Tag Archives: marine mammal

Whale of a Fight Over Bringing Belugas to U.S.

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http://www.11alive.com/story/news/2014/08/20/beluga-whale/14325783/

ATLANTA, Ga. — The Georgia Aquarium wants to bring 18 Beluga Whales to the US.

The Aquarium was denied their request to bring the whales here more than two years ago, but Wednesday, they will appeal that decision.

When they first asked to bring the mammals here, it started a firestorm of controversy from animal rights advocates.

The whales were collected at a research facility in Russia in 2006, 2010, and 2011.

There has been strong opposition to bringing the Belugas to the US from environmentalists who think the whales should stay put… But the aquarium argues it would do more good to have them here, where they say they can teach people to care about wildlife and serve as ambassadors.

This is a very long running fight between the two groups.

All the way back in June of 2012, the Aquarium submitted the application to bring the whales to the US.

A year later, in November, NOAA denied their application, which at the time, was unexpected.

The Georgia Aquarium filed their appeal, in October of 2013

The court will hold a hearing on Wednesday about documents the Georgia Aquarium wants uncovered.

According to the Aquarium, NOAA seemed likely to approve their request and then changed course.

The Aquarium is asking for all documents related to the decision not to allow the whales to come to the US.

There will likely not be a ruling Wednesday.

Urge President Obama to end the Navy’s deadly assault on whales

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From NRDC.org:  How many whales have to die before the Navy reins in its use of dangerous sonar and explosives during routine training and testing exercises?

Just recently, beaked whales mass-stranded and died — for the fourth time — on the beaches of Greece during U.S. Navy joint exercises offshore. Experts are alarmed that the region’s beaked whale populations are being decimated.

As Commander in Chief, President Obama can end the Navy’s deadly assault on whales right now with one stroke of his pen. But that is unlikely to happen unless hundreds of thousands of us make our voices heard loud and clear.

Tell the President to intervene immediately and direct the Navy to put vital whale habitat off-limits during routine training.

The Navy estimates it could kill nearly 1,000 marine mammals over the next five years during training and testing with sonar and explosives. There will be more than 13,000 serious injuries, such as permanent hearing loss or lung damage.

The National Marine Fisheries Service — the agency charged with defending marine mammals — has not delivered on its promise of protective action. Instead, it has authorized the Navy to inflict an unprecedented level of harm on whales and dolphins.

It’s time for the Commander in Chief to lay down the law.

Please tell President Obama not to allow the military killing of marine mammals on his watch. Call on him to put marine mammal habitats off-limits to sonar and explosives — for good.

Why whale poo could be the secret to reversing the effects of climate change

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http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/08/whale-poo-reverse-climate-change

I have been at the wrong end of a defecating sperm whale: it smells, it’s nutrient rich, and could just save the world
A whale seen under a whalewatching boat in Peninsula Valdez, Argentina.

A whale seen under a whalewatching boat in Peninsula Valdez, Argentina. Photograph: Justin Hofman / Barcroft Media

The first success of the environmental movements of the 1960s was to save the whale. Now, with deep irony, whales may be about to save us with their poo. A new scientific report from the University of Vermont, which gathers together several decades of research, shows that the great whales which nearly became extinct in the 20th century – and are now recovering in number due to the 1983 ban on whaling – may be the enablers of massive carbon sinks via their prodigious production of faeces.

Not only do the nutrients in whale poo feed other organisms, from phytoplankton upwards – and thereby absorb the carbon we humans are pumping into the atmosphere – even in death the sinking bodies of these massive animals create new resources on the sea bed, where entire species exist solely to graze on rotting whale. There’s an additional and direct benefit for humans, too. Contrary to the suspicions of fishermen that whales take their catch, cetacean recovery could “lead to higher rates of productivity in locations where whales aggregate to feed and give birth”. Their fertilizing faeces here, too, would encourage phytoplankton which in turn would encourage healthier fisheries.

