In this handout photo provided by SeaWorld San Diego, Sadie, a 13-year-old bottlenose dolphin at SeaWorld San Diego, swims with her newborn calf at the marine park’s Dolphin Stadium October 20, 2014 in San Diego, California.

HANDOUT, GETTY IMAGES

HONOLULU — Federal regulators are proposing to ban swimming with dolphinsin Hawaii, a move that could imperil one of the Aloha State’s most popular tourist activities and the industry that has sprung up around it.

The National Marine Fisheries Service says spinner dolphins — the playful nocturnal species that humans in Hawaii routinely frolic with — are being deprived of rest during the day and becoming stressed out.

Swimming with dolphins is popular with visitors and some locals, with dozens of companies on Kauai, Oahu, Maui and the Big Island operating dolphin tours daily.

The proposed rule could shut down or greatly disrupt the industry as it now operates. That’s because the ban would cover waters out to 2 nautical miles, which is where 98 percent of Hawaii’s spinner dolphins rest after they’ve spent the night feeding. Tour companies take customers to these close-to-shore waters to find dolphins.

Ann Garrett, assistant regional administrator of the National Marine Fisheries Service’s protected resources division for the Pacific Islands, said dolphins have been found to be burning calories at a higher rate because they are forced to be vigilant as people approach their pods.

“All of these things can contribute to a reduction of fitness over time — this kind of chronic level of stress. That’s what we’re concerned about,” Garrett said.

Scientists have not done any studies on how frolicking with humans has affected the dolphins’ numbers. But they fear the stress will harm the animals’ ability to reproduce.

The federal agency plans to hold public meetings on the regulations next month and expects to make a final decision next year.

Garrett said Tuesday that the agency aims to require swimmers, snorkelers and others in the water to stay at least 50 yards from the animals.

She said tour operators can follow this rule and still make a living. She said some already do so voluntarily.

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Watch: Dolphin jumps out of water and snatches iPad

Under the proposed rules, “those that are putting their people in the water to interact with dolphins, this would change the nature of what they’re doing,” she said. “They could still do snorkeling for other reasons – it’s just not setting their people within a pod of dolphins or within 50 yards of a dolphin.”

Hawaii’s spinner dolphins get their name from their habit of leaping in the air and spinning around. Some scientists say such behavior is not always playfulness and can instead be an attempt by a dolphin to alert others to danger.

Spinner dolphins eat fish and small crustaceans that surface from the ocean depths at night. At daybreak, they gather in shallow bays to hide from tiger sharks and other predators.

When they sleep, they rest half their brains and keep the other half awake so that they can surface and breathe. As a result, they can look awake and active even when asleep.

Unlike the better-known bottlenose and other dolphin species in Hawaii waters, they are highly predictable in their behavior, returning to the same general area every day. That makes them easy for tour groups to find.

The prohibitions would cover waters up to 2 miles off the main Hawaiian Islands. It would also apply farther from shore in certain waters between Maui, Lanai and Kahoolawe islands.

Federal Court: Navy Must Limit Long-Range Sonar Use to Protect Marine Mammal

Posted on August 5, 2016 by Exposing the Big Game

https://www.nrdc.org/media/2016/160718

Siding with NGOs for 3rd time, Court tells Navy that protecting marine mammal habitat is “of paramount importance”

July 18, 2016

California

SAN FRANCISCO – In a unanimous rebuke, the Ninth Circuit court ruled Friday that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) had illegally approved a permit authorizing the Navy to use its high-intensity long-range sonar – called low-frequency active sonar (or LFA) – in more than 70 percent of the world’s oceans. Designed for submarine detection over vast expanses of deep sea, LFA has the capacity to expose thousands of square miles – and everything in it – to dangerous levels of noise.

The case against the Fisheries Service was brought by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), The Humane Society of the United States, Cetacean Society International, League for Coastal Protection, Ocean Futures Society and its President Jean-Michel Cousteau, and Michael Stocker, a bioacoustician and director of Ocean Conservation Research in California.

