News Reports - 1995
June
September
October
November
December
|
Whale Lagoon
By ERNEST SANDER - Associated Press Writer
LAGUNA SAN IGNACIO, Mexico -- Here on the Baja California peninsula, temperate aqua water laps against desert shores of sand, yucca and creosote bushes. Shacks of corrugated metal, netting and discarded wood, where local fishermen live, are the only signs of civilization.
It is hardly the image of conflict. But it is. Every winter and spring a spectacular event comes to this secluded bay. California gray whales migrate 6,000 miles from the Bering Sea to this lagoon and several others nearby to mate and bear their young.
Tourists trek to see, hear and sometimes touch the whales. Locals consider the sea mammals part of the regional identity. So prized is this annual rite and its pristine backdrop that the government has designated the land a protected reserve. The pledge to set aside this space and keep it free of further industrialization is being sorely tested by a Mexican company's plan to expand its salt-mining operation on the lagoon. The company, Exportadora de Sal, is the world's second-largest salt producer and a rare profitable government-run business in Mexico.
Mexico's National Ecology Institute, counterpart to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, has rejected the proposal to expand, but the company has appealed. The issue is being viewed as a test of Mexico's commitment to the environment in times of economic distress. The stakes are even higher because it involves an adored animal whose graduation from the endangered species list is considered one of the great victories of animal conservation.
"If you have a protected area, a national park with biodiversity, you cannot sacrifice all these natural resources and biodiversity to get out of an economic crisis," said Maria Elena Sanchez, a biologist and member of Group of 100, an environmental organization based in Mexico City.
Exportadora de Sal, which wants to extend its current operation to the outskirts of Laguna San Ignacio, says the project will produce jobs and economic security. Without the extra $100 million in revenue, it would be forced out of business by an Australian firm underpricing it, company officials say. Critics, including authors Carlos Fuentes, Octavio Paz and Allen Ginsberg, contend Exportadora is not under any competitive threat, but is just being greedy.
"We are the best ecologists because we live here," said Rodolfo Garayzar, who heads the union of salt workers in the city of Guerrero Negro.
"We have been here for 40 years, and not one whale has died."
No one knows exactly why the whales come to these waters during the first four months of each year. Neither the environmentalists nor the company can say with full confidence how the whales would be affected by Exportadora pumping millions of gallons of water from this lagoon onto 120,000 acres of nearby salt flats. The successive flooding and evaporations create layers of dried salt that are then extracted.
Would the whales stop coming? Would they go to another lagoon? Do they even need to calve in a lagoon?
Some scientists claim the whales are drawn by the shelter and the warm, salty, shallow water, but researcher James Sumich says that is speculation.
"Everybody can make their own story, but the information is just not that solid," said Sumich, a marine biologist at San Diego's Grossmont College who did his doctorate work at Laguna San Ignacio.
Late last century, gray whales were slaughtered en masse in these lagoons by hunters, including Captain Charles Melville Scammons, who made a fortune from the oil. One of the lagoons is now named after him. Mexico banned commercial whaling in 1954, the same year Exportadora de Sal moved into Guerrero Negro, north of Laguna San Ignacio. Gradually, the gray whales began returning, and in 1972 and 1979, presidential decrees established the land as a refuge for whales and their calves.
Even by the standards of stark, untrammeled beauty along the thousand-mile Baja coastline, the Vizcaino Desert Biosphere Reserve, anchored by Laguna San Ignacio, is unique. Snowy plover, the California least tern, marine green turtles and peregrine falcons inhabit the area, which contains the northernmost distribution of mangroves in the continent.
Environmentalists fear the salt firm's $120 million expansion would alter the natural balance in the lagoon and on the land surrounding it. Pulling water from the bay would change its temperature and salinity as a current of cold, less-salty water circulates in from the ocean. Digging and scratching to extract salt could change the land's ecosystems. More machines and boats could also scare away visiting animals.
In rejecting the Exportadora proposal, the National Ecology Institute said it was not compatible with the goal of a biosphere reserve -- to shelter plant and animal habitats from possible harm. Exportadora has declined to comment on the ruling or on its plans. Twice, subdirectors from the company failed to appear for
scheduled interviews with a reporter, and they have not returned numerous phone calls.
Union boss Garayzar claims the media has spread misinformation about the company. He indignantly recounts Mexican news reports claiming Exportadora "kills whales" and inaccurate references to it as a Japanese company. (It is 49 percent owned by Mitsubishi.)
As he walks through the company's Guerrero Negro grounds, past mountainous mounds of salt, the crane and conveyor belts leading to barges bound for Japan and the United States, Garayzar notes signs of the company's conscience. He points out perches the company has built for the osprey to nest in.
"Exportadora doesn't attack species," he said. "We defend life. We care about it."