Such propositions speak to our own species’ arrogance. As demonstrated in the fantastical geoengineering projects dreamed up to address climate change, the human race’s belief that the world revolves around it knows no bounds. What if whales were nature’s ultimate geoengineers? The new report only underlines what has been suspected for some time: that cetaceans, both living and dead, are ecosystems in their own right. But it also raises a hitherto unexplored prospect, that climate change may have been accelerated by the terrible whale culls of the 20th century, which removed hundreds of thousands of these ultimate facilitators of CO2 absorption. As Greg Gatenby, the acclaimed Canadian writer on whales told me in response to the Vermont report, “about 300,000 blue whales were taken in the 20th century. If you average each whale at 100 tons, that makes for the removal from the ocean of approximately 30m tons of biomass. And that’s just for one species”.

A defecating sperm whale off the coast of Sri Lanka. A defecating sperm whale off the coast of Sri Lanka. Photograph: Andrew Sutton There’s another irony here, too. American whaling, as celebrated in Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick (1851), declined in part because of the discovery of mineral oil wells in the second half of the 19th century. One unsustainable resource – the whale oil which lit and lubricated the industrial revolution – was replaced by another. By killing so many whales, then turning to carbon-emitting mineral oil, humans created a double-whammy for climate change. (Conversely, and perhaps perversely, some US commentators have claimed that capitalism saved the whales rather than environmentalists. They contend that our use of mineral oil actually alleviated the pressure on whale populations – proof, they say, that human ingenuity has the ultimate power to solve the planet’s problems).

The 10 scientists who jointly contributed to the new paper note the benefits of “an ocean repopulated by the great whales”. Working on a whalewatching boat off Cape Cod last month, I witnessed astonishing numbers of fin whales, humpbacks and minkes feeding on vast schools of sand eels. I watched dozens of whales at a time, co-operatively hoovering up the bait – and producing plentiful clouds of poo in the process. (Having been at the receiving end of a defecating sperm whale, I can testify to its richly odiferous qualities.)

Observers in the Azores have reported similarly remarkable concentrations of cetaceans this summer. And with a 10% increase in humpback calves returning to Australian waters each year, and blue whales being seen in the Irish Sea, a burgeoning global population of cetaceans might not just be good for the whalewatching industry, they may play a significant role in the planet’s rearguard action against climate change.

It would certainly be a generous return on their part, given what we’ve inflicted on them. Indeed, as Melville imagined in his prophetic chapter in Moby-Dick, Does the Whale’s Magnitude Diminish?, the whale might yet have the last laugh, regaining its reign in a flooded world of the future to “spout his frothed defiance to the skies”.

Your Custom and Cultural Quaintness Won’t Get You Out of it This Time

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DSC_0131Your hatred of seals and sea lions runs deep. Your father was a commercial fisherman, like his father before him. If they taught you anything about fishing, it was that marine mammals are the enemy. They serve no earthly purpose; the only good one is a dead one.

Never mind that seals and sea lions evolved over tens of millions of years to adapt to aquatic habitats, eventually becoming nature’s perfect fishers; that species of fish and other sea life evolved in harmony with pinnipeds and so were able to withstand their level of predation; or that the reasons salmon are more scarce than they were for your grand-pappy are all because of human activity—including commercial fishing.

That so-called “evolution” stuff is just some big lie made up by “scientists” who don’t know shit from Shinola and probably work for that other arch-enemy: the federal government. (Forget that the government has practically handed you a living since they granted your ancestors their first commercial fishing license.)

Your bible tells you the Earth is only 6,000 years old and that your god loves you better than he does any damn seal or sea lions. Anything you think you have to do to feed your family is forgivable in the eyes of the lord. Studying nature, any further than learning where the schools of fish are likely to be on a given day, is heresy.

Your sense of entitlement is trumped only by your all-consuming hatred of seals and sea lions. So what if they look cute and comical hauled out on beaches or docks in the marina, those beaches and docks belong to you, not them! So do the fish they steal from you and the nets they mess up when they get entangled in them.

