European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 17, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Debate Over dolphins Are they being exploited tourists in the Florida keys can swim with dolphins $50 fora 15-minute Dolphin  the dolphins Are said to think the humans Are provided for their entertainment. By James Martinez associated press the Chance to swim with a pod of Dolphin Sand e in hop a ride on a passing dorsal Fin has tourists lining up at attractions in the Florida keys but some environmental activists worry the animals will be exploited. Three attractions and a resort in the keys charge As much As $50 each to tourists who have been on waiting lists for More than a month to take their 15-minute Dolphin  where else Are you Able to get up close and feel the Dolphin s skin and experience its gentleness and the Way it uses its Echo location systems said Mike Wood curator of theater of the seas Ocean Park in Islamorada. People leave Here with a whole new appreciation for these animals. It s a tremendous educational  Stormy and Genie the attraction s two 7-foot-Long Atlantic bottle nose dolphins have splashed along with 12 swimmers every Day for the past year. They appear to relish the human Contact nuzzling kisses on the Cheeks of Young women wagging their powerful tails to stand in the water and dance and even flying out of the water to turn somersaults above swimmers Heads. The dolphins chirp and Click after each task until the Trainer has rewarded them with fish. The wide eyed tourists come away with spectacular photographs and a few minutes they la never forget. This is something i be wanted to do my whole life and now i can say i be done it Alan Larosee of North Providence r.i., said As he climbed out of the Oceanside landlocked Lagoon. But the environmental group Greenpeace is not As enthusiastic. It views any Public display of dolphins for profit As exploitative and is calling for government regulation of swim programs. The Dolphin swims in the keys have been very popular and that s been encouraging several big resorts around the country to think about capturing dolphins for a program of their own said Lesley Scheele of the fort Lauderdale chapter of Greenpeace. Our concern is that this could escalate to the Point where everybody trying to lure a tourist is applying to capture dolphins for a swim program she said. This could end up putting a major Strain on wild  dolphins have been a protected species in the United states since 1972 under the Marine mammal Protection act which allows for the tightly controlled capture of dolphins for Public display. But the Law does t specifically address Dolphin encounters or How they should be operated. I be seen some places where they dump 10 people in the water and they re All grabbing at one Dolphin All the animal wants to do is get away said Chip Hershaw a Trainer at the non profit Dolphin research Center on Grassy key which has operated a swim program for three years. There s a right Way and and wrong Way to go about it he said. Theater of the seas Dolphin research Center and dolphins plus in key Largo Are the Only places that have been granted Federal display permits along with special experimental permits to run the swim programs while Hawk s Cay resort operates Dolphin swims with Only a display permit said Brian Gorman of the National Marine fisheries service in Washington . The regulatory Agency has conducted Public hearings on the Issue in Florida and in Washington and has appointed an expert panel to come up with a set of Dolphin encounter guidelines Gorman said. Until those rules Are issued the fisheries service has ordered a moratorium on any More Dolphin swim programs. That has delayed plans by a Hyatt hotel in Hawaii to capture six dolphins for swims with guests Gorman said. Ideally we d like to see the Dolphin swims restricted to Only non profit research facilities places where there s a real educational Mission said Scheele of Greenpeace. Any time profit is the main motive there s a possibility of  the group has also recommended that any swim facility be set up to allow dolphins to come and go from the wild freely and not be forced to interact with humans said to Bricklemyer a Greenpeace attorney in Washington. There May also be health risks when humans swim with dolphins since it is not known exactly what is causing a virus that has killed hundreds of dolphins in the last year along the East coast. Scheele said there has been no proof that dolphins and humans have exchanged such viruses. Wood of theater of the seas agrees there should be some regulation but he feels Many checks Are already in place to protect dolphins and said for profit attractions can help in that Effort. " rhe whole idea that we re out to rape the oceans of ail the dolphins is incredibly misleading he said. The Federal government nowadays makes it a Long arduous and expensive process just to get the approval to Capure a Dolphin there s no Way the Law would allow a big run on  Federal Law allows fewer than 100 dolphins to be taken for scientific or Public display purposes every year yet As Many As 12,500 dolphins Are allowed to be incidentally killed in nets in the commercial harvests of tuna and other fish Gorman said. The number of dolphins that could Ever be taken for swim programs is a drop in the bucket Wood said. Greenpeace has its priorities Way out of line Here. Programs like ours create the awareness to save the dolphins that Are really endangered. We re not getting Rich off the Dolphin swim program either. If we wanted to get Rich we could run this like a ride at Disney world. We would never allow that to  Disney Boom Michael Eisner chairman and chief executive officer of the Watt Disney co., la Given credit for revitalizing the company. By Ike Flores associated press he imagine ers of Walt Disney world have fashioned a $1 billion expansion of their Florida playground at Lake Buena Vista near Orlando including a movie to production studio a nightclub Complex Gigantic hotels and a retail shopping Center. While much of the surrounding business Community is delighted anticipating that a new influx of tourists will mean a continuing Supply of big Bucks a few sceptics exist. Some county officials and local leaders Are concerned about the effect on the Economy on traffic the life style and Utility infrastructure of the two county area that Disney dominates. A few retailers hotel people and operators of smaller attractions Are worried that Disney s expansion into More commercial activities could mean More Competition and less profit for them. They Point out that most of the new projects will compete directly with those outside the Disney Gates. The word is that Disney wants to become a one Stop tourist destination where