister's announcement," he said.

The debate was lively and accusations flew across the table.

One of the dolphin traders, Cathy Chow, found herself defending accusations her dolphins are starving.

"We don't starve our dolphins," she said

"Our dolphins are so fat that the boys told me that they can't get their arms around them."