Captive Dolphins in the British Virgin Islands.
The British Virgin islands are made up of approximately 40 scattered islands in the Northern Caribbean's clear turquoise waters. This is a dream location for many tourists as it's natural beauty and perfect location fill the expectations imagined when thinking of 'Caribbean islands.' Hundreds of thousands of tourists from all over the world flock to the BVI every year for a chance to spend their vacation in 'paradise', however, beneath the surface of all this pristine beauty, the BVI has a few dark secrets that make their marketing slogan "Natures Little Secrets" somewhat of an irony.
Prospect Reef Resort, one of the larger resorts on the island of Tortola, has announced plans to bring dolphins into an enclosure for a swim-with-the-dolphins program. To most people planning a trip to Prospect Reef, or even Tortola for that matter, this would at first seem like a good idea, and blame cannot be passed because we are all naturally attracted to the mystery surrounding dolphins and what lies behind their ever-present smile. However, these dolphins that are to be brought to Prospect Reef were not born in captivity, and only a short while ago they were swimming free off the coast of Cuba. The capture of a dolphin is a violent and cruel process, more information on the capture of dolphins can be seen at the link on the left.
These dolphins are being kept in Anguilla at the moment where they are being put through 'training' before they will come here. Prospect Reef's website shows the dolphins are expected to arrive any day now. The 'training' process consists of the trainer exerting his/her authority by withholding food until a trick or command is carried out properly. These once free dolphins are not only torn away from family and social pod, not only denied of the ability to swim in a straight line for any amount of distance, not only denied the chance to ever put their highly developed sonar to use, not only denied the chase of catching live fish, but pushed to such lengths that they should now learn tricks simply for our cruel amusement.
Anyone swimming with the dolphins here at Prospect Reef would be patronizing the continued abuse these dolphins have to suffer.
The names of the first two dolphins that are to be brought here are 'Al' and 'Indigo' as stated from the Prospect Reef website.
Eventually their hopes are to extend the same cruelty to another 6 dolphins and have a total of 8 dolphins in this small enclosure.
Ric O' Barry, once the trainer of Flipper, converted from training dolphins to saving them, founder of the Dolphin Project and author of 'Behind the Dolphin Smile' described the pool at Prospect Reef as "... a dolphin ghetto."
This pen is located right next to the main road with heavy traffic, rainwater coming off the steep hillside will flow right into the enclosure bringing with it trash and mud. No planning or study has been done to determine the through-flow of water in the enclosure and it is only 14 feet deep at its deepest point. In the Summer months the water will likely get so hot as to make it unbearable for the trapped dolphins and it is only a matter of time before they will die.

You might wonder why no one has already put a stop to this, because it seems an obviously bad idea that should not be carried out, however the reason for little opposition is quite simple. Governor Frank Savage, who is against the proposed plan but can do nothing to stop it, put it quite simply. He said the people in Tortola -- locals as well as outsiders -- are afraid to speak out against the swim program, as the owner of Prospect Reef Hotel, Mr. Romney, is a very powerful man on the island.
The fact that there is no real local opposition to the swim program in Tortola is a big problem. It seems as if everybody is afraid to speak out against Mr. Romney.

For this reason, many people such as myself rely on anonymity to make our voices heard. Unfortunately, anonymous voices aren't typically listened to very well and in turn, nothing has really been done to stop these dolphins being brought to Tortola.

Yet another reason why this proposed plan should not go forward is because of the lack on research or knowledge of those carrying it out.
Recently, the Minister of Natural Resources, Mr. Julian Fraser, made a trip to different swim-with-the-dolphins facilities in Mexico and the Bahamas. On his return he announced that he had investigated into these facilities and that all were well-run and increased tourism at these locations saying that visitors expressed satisfaction with both the show and conditions of the dolphins.
Firstly, Julian Fraser was there May 31st and June 1st. That's two days! How much information could he have learned about the 4 facilities he visited in only 2 days?
And in those two days that he was there, he couldn't have talked to many visitors, and even so, of course all of them would say they enjoyed the show. But how, pray tell, can a visitor, an untrained, inexperienced eye admit the satisfaction of the 'conditions of the dolphins'?
This is very misleading and set a lot of people who were against the dolphin enclosure at ease.
However this issue becomes even more pressing now that you look at the lack of knowledge and research done before beginning such a project.
I might just add that at a meeting between Ric O' Barry and Julian Fraser, Mr. Fraser revealed that he does not know the difference between a Tursiops Truncatus and the fish Mahi-Mahi. This is an obvious sign of the lack of knowledge of those in charge of this project.

With this kind of ignorance a sensitive project like this involving such intelligent and socially developed creatures cannot possibly be handled properly.

Yet ANOTHER reason for this not going ahead is the SPAW Protocol. (The Protocol Concerning Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife)
Cuba ratified SPAW as of the 4th August 1998. What this means is that by creating a captive dolphin attraction using bottlenose dolphins that were captured in Cuba, Tortola is condoning and participating in a serious violation of the SPAW Protocol.


As the media and the public grows increasingly aware of the methods used in capturing, training, and trafficking dolphins, countries that refuse to participate in these controversial activities will stand out as desirable eco-tourist destinations. By becoming part of the dolphin captivity industry, Tortola will be viewed by many as a less desirable tourist destination.
In an article published November 2000 in the Jamaica Observer, tourism minister Portia Simpson-Miller quotes a recent survey of international travelers. The survey reveals that "91 percent of the respondents were concerned about the environmental conditions of the destinations that they were planning to visit."
Seen in this light, it is worthwhile for Tortola to reconsider the establishment of a captive dolphin attraction. Although at first sight such an attraction may seem like a desirable commercial venture, it will eventually have a negative impact on the island of Tortola.
One thing is certain: The establishment of a captive dolphin attraction in Tortola will forever destroy the slogan of this beautiful island, "Nature's Little Secrets."