Conference misery::feline_v1

      
        As an alternative I know that my local health store sells tuna
    fish (that you don't find in the stores) that is specifically there
    because of no harm coming to such beautiful creatures.  

    This has been going on for A LONG TIME.  I have not bought
    regular tuna in over a year.  Very occasionally I'll buy
    solid white albacore tuna because it is still caught with
    fishing lines (so I'm told) rather than with nets.  And
    for someone who eats only poultry and fish to give up 
    tuna is a bit of a sacrifice...I love tuna fish.
    
    However - just because this boycott has been going on
    for a while, does not mean you shouldn't join it.  If
    you are going to join, write to your representatives,
    write to the tuna companies.  Tell them that you and
    your friends refuse to buy their products if they don't
    put a stop to the slaughter of dolphins!  Let them
    know you're angry and you're putting your money where
    your mouth is!  
    
    There is some legislation (Marine Mammal protection act)
    that would bring a stop to this.  Instruct your senator
    and reps to vote for this bill.  I have not heard that
    it has been passed.
    

    Well, the system burped on the last note, so here goes again........
    are you sure that albacore is the only tuna that is "purely" 
    caught?
    I hadn't heard about this problem.......I did hear about the fishing
    nets causes innocent sea life to die because of entanglement.
    And.......I though dolphins were a species reverenced by people.
    People never cease to amaze me what they will do for the almighty
    dollar!!!!!!!!                                               
    
    kc
    
    

                                                                    
    

    Why is .0 set hidden?  what's up with tuna? cats shouldn't be fed
    tuna?   bad tuna in catfood?
    
    kim
                                

The base note is set hidden because it violates the policy in 1.LAST
about discussing boycotts in this notesfile.  The author of the base
note has been notified of this action but has not responded to my
mail on the subject yet.

To re-iterate the policy:  You may discuss boycotts and give reasons
for why boycotts are occurring.  Feel free to put in all sorts of
factual information such as "Organization XYZ suggests a boycott of
product QQQ because ...".  However, urging anyone to boycott a
product in this (or any) notesfile exposes Digital to all sorts of
potential liability and we cannot countenance that.

Pam
co-mod

    

	I heard something recently that might interest you...

	It seems that some of the fishermen off the coast of California
	are killing dolphins.  The dolphins feed on the species of
	tuna that is found in that area (the yellow tuna), thus the 
	fisherman are trying to kill off the dolphins.  They are using 
	such methods as drowning them under nets, or killing them 
	once they have them on board.  

        A suggested way to stop these fishermen from doing this
        is to refuse to buy tuna fish and cat food containing tuna.
        This will of course hurt all tuna fishermen but will cause the
        innocent fishermen to fight against those fishermen who are
        killing the dolphins.  There are species of tuna fish that
        are not caught off the california coast for those who must
        have tuna fish.  One species that I know of is albacore
        tuna, but there are sure to be others.
        
	Some people feel that if enough people refuse to buy tuna, 
	it should only take a few weeks before the impact is felt 
	by fishermen and this senseless killing is halted.  

	Thanks
              

    re .6  Thanks--that explains much!
    
    re. 7
    
    Having lived in San Diego where the tuna fleet is stationed, I have
    heard about the dolphin problem (semantics here) much.
    
    I do not believe (at least at the time) that the fishermen are
    deliberately on a vendetta against the dolphins.  What happens is
    that indeed, the dolphins feed on the tuna--hang around the school.
    Therefore, when the tuna are netted, some dolphins are ensnared
    in the net and are drowned.
    
    There was a big stink made about ten years ago about this same issue.
    The tuna fishermen maintained that the dolphin kill was unavoidable
    and inevitable.  Animal protetion agencies lobbied to outlaw the
    gill nets (I think that is what they are called) and what eventually
    came down was that the tuna fleet was allotted a permissable "kill"
    number--they would be fined if they went over and in trouble, etc....
    
    From what I know, the dolphins are not so great in number, nor the
    tuna so small that the fleet was worried about the dolphins depleting
    the supply.
    
    kim

    ABC news, I think it was, showed some truly horrible film they
    had obtained of dolphins being crushed to death by some sort of winch
    thing that is used to bring the nets of tuna into the boat.  It was
    horrible to watch, much worse than drowning (which is bad enough) and
    is apparently a typical occurrence as teh nets are brought into the
    boats.  It's bad enough that this is done to animals, but dolphins
    are believed to perhaps be as intelligent as humans.
    