In its decision, the three-judge panel found that the Fisheries Service had unlawfully ignored reasonable safeguards recommended by the government’s own scientists to reduce or prevent harm from the sonar system, resulting in a “systematic underprotection of marine mammals” throughout “most of the oceans of the world.” Experts had recommended that the Fisheries Service protect the Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador, the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument off of Hawaii, Challenger Bank off of Bermuda, and other areas around the world important to whales, dolphins, seals, and other marine mammals. But the Fisheries Service went ahead and gave the Navy the greenlight to operate its intense sonar in the vast majority of these areas.

Among other things, the court also found that:

Protecting marine mammal habitat from Navy sonar is “of paramount importance” under the law.
The Fisheries Service has an independent responsibility to ensure the “least practicable impact on marine mammals” (i.e., the lowest possible level of harm)before giving the Navy – or anyone else – permission to harm these protected species; and that the Fisheries Service must err on the side of overprotection rather than underprotection.
The Fisheries Service had given “mere lip service” to the requirement to minimize impacts during Navy sonar training.
The law requires the Fisheries Service to mitigate harm to individual marine mammals and their habitat, rather than ignore its statutory responsibility until species as a whole are threatened.

Photo @ Jim Robertson

Sea Lion Act at Fair Faces Opposition

Posted on July 21, 2016 by Exposing the Big Game

http://www.capecodtimes.com/news/20160719/sea-lion-act-at-barnstable-county-fair-faces-opposition?rssfeed=true

