September 1997

" Dolphin Conservation "

From the United States Department of State

Washington, D.C. 20520

September 23, 1997

Dear Mr. Montecucchi:

Thank you for your letter to President Clinton. The President has asked me to respond to your letter supporting dolphin conservation.

The current successful international dolphin protection program has succeeded in reducing dolphin mortalities associated with purse seine tuna fishing in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean from hundreds of thousands in the 1970' s to less than 5,000 annually. The United States has fully supported this multilateral program since it began in 1992.

We believe we need to continue to make progress even though there is not now a conservation problem with dolphin populations. Other nations, however, have made it clear that they will not continue to participate in the current dolphin protection program unless the U.S. changes its laws in ways that will end current embargoes on importation of their tuna.

On October 4, 1995, in Panama, five U.S. environmental organizations, the U.S. and Mexican Governments, and 10 other nations agreed to a proposal to improve and to formalize the current dolphin protection program. This new initiative, known as the Panama Declaration, is contingent on passage by the U.S. Congress of legislation primarily intended to lift current tuna embargoes for tuna caught in accordance with the proposed new program. Five major environmental organizations - Greenpeace, the World Wildlife Fund, the Center for Marine Conservation, the National Wildlife Federation and the Environmental Defense Fund - publicly support the Panama agreement and are working for the passage of legislation that would enable the new, stronger program to enter into force.

The Administration strongly supports this new dolphin protection program and the legislative changes needed to bring it into effect. We believe it offers the best international approach to protech dolphins, and to accomplish the goal of continuing to reduce, and ultimately to eliminate, these dolphin mortalities.

Sincerely yours,

Susan Walitsky

Director

Public Information Unit

Bureau of Public Affairs

The Wild Dolphin Project is a scientific research organization that studies and reports on a specific pod of free-ranging Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis). I urge you to visit the releted web site at the following URL address: <www.wwwa.com/dolphin>.