The State - News from April 15, 1988

A federal appeals court in San Francisco allowed the government to put women on private U.S. tuna boats as observers of a porpoise protection program, saying claims of harm to the morale and privacy of the all-male crews were unproven speculation. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals also said a San Diego federal judge prohibited the shipboard placement of women without fully considering the public interest in equal employment opportunity. The ruling is a step away from the “historical taboo in this country that says women don’t belong on ships,� said American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Elizabeth Schulman. Keith Zakarin, lawyer for a San Diego-based fishing company, said he hopes the placements will be barred again after a trial that will include evidence from the first two U.S. tuna boats to carry women observers.