By Haven Orecchio-Egresitz

Posted Jul. 19, 2016 at 9:29 PM
Updated Jul 20, 2016 at 7:01 AM

FALMOUTH — A traveling sea lion exhibit currently featured at the Barnstable County Fair was cited in May by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for violating the federal Animal Welfare Act, raising concerns among animal welfare advocates and scholars who are calling for fair organizers to stop the show.“It just completely goes against the basic nature of what animals need,” said Laura Hagen, deputy director of advocacy for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. “The USDA standards are very basic survival standards. The bar is very, very low.”But fair organizers and the company that puts on the sea lion show say the problems cited by the USDA were either fixed or never existed.Video: Trainers lead Sea Lion Splash show at county fairAt the time of a routine inspection in May, Squalus Inc.’s Sea Lion Splash show was performing at Heritage Park in Simpsonville, South Carolina, according to a federal inspection report.FederalinfractionsLisa Macelderry, a veterinarian inspecting the exhibit, noted that the five sea lions were kept in a pool 41 square feet smaller than required by law and three of them had painful eye conditions. There were no records of the animals receiving required semiannual care and at the time of the inspection, three animals — Zoey, Lily, and Kitty — were squinting or keeping an eye closed.Photos: Sea lion show at Barnstable fair“These are signs of obvious discomfort and painful eye conditions,” Macelderry wrote in the report. “During most of this inspection, Zoey (13 year old California sea lion) was holding her right eye closed. There is no record of any veterinary consultation or initiation of medical treatment.”There was a record of a veterinarian visit in February, in which the doctor noted titers of Leptospirosis in both Zoey and Kitty and recommended further testing. There is no indication there were follow-up diagnostics, according to the inspection report.The USDA found the two caretakers in the travel exhibit were not adequately trained in animal welfare as they didn’t recognize or report the eye conditions, kept incomplete medical records and were treating the water with chemicals without using measured amounts, according to the report. Both employees had bite or slash marks on their arms from the animals, according to the report.The problems cited in the May inspection report were rectified before Barnstable County Fair organizers allowed the group to perform this year, according to Craig Orsi, a spokesman for the fair.“The Barnstable County Fair only allows acts on its grounds that carry all relevant federal, state and local certifications,” said Wendy Brown, general manager of the Barnstable County Fair, in a statement.Marco Peters, who owns Squalus Inc., said the health concerns mentioned in the inspection report were unfounded, but the caretakers were “completely retrained,” after the inspection.“A lot of the things with the eye problems were not correct from the inspector,” Peters said. “We had a marine ophthalmologist come in the next week and none of the animals needed any medication.”Another USDA inspection of Squalus conducted in Louisville, Kentucky, in June resulted in no citations.Brooke Aldrich, who lives part of the year in Falmouth, grew up attending the fair and described it as a “big part” of her childhood. In 2013, Aldrich, now a primatologist and specialist in animal welfare, wanted to return to the fair, but before she did she wanted to make sure the captive animal exhibits had been phased out.To her surprise, they weren’t.That year the fair featured an act called “The Amazing Rainforest Experience,” which included a tiger that looked emaciated and several monkeys, according to Aldrich. Aldrich wrote her first letter to fair organizers that year asking them to reconsider the animal exhibit. She also wrote to Falmouth selectmen, but her concerns “fell on deaf ears,” she said. In 2014, she wrote them again about a lemur exhibit and again no action was taken, she said.Her main concern with the citations from May is that the sea lions may have had Leptospirosis, which can be transmitted to humans, Aldrich said. After the shows, members of the audience are allowed to come up to the sea lions and pose for photographs with the animals giving them a kiss on their cheek.Without treatment, Leptospirosis can lead to kidney damage, meningitis, liver failure, respiratory distress and even death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals — better known as PETA — has also raised concerns about the traveling show and issued an alert urging people to not support the fair, according to Brittany Peet, an attorney and the director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement at PETA Foundation.While PETA has been looking into Squalus for the past two years because of USDA violations, their interest peaked when a former employee recently reached out the group claiming to have routinely witnessed animal abuse and neglect, Peet said.The witness claimed the owners of Sea Lion Splash regularly struck sea lions with poles and pipes during training sessions and, on one occasion, left six sea lions in a single tank for three days during transport without feeding the animals or changing their water, Peet said.Sea lion trainer Ian Fuller, who led the 4:40 p.m. show with his partner, Marisol Martinez, on Tuesday, disputed the claims made by PETA and said that all of the sea lions, which travel from city to city in an indoor pool, are well cared for and are trained only through positive reinforcement.“They’re like our dogs,” Fuller said after the show, adding that sea lions live longer in captivity than in the wild. “It’s the best job in the world.”The alleged whistleblower who claimed abuse to PETA has not reached out to the MSPCA, according to Hagen, who said the group just recently became involved and is working with local advocates to urge fair organizers not to host captive animal exhibits.Cambridge, Plymouth, Somerville, Weymouth, Quincy, Revere, Braintree and Provincetown have all banned the display of exotic animals in circuses, she said.In towns where the exhibits are allowed, the MSPCA is limited in how it can respond because the shows are licensed through the USDA, which must enforce the federal regulations, she said. A warrant is required to inspect the venue specifically for animal cruelty, Hagen said.The USDA enforces the Animal Welfare Act through unannounced inspections, said R. Andre Bell, a spokesman for the agency. There is no open investigation into Squalus Inc., Bell said.“If the noncompliance items cited on an inspection report are of a serious enough nature, the agency will begin an investigation into the matter,” Bell said. “If that investigation determines that Animal Welfare Act violations did occur, the agency will issue an enforcement/penalty action.”But a vast majority of citations don’t result in enforcement, said Delcianna Winders, an Academic Fellow of Animal Law & Policy Program at Harvard Law School who studies USDA enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act.

A December 2014 audit of the USDA by the Office of Inspector General found that penalties issued in 2012 were reduced by 86 percent from the law’s maximum penalty even though the cases resulted in death and other egregious violations, according to the report. For every $10,000 penalty, violators pay about $1,400 dollars in fines, Winders said.

“This is a longstanding issue that the Office of Inspector General has raised multiple times in the past. Unfortunately, even since this most recent audit, my analysis has shown that penalties continue to be steeply discounted,” Winders said. “The problem is aggravated by the fact that the agency insists on keeping the penalty worksheets secret.”

Peters, of Squalus Inc., said Tuesday he has received no penalties for the May citations.

— Follow Haven Orecchio-Egresitz on Twitter: @HavenCCT.

