U.S. expands 'dolphin safe' tuna rules to end trade dispute

By David Lawder
WASHINGTON, March 22 (Reuters) - The United States on
Tuesday announced that tougher rules for labeling Mexican tuna
imports as "dolphin-safe" would be expanded to the rest of the
world in a bid to end a long-running trade dispute with Mexico.
The World Trade Organization last November upheld a ruling
that the United States was discriminating against Mexican tuna
imports by applying the tougher catch verification and
documentation rules to Mexican fishing fleets in the tropical
eastern Pacific Ocean.
Instead of loosening the rules on Mexico, the National
Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) published
new rules that raised the standards for all other countries. https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2016-06450.pdf
"The United States champions policies that protect dolphin
populations from fishing practices that endanger them, and
today's announcement of NOAA's interim final rule is a
significant win in that effort," U.S. Trade Representative
Michael Froman said in a statement.
"This rule elevates requirements for tuna product from every
other region of the world," he added.
Mexico has been fighting for more than 20 years over rules
that it argues have frozen its fishing industry out of a U.S.
imported canned tuna market worth $680 million in 2014. Mexico
has about a 3.5 percent share.
Among the largest sources of U.S. canned Tuna imports in
2015 were Thailand, Vietnam, Mauritius, Canada, Ecuador, Fiji,
China and Indonesia, according to NOAA's National Marine
Fisheries data.
The clash arose because yellowfin tuna swim with dolphins in
the eastern tropical Pacific, where Mexico's fleet operates,
using speedboats to herd the dolphins and large purse seine nets
to catch the tuna swimming beneath them.
Millions of dolphins were killed before international
conservation efforts set standards to protect dolphins and put
professional observers on ships to record each tuna catch.
Mexico argued the agreements had cut dolphin deaths to
minimal levels - below the thresholds allowed in U.S. fisheries
- and that tuna from other regions did not face the same
stringent tests, with ship captains allowed to self-certify that
no dolphins were harmed.
But Mexican boats were subject to more paperwork and
sometimes government observers to verify that no dolphins were
harmed in order to earn a U.S. "dolphin-safe" label.
After the WTO ruling against the United States'
double-standard last year, Mexico earlier this month had
requested authority to impose retaliatory tariffs against $472.3
million in imports of U.S. high-fructose corn syrup. The WTO was
due to consider these tariffs on Wednesday.
The Humane Society International applauded the expanded
verification and documentation rule, saying it "elevates dolphin
protections while also insulating the 'dolphin safe' label from
further challenge."