July 2005

Attempts to establish a captive dolphin facility in Fiji's Paradise Island resort have been abandoned following protests in recent weeks by the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) and the Fiji SPCA (FSPCA).  WSPA intervened a few weeks ago on reports by WSPA member society FSPCA that plans were being made to obtain official permission to establish a dolphin tourist attraction. 

In a letter to WSPA, Fijian officials stated “We appreciate your concerns about the captivity of animals and reassure you that no approvals have been given to any such proposals…Now that you have brought up this issue we will make sure that stringent measures are undertaken to curb such issues in future.”

Susan Sherwin, WSPA's Campaigns Manager, said, “We are delighted that Fiji has rejected this attempt to establish a captive dolphin attraction and has preserved its reputation with tourists as a place for eco-tourism.  WSPA remains opposed, on both ethical and humane grounds, to the harassment, capture and killing of dolphins and other marine mammals for commercial purposes.”

The architect of the proposed scheme in Fiji was believed to have been the Solomon Islands Marine Mammal Education Center (SIMMEC), the facility which has been the subject of a long running scandal over the past two years surrounding allegations of illegal captures and subsequent trading of wild-caught dolphins.  Earlier this year, WSPA welcomed the news that the Solomon Islands government had finally banned live dolphin exports.