Japan Won’t Follow U.S. Lead on ‘Dolphin-Safe’ Tuna

Japan’s tuna industry said Friday that it will not follow the decision of top American tuna canners to use only dolphin-safe methods of catching tuna but promised to study alternatives to dolphin-threatening fishing procedures.

“The U.S. companies’ decision will have little effect on the Japanese fishing industry,” said Yasushi Tamaki, an official of the drift net fishing section of the Japanese Overseas Fishing Union.

StarKist Seafood Co., Van Camp Seafood Co., which makes Chicken of the Sea, and Bumble Bee Seafood Inc. announced Thursday that they would stop buying tuna from fishermen whose nets simultaneously trap and kill dolphins.

The announcement came after the tuna canners were harshly criticized by environmentalists. No similar movement exists in Japan.

Japanese fishermen are responsible for about 30% of the world tuna, swordfish and bonito catch and have been criticized by environmentalists from abroad for their use of drift nets--nearly invisible giant nets that can kill or maim dolphins in the process of catching other fish.

Yasushi said his industry will not be hurt by the U.S. preference for dolphin-safe tuna because “we only export 400 to 500 tons of tuna to the United States every year.”

Japanese fishermen catch more than 10,000 tons of tuna a year, according to government figures.

A spokesman at the Fisheries Agency, the government agency that oversees the industry, said he could not comment on the move by the American companies except to say it is a “serious problem.”

A representative at the Japanese Fishing Assn., a private organization representing 366 fishing companies and individual fishermen, also refused to comment.