"This Web site will answer many of the questions tuna importers and processors may have in obtaining dolphin-safe certification for their product at an Internet address that's easy to remember," said Rod McInnis, NOAA Fisheries Service Southwest Regional administrator and a U.S. commissioner to the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission. "It also will help the public feel more confident in the authenticity of the dolphin-safe label."
The dolphin-safe label indicates to consumers that dolphins were not intentionally encircled with nets nor harmed when the tuna were caught.
Due to the unique association between tuna and dolphins, found only in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, Congress passed the Dolphin Protection Consumer Information Act in 1990 to give consumers the opportunity to know if the tuna they purchase is falsely labeled. Mandates of this legislation included the establishment of a government tracking program and the creation of a government dolphin-safe logo.
The Tuna Tracking and Verification Program monitors nationwide the domestic production and importation of frozen and processed tuna products. The program also periodically conducts spot checks of tuna products on store shelves and then traces the product back to where the fish were caught to verify the labeling is accurate. Retail market spot checks have been made in all 50 states and Puerto Rico.
Image Courtesy of NOAA.