NOAA reminds people not to touch or pick up seal pups

Posted on July 1, 2016 by Exposing the Big Game

By PHUONG LE

Associated Press

Published on July 1, 2016 9:19AM

Last changed on July 1, 2016 10:21AM

AP Photo/Elaine Thompson

A harbor seal pup rests on seaweed-covered rocks after coming in on the high tide in the West Seattle neighborhood of Seattle in October 2011. At least five times this season, well-meaning people have illegally picked up seal pups in Oregon and Washington thinking they were abandoned or needed help, but that interference ultimately resulted in two deaths, said Michael Milstein, a spokesman with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

AP Photo/Elaine Thompson

Ralph Heitt picks up a “Seal Sitters” sign after the harbor seal pup he and other volunteers had been watching during his rest period returned to the water in Seattle in October 2011. As harbor seals are being born in the Pacific Northwest this time of year, marine mammal advocates are urging people not to touch or pick up pups that come up on beaches and shorelines to rest.

Marc Myrsell/Westport Aquarium

A baby seal is seen laying across a shopping tote used to carry it off a beach in Westport, Wash. State wildlife officials had to euthanize the harbor seal pup after it was determined to be unresponsive and lethargic.

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SEATTLE — As harbor seals are being born in the Pacific Northwest, marine mammal advocates up and down the West Coast are urging people not to touch or pick up pups that come up on beaches and shorelines to rest.

At least five times this season, well-meaning people have illegally picked up seal pups in Oregon and Washington thinking they were abandoned or needed help, but that interference ultimately resulted in two deaths, said Michael Milstein, a spokesman with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries.

It’s an ongoing issue along the entire West Coast, from Alaska to California, when people who think they’re doing the right thing end up stressing or harming the animals instead, officials say.

State wildlife officials had to euthanize one harbor seal pup last month after a woman picked it up on a beach in Westport, Washington, and apparently carried it back to a house in a shopping tote. The animal was unresponsive and lethargic, Milstein said.

Another couple found a seal pup on the beach in Garibaldi, Oregon, and fearing the animal was abandoned, wrapped the seal in a beach towel, put it in their car and placed it in their shower at home, said Kristin Wilkinson, a NOAA Fisheries regional stranding coordinator. Wildlife officers returned that seal to the beach, but it was discovered dead the next day, she said. That couple received a written warning.

In California last year, there were at least 60 cases where people either illegally picked up or fed marine mammals, said Justin Greenman, NOAA’s assistant stranding coordinator for the state. Some of those animals were re-released; others died in care or had to be euthanized.

Selfies with seals or sea lions are also a growing problem, he added.

People’s impulse is to rush in and help, but it’s better to let nature run its course, Wilkinson said. The risk in taking baby seals off the beach is that adult seals may abandon them. “The best chance they have to survive is to stay wild,” she said.

Last month, in a case that garnered national attention, a Canadian man and his son loaded a bison calf into their SUV at Yellowstone National Park because they thought it was an abandoned newborn that would die without their help. The calf later had to be euthanized because it couldn’t be reunited with its herd.

“This is our Northwest version, apparently,” Milstein said.

NOAA Fisheries has launched a “Share the Shore” campaign to remind beachgoers to leave marine mammals alone, to stay at least 100 yards away and reduce other disturbances, such as keeping dogs on leashes. It’s illegal to harass, disturb or try to move young seals or other marine mammals.

Wilkinson said they typically see six to 10 illegal animal handling cases a year, but this year they’re seeing them earlier in the season and within a wider area.

Harbor seal pups are born along the West Coast, typically from February to May in California and from spring to late summer in the Northwest. They use beaches, docks and other shoreline areas to rest, regulate their body temperatures or wait for their mothers, who typically are nearby but may not come near the pups if there are too many disturbances.

Dr. Jeff Boehm, executive director of The Marine Mammal Center in Northern California, said so far this year 18 marine mammals have been brought to his center because they were harassed or illegally picked up. Most were eventually released into the wild after being treated but three have died.

“These animals have an innate charm. When you see one on the beach, they just draw you in. They’re small. They’re vulnerable,” he said, but people should really pause, take a step back and call local authorities who know best what to do with them.

