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The article offers information on the International Marine Mammal Project (IMMP), an ecology conservation project based in Japan. Through the efforts of IMMP, the director of food products for Okuwa Supermarket Corp., Yasunari Kanki, banned the sale of dolphin meat in all their stores throughout Japan. IMMP and other groups have been trying for years to curtail the use of intense military sonars in California, which blast some of the loudest underwater sounds ever produced by humans. The Food Lion chain of supermarkets, North Carolina, has agreed to stop all purchases from Dolores Tuna, Mexico. The suspension was the result of documentation provided by IMMP that the tuna is caught by the intentional chasing and capture of dolphins.

The article presents information on the harmful aspects of dolphin fishing in Japan, with reference to the International Marine Mammal Project (IMMP) of the Earth Island Institute. About 23,000 dolphins and porpoises are killed throughout Japan every year, and all of the meat tested so far has toxic levels of mercury. Most Japanese people do not know about either the slaughter or the contamination. Much of the dolphin meat is given away to Japanese children for school lunch programs, yet the parents do not know it is toxic. The functions of IMMP include the continuation of international monitoring efforts to ensure that individual tuna companies do not purchase or sell dolphin-deadly tuna.

The article reports that fishermen and environmentalists who monitor the ecosystem of the Mediterranean Sea have warned that the population of bluefin tuna there is on the verge of collapse because of relentless demand for the fatty flesh that makes perfect sushi. A combination of factors has converged to bring down the size and number of bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean. While pollution and climate change put pressure on tuna habitats, over-fishing is further jeopardizing population health. At the same time, new technologies have allowed fishermen to take in ever-greater numbers of fish. Some fishing boats use spotter planes to identify schools of tuna and then surround them. A system of corralling the fish into "tuna ranches" has also damaged the population.

Focuses on a dolphin safe tuna campaign launched in Japan in 2004. Overview of tuna consumption in the country; Problems with high demand for tuna; Aim of the campaign.

The article offers information on the efforts of Ric O'Barry, dolphin trainer and the International Marine Mammal Project (IMMP) team to protect dolphins and whales around the globe. It offers information on the ruling passed by the World Trade Organization (WTO) that restricts the trade of tuna products labeled with "Dolphin Safe" in the U.S. It presents information on the 2011 International Eco Hero Award received by O'Barry in Toronto, Ontario.

The article discusses the decline in the numeber of large fishes in the Pacific Ocean. The realization that stocks of big fish, marlin, sharks, swordfish, and tuna, are declining rapidly is beginning to sink in. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization considers about 75 percent of all fish fully exploited, over-exploited, or depleted. The crisis can be seen most clearly across the Pacific, where catches are shrinking along with the average size of the fish. Recent scientific reports document that the total biomass of these large fish has declined by about 90 percent in the Pacific since 1950, about the time that new technologies allowed to fish areas of the ocean we'd previously been unable to exploit fully. The solution is to catch fewer fish and pay more for them, while staying out of critical areas of the ocean. It only seems fair that the countries with the remaining fish should receive a far larger share of their $2 billion a year resource and still have some of the big fish around to attract far more lucrative game fishing tourism.

The article reports that the International Marine Mammal Project has unveiled a new Web site directed at consumers who are concerned about protecting dolphins when they buy tuna. The Web site, www.DolphinSafe.org, includes a list of the tuna companies that maintain a Dolphin Safe Policy, information on international Dolphin Safe standards, and the latest news updates on Dolphin Safe tuna from around the world. The site also provides consumers with names of tuna brands falsely labeled as "dolphin safe" and specific instructions on what consumers can do to help stop these companies from killing dolphins. About three percent of the world's tuna is caught by deliberate chasing and encircling schools of dolphins with nets in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean. Seven million dolphins are estimated to have been killed by this method since the purse seining of tuna was introduced in the late 1950s. Today, more than 90 percent of the world's tuna companies adhere to the international standards for Dolphin Safe tuna of no encirclement of dolphins. But tuna companies in Mexico, Venezuela, and Colombia continue to defy international standards and kill thousands of dolphins annually.

