Solomon Islands says the banning of the export of live dolphins from next year is a first for the country.
The Prime Minister spokesman, David Tuhanuku, says the acting minister of fisheries presented the paper to cabinet last week, calling for the export ban of dolphins from January.
"There are a lot of areas in the Solomon Islands where we don't seem to have any prior national policies on and one of them is relating to the issue of the export of dolphins. I am not in a position to say why they have decided to do that now, all I can say is we have never had any policy relating to the export of dolphins in the country up until Thursday last week."
Mr Tuhanuku says the export of a quota of 50 live dolphins up to the end of the year can go ahead.
The decision comes as a local company prepares to send live bottlenose dolphins to China.