NOAA wildlife officers in Washington are investigating a number of cases, including one in which a seal pup born prematurely parked up on the beach and a homeowner placed the animal in a tote and removed it, worried about bald eagles preying on the seal and making a mess on the beach, Wilkinson said.

Last month, a seal wasn’t illegally picked up but the pup was killed after wildlife officials determined that too much traffic and people on the beach meant that the mother was not likely to reunite with her pup.

In another case, a woman picked up a seal and briefly put it in her car before someone else told her to put the animal back on the beach, said Marc Myrsell, who directs the Westport Aquarium and whose staff responded to that incident. That pup returned to the water on its own.

Last week, a pup was handled so extensively at a beach park that wildlife responders determined the constant human interaction permanently separated the pup from its mother. People held the pup in their laps, cuddled it and pet the animal for many hours, she added. That seal was eventually taken to a rehabilitation facility.

With rehabilitation, “you’re giving them a second start, but you might not be giving them all the tools they need,” said Dr. Joe Gaydos, a wildlife veterinarian with SeaDoc Society. “They probably have a much better chance if they stay with their moms.”

Marine mammal strandings concern experts

Posted on February 18, 2016 by Exposing the Big Game

http://www.dailyastorian.com/Local_News/20160218/marine-mammal-strandings-concern-experts?utm_source=Daily+Astorian+Updates&utm_campaign=451026f0b5-TEMPLATE_Daily_Astorian_Newsletter_Update&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e787c9ed3c-451026f0b5-109860249

By Lyra Fontaine

EO Media Group

Published:February 18, 2016 9:01AM

Last changed:February 18, 2016 9:35AM

Daily Astorian/File Photo People stop to look at the dead humpback whale calf that washed ashore on the Seaside beach.

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Neal Maine/For EO Media Group

Workmen move the humpback whale that washed ashore in Seaside.

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A humpback whale that washed ashore in Seaside was one of several strandings

CANNON BEACH — The humpback whale stranded in Seaside in January may have become entangled or struck by a boat, according to Debbie Duffield, a Portland State University biology professor.

More than 30 people gathered for a lecture, “Marine Mammals, the Marine Mammal Stranding Network and Marine Reserves,” last week at the Cannon Beach Library.

The topic was particularly timely. In the past few weeks, a humpback whale washed ashore in Seaside, and a harbor porpoise and two striped dolphins were found on the North Coast. Experts are still waiting on necropsy results for the whale to see whether it was infected or if it had an accident.

The humpback has bruising that could have been from entanglement or a boat strike, Duffield said. It also carried a fairly heavy parasite load for a whale not more than 2 years old.

The presentation — a partnership between Duffield and Keith Chandler, the Seaside Aquarium general manager — was part of Haystack Rock Awareness Program’s lecture series.

The Oregon Marine Mammal Stranding Network, which Duffield and Chandler belong to, responds to mammal strandings from Tillamook to Long Beach, Washington. They see 149 stranded animals a year on average. The most common animals include California sea lions, harbor seals and Steller sea lions.

Strandings allow researchers to evaluate otherwise inaccessible animals, and necropsies tell scientists vital physiological and biological information. Marine mammals’ tissues are sampled and used for studies on ocean pollution, biotoxins and other environmental changes.

Once they evaluate a stranded animal, researchers take samples back to the university to study it in a controlled area and test for infections. After they finish the necropsies, they might prepare the bones for students to piece together.

“Every once in awhile we have species that, because of their charismatic value, are of great interest to everybody,” Duffield said.

For example, a killer whale was stranded in Long Beach several years ago, drawing veterinaries, researchers and onlookers alike. Duffield also recalls when a Baird’s beaked whale came in live in Seaside during a volleyball tournament. “Luckily, people weren’t around it when it started to die and thrash, because it could have killed somebody,” she said.

Why do these animals appear on shores? Seals, sea lions, whales, dolphins and porpoises are primarily stranded due to human interaction, such as gunshots, fisheries interaction and net entanglement. Bacterial disease, cancer and infections also cause strandings.

