letters

Sundry announcements and complaints, and an apology

Doesn't like dolphin parks

Having read the article “Dolphin park responds to critics” in the Panama News, as Captivity Officer for the Marine Connection, a UK-based dolphin and whale protection and welfare charity I felt compelled to respond.

Ocean Embassy Panama (OEP) has had their proposal to capture 80 wild dolphins for a marine park in Panama rejected by the government once already. Now, we see the same company coming back with the same proposal but under the guise of a “major conservation initiative.” OEP’s plans however are far from a conservation plan and essentially revolve around the construction of a large and profitable marine park containing wild caught dolphins from Panamanian coastal areas.

Mr. Turner claims that the captive dolphin industry is being portrayed in a false light, acknowledging that issues have arisen in the past but stating “…we know better now”. I must beg to differ. Yes, developments have taken place but one of those developments is the acknowledgement of the many negative and concerning issues surrounding capturing dolphins from their complex and wild environment for a barren and smooth-sided tank. These captures have serious implications both for the animals removed from their complex pod as well as for the animals which remain in the ocean. These wild captures, however, are the basis for OEP’s plans for a profitable facility --- this does not indicate progress and certainly does not confirm that OEP knows “better now….”

Contrary to Mr. Turner’s suggestions that OEP “doesn't plan to just go out and grab a bunch of dolphins for the park” but that “There will be extensive studies of dolphin populations in Panamanian waters, both on the Atlantic and Pacific sides”, OEP’s proposal indicates that 28 dolphins will be captured in the first year of collection activities and then population studies will commence. In fact, Mr. Turner states that OEP will leave “much of its [OEPs] scientific and educational mission to later stages of its development” implying that the production of profit is of the highest priority. To undertake wild dolphin captures before any population studies significantly brings OEP’s conservation message into doubt and strengthens the fact that they are simply hoping to profit from the captured animals.

Once again, the conservation message is brought into question when Turner states that there is perhaps a dolphin population of two million in Panama’s southern territorial waters and a worldwide population which is not “even close to endangered.” If this is the case then why does Panama need a major conservation initiative which involves the captive breeding of wild captured dolphins? It is of course important to monitor and conserve these complex and intelligent marine mammals in their natural environment but, as in OEP’s latest Press Release, to claim that “a dolphin breeding program… is essential, among other things, to study this species that is so popular worldwide”, is misguiding the public immensely. Panama is in a perfect position to educate the public about the wild nature of dolphins through ethical dolphin and whale watching trips.

Captive dolphins have unique and adapted abilities such as echolocation, travelling great distances and being an aggressive predator, all of which are rendered useless once placed in a barren tank, living off dead fish for tricks, ultimately becoming caricatures of their wild counterparts. Most studies into dolphins are undertaken in the wild because this is where we can study their natural feeding patterns, communications and complex society among other things. These natural occurrences are no longer apparent in captivity as the dolphins are forced to live with potentially unnatural tank companions, no longer feed themselves, are trained to perform and interact with humans and crucially live in a world of barriers so different and constrained in comparison to their liberated world in the ocean. This is not to mention the moral and ethical implications of taking a wild animal and placing it in a small concrete tank, perhaps the equivalent of placing a human in a prison cell 24 hours a day.

It is not the criticism of OEP’s plans which do a “huge disservice to conservation”, it is the contradictory, unethical and potentially damaging nature of OEP’s proposal. OEP cannot on one hand say they are “conserving” wild dolphins when they are also planning on capturing a large number of these animals for the entertainment of humans and to profit themselves.

The Panamanian government must see through the camouflage of this proposal as a “conservation plan” and reject OEP’s plans which amount to a marine park which will profit OEP alone and damage Panama’s international reputation as an environmentally responsible country.

Andrina Murrell

Captivity Officer

Marine Connection

Hoax victim protests, the editor apologizes

I was amazed to discover in your archives that you attribute to me a racist letter that ran in your letters to the editor section last April. I quote your comment below:

"That sort of racism was the norm in the old Canal Zone and there are still some ormer Zonians who spew this sort of stuff, generally during interludes in their hining about how Jimmy Carter stabbed them in the back. It's worse, and downright ewsworthy, if the person spewing it writes travel guides purporting to introduce eople to Panama and its large non-white majority population. So I published it.

"Any explanation beyond that I'll leave to Billy Friar, because I'm  journalist who does not like to play amateur psychologist."

"williamfriarcz@hotmail.com," the apparent author of that letter, is not me. I  have no idea who it is.

 The greenest editorial assistant knows you must verify the identity of people who write in to a newspaper's letters section. You and I have corresponded before, Eric, so you should know that that is not my email address. You had an ethical responsibility to confirm whether I did in fact write that letter --- by using one of the verified email addresses (and, I believe, phone numbers) that you have in your files.

Simply because I grew up in the Canal Zone doesn't mean I spew racist invective.Your willingness to assume that rant came from me is of a piece with your original review of my book, which you later corrected to some extent after I pointed out your errors. That review attributed beliefs to me that nowhere appeared in the book. You even asserted that I'd left out information on Panama that, you later conceded when I pointed out to you, actually was in the book. If someone is being bigoted here, it is you, not me.

