What is dolphin-safe tuna?
Dolphin-safe tuna is tuna that is caught using methods that do not harm dolphins. One method of tuna fishing that kills large numbers of dolphins is ensnaring the fish in purse-seine nets (nets that close up to from a huge ball to be hoisted aboard ship). Dolphins, which often swim with schools of yellowfin tuna, also become entangled in the nets. Since the trapped dolphins are unable to reach the surface and breathe, they drown. Dolphins belong to the order (category of animals) Cetacea, which also includes whales and porpoises. Humans have been hunting cetaceans, especially whales, for their valuable products since about 1000 B.C. The twentieth century, however, with its development of improved fishing methods, became the most destructive period to date for the cetacea. In 1972, the U.S. Congress passed the Marine Mammal Protection Act. One of goals of the act was to reduce the number…
