Calls for boycott of French Polynesia dolphin centre

Transcript

Sea Shepherd French Polynesia is calling on the public to boycott the territory's only dolphin centre in Moorea.

Its coordinator, Yves-Michel Denis, says the three dolphins who live at the water park are effectively in jail, confined to a caged area in the lagoon.

He told Mary Baines while the conditions at the centre are not as bad as some other international water parks, the sea mammals should be in the wild with their families.

YVES-MICHEL DENIS: We have launched a campaign to ask people to boycott, to avoid to go and spend their money at the Moorea Dolphin Centre in Moorea. Because there are three dolphins that we consider in jail doing tricks for tourists, just as they do in Sea World in other countries or the marine land in France. It is not forbidden but we are against it and we have decided to make people realise that this kind of activity should not exist in our country as we can see dolphins everywhere around the islands, I mean free dolphins living in their natural environments.

MARY BAINES: So what are the conditions like at the centre?

YMD: They are not that bad, compared to Sea World parks and thinks like that, they're not so bad. These animals live in the lagoon but they are inside cages. It is a pretty big park but not big enough for the dolphins. Dolphins can swim hundreds of kilometres every day and they live in a very small area compared to the capacity of this animal. So they are in jail. To us they are in jail. We met the people from this park and they say the dolphins are well treated. I can believe that. But still to us these animals shouldn't be inside a cage, they should be in a natural environment with their family.

MB: You're calling on tourists to not go to the centre anymore - how big of a tourist attraction is it? How many people go through there?

YMD: I don't have the number exactly but less and less people go there now. At the beginning it was pretty popular and now when people see what happens in the rest of the world and see movies like Black Fish or The Cove, they begin to understand that these animals have nothing to do in this kind of area.

MB: Is this the only dolphin centre in French Polynesia or are there others still around?

YMD: It's the only one in French Polynesia, since the beginning, it has been the only one. There are two or three others in France, but in French Polynesia it is the only one and it has always been like that. They opened this park in 1994.