Mexican Tuna Embargoed Over Dolphin Deaths

A federal appeals court on Wednesday embargoed tuna caught by Mexico’s fleet because it uses nets that kill dolphins in excess of U.S. limits.

The embargo, hotly contested by Mexico and the U.S. Commerce Department, is expected to remain in effect for at least a year while commerce officials collect data on the Mexican fleet’s efforts to reduce the dolphin killing.

The court decision was a “tremendous victory,” said Joshua Floum, attorney for the Earth Island Institute, which sought to lift a stay that was imposed on the embargo, which a federal judge issued last year.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a unanimous order lifting a stay that was imposed on the embargo, which U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson ordered in October.

Floum said the ruling immediately reimposes the October embargo.

The dolphin, an air-breathing mammal, swims above schools of tuna. Large numbers of the dolphins often drown when they become tangled in nets or are crushed when the nets are mechanically hauled around the fishing vessels.