National Geographic News, Reporting Your World Daily

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Photo: Dolphin Numbers Still Low Despite "Safe" Tuna Fishing, Experts Say


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Spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostris) ride the wake of a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) research vessel. From the 1950s to the 1970s tuna fishers killed millions of spinner and spotted dolphins caught as bycatch.

Today NOAA-led teams regularly survey the ecosystem of the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean searching for clues as to why dolphin populations there have yet to recover despite nearly 20 years of friendlier fishing practices.

Photograph courtesy NOAA NMFS SWFSC PRD