How safe is dolphin-safe tuna?
This article is an adaptation of our weekly Animals newsletter that was originally sent out on March 18, 2021. Want this in your inbox? Sign up here.
By Rachael Bale, ANIMALS Executive Editor
When I don’t know what to have for lunch, I make a tuna salad sandwich. At diners, tuna melts are my go-to. And at the grocery store, I always put a few cans in my cart. Until recently, I didn’t pay much attention to the label. As long as it had the “dolphin safe” logo—which all the big brands do—I was satisfied.
Then came Rene Ebersole’s story for Nat Geo. It asks: “Just how safe is dolphin-safe tuna?” Now I’m paying attention to whether I’m buying chunk white, solid white, or chunk light (these terms denote different species of tuna, some more sustainable than others), and whether the can tells me how it was caught (certain methods are less likely to accidentally catch other marine life).
Two examples: The tuna photographed above, from Mexico, cannot be sold in the United States with a “dolphin safe” label because some of Mexico’s fisheries chase and net dolphins in pursuit of tuna. Below, these tuna off Indonesia are caught with purse seines and longlines, which can indiscriminately trap and kill dolphins.
Experts told Ebersole that most of the tuna with the “dolphin safe” logo is legitimate, and it’s against the law to put the logo on canned tuna if it was caught on a fishing trip where dolphins were harmed. But, says Zak Smith, from the National Resources Defense Council, fishing supply chains can be long and convoluted, so it’s not unimaginable some illegal stuff is slipping in, too.
That’s the basis of a class action lawsuit against StarKist, Bumble Bee, and Chicken of the Sea right now—shoppers are claiming the companies have misled them. The lawsuit alleges that their “dolphin safe” tuna sometimes is caught using fishing techniques that harm dolphins. (StarKist told Ebersole that it doesn’t purchase any tuna associated with dolphins, and the other two companies didn’t respond to her questions and requests for comment.) Photographed below is a common dolphin killed by an illegal drift net in the Indian Ocean, recovered by the crew of the conservation vessel Steve Irwin.
.jpg?w=748&h=498)
If you want to know more about what constitutes dolphin-safe tuna and to learn what Ebersole found out about the cans of tuna that may be sitting in your cupboard, check out her story.
And if you’re like me and never thought that much about the various keywords and logos on your can of tuna, our Wildlife Watch unit also has a handy guide for how to choose the most eco-friendly kinds here.
Wildlife Watch, funded by the National Geographic Society, shines a light on the commercial exploitation of wildlife and other valued resources. Learn more.
Do you get this newsletter daily? If not, sign up here or forward to a friend.
TODAY IN A MINUTE
Manatee die-off: It doesn’t appear to be the cold weather that’s killed at least 430 Florida manatees in January and February alone. The primary suspect is water pollution, which killed off sawgrass, a key food for the gentle mammals. “We believe the main cause is starvation,” Florida veterinarian Martine de Wit tells Nat Geo. Many of those who died were emaciated adults, she told Rebecca Renner. (Pictured above, a manatee swims through the murky waters of Crystal River, Florida.)
How cats were redeemed: In the 19th century, cats and dogs were gendered symbols, and the growing women’s suffrage movement often didn’t want to be associated with the cat’s stereotypes (passive, hissing). That changed in 1916, when barnstorming suffragists Nell Richardson and Alice Burke embraced the cat as a symbol during a popular countrywide auto tour. Their kitten, Saxon, accompanied them—and generated positive publicity of its own. The bluebird also became a symbol for some women’s activists, Erin Blakemore writes for Nat Geo.
Why do hummingbirds hum? It took 2,000 microphones and a host of high-speed cameras to help researchers come up with an answer. They knew in general it was the wings, but the high-tech equipment helped them narrow it down. Turns out, the Guardian reports, the hum in hummingbird comes from aerodynamic forces produced as the wings move, together with the speed and direction of the wing movements.
A victory for helmeted hornbills: Thailand has given its highest level of protection to the critically endangered species of hornbill, prized by traffickers for jewelry and decorations. We examined this species in 2018; Nat Geo subscribers can see Tim Laman’s amazing photos here.
YOUR INSTAGRAM PHOTO OF THE DAY
Flat: The leaf scorpionfish is almost as flat as a leaf and resembles a leaf in many ways. Its color varies from green, pink, red, brown, and ocher white to a golden yellow. The venom of the leaf scorpionfish is considerably weaker than that of the lionfish and stonefish. Photographer and Nat Geo Explorer Mattias Klum found scorpionfish about 60 feet down off Mozambique while producing the documentary Vamizi: Cradle of Coral. Here’s the trailer.
Camouflaged: Can you spot the animals hidden in these photos?
THE BIG TAKEAWAY
A new blueprint to save the oceans: Protecting 30 percent of the oceans not only could restore biodiversity to ocean habitats, it could also increase the annual global catch by eight million tons—about 10 percent of the catch today. That’s among the findings of a new study, partially funded by the National Geographic Society. The catch has been declining since the 1990s. “The only way to get more food from the ocean is to protect more,” says lead author Enric Sala. The marine ecologist and Nat Geo Explorer-in-Residence says only 7 percent of the seas is currently protected. (Pictured above, gay wrasses in the Desventuradas Islands.)
National Geographic Pristine Seas works to protect 30 percent of the ocean by 2030 for the benefit of humanity. Learn more.
IN A FEW WORDS
We know traffickers are stockpiling products not just in Africa, but also in Asia—in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia—in huge quantities.
Steve Carmody, Chief of investigations, Wildlife Justice Commission, From: Wildlife seizures are down—and an illicit trade boom may be coming
DID A FRIEND FORWARD THIS TO YOU?
Come back tomorrow for Whitney Johnson on the latest in photography news. If you’re not a subscriber, sign up here to also get Debra Adams Simmons on history, George Stone on travel, and Victoria Jaggard on science.
THE LAST GLIMPSE
The swarm of cicadas: It’s that time again. After 17 years, hundreds of billions of periodical cicadas (pictured above) will emerge in America’s mid-Atlantic region. The usual buzzing and clicking of cicadas will turn deafening as Brood X dominates for a month or so this spring, then dies. Only seven of 3,000 cicada species—which, unlike locusts, don’t destroy crops—share synchronized life cycles, emerging simultaneously, Nat Geo’s Amy McKeever writes. All seven species are in the central or eastern regions of the United States.
This newsletter has been curated and edited by David Beard, with photo selections by Jen Tse. Kimberly Pecoraro, Monica Williams, and Gretchen Ortega helped produce this newsletter. Have an idea or a link? We’d love to hear from you at david.beard@natgeo.com. And thanks for reading.