Sometimes the human-related interactions are extreme. Duffield displayed a jarring photo of a California sea lion that had part of its face destroyed by an explosive device.

She also showed a picture of plastics and debris on the Seaside beach. Sea lions get entangled in plastic bands, but since they bite, it’s difficult for humans to help them remove bands and recover from wounds. In 2010, a dead whale stranded in Washington’s Puget Sound beach had 50 gallons of material in its stomach that was mostly algae, but also human debris, such as sweatpants, plastic bags, duct tape and towels.

The Oregon Marine Mammal Stranding Network works to improve treatment and disentangle marine mammals from debris and fishery gear.

Duffield said that the animals are resilient. Seals and sea lions often carry worms in their stomach that can form ulcers. “They just live with that,” she said. “Their parasite loads are tremendous.”

The strandings may also point to larger forces at work. The El Niño climate pattern that’s increasing coastal temperatures, along with the warm “blob” of water in the north Pacific Ocean, affect the animals’ prey.

“We’re at the apex of these changes that we can actually follow annually,” Duffield said. “It’s a fascinating change that we’re living through.”

The ghost fishing gear crisis

Posted on February 15, 2016 by Exposing the Big Game

read:http://www.worldanimalprotection.us.org/our-work/animals-wild/sea-change-campaign-tackling-ghost-fishing-gear?gclid=CJe3oZOm-soCFQoNaQodwj4PiA

Abandoned, lost and discarded nets, lines and traps are one of the biggest threats to our sea life. A staggering 640,000 tons of gear is left in our oceans each year. That gear traps, injures, mutilates and kills hundreds of thousands of whales, dolphins, sharks, seals, turtles and birds annually. So, through our Sea Change campaign, we’re aiming to save one million animals by 2018.

By bringing together governments, businesses and fishing organizations, we can protect sea life and move towards a future free from the ghost fishing gear threat

Ghost fishing gear: our work

We’re working in three ways to protect animals from ghost fishing gear. We:

Bring together partners to stop gear being abandoned
Support new ways to remove ghost gear from the seas
Help to replicate successful local sea animal rescue efforts on a global scale.

Global Ghost Gear initiative

The Global Ghost Gear Initiative is a big part of our Sea Change campaign. By collaborating with a range of partners, we’re working to understand just how bad the problem of ghost fishing gear is – and to respond with solutions that work for animals and people. The seafood industry spends millions each year untangling nets from propellers, for example, so we’re developing solutions that protect animals and benefit businesses too.

Resources

Download the following resources to learn how ghost gear is endangering our sea life:

David Burdick / Marine Photobank

Ghost Gear Dodge

How to play Ghost Gear Dodge:

1. Visit ghostgear.worldanimalprotection.org and play on your computer or your mobile phone
2. Click/tap to swim up & release to swim down to avoid getting caught in ghost gear
3. Sign-up at the end of the game to learn more about Sea Change work happening locally and share the game with your family and friends to help build the movement

Make the Gillnet Ban Permanent to Save the Vaquita!

Posted on January 25, 2016 by Exposing the Big Game

https://www.change.org/p/make-the-gillnet-ban-permanent-to-save-the-vaquita?tk=yiaboXSGrYZoj8CTjXeQw6T2X-psCv0jRHADusYpMtM&utm_medium=email&utm_source=signature_receipt&utm_campaign=new_signature

VIVA Vaquita Coalition

42,068

Supporters

The critically endangered Vaquita porpoise is the rarest marine mammal species on the planet.

Between 50 and 100 remain, and all of them live in a tiny region in the northern Gulf of California, Mexico. Their only threat is accidental entanglement in fishing nets called gillnets, which are illegally set for the also-endangered Totoaba fish. There is a lucrative black market trade in Asia for the swim bladders of the Totoaba, fueling this highly destructive fishery. The Vaquita is simply an accidental victim in this situation, but nevertheless, it is on the absolute brink of extinction.

2016 is a “make or break” year for the Vaquita.

In 2015 we convinced the Mexican government to ban all gillnet fishing in the Vaquita’s range, which is amazing news!