Guerrero Negro is a company town, where nearly 1,000 of its 15,000 residents work at the salt plant. Clothing shops, furniture stores, gas stations and taxi drivers depend on Exportadora workers for their business. At noon, a siren sounds for lunch, and men in yellow hard hats and blue "ES" windbreakers file from the company gates to take their lunch breaks at home.
There are baseball fields, gymnasiums, boxing facilities and a junior college for company employees. The union hands out whale patches to those who work hard and are accident-free, to those who study hard and excel at sports. Even the chandeliers in the simple Nuestra Senora de Guadeloupe church are crested with black metal whale carvings.
On a recent night, a car from the local newspaper drove through town with a bullhorn announcing a rally in support of the plant expansion. Not a single dissenting voice was heard among the speeches at the hearing. Contrast this with the somnolent, windswept life on the shores of Laguna San Ignacio. Year-round, as early as 5:30 a.m., before the breeze picks up, the men who head the 700 fishing families along the lagoon ply the waters for shark, clams, lobster and scallops. They sell their haul to a truck that passes through and supplies northern Baja California cities. When they need groceries or car parts, sometimes they make the bumpy trip to San Ignacio, which itself has only several thousand people.
Most are aware of the company's proposal.
"I don't agree with it," says Jose Maria Aguilar Amador, a fisherman who has spent most of his life here. "It is an injustice to the birds, whales and fish."
Several huts away, leathery-skinned Francisco Mayoral unfolds blueprints of the Exportadora plan, rattling off details on locations and figures.
"There are many poor people who need work," he says, a cigarette dangling from his mouth. "The expansion is the best option."
Date: Mon, 18 Sep 1995
FED: LEGISLATION PROPOSED TO REGULATE AUSTRALIAN WHALE WATCHING
CANBERRA, Sep 18, AAP - Restricting whale watching tours in sensitive breeding areas, accrediting tour operators and developing a code of practice for whale-based tourism were among proposals released today by the federal Australian Nature Conservation Agency (ANCA).
More than 100 recommendations and issues have emerged from a national conference last July which for the first time drew together representatives of the tourism industry, government and marine researchers to discuss whale watching tourism. ANCA chief executive Peter Bridgewater said there was a need to work quickly to develop an ecologically sustainable whale-based tourism industry in Australia.
"The report sets out the key proposals for the future direction of whale watching in Australia in an attempt to find the best balance between growing tourism demand and the urgent need to protect whales and other cetaceans," Dr Bridgewater said in a statement. Whale watching has grown dramatically since the late 1980s, with operations now established in 65 countries and island territories.
Last year, an estimated 5.4 million people worldwide spent more than $700 million on this kind of ecotourism. In Australia, whale watchers increased 12.8 per cent between 1991 and 1994, with more than 500,000 participants last year, generating as much as $70 million a year in direct and associated spending, such as accommodation.
The July conference has proposed Commonwealth regulations and complementary state legislation to protect whales and dolphins, prevent disruption to their habitats and ensure appropriate behaviour by tourists and tour operators near whales and dolphins.
Other proposals to emerge from the July conference include:
- Undertaking a national inventory to identify the whale-based tourism industry and raise its profile.
- Establishing a national association to address industry standards.
- Conducting more research on whales, and develop guidelines for tour boats which have minimal impact on whales.
Date: Sat, 23 Sep 1995
MINKE WHALE HUNTING AND HARVESTING GETS INDUSTRY BACKING
Wellington NZ, Sept 22, AP - Fishing industry leaders from major fishing countries, including New Zealand, have agreed to back a Japanese proposal to resume commercial hunting and harvest of the Minke WHALE next year. The agreement comes after a meeting of the International Coalition of Fisheries Associations at Nelson over the past four days. The Coalition's decision to support Japan comes despite an International Moratorium which bans all commercial whaling under the auspices of the International Whaling Commission.
The Coalition represents fishers who catch 40 percent of the worldwide annual fish harvest, estimated at 100-million tonnes. New Zealand Fishing Industry Association president Vaughan Wilkinson said today there is a sustainable (harvesting) base in smaller WHALE species like the Minke, and this is acknowledged by the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission, the body which controls world whaling. The Minke population can certainly sustain a certain level of harvest, Wilkinson said. He claimed environmental lobbyists have hijacked the (whaling) convention which aimed to preserve and manage WHALE populations -- not to stop utilisation of whales world-wide. It was not a convention for preservation of whales and prohibition of their harvest, he said.
The result of the hijack was to ignore the rights of Japan and Norway to harvest whales in their own waters or international waters. Mr Wilkinson said the International Whaling Commission has continued to refuse Japan the right to indigenous traditional native whaling around Japan. The Commission should return to its primary task of how to conserve and manage WHALE stocks rather than prohibition and conservation by this hijack of the convention. Mr Wilkinson warned such actions put at risk the willingness of nations in future to enter into international agreements, and will work to the detriment of marine populations. He confirmed Japan Fisheries Association president Hiroya Sano would ask for the right to resume commercial whaling when the IWC meets next May in Aberdeen, Scotland. Sano claimed there are a certain number of Minke whales which can be taken without endangering any stocks of whales at all.