So you bring your rifle along whenever you’re out at sea. Shooting them, as your daddy did before you, is the one thing that makes you feel better. It feels good when you see your bullet find its mark and tear into their flesh. It’s not legal anymore, but no one’s watching or does anything about it. You’d have to be pretty obvious to get into any trouble.

Who cares that most of them don’t die outright, but instead suffer slowly with of lead poisoning or infection. Most of them sink to the bottom eventually—out of sight, out of mind.

Sometimes they wash up on your beach or haul out to give birth. It really burns you when people appreciate them and try to protect them with signs warning drivers to watch out for them.

Last week a pregnant seal hauled out and people gushed while she brought yet another seal into the world. If there’s one thing there are too many of, it’s seals and sea lions. God will back you up on that. Do-gooders waited and watched over her, placing signs around her to warn motorists.

It shouldn’t have been an issue, since the upland dunes are off-limits to driving, but your hatred of seals and sea lions blinds you to rules and regulations. The do-gooders were around all day and into the evening, so you wait until the early-morning tide, when no one will witness.

You’ve watched the seal from a distance and know just where to find her as you drive your big, jacked-up four-by-four a mile north of the Ocean Park beach approach. This is your home turf and you know exactly where to go. You find the seal and her pup just where you saw them the day before, in the upland dune grass, where the feds say you shouldn’t drive because some nesting birds take precedence over your fun.

The signs on either side of the seals are visible before the animals are, and you use them to help you zero in on your target. Shooting them would be easier, but the noise might attract attention, so you do the next best thing—you run right over the mother seal, severing her tail.

Checking on your handy work, you see that she’s bleeding badly and will no doubt die

A mother harbor seal, who had recently given birth, was found dead on the beach north of the Ocean Park beach approach last week, thought to have been a victim of an intentional vehicular killing. Photo by SUZY WHITTEY / Chinook Observer

A mother harbor seal, who had recently given birth, was found dead on the beach north of the Ocean Park beach approach last week, thought to have been a victim of an intentional vehicular killing.
Photo by SUZY WHITTEY / Chinook Observer

from her wounds. The pup, on the other hand, is unharmed, but bleating noisily. Someone will probably nurse it back to health if they find it there, so you stuff the newborn pup in a sack, throw it in the back of the truck and bring it to your property in the woods.

What you do with the pup there, people can only speculate. It might come out later in your trial. You were sloppy this time; you left tire tracks where people don’t normally drive. It’s not like no one knows you or ever sees you driving the beach there.

You shocked a lot of people and a lot of folks are angry. People may like to celebrate fishermen, but your feeble rationalizations and your custom and cultural quaintness won’t get you out of it this time.

Text and Wildlife Photography© Jim Robertson

Text and Wildlife Photography© Jim Robertson

End the “Lethal Take” of Columbia River Sea Lions

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Sea lion Defense Brigade reports that a lot of young animals were seen in Astoria’s east mooring basin this weekend with fresh brand burns, and bleeding scars on their backs. ODFW claims this hot branding does not hurt sea lions, but the burns on their backs and the pain in their eyes tell a different story.

Please contact NOAA :Donna Wieting, and ask her to end the “Lethal Take” of the Columbia River sea lions for eating fish. Director, Office of Protected Resources
NOAA
Phone 301 713-2332 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 301 713-2332 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Fax 301 427-2520
Email: donna.wieting@noaa.gov
1315 East-West Highway,
Silver Spring MD 20910
Thank you, for taking action for the Columbia River sea lions.

 

littleboyc09

 

Take the Pledge: Boycott Columbia River Salmon

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Meanwhile, this bumper sticker is a common sight on rigs owned by commercial salmon fishermen in the area:

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And shot sea lions are a common sight on beaches off the Oregon/Washington coast:

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_____________________

From Sea Lion Defense Brigade:

In loving memory of the 3 sea lions KILLED this week at Bonneville Dam by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

These scapegoated sea lions had nothing to do with the decline of salmon and were taken from their friends and family way too soon.