visitors come to play and stay shop eat and sleep All within the Park s 43 Square Miles. Walter Klages president of a marketing research firm in Tampa says that the economic spillover that has benefited the properties outside of Disney will Lessen significantly. It the building Boom is excellent for Disney but it does create stresses for others Klages says. I m a bit surprised when i hear people say it s not going to affect us it s Only a finite economic pie there Are Only so Many slices in it. If they Are putting All thai Plant in there they Are closing a Market Hole. And that will inevitably go to the expense of someone  Disney executives discount the one Stop idea. They say the expansion is just the natural planned development which the company has Long envisioned other business people Are enthusiastic about the attraction s plans feeling that a bigger More successful Disney world Means greater profits for All. Robert Earl Heads a British company with a dinner show Empire in Central Florida that is expanding greatly in the Leisure business. Asked about Competition from Disney he said obviously i Don t think that Disney s plans will hurl me or i would t be building. I think that All the attractions people will argue that they Are going to hold their Market share. We certainly  the most talked about new attraction the sound stages and Back lots making up the Disney Mem studios is billed As Disney s third theme Park in Florida. Walt Disney co. Chairman Michael Eisner Calls it our biggest and most exciting project since the opening of Epcot Center nearly six years  in Money terms alone it s a giant. The magic kingdom was estimated to have Cost some $400 million when it opened in the Central Florida Forest and Marsh in october 1971. Seventeen years later that s the Price tag on the combination working studio Complex and visitor attraction. Disney s second theme Park Epcot Center with its technology and foreign flavors opened in 1982 at More than twice the Cost of the kingdom. Altogether Eisner says the new phase of construction represents the largest investment we be made to  among other coming attractions pleasure Island an entertainment Complex of restaurants shops and nightclubs being built on a six acre Island at the Disney Village. It will open next year. The 907-room grand floridian Beach resort a luxury victorian style hotel on the Lagoon next to the magic kingdom. Its grand opening is slated for late june. Typhoon Lagoon which Eisner says will outclass current water Parks to the extent that Disneyland blew away amusement Parks in 1955. The Norway Pavilion the 11th nation represented at Epcot s world showcase. Part of it has opened. Wonders of life a new future world Pavilion where Disney fantasy makers have created a flight simulator ride through the human body. This is also the year when Mickey mouse becomes a full fledged senior citizen. Yes the world s most famous rodent is celebrating his 60th birthday. And among their other chores the 3,300 construction workers scrambling around the huge Complex Are putting together Mickey s  fans will ride the Park s steam train to party with Mickey and his pals at his own House in a comic strip town with Candy Stripe rooftops. Dick Nunis president of Disneyland and Disney world says the Disney Mem studios will eventually become the fourth most attended theme attraction in the country following the other three Disney theme Parks Disneyland magic kingdom Epcot. For the first time guests will have the Opportunity to see actual television movie and Disney animation production first hand Nunis told an audience of business executives recently. The studio Complex will have a formidable rival in a new Mca Universal studios tour going up just a few Miles away. Besides the sprawling and luxurious grand floridian Beach resort an International class hotel with rooms priced at $165 to $255 a nigh land is being cleared for what Disney officials Call the largest convention hotel Complex in the Southeast. It will feature a 1,520-room hotel Florida s biggest and a smaller one with 200,000 Square feet of convention space on a 150-acre site. Nearing completion nearby virtually across the Street from Epcot Center Are the first 850 rooms of the More moderately priced $65-$85 Caribbean Beach resort. The tropical Village Complex surrounding a 42-acre Lake Complete with Beach and Palm Trees is composed of clusters of pastel coloured two Story buildings. Caribbean Beach will contain More than 2,100 family priced rooms when it is finished a year from now. When this phase of hotel construction is completed Disney will boast a total of about 12,000 hotel rooms. Also in the works is the Crossroads a retail shopping mall just outside the Disney Village. It will have an upscale supermarket and the first Mcdonald s on Disney property when it opens this fall. Why All the construction seemingly All at once some of the projects had been part of Long Range plans for the Florida property company executives say. Others such As the studio Complex convention hotels More retail outlets Are part of Disney s new look fostered by Eisner and president Frank Wells. The ebullient Eisner 46, is Given much of the credit for an All around revitalization of the company since it averted an outside takeover in 1984. Disney s Touchstone pictures has become the hottest movie to studio in Hollywood its consumer products division increased profits by 34 percent last year and Disney s theme Parks in Florida California and Japan boasted record attendance and profits in 1987. The Walt Disney co s Revenue was $2.8 billion and its theme Parks and resorts brought in $1.8 billion of that a 20 percent increase Over the previous year. Profits were $445 million. The company does not announce attendance figures but analysts figured visits to the Florida Parks at about 24 million in fiscal 1987. The massive Complex is exempt from most state or local government control because of a special 1967 legislative act that helped create Walt Disney world historically government officials have considered the going of Disney and its continued expansion a great economic Boon to the Sunshine state. But explosive growth around it has prompted some impatience with the status quo and some area officials want to change or repeal the act to make Disney More responsive to local conditions. Orange county commissioner Lou Treadway an outspoken proponent of making Disney pay its Way contends that the company has gone far and beyond the legislative intent which to says was merely to smooth the Way for a theme Park when you get into building shopping centers for instance that s a different Story. That s not a tourist attraction Treadway said. Page 14 the stars and stripes sunday july 17,1988 the stars and stripes Page 15