According to the provisions of the International Whaling Convention, if it's possible to take Minke whales without endangering any Minke WHALE stocks...Contracting governments should be allowed to reconvene the commercial whaling. The world's largest Minke WHALE populations live in the Southern Ocean WHALE Sanctuary, established by international agreement, below 40 degrees South. It is a vast marine sanctuary, set up to provide whales with a protected breeding and living area in Antarctic and sub-Antarctic waters.
Major confrontations between Japanese whalers and environmentalists have taken place in this region in the past, prior to the moratorium on commercial whaling. Japan and Norway have continued so-called scientific whaling in the area, taking up to three hundred Minke whales a year, despite International anger at their actions.
Date: Mon, 25 Sep 1995
DOLPHINS IN MYSTERY DISEASE PERIL
By John Clark, PA News
The world's most northerly bottle-nosed dolphins are under threat from a mystery disease, according to scientists. The dolphins, which swim in the Moray Firth in north east Scotland, are affected by an unusual skin disease. Most of the 130 animals have developed black spots, white rings and swelling while others have formed humps and deformed fins.
Dr Ben Wilson of Aberdeen University has studied the dolphins for almost seven years.
"They are swimming in a cocktail of chemicals of human origin any one of which could be the cause," he said.
Unusual skin patterns on the dolphins were noticed six years ago but could have been there much longer. Dr Phillip Hammond of the government's Sea Mammal Research Unit at Cambridge said he feared the disease could mean the extinction of the Moray Firth dolphins. The population was so small that even a small decrease in numbers could render the colony unviable.
Anyone discovering a dead dolphin has been asked to call the Scottish Strandings Unit at Inverness on 01463 243030.
Date: Sat, 30 September 1995
Kogia update
From: Linae Boehme: linae@kelvin.marine.usf.edu
A second dwarf sperm whale, Kogia simus, has stranded on a Pinellas county beach and is receiving care at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. The large whale beached itself near Fred Howard Park in Tarpon Springs late Saturday morning; although the whale is a mature female, there is no known link between this stranding and that of a baby dwarf sperm whale which stranded on St. Petersburg Beach Wednesday and died late Thursday.
This whale is nine feet long and weighs 320 pounds. Observers to the stranding said the animal was in obvious distress, thrashing far up onto the sand. Other than superficial scratches incurred in the beaching, there were no signs of injury or illness. A darkish liquid, probably "ink," was exuded from the underside of the animal.
Stranded animals have an extremely poor chance of survival. Clearwater Marine Aquarium staff and volunteers are maintaining a 24-hour watch on the whale and providing immediate critical care.
Date: Thurs, 5th October 1995
Dolphin Kills and the Declaration of Panama
By Eric Nunez - Associated Press Writer
PANAMA CITY, Panama (AP) -- Tuna-catching countries have agreed to place legal limits on dolphin kills if the United States lifts an embargo that has hurt their fishing industries.
Twelve countries, including the United States, signed the "Declaration of Panama" on Wednesday. While several major environmental groups welcomed the declaration, which was also signed by Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Ecuador, Panama, Belize, France, Spain, Peru and Vanuatu, others have argued the effort would not go far enough to protect dolphins.
The declaration commits fishing countries to take legal action to hold dolphin kills to 5,000 a year or less if the United States lifts the embargo imposed in 1991 on tuna from several countries whose fishing led to massive dolphin slaughters on the Pacific coast. Some 423,000 dolphins were killed by tuna fishermen in 1972, according to the Center for Marine Conservation in the United States. That was the year Congress first moved to limit dolphin kills by U.S. fishermen under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Later laws applied restrictions to tuna imported into the country.
Representatives of Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Panama said their countries have lost $100 million in export revenues since the 1991 boycott was imposed. They claim they already have made huge strides and cut dolphin kills to 3,600 by 1994.
Greenpeace, the World Wildlife Fund and the National Wildlife Federation were among the groups supporting the declaration. But others have decried it. On Monday, Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Joseph Biden, D-Del., and Reps. George Miller, D-Calif. and Gerry E. Studds, D-Mass., released an open letter to President Clinton expressing "grave concern" over the measure. They complained it would let foreign companies use a "dolphin safe" label even if their practices continued to endanger dolphin populations and said it "is nothing short of consumer fraud." Several House Republicans are backing the measure to repeal the tuna import restrictions.
