Dolphin-safe tuna certification has dramatically reduced dolphin bycatch in the Eastern Pacific but involves welfare trade-offs for other marine species that consumers should understand.
The dolphin-safe story illustrates how targeting welfare improvements for charismatic species can inadvertently shift burden to less visible ones. The reduction in dolphin mortality is a genuine welfare achievement - dolphins experience complex social lives and long-term distress from separation and injury. However, FAD fishing's bycatch of sea turtles, sharks, and juvenile fish also represents significant welfare harm to numerous individuals. Longline bycatch of seabirds and sea turtles causes drowning and physical trauma. The welfare assessment of tuna fishing requires examining all affected species, not just the target species or the species named in the certification.