Now this year, we are going to have to make sure they flawlessly enforce the ban as well as make it permanent with the aid of Vaquita-safe fishing gear.

2016 has to be the Year of the Vaquita, or else it will be too late to save this magnificent animal.

Thank you for signing this petition and speaking on behalf of the voiceless!

Please visit the websites below to learn more about the Vaquita and how you can help!

http://vivavaquita.org/

Enforce Laws & Regulations to Protect Whales & Dolphins from Fishing Entanglements

Posted on October 26, 2015 by Exposing the Big Game

BY: Sue Lee
TARGET: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)

we’ve got 8,320 supporters, help us get to 9,000

read petition +

So many whales and dolphins are continually caught in fishing gear and other methods of entanglement in the waters that they live in. A major concern that affects these animals is entanglement among other concerns due to lacking of fishermen worldwide.

Many whales, dolphins and other marine mammals are unintentionally caught and killed in fishing gear worldwide each year. Such entanglements often leads to the death of these animals. A bill was passed back in 1972 that limited how many whales and dolphins would be caught by fishermen. The laws continue to be ignored but the Center for Biological Diversity and the U. S. Government is stepping up the game to protect these mammals and other creatures of the sea through enforcement of the law.

Since the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act, we are encouraging the National Marine Fisheries Service to finalize its rules and be more diligent in protecting marine mammals. Such an action would drastically reduce the number of whales and dolphins that die in nets each year while also preserving those on the brink of extinction.

Our efforts through this petition is to help the whales, dolphins and other marine mammals from perils of fishing and possible extinction. You can help in this matter by signing and sharing this petition. We need to encourage the NMFS to be more diligent in protecting these mammals.

Things you see when you don’t have a camera

Posted on October 3, 2015 by Exposing the Big Game

A trip to town yesterday was pretty amazing, wildlife-wise. Unfortunately I didn’t bring my camera. From the north side of the Astoria bridge we saw the humpback whale who’s been seen hanging out around in the lower Colombia River for a few days.

Then, after visiting the sea lions who reside on the East Moring Basin docks, we went to Hammond, by to Fort Stevens State Park, and watched a friendly herd of elk close up in a scene reminiscent of Mammoth Village in Yellowstone National Park.

For a grand finale, we stopped to walk the dog at the “Dismal Niche”* rest area (*a name indicative of Lewis and Clark’s lack of appreciation of the area), and saw a group of around 30 harbor seals just offshore in a channel of river. They were treading water, popping up and going under, probably looking for fish though we never saw them catch any). Perhaps they were just enjoying the gentle current in the eddy they found there.

Text and Wildlife Photography ©Jim Robertson, 2015. All Rights Reserved

Walrus Slaughter in Alaska Raises Ivory Poaching Concerns

Posted on September 25, 2015 by Exposing the Big Game

By Samantha Mathewson

Sep 23, 2015 02:11 PM EDT

25 walrus were found dead in Alaska. This raises concerns of poaching. (Photo : Flickr: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters)

A total of 25 walrus along an Alaskan beach were found decapitated. This large-scale slaughter prompted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to investigate, and while the cause of death has not been determined, they believe it could be linked to the illegal ivory trade. Walrus tusks are made of ivory.

“We can’t say with any certainty what the cause of death here was. You know, these animals, from the photos, do appear to have their heads taken off, but we can’t make any assumptions that that’s why they were killed, if they were, in fact, killed,” Andrea Medeioros, of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said in a statement. “You know, people can take the heads if they find a dead walrus on the beach.”

Under the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act, it is illegal to hunt walrus solely for their ivory and not their meat.

http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/16936/20150923/illegal-ivory-25-walrus-killed-alaska-raise-poaching-concerns.htm

Exposing the Big Game

Forget Hunters' Feeble Rationalizations and Trust Your Gut Feelings: Making Sport of Killing Is Not Healthy Human Behavior

Category Archives: Marine Mammal

Federal regulators want to ban swimming with dolphins in Hawaii

Watch: Dolphin jumps out of water and snatches iPad