01.04.08
Posted in Uncategorized, Environment, Sonar at 9:46 am by tiswas
A federal judge in Los Angeles on Thursday ordered the toughest set of restrictions ever imposed on the U.S. Navy’s use of mid-frequency sonar off the Southern California coast as part of a protracted court battle to protect whales and other marine mammals from underwater sonic blasts.
The order was the first time the judge has spelled out specific rules the Navy must follow to avoid a court-imposed ban on training missions with a type of sonar that has been linked to the death and panicked behavior of whales and dolphins.
U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper ordered the Navy to refrain from using the powerful submarine-hunting sonar within 12 miles of the coast, a corridor heavily used by migrating gray whales, dolphins and other marine mammals.
She also ordered that the Navy spend an hour before it starts any training mission searching for marine mammals in the area and that it continue using shipboard observers and aircraft to monitor for whales and dolphins while the sonar is in use.
If any marine mammals are spotted within 2,200 yards of a ship using sonar, the Navy will have to cease its use immediately.
In her 18-page order, Cooper said the Navy’s proposed strategy of slowly reducing sonar power and then shutting it off when whales or dolphins come within 200 yards “is grossly inadequate to protect marine mammals from debilitation levels of sonar exposure.”
The judge, who has spent years poring over studies about whale deaths and injuries after Navy exercises, has suggested in her rulings that she wants to balance competing interests of national security and fleet readiness with environmental protections.
She noted that the Navy’s own study concluded that upcoming exercises off Southern California “will cause widespread harm to nearly 30 species of marine mammals, including five species of endangered whales and may cause permanent injury and death.”
Full story: LA Times
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12.11.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 7:08 pm by
Incredibly, this December 11th marks the 38th anniversary of Corky’s capture in 1969. We say “incredibly” for several reasons. One is that Corky, who has held the record for captive orca longevity for decades, is still alive despite her circumstances. Surrounded by concrete walls, shut off from every natural ocean sound, circling her tank around and around and around, totally deprived of her kin - all grounds for giving up – Corky has endured. From our distance we can only admire and applaud her resilience, and yes, character.
Sadly, we reflect on how thing might have been, if only….
Corky, should be a healthy orca mother, secure within her pod and with offspring to carry on her traditions. Her days should be filled with all the routines and adventures of an orca in her natural, ocean home. Tragically, her reality is far different.
Recently, while preparing a short presentation about orcas, we were struck by the stark differences between Corky’s and Springer’s lives. In 1969, outright greed and opportunism sealed Corky’s fate as a captive. By 2002, times and attitudes had changed. Instead of the life of a captive with its endless boredom, the lost orphaned baby orca, Springer, became the beneficiary of an elaborate plan that concluded with her translocation and reintroduction to her family. Now, every year, we anticipate Springer’s return, and welcome her back to her “home” waters.
As we reflect on Corky’s fate, we are acutely aware that in Japan, plans are being made to capture more orcas. Last month, a symposium aimed at producing a “scientific” justification for more captures was held at Kaiyo University. A report on the symposium (in Japanese, English & Spanish) has been posted at http://www.sha-chi.jp. Needless to say, we oppose any futher captures, anywhere. There is no need to repeat the tragic tale that is Corky’s story.
Just what might it take to bring Corky home? So far “we” have tried appeals, demonstrations, messages, protests, art and songs. Alas, for Corky we have come up short. We take heart that the untiring efforts of so many have helped change the careless and destructive attitudes of years ago, sowing the seeds of the sentiments which gave Keiko his freedom and brought Springer back to her family. Although, we will not give up trying to bring her home, we know that Corky has both inspired and earned this enduring legacy already.
Please, today: Light a candle for Corky, and believe.
(Paul & Helena)
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05.17.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 3:59 pm by tiswas
WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Biologists were counting on an underwater recording of humpback whale songs today to lure two injured whales back down the Sacramento River and into the Pacific Ocean.
The biologists hope the salty water and ample food of the Pacific will speed the recovery of the two whales, believed to a mother and calf. Both were injured during their 145-kilometre inland detour.
To get the wayward whales headed in the right direction, researchers with the Sausalito-based Marine Mammal Center planned to play recorded humpback sounds from a boat Thursday as the tide goes out, then use more boats lining the channel to try to prevent the two from turning around.
“Plan B is herding the animals out using a platoon of boats,” said Frances Gulland, director of veterinary science at the centre.
The whales, first spotted Sunday in the lower Sacramento River, likely were on their northward migration from Mexico up the California coast when they got sidetracked, biologists said.
Because they are at the end of their hibernation season, they have less blubber to rely on for fuel than they would later in the summer or fall.
Full story: Vancouver Sun
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03.24.07
Posted in Strandings at 8:18 am by tiswas
At least 60 beached corpses discovered in two Texas counties this month.