Humans have many food options, sea lions do not.

Rest in Peace C020, C029 and C930.
We serve in your memory.SLDB

Sea lion sanctuary a proven possibility

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The Sea Lion Defense Brigade meets with Sea Shepherd and other groups next week to go into specifics on a sea lion haul-out.

A sanctuary for the sea lions, tourism and revenue for the City of Astoria, win, win!

Wildlife Photography © Jim Robertson

Wildlife Photography © Jim Robertson

By Edward Stratton
The Daily Astorian | Friday, April 25, 2014

A local’s nuisance could be a tourist’s reason for visiting.

Activists for the California sea lions that populate the Port of Astoria’s East End Mooring Basin say they see an alternative used in other communities to accommodate sea lions and boost tourism: give them their own docks.

“If you had the vision, you could do it, and I’m here to inspire you,” said Ninette Jones of the Sea Lion Defense Brigade April 15.

Jones has been silenced at the last two Port Commission meetings in a row by Chairman James Campbell. He’s declared her out of order and gaveled into silence. But Jones comes back and touts the tourism benefits of sea lions.

The Defense Brigade, said Jones, meets with Sea Shepherd and other groups next week to go into specifics on a sea lion haul-out. Sea Shepherd has offered to pay for a haul-out, which she estimates will cost $20,000 to $40,000.

“In order to be able to deter them successfully from piers, there must be suitable haul-outs nearby as options,” said Scott West, a former federal agent in charge of criminal investigations for Sea Shepherd. “Otherwise, the deterrents will fail.”

Interim Executive Director Mike Weston said that while protecting the Port’s infrastructure is its top priority, he sees a revenue-generating opportunity with the sea lions.

“I feel that the Port as a whole is working for a solution, and preferably a win-win solution,” said Weston, adding that he’d prefer any sea lion facility be closer to the jetty rocks around the basin and away from the docks.

Jones said the brigade is also in the process of forming a nonprofit and establishing an office along the Columbia River. And that might be just what the doctor ordered.

Newport’s solution

Sea lions have long been an attraction at the Port of Newport. Bob Ward and other community members formed the Newport Sea Lion Docks Foundation about two years ago to help keep them around.

“The Port probably has 30 other priorities ahead of sea lions,” said Ward, adding that it’s installed about 100 feet of replacement docks in the interim. “We haven’t asked the Port for a penny. It was hard work at first, but the first money is always the hardest to work.”

The nonprofit collects money from foundations, local businesses, at the docks and online. It’s raised $100,000 of $125,000 to buy 90 feet of sea lion dock and a viewing platform.

Ward said forming a nonprofit was a prerequisite to getting that far. It opened access to such funding sources as a $20,000 grant from the Oregon Community Foundation. The city of Newport pledged $50,000 if the group could raise $75,000.

Although one of the port commissioners in Newport is a commercial fishermen, said Ward, they understand the attraction of sea lions. About 250,000 people a year, he added, come to see the animals.

“If we hadn’t undertaken the responsibility of raising the money, it never would have happened,” said Ward.

“We see ourselves as a catalyst, a funding foundation to keep it going. In another 15 to 20 years, when they get beaten down, then we’ll try to replace them.”

What YOU Can Do To Help Taiji Dolphins

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http://www.seashepherd.org/cove-guardians/what-you-can-do.html

The slaughter of 20,000 dolphins, porpoises, and small whales occurs in Japan each year. Starting on September 1st and continuing through March of the next year, fishermen herd whole families of small cetaceans into shallow bays and mercilessly stab and drown them to death.

This annual slaughter of dolphins was virtually unknown until 2003 when Sea Shepherd globally released covertly obtained film and photographs of the now infamous bloody “Cove” in a village called Taiji. Beginning in 2010, and continuing to this day, Sea Shepherd has an ongoing presence of volunteers standing watch on site at the Cove. They are The Cove Guardians.

With your help, we will continue to pressure Japan to end this cruel and destructive slaughter of dolphins. We are passionate, dedicated, and committed – it may take time, but determination will win for the dolphins in Taiji.

