No Laws for Dolphin Trade Ban

The Solomon Islands government says its laws donot provide for a ban on the dolphin trade.

The environmental organisation, Earth Island Institute, has called for a ban on the controversial trade. The doplin export earns the government 25 percent of the sale price of each animal in taxes.

However, the Minister for the Environment and Conservation, Hon. Gordon Darcy Lilo, says the government is bound by the spirit of the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species.

"In particular Appendix II si what we are doing it right now. In fact we're about to commence a survey of the dolphin over the next five years to know exactly whether or not the method in which we have captured or take dolphins out of their usual place is detrimental to their population."

Mr Darcy Lilo objects to the demands of the NGOs saying they claim authority when they have none.