The article reports that the International Marine Mammal Project has established its office in Honiara, Solomon Islands, with local environmental activist Lawrence Makili working as the new director for monitoring in the Pacific islands. Each tuna vessel is now required to allow inspections of its catch for certification of the Dolphin Safe label so that the tuna can be exported to Earth Island-approved canners and processors. Makili will have access to vessel stowage plans, captains' statements for Dolphin Safe certification, the actual Dolphin Safe certificates, captains' logs, and cold storage of any carrier vessel. He will also interview the crews of any tuna catcher or carrier vessel. Makili will also be given all records associated with the tuna catch and origin. The tuna industry and the government of the Solomon Islands are to be commended for realizing that Dolphin Safe tuna exports are far more valuable to the economy than live dolphin exports for the aquarium trade, banned in 2005.

The article reports on the efforts of the International Marine Mammal Project (IMMP) to save dolphins in Solomon Islands. In early November 2005, IMMP Associate Director Mark Berman traveled to the Solomon Islands, where he planned to meet with representatives from Soltai, a tuna company owned partly by the Islands' government. While working with Soltai to increase exports of dolphin-safe tuna, Berman achieved an even greater victory for dolphins. Berman heard reports circulate that 29 dolphins were about to be transported to the Bahamas to become part of a tourist attraction. The dolphins that were scheduled for sale were some of the approximately 80 dolphins that had been captured in 2003, outraging the environmental and scientific community. Twenty-eight of those dolphins were sold illegally to a dolphin park in Mexico and of those 28, at least six have since died. Twenty-one more may have died during their captivity in the Solomon Islands. Herman, reporting from the Solomon Islands, said that exporting these dolphins would have brought great shame and economic harm to the Solomon Islands.

Reports that in December 2002, Earth Island Institute (EII) and eight other environmental and animal welfare groups filed a lawsuit against the Secretary of Commerce in San Francisco Federal Court, seeking to overturn the decision by the U.S. government to weaken federal Dolphin Safe tuna label standards. Highlights of the lawsuit; Contention of EII regarding the Commerce Secretary's decision; Primary beneficiary of the Secretary's decision.

Reports on the victory of Earth Island Institute (EII) in a landmark tuna-labeling lawsuit in the United States. Comments from Mark J. Palmer, assistant director of the International Marine Mammal Project at EII; Effect of the ruling issued by Secretary of Commerce Richard Daley in 1999 on the dolphin-safe standard; Individuals and other organizations involved in the lawsuit.

Reports that the United States (U.S.) National Fisheries Service and the U.S. Customs are investigating as of June 2001 an International Marine Mammal Project complaint that `dolphin-deadly' Dolores brand tuna is being smuggled into the country and falsely sold as `dolphin friendly.'

Reports that the Dolores brand tuna from Mexico is being sold in the United States (U.S.). Concerns about the death of dolphins from the fishing practices of the cannery, PINSA; Prohibition of U.S. law on the use of dolphin friendly labels.

States that Europe has become the world's dumping ground for tuna caught by killing dolphins. Consideration of Italy as the largest importer of dolphin-unsafe tuna; Contact information.

Reports that US Federal District Court Judge Thelton Henderson decided in favor of the Earth Island Institute and the Marine Mammal Fund by imposing tuna import embargoes against any nation with dolphin kill rates exceeding the limits set by the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Dolphin kill rates by foreign tuna boats.

Reports that an American court of appeals re-imposed the tuna import embargo against Mexico. Role of the Earth Island Institute in the ruling; Ban of all yellowfin tuna from Mexico.

Reports that US President George Bush's administration has met with the Mexican government to avert a tuna import embargo. Administration's plan to secure an exemption for Mexico; Plan to weaken the Marine Mammal Protection Act; Failure of North and South American governments to set any dolphin kill quotas.