New marine mammal regulations criticised

BICREF, the Biological Conservation Research Foundation, is insisting that Malta should not import or export any wild marine mammals or any other vulnerable and protected species.

The foundation called on the authorities not to issue further permits similar to the recent one for the importation of six bottlenose dolphins captured in Cuban waters last year for dolphinarium confinement.

BICREF said it felt the recently renewed marine mammal regulations in Malta (LN203 of 2003 published in August) could have made it easier for these dolphins to be imported from the wild for the dolphinaria.

It wanted to caution local authorities against enacting new marine mammal regulations to accommodate local business needs rather than to safeguard marine mammals.

BICREF said the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, of which Malta was a signatory, listed bottlenose dolphins as requiring careful considerations and permits in any movement, dead or alive.

EU regulations were even more stringent, and bottlenose dolphin trade was banned. Had Malta received any derogation or exemption from this, BICREF asked.

The foundation said that now that the dolphins had been imported, the public should be informed on how and who would be monitoring their survival and well-being, especially in the critical coming weeks.

There were also scientific considerations, including that these specimens were probably genetically distinct from Mediterranean bottlenose dolphins due to the geographical distance that separated the various populations and consequently no local reintroduction in the sea would be possible.

Moreover new pathogens carried with the imported specimens could find their way into local waters if some pool water was being thrown back into the sea untreated.

Conversely, the Cuban specimens could not be adapted to survive in the presence of local pathogens.

BICREF is an environmental non-governmental organisation that promotes scientific conservation research and awareness with particular focus on the marine ecosystem.

http://sites.keyworld.net/bicref/