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Captain’s Statement Templates

For trips that began on or after May 21, 2016, regulations require fishing vessel captains to sign and submit statements for tuna to be certified as dolphin-safe.

National

For all fishing trips that began on or after May 21, 2016, NOAA Fisheries regulations require fishing vessel captains to submit the following statements for tuna to be certified as dolphin-safe:

  1. No purse seine net or other fishing gear was intentionally deployed on or used to encircle dolphins during the fishing trip, and no dolphins were killed or seriously injured in the sets or other gear deployments in which the tuna were caught.
  2. The vessel captain has completed the Tuna Tracking and Verification Program Dolphin-Safe Captain's Training Course.

NOAA Fisheries created a template of the above captain's statement (PDF, 1 page). Captains are not required to use this template, but it is provided as a courtesy to help identify the correct language required. The correct wording for a captain's statement is also found in the Federal Regulations at 50 CFR 216.91(a)(3)(iii)(A) and (B).

Captain's Statements are not required for large purse seine vessels (purse seine vessels having a carrying capacity of over 400 short tons (362.8 metric tons)) fishing in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.  Instead, for that fishery, valid documentation signed by a representative of the appropriate International Dolphin Conservation Program (IDCP) Member Nation must accompany shipments of tuna and tuna products certified as dolphin-safe.  The documentation must certify: (1) there was an IDCP approved observer on board the vessel during the entire trip; (2) no purse seine net was intentionally deployed on or to encircle dolphins during the fishing trip and no dolphins were killed or seriously injured in the sets in which the tuna were caught; and (3) listing the numbers for the associated Tuna Tracking Forms which contain the captain's and observer’s certifications.

More Information

Last updated by Office of International Affairs, Trade, and Commerce on 08/02/2023

Dolphin-Safe Tuna Tracking and Verification Program