Tuna Firm OKs Inspection for ‘Dolphin-Safe’ Methods

Unicord, the Thailand-based owner of San Diego-based Bumble Bee Seafoods, on Friday agreed to fund a dockside observer at its Thailand canneries in an attempt to disprove recent allegations that its workers process tuna that are not caught by “dolphin-safe” methods.

In response, a San Francisco-based environmental group that has accused Unicord of processing tuna that is not dolphin-safe, questioned whether an observer would be able to ensure that the company processes only tuna that is caught through methods that don’t injure or kill marine mammals.

“The money for monitoring is something we’ve been calling for but, once again, (Unicord’s) stated policy is not entirely dolphin-safe,” said David Phillips, executive director of Earth Island Institute. “Unicord continues to buy tuna caught by drift nets” that cause dolphins to be maimed or killed, Phillips said.

Mark Koob, president of Bumble Bee Seafoods, who spoke to reporters before a Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the Westgate Hotel, denied that Bumble Bee markets tuna not caught in a dolphin-safe manner. More than 2 dozen protesters representing Earth Island Institute and a handful of other environmental groups protested outside while Koob spoke to the chamber group.

Koob said the decision to fund a monitor, who would be selected by environmental groups, was made by Unicord President and owner Dumri Konantakiet. Unicord processes much of the tuna that Bumble Bee markets in the U.S. Konantakiet also pledged to make dolphin-safe documentation provided by fishermen available to “any responsible environmental group,” Koob said.

The dispute between Earth Island Institute and Unicord and Bumble Bee dates back to April, when Bumble Bee, San Diego-based Van Kamp Seafood, which packs Chicken of the Sea brand tuna, and StarKist Seafood Co., a Long Beach-based subsidiary of H.J. Heinz, agreed to can only tuna that was caught through dolphin-safe methods. The pledge covered not only tuna sold in the U.S., the world’s largest tuna market, but elsewhere in the world.

StarKist and Chicken of the Sea tuna have been dolphin-safe since that announcement in April, according to environmental groups. But, during a Friday press conference, Koob said that Bumble Bee’s canneries were, in some cases, slower to switch over to dolphin-safe tuna because Bumble Bee “felt a moral and legal obligation” to honor existing contracts with fishermen who used methods that are more likely to kill marine mammals.

However, the last Unicord cannery switched over to a completely dolphin-safe supply of tuna on July 31, Koob said. Since then, Unicord and Bumble Bee have “collected documentation” that proves that the fish are caught by dolphin-safe methods.