Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources Nollen Leni of Solomon Islands

Nollen Leni said that the Solomon Islands Government has never broken any laws to export dolphins.

Mr Leni said the exporting company had in fact followed the investment regulations of Solomon Islands when it set up its dolphin training facilities at Gavutu Island.

Mr Leni said arguments expressed by animal activists based on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species on endangered species (CITES) were completely baseless.

Mr Leni said the CITES is not a body of law, arguing that it is just a set of agreed principles by countries to put in place measures to manage their resources.

Mr Leni said activists have failed to rally international criticism against other bigger countries in Central America that involved largely in dolphin trade for many years.

Fisheries Minister Nollen Leni has reportedly told Naomi Rose of the Humane Society International in the United States that the killing of dolphins was part of Solomon's culture and exporting them live could earn money for the country.

MINISTER of Fisheries Nollen Leni has been ordered by the High Court to vacate his house and area at Lungga.

It is my opinion that you are challenging the authority of the office of the lands commissioner and the only way out is put this matter to the courts to decide, Mr Leni said in his letter to Mr Wong.

However, it is not clear whether Mr Leni has already vacated the building and the land and surrendered them to Mr Wong.

Mr Leni said the lifting of the ban means that the people of Western and Choiseul provinces can now be able to harvest the marine resource and help them rebuild their lives after the massive destruction caused to lives and property in the wake of the recent earthquake and associate tsunami.

Mr Leni said the ban was imposed since last year but was lifted as a result of a cabinet endorsement made in the light of the double calamities affecting the regions.

Minister for Fisheries and Marine Resource Development, Nollen Leni said the new rules will come into force next month.

Mr Leni said these new measures will control and monitor operations of fishing vessels licensed to fish within the country's exclusive economic zone.

The Solomons' Fisheries Minister Nollen Leni is actively encouraging locals to capture up to 100 of the dolphins each year for export.

HONIARA, June 30 Asia Pulse - Solomon Islands Minister for Fisheries and Marine Resources Nollen Leni has refuted claims that he defied his cabinet's stand by voting in support of commercial whaling at the recent International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting held in St.

the shipment doesn't contravene local laws.

Mr Leni says he had maintained Cabinet's directive by abstaining when the vote on whether to lift the moratorium on commercial whaling or not.

Leni says since Australia withdrew the motion on scientific whaling, the issue was not put to the vote.

Mr Leni says he was wrongly interpreted as having voted in favour of Japan's position on a totally separate issue from the two issues.

Leni says what he voted for was a resolution calling on IWC to restrict its activities to the original Convention.

Meanwhile, the Fisheries Minister Mr Leni says his delegation was under constant intimidation from Australia and New Zealand during the week-long I-W-C conference.

Mr Leni said each dolphin is priced at 200,000 US dollars (GBP100,000) in the Dubai market.

Mr Leni said Cites, which the Solomons ratified earlier this year, isnot a body of law, but a set of agreed principles and guidelines put in place by countries to manage their resources.

Leni said that under CITES, bottlenose dolphins can be exported so long as they are looked after properly during the shipping process, that harvesting of the marine mammal is "reasonable," and that the shipment doesnt contravene local laws.

Mr Leni said the money has already been paid to the Central Bank of Solomon Islands.

Mr Leni said the Association however does not have any formal representative in Solomon Islands so that is why it has to come through the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources.

Nollen Leni says there has to be a full investigation into Mr Alebua`s actions and into accusations that he, like other politicians has dipped into a questionable compensation payments.

Leni said each dolphin goes for $200,000 on the Dubai market.

Leni said US figures showed US fishing fleets killed around 65,000 dolphins in nets a year.

Leni said each dolphin is priced at US$200,000 (140,000) in the Dubai market.

Leni said that his country has never broken any laws while exporting dolphins, and that animal rights activists arguments, based on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), were completely baseless.

Export was banned in 2003 after an outcry about the capture of dozens of the animals, but now fisheries minister Nollen Leni has announced that up to 100 can be legally exported each year, if the move is approved by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

Export was banned in 2003 after an outcry about the capture of dozens of the animals, but now fisheries minister Nollen Leni has announced that up to 100 can be legally exported each year.

Instead, Fisheries Minister Nollen Leni said his government would call on the IWC to make an urgent commitment to complete the Revised Management Scheme which enables the commission to inspect, monitor and control the harvesting of whales.

In August, Fisheries Minister Nollen Leni said it would encourage the capture and sale of up to 100 bottlenose dolphins a year for the lucrative trade in the live mammals.

Fisheries Minister Nollen Leni has said the government would now encourage the capture and sale of up to 100 bottlenose dolphins a year for export, noting that water parks would pay tens of thousands of dollars (euros) for a trained dolphin.

Mr Leni said there are many issues that they failed to lead the nation in the right way one of them is the Pacific Islands Forum.