GALVESTON, Texas — An unusually high number of dead dolphins washed ashore in Galveston and Jefferson counties led federal officials Tuesday to issue a rare declaration, calling the deaths an “unusual mortality event.”
At least 60 beached dolphin corpses were discovered in the two counties this month compared with nine during the same month last year, said Blair Mase, marine mammal stranding coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which has launched a special investigation into the matter.
A team of NOAA experts reviewed recorded dolphin deaths in Galveston and Jefferson counties — where nearly all of the dolphin bodies have been found — for the past five years and recommended that Bill Hogarth, assistant administrator for the National Marine Fisheries, declare an unusual mortality event, Mase said.
Full story: ContraCostaTimes
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03.21.07
Posted in Sonar at 7:06 pm by tiswas
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy Tuesday said it had asserted the “state secrets” privilege in a lawsuit by environmental groups, a move to keep the military from being forced to disclose classified information about the use of sonar believed to injure whales and other animals.
Navy Secretary Donald Winter, in a court filing submitted Monday, said disclosure of the information requested by plaintiffs “could reasonably be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to national security.”
The state secrets privilege, if upheld, renders information unavailable for litigation. It can be challenged, although the federal government often succeeds in asserting the protection.
“It can be challenged and we intend to challenge it,” said Joel Reynolds, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, the group that brought the lawsuit.
The Navy action is the latest in a string of Pentagon moves to derail the group’s lawsuit. The Natural Resources Defense Council and other environmental groups say sonar used in routine training and testing violates environmental laws.
They also argue the Navy’s sonar injures and kills marine mammals, including whales and dolphins.
Full story: ENN
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03.14.07
Posted in Sonar at 10:43 am by tiswas
A 15-foot female beaked whale stranded herself on the Outer Banks shore last week and died. The whale, a nursing mother, had bleeding around both ears, but a scientist who performed an autopsy could not say what caused the mammal to strand.
Navy officials said Tuesday that they had been conducting sonar training exercises about 150 miles offshore of Virginia Beach, Va., about 10 days before the whale beached March 7. They declined to be more specific about the date, citing security reasons.
Sonar, which uses sound pulses to navigate under water, is a hazard to beaked whales, which live deep in the ocean off the continental shelf.
The technology worries many in North Carolina because the Navy wants to build a sonar training range about 50 miles off the coast. Environmentalists, fishermen and tourism promoters all fear that the sonar range would hurt their interests. But the potential harm to whales and marine mammals has generated the most pressure, especially after more than 30 whales beached near Oregon Inlet after a sonar exercise in 2005.
In the most recent incident, the whale’s death was accompanied by the beaching of three harbor porpoises on the Outer Banks around the same day.
Full story: News&Observer
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03.09.07
Posted in Sonar at 8:36 am by tiswas
The Navy said it would ignore recommendations from the California Coastal Commission to modify its underwater sonar war games, which can be harmful to whales and other sea life.
The National Resource Defense Council said it is prepared to join the California Coastal Commission in legal action against the Navy for its decision not to take into consideration recommended safety precautions when conducting sonar tests in Southern California ocean waters, said a lawyer for the environmental organization.
“The Navy has a long and proud tradition of not answering to anybody, but, in this case, the NRDC is ready to take them on,” said Cara Horowitz, an attorney for the environmental organization.
Full story: Malibu Times
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02.14.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 8:34 am by tiswas
San Diego, CA (AHN) - The US Navy is considering using sea mammals like bottlenose Dolphins and California Sea Lions as patrol officers.
The Navy has been training about 100 sea lions and dolphins since the 1960s to patrol and protect underwater borders. Now they want to deploy 30 of these animals to protect Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, located on the Puget Sound close to Seattle.
Full story: AHN
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01.24.07
Posted in Sonar at 8:36 am by tiswas
WASHINGTON - The Pentagon on Tuesday exempted the Navy for two years from a law protecting whales so it may continue using military sonar while working on a long-term plan to comply with environmental regulations.
The exemption allows the Navy to conduct more than 40 exercises it plans over the next two years without seeking permission for each under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
Full story: Planet Ark
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01.18.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 9:49 am by tiswas
Wildlife officials attach satellite tag to aid tracking
Survey teams spotted an endangered right whale tangled in fishing line about a dozen miles off Cumberland Island Monday.
The 40-foot-long animal, of undetermined gender, is a juvenile thought to be 2-3 years old. A 3/8-inch fishing line goes through its mouth and connects behind its blowhole like an enormous bridle. About 20 feet of the orange line trails behind the whale.
A team of wildlife biologists from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration couldn’t disentangle the whale Monday but managed to attach a satellite buoy to its trailing gear.
Using the satellite signals and aerial surveillance, biologists tracked down the animal again Tuesday but were unable to remove any of the fishing line.
Full story: Savannah Morning News
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