Dolphin Agreement Reaches 10-Year Mark

The international pact to save dolphins from being caught in tuna nets has reached its tenth anniversary and is considered one of the most successful agreements in the world governing the conservation and management of living marine resources.

In 1998, the Agreement on the International Dolphin Conservation Program was adopted by the United States, the European Union and 11 other counties in response to concerns over the high number of dolphins killed in the Eastern Pacific Ocean tuna purse-seine fishery.

Under this program, and its predecessor known as the La Jolla Agreement, dolphin deaths in the fishery have decreased more than 99 percent from historic levels. The goal of the agreement is to achieve zero dolphin deaths in the fishery.