We can all make a difference. If you would like your voices to be heard, please contact the respective representatives to tell them the massacre must stop!

Please help us end this slaughter. Your opinion is important – apathy allows this barbaric “tradition” to continue.

Volunteer

Consider applying to be a Cove Guardian and joining our team in Taiji. This position requires dedication, time, and resources. You must pay for your travel, lodging, food, and all other personal expenses.

Application process:

•Send e-mail to coveguardian@seashepherd.org and express your interest.

•You will be sent an information packet that includes links to the Onshore Volunteer Application and a supplemental questionnaire for Cove Guardians.

•You will submit that package either by electronic or physical mail.

•You will be notified if you are selected and provided more detailed information to help you in booking your travels to and stay in Japan.

Don’t buy a ticket!
A ticket purchased to a dolphin show buys blood in Taiji

The captive dolphin entertainment industry makes a lot of money from dolphin suffering and death. The way to shut them down is to take the profit out of their operations. By ending the demand for their shows, we can sink them economically.

Do not support these entertainment venues. Terminate your season passes. Encourage your friends and family to stay away from them. Do not include them in your holiday packages or cruises. Contact the parks and let them know how you feel about dolphins kept in captivity. Educate others on the link between the captive dolphin industry and the Taiji dolphin slaughter. Do not participate in captive dolphin programs like “swimming with the dolphins”

The Ceta-Base “Phinventory” is a list of captive dolphins world wide.

cetabase

Spread the Word

Follow Operation Infinite Patience on social media and share with your friends and family. Ask them to help us end this atrocity.

Cove Guardian Facebook
Sea Shepherd USA Facebook
Cove Guardian Twitter
Sea Shepherd USA Twitter

Contact the Authorities

Help us end the brutal Taiji dolphin slaughter by voicing your concerns to the authorities in Taiji as well as the Japanese Embassy, US Embassy to Japan, US and Japanese Ambassadors to the UN, and the US Senate members of the Committee on Foreign Relations.

PRIME MINISTER OF JAPAN
Prime Minister Shinzo- Abe
Cabinet Office, Government of Japan
1-6-1 Nagata-cho
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo. 100-8914 JAPAN
+81-3-5253-2111

Website: http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/index-e.html
Online comment form #1: https://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/forms/comment_ssl.html
Online comment form #2: https://form.cao.go.jp/kokusai/en_opinion-0001.html

Japanese Embassies Worldwide:
Websites of Japanese Embassies, Consulates and Permanent Missions

List of Embassies and Consulates-General in Japan:
List of Embassies and Consulates-General in Japan

US Embassy in Japan:
Caroline Kennedy – Ambassador of the United States to Japan
Telephone: 011-81-3-3224-5000
Fax: 011-81-3-3505-1862
Send E-mail to the U.S. Embassy in Japan
Please thank Caroline Kennedy for her defense of the dolphins

Japanese UN Representatives:
H.E. Mr Kazuyoshi Umemoto – Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
japan.mission@dn.mofa.go.jp

H.E. Mr. Jun Yamazaki – Deputy Representative of Japan to the UN
japan.mission@dn.mofa.go.jp

United States UN Representative:
Samantha Power – US Ambassador to the UN
Samantha Power’s Twitter
United States Mission to the United Nations Contact Form

US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations:
US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations

Wakayama Prefecture Office, Fishery Division:
E0717001@pref.wakayama.lg.jp
Telephone: +81-73-441-3010
Fax: +81-73-432-4124

International Whaling Commission (IWC)
The Red House,
135 Station Road,
Impington,
Cambridge,
Cambridgeshire CB24 9NP, UK.
Tel: +44 (0) 1223 233 971
Fax: +44 (0) 1223 232 87
Email: secretariat@iwcoffice.org

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) / Convention on Migratory Species (CMP)
UNEP/CMS Secretariat
Platz der Vereinten Nationen 1
53113 Bonn, Germany
Tel: (+49 228) 815 2401
Fax: (+49 228) 815 2449
Email: secretariat@cms.int

