COSTA RICA (5 Aug 2005) -- Costa Rica has banned so-called "interactive" swimming and scuba diving with dolphins and whales, as well as their captivity. In recent years, amusement parks that sell dolphin swims to cruise ship passengers and other tourists have sprung up in Mexico, Central American and thoughout the Caribbean. The Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA), a trade association that represents 13 cruise ship lines and over 100 vessels, has been aggressively pushing Caribbean island nations to participate in the dolphin slave trade and open dolphin amusement parks. DEMA, a dive industry marketing group, and PADI, a US-based company that sells dive tours, sports apparel and diver certification cards, have also been promoting "interactive" scuba diving and snorkeling experiences, a multi-million dollar industry based on feeding, riding, petting and chasing marine wildlife. | | In Costa Rica alone, there are now at least 45 companies, including dive operators, promoting tours that involve close encounters with large marine animals including dolphins, whales and sharks. To counter the growing industry trend to greenwash tour companies as "non-profit research institutes", Costa Rica's new law encompasses so-called "research" activities in which tour participants pretend they are marine scientists "researching" the species they are actually harassing. © CDNN - CYBER DIVER NEWS NETWORK |
