South Pacific Tuna Corporation Responds...Or Do They?

South Pacific Tuna Corporation Responds...Or Do They?

On April 13, 2014, J. Douglas Hines, describing himself as a partner and owner of Ocean Global, LLC and Sea Global, LLC, published a letter on the South Pacific Tuna Corporation (SPTC/SOPAC) website in response to our April 10, blog post detailing the numerous violations of the Marine Mammal Protection Act and FAD fishing closures by SOPAC-managed vessels. Not mentioned in his letter is the fact that Mr. Hines was also the Vice President and Chief Operating Officer and a board member of Bumble Bee until a few months ago, which for some might tend to shade a number of his other assertions.

The Campaign for Eco-Safe Tuna stands by our reading of the Freitas decision and the evidence that the vessels engaged in multiple counts of fishing on FADs during a closure and that the vessels intentionally set their nets on dolphins and other marine mammals in direct violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Further, we stand by our assertion that the tuna caught in these sets entered the U.S. market eligible to be labeled as "dolphin-safe" and that Earth Island Institute has not only failed to challenge the eligibility of tuna caught by these vessels to be "dolphin-safe," they have openly defended these SPTC vessels.

As we reported yesterday, Greenpeace has now blacklisted the five vessels managed by the South Pacific Tuna Corporation.

To read our full response to Mr. Hines, please click here.

You can also access it through this link: http://www.ecosafetuna.org/blog/response-from-sopaca.html#.U2zuxIFdXTo

If you are a member of the media and would like to speak to us about this, please send us an e-mail at: info@ecosafetuna.org.

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