Mayor – Taiji Town Hall:
Telephone: +81-73-559-2335

Taiji Fishermen’s Union:
Telephone: +81-73-559-2340
Fax: +81-735-59-2821

Hotel Dolphin Resort/Dolphin Base:
Telephone: +81-0735-59-3514
Fax: +81-0735-59-2810

Japan Fisheries Public Content Form:
Contact the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries

WAZA: The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums
secretariat@waza.org

IMATA: The International Marine Mammal Trainers’ Association
info@imata.org

Photo Jim Robertson

Photo Jim Robertson

BBC filmmaker Martyn Stewart locked up in Japan accused of being ‘eco-terrorist’

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BBC filmmaker Martyn Stewart locked up in Japan accused of being ‘eco-terrorist’

Martyn Stewart posted this picture on his Facebook from Osaka airport in Japan Martyn Stewart posted this picture on his Facebook from Osaka airport in Japan

Kate Nelson Thursday, February 13, 2014 1:52 PM

 BBC filmmaker Martyn Stewart who documents the bloody dolphin hunts in Taiji is reportedly locked up at Osaka airport claiming he’s accused of being an ‘eco-terrorist’.

Stewart, who films documentaries about the dolphin hunts in Taiji, said his conditions and the way he has been treated was ‘nothing short of criminal’.

He posted on his Facebook account: “I am locked in a cell room at Osaka airport waiting on an appeal to the high minister regarding my entry into Japan.

“I’m accused of being sea shepherd and an eco terrorist. My footage is not liked in Japan apparently and have been accused of assaulting members of the public.

“In 4 years of being here for the dolphins I have maintained the law and abided by their rules. My words and pictures did the rest. The government of Japan will do anything to protect the rights of the fishermen of Taiji and the barbaric treatment of the animals involved.

“Please share far and wide to bring awareness to this corrupt government and those that want to continue to brutally treat these amazing animals.”

Stewart has visited Japan several times to film the dolphin hunts in Taiji where hundreds of animals are wrestled into nets. Some are killed for meat, others are trapped and sold to aquariums.

Japanese fisherman say the annual hunt is part of their culture.

Writing on his blog last year, he said: “What I learnt from these visits was that we (westerners) cannot stop this war on the oceans. Japan and most of its people have to end this and in some way, make them believe it was their idea. Pressure from outsiders only gets their goat and they become stubborn. I got the impression that if you tell the fishermen to end this atrocity, they tried harder to kill. They are now actually being blasé about the capturing and killing. Yes, tarpaulin is still being used heavily but they are not as vigilant in stopping people from seeing the odd dead dolphin or tail draped outside of the boats that carry the corpses to the butcher house anymore.”

Restaurant’s seal-meat burger, named after Brigitte Bardot, sparks threats from animal-rights activists

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http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/10/16/restaurants-seal-meat-burger-named-after-brigitte-bardot-sparks-threats-from-animal-rights-activists/

MONTREAL — When Kim Côté and Perle Morency added a seal-meat burger to the menu of their popular bistro in Kamouraska, Que., they decided to have some fun with the name. The Phoque Bardot Burger — combining the French word for seal and the name of the actress known for her campaign against the Canadian seal hunt — became one of the restaurant’s top sellers.

But last month news of the couple’s creation made its way across the Atlantic, and animal-rights activists there failed to see the humour. A French Facebook page called “Defend the animals and protect nature” reported the burger was concocted from “the meat of massacred baby seals” and lamented that its name was disrespectful toward Brigitte Bardot.

“We are receiving a lot of hate messages, and we’re almost inclined to let them win, because we don’t feel like fighting,” Ms. Morency, co-owner of the Côté Est bistro, said in an interview Wednesday. “There is a lot of intimidation. I don’t want my restaurant to be blamed any more, for people to call and say, ‘You are crazy, you are inhumane, you are assassins.’ ”

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