      Well, everybody so far has got PART of the stories right...
    
      The "Tuna" that we eat in this country is either one of two species.
    (1)The Pacific Albacore
    (2)The Pacific Yellowfin Tuna (another species of Albacore.
    
      The THIRD type of Tuna is the Atlantic Bluefin, which is ONLY caught
    by hook and line per International Law.
    
      While there are still some boats taking Pacific Albacore by hook and
    line, the buld of the tuna used today is caught by huge Purse-nets from
    large boats. Dolphins,(NOT to be confused with the Carribean Dolphin
    that is a FISH)or Porpoises--like "Flipper"--follow the Albacore on the 
    SURFACE over the top of the schools of fish. The Tuna fishing boats use
    the Dolphins as indicators that the Albacore are present. 
    
      When a school is sighted, the boats circle the school with huge nets,
    thus trapping any Albacore within the circle. INTERNATIONAL MARITIME
    LAWS THAT ARE PRESENTLY ON THE BOOKS MANDATE that these nets be
    depressed and the Dolphins/Porpoises be ASSISTED in escaping. What
    happens in reality is much different. Most of the time, MANY of these
    Dolphins/Porpoises are not allowed to escape, and no effort of any kind
    is made to let them live. The nets are simply hauled in and any
    Dolphins/Porpoises that are caught are simply tossed back into the
    ocean. By this time, however, they have drowned, since they are not
    fish, and cannot breathe under water, but must surface for air. 
    
      Many articles have been written on this subject by the various amimal
    rights organizations such as P.E.T.A., H.S.U.S., etc. In a number of
    cases, people from these organizations have actually taken jobs on the
    Tuna boats and have observed at first hand the abuses that take place. 
    There was a belief for many years that U.S. boats were NOT killing
    Dolphins indiscriminately, but the articles that I've seen do not bear
    this theory out. It seems that the U.S. boats are VERY cognizent of the
    law when there is a known Government observer on board, but when
    nobody's watching, the killing goes on. A P.E.T.A. observer on one boat
    was told that whistle-blowers would simply not return to port if they
    were found out. Accidents at sea happen all the time. 
    
      If anyone wants to really find out the facts with the Tuna industry,
    you should write to Alex Pacheco at People for the Ethical Treatment of
    Animals. PETA will send you their documentation on the subject.
    
      The problem with International Laws is simply the fact that the
    United States has not ans will not enforce the law that the United
    States agreed to. This is very similar to the International Laws
    relative to Whaling. Both Japan and Iceland are killing whales every
    year under the subterfuge of "scientific research". Scientific research
    which has been totally discredited by the scientific community as being
    unnecessary and invalid. International Law requires the United States
    to apply economic and trade sanctions against the violators of both the
    whaling accords and the Dolphin slaughter, yet the U.S. has failed to
    do anything about either disgrace. 
      I think the thing to do is to write our legislators and DEMAND that
    they enforce the EXISTING laws. No need to put more laws on the books
    if nobody is willing to enforce them.
    
    JM

    I've moved my note below to this note, and add the following
    information;  by complete coincidence, there was a letter in this
    morning's New York Times which agrees with the health food store
    info about albacore vs yellowfin and names the same three
    brands below as having tuna that involves dolphin deaths.
    
               <<< VAXWRK::NOTES$:[NOTES$LIBRARY]FELINE.NOTE;1 >>>
                               -< Meower Power >-
================================================================================
Note 2485.0                    tuna and dolphins.                     No replies
CIRCUS::KOLLING "Karen, Sweetie, & Holly; in Calif." 10 lines  20-MAY-1989 23:49
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    This is what our local health food store says about tuna and dolphins:
    
    Dolphins swim with (and are killed when fisherman catch) yellowfin
    tuna.  The following brands contain yellowfin tuna: Starkist, BumbleBee,
    and Chicken of the Sea.  (Possibly there are other brands as well?)
    
    Dolphins do not swim with albacore and tongol tuna.  The store says it
    stocks only brands that do not involve killing dolphins;  the two
    brands on the shelves were Health Valley and Deep Sea.