Writers, whether journalists or guidebook authors, depend on maintaining a reputation for fairness and honesty, not to mention decency. By running that hate-filled letter and attributing it to me, you have harmed my reputation and hardly done credit to yours.

I ask that you run this note in your next letters section, and that you remove my name from that original letter, and your commentary on me that followed, from your archives.

William Friar

Editor's note: William Friar has just cause to complain, and I owe him an apology and the readers an explanation.

The racist letter in question was one of dozens received from an impostor using the address and name cited. These started out sort of friendly but turned very ugly. This was an elaborately laid trap into which I blundered.

I get dozens, sometimes hundreds, of emails per day to my two boxes, and do not save most of them, so I did not have a genuine email address of phone number to which to compare the bogus emails in any file. Moreover, lots of people with whom I correspond have multiple email addresses, as I also do.

All that said, my mistaken reaction to someone else's deliberate and malicious act has hurt Mr. Friar --- which was the divisive and criminal intention of the author of those emails --- and I apologize. I have removed the offensive hoax from the archives.

My willingness to believe that a racist rant might come from someone who was raised in the Canal Zone comes from having grown up in that colonial society, in which there was an awful lot of racism. But this email, and others with anti-Semitic content, and others with pornographic or threatening content, did not come from Mr. Friar even though it purported to, and of course any implication of racism on Friar's part drawn from it would be as false as the hoax that I fell for and published.

The matter of what to do about verifying letters, now that it's known that part of the long-running hate mail campaign directed this way is conducted under false identification, is something that I have to review. Procedures may change. I do note, however, that the standard "photo plus cedula and maybe even a phone number" requirement that some other Panamanian publications use has not avoided their occasionally falling victim to hoax letters as well.

The matter of what else to do about this pattern of criminal activity directed against both me and in this case Mr. Friar is another thing that has to be reconsidered. My protests to email service providers about the hate mail have to date been ineffective. I have hesitated to take the matter to law enforcement agencies because I find it hard to believe that George W. Bush's FBI or Martín Torrijos's PTJ are disposed to protect me or The Panama News. But now we know that there are other innocent victims.

Sorry about that, both to William Friar and to the readers.

Pen Women in Mexico

The art and writing workshops in Mexico that Sally Mathews and I will be teaching this summer are now on the NLAPW website. Could you please pass  on this link to anyone you think would be  interested?

See http://www.nlapw.org/sanmiguel.html or email NLAPW1@verizon.net.

Sandy Huff

Travel and Outdoor Writer

La Maya Arts Center offers free classes

to communities in Panama

The new Center for the Arts at Finca La Maya is offering free courses to local residents in Panama.

Currently, most schools cannot afford to hire teachers or provide materials for English or Arts instruction.

The new resorts and communities in Panama are developing extremely fast and the local residents’ world is already changing profoundly. Learning new skills will equip them with more employment possibilities and potential for better lives for their families.

As contribution to its community, La Maya offers two classes every Saturday: English Course (for all ages), and “Art for Kids” (ages 6-14). The first English session (in January 2007) had 34 students. As of mid-February the number of students has grown to nearly eighty. The Art for Kids class currently has an average of thirty-six children attending every week.

The number and quality of our programs at La Maya is dependent on the talents and generosity of our supporters. La Maya’s ultimate goal is to provide learning opportunities, cultural enrichment and a greater appreciation for the arts within Panama ’s communities.

Teaching materials and art supplies have thus far all been donated by friends and local residents.

Instruction is also on a volunteer basis. La Maya hopes that businesses and resort communities will join in our efforts by donating materials still needed for the no-cost programs. Books, paper, audio visual aids, long folding tables, stools, and other teaching supplies are still needed. Please contact La Maya for details, or come visit us!

La Maya’s new 500 square meter Arts Center is located near San Carlos on forty scenic acres just over an hour from Panama City . The spacious and light-filled structure is versatile and provides numerous areas for meetings, art courses, yoga, or group activities.

The facility is also available for instructors or leaders of any kind to bring their groups for deeper investigation of whatever disciplines they teach: writing, painting, photography, yoga, business meetings, holistic medicine, or other types of retreats. La Maya welcomes session proposals from private groups. A minimum of ten participants is required and group rates are available.

The hacienda style lodge provides spacious accommodations for up to eighteen individuals, with air conditioned rooms, gourmet meals prepared with local ingredients, beautifully landscaped gardens, a pool with hot tub, and many other attractive amenities. A two-minute garden walk leads from the residence to the Arts Center.

La Maya welcomes press and media visits or inquiries. For details and directions to the finca, visit: www.fincalamaya.com

Starr McCamant

(507) 240-8281 (within Panama)

(901) 414-2844 (from USA or Europe)

Development in the Panama Canal Watershed

This is VERY important.

We cannot allow the destruction to continue.

NOTHING in the way Panama City is currently managed (its infrastructure, basic service provision, environment) would indicate that the irresponsible proposition allowing the urbanization of the canal watershed --- with its enormous importance for all life, particularly in the form of water for our more immediate survival --- will be handled any better.

Please support our attempt to have President Torrijos veto this absurd, shortsighted and misguided law passed with greed as its only promoter. Protect our lives and our investment in the greater good of humanity and our planet.

Leila

Panama Canal Issues

canalissues@hotmail.com