Costa Rica says no to dips with the dolphins

Costa Rican officials are prohibiting people from swimming with dolphins or whales, shutting down a growing tourism industry that has been criticised, an environmental group said on Thursday.

The new regulations were published and became law on July 28, but they weren't brought to the public's attention until Thursday by the environmental group PROMAR.

The group proposed the new regulations to the Costa Rican government. Under the new rules, not even researchers will be allowed to swim with dolphins or whales and the animals won't be allowed to be held in captivity.

There are 45 companies in Costa Rica that take tourists on tours of the open sea to observe dolphins and whales, but so far none have advertised swimming with the animals.

Environmentalists feared that would soon come next, and they proposed the rules to avoid it.

Swimming with dolphins has become popular in places like the Caribbean and Mexico, where tourists sometimes pay hundreds of dollars to swim with dolphins held in captivity.

Source: www.iol.co.za