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"Dolphin News"
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WASHINGTON- Defenders of Wildlife has received more than 1,500
letters from students around the country urging President Bush to
stop the dolphin-safe label from including foreign tuna caught by
dolphin-deadly fishing methods. In an essay contest sponsored by
Defenders, students in grades one through 12 tell the President why
it is important to keep the dolphin-safe label strong.
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"Students definitely want to have their voices heard when it comes to
protecting dolphins," said Defenders' President Rodger Schlickeisen.
"Defenders hopes to educate and empower students to speak out on
environmental issues, such as protecting the 'dolphin-safe' tuna
label. This contest is a first step for many students to make a
difference."
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Four-time gold medal swimmer and recent national champion Amanda
Beard is the spokesperson for the contest. She now attends the
University of Arizona and is nurturing a long-time interest in
environmental protection and marine issues. "Defenders and I are
calling on school students across the U.S. to get involved in order
to stop the harming of innocent dolphins while catching tuna," said Beard.
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For reasons not completely understood, schools of yellow fin tuna in
the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean swim directly below dolphins.
Fishing vessels chase dolphins to locate tuna and encircle the area
with fishing nets to catch the tuna below. Many dolphins drown in
the tuna nets or suffer severe stress after being caught. More than
seven million dolphins have died over the last several decades
because of this practice. Consumer outcry over the slaughter of
dolphins led U.S. tuna fleets to stop this practice, and to develop
dolphin-safe fishing practices and labeling. The U.S. Department of
Commerce now plans to allow foreign tuna caught using the encirclement technique
to carry the dolphin-safe label.
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Students can still submit their letters to Defenders, but they must
be postmarked by April 25. Letters can be sent as an attachment by e-mail to education@defenders.org or
by mail to Education Associate,
Defenders of Wildlife, P.O. Box 34643, Washington, D.C. 20005. For
more information, students can visit Defenders' Kids' Planet website,
www.kidsplanet.org and its main website,
www.defenders.org.
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Defenders of Wildlife is a leading nonprofit conservation
organization recognized as one of the nation's most progressive
advocates for wildlife and its habitat. With more than 430,000
members and supporters, Defenders of Wildlife is an effective leader
on environmental issues. |
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This section is dedicated to any
verifiable global news about dolphins whether it be good or bad.... This
page's primary function is public awareness of the struggle dolphins go through
just to survive in their own environment! Please, please if you do nothing else
on this site, take the time to understand what is happening to these wonderful
creatures!! If you know of, or hear of any
dolphin news on the net, please drop me a line with the URL.... Then go to the "Electronic
Signatures" page and help them! Or.... if you have a
web-page, please provide a link to this page! |
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News
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