100 dolphins can be captured and sold every year, Soloman Islands say

UP TO 100 live bottlenose dolphins can be exported from the Solomon Islands every year, and the government is encouraging residents to enter into the lucrative trade, the fisheries minister said yesterday.

Live dolphin exports can resume as soon as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, approves the move, Fisheries Minister Nollen Leni said.

Mr Leni said that under CITES, bottlenose dolphins — which are found all over the world, including off the coast of Ireland — can be exported so long as they are looked after properly during the shipping process, that harvesting of the marine mammal is “reasonable,” and that the shipment does not contravene local laws.