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 1995
Whalemeat toxin link in Faroese
(reported by Peter Jones, Marine Pollution Bulletin, Aug. 1995)
Mercury levels in the kidneys and livers of the Faroese are roughly ten times that of the Norwegians living in Bergen. This startling revelation was made in a recent World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Marine Update (No. 20, May 1995) which links the elevated levels with the consumption of whalemeat by the islanders.
The Faroese regularly eat the meat of the long-finned pilot whale, which they catch by driving the whales ashore. The whalemeat forms an important part of the islander's diet, with consumption between 1970 and 1984 ranging from 82 to 555 g week ^-1. The problem is that pilot whales are carnviorous, feeding on squid, pelagic fish and crustaceans. Being at the top of the marine food web, they are liable to accumulate both toxic metals and organic chemicals. According to the WWF report, researchers have found that pilot whales from the North Atlantic have up to seven times the amount of PCBs and other chemicals that the World Health Organization (WHO) and the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) consider safe.
Mercury exposure is not the only danger coming from the consumption of whale meat. Whilst mercury exposure from eating pilot whale exceeds WHO levels by a factor of four, cadmimum levels are also exceeded by a factor of two. Elevated levels of the pesticides lindane and dieldrin and DDE as well as PCBs have all been found in the Faroese.
The predicament of the Faroese serves to draw attention to problems from pollution facing whale populations as a whole. The WWF report suggests that even if all the world's whaling fleets wre mothballed tomorrow, the future of many whale species would still remain in doubt as a result of toxic pollution and other environmental threats such as global warming, drift nets, toxic algal blooms etc.
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 1995
UK Porpoise Rescue
John Dineley: H94JD@alpha2.luton.ac.uk
Local television news in the east of England has reported that a female porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) has been taken to the Royal Society for the Protection of Animals (RSPCA) Norfolk Wildlife Hospital after stranding in The Wash on the east of England coast.
The hospital, which has a specialist unit for seal rescue and rehabilitation, is currently housing the animal in a large, collapsible tank. The hospital hopes it will be successful in rehabilitating and eventually releasing this animal back to sea.
NOTE:
In Holland, the Harderwijk Marine Mammal Park has been successful rehabilitation and releasing a number of cetacean, including porpoises, since the construction of a dedicated standing unit in the late nineteen-eighties.
Date: Tues, 17 Oct 1995
KEIKO'S ARRIVAL DATE SET FOR OREGON COAST AQUARIUM
Keiko, the killer whale star of "Free Willy" and "Free Willy 2," will move into his brand-new home at the Oregon Coast Aquarium on January 7, 1996, barring any unforeseen complications. The target date was released jointly today by the Aquarium, the Free Willy-Keiko Foundation and Reino Aventura, Keiko's current home in Mexico City.
"By locking in a target arrival date, we are moving this project another giant step ahead," says Dave Phillips, president of the Free Willy-Keiko Foundation. "This is an extraordinary time in the history of an extraordinary project, and it's thanks, in large part, to the Oregon Coast Aquarium and all the people around the world who've donated their time and money to make this possible.
Keiko's new two-million-gallon pool is already 85 percent complete. The $7.3 million facility has been under construction at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport since February. The pool is nearly four times larger than Keiko's current pool at the Mexico City amusement park, and will feature not only cold, clean natural sea water but adjustable water currents, a changeable underwater curtain of air bubbles and water jets, and an underwater rocky "rubbing beach" to provide Keiko with acoustic variety as well as a place to scratch. The new facility is 150 feet long, 75 feet wide and 25 feet deep.
Already in hand at the Oregon Coast Aquarium and Reino Aventura are the government permits necessary to relocate Keiko in the United States. Three permits are required, in all: an export permit from the Mexican government, an import/display permit from the US government, and a permit in compliance with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITIES), an international agreement that governs traffic in a number of endangered and non-endangered animal species.
The Aquarium is currently interviewing experienced marine mammologists to take care of Keiko. Three full-time positions will be filled by early December. In addition, two of Keiko's Mexican keepers will join the Aquarium staff for several months to ease the transition.
"Having Keiko's trainers here will help both our staff and Keiko," says Phyllis Bell, president of the Oregon Coast Aquarium. "For one thing, Keiko responds to commands in Spanish. We'll have to either retrain our staff to speak Spanish, too, or teach Keiko to recognize English."
The trainers will also help their Oregon Coast Aquarium counterparts interpret Keiko's behaviors and idiosyncrasies.
In the meantime, Keiko continues to live in a small pool in Mexico City, where he performs in shows. His medical condition is stable. He is roughly a ton underweight, suffers from skin lesions caused by a papilloma virus, has worn down teeth, and a fallen dorsal fin.
Fundraising continues both for the pool's completion and for Keiko's first two years of care, including his veterinary care, food, staff and transportation to Oregon from Mexico City. Roughly $6.5 million has been raised. The project's goal is $8.5 million. Donations are welcome, and can be made to the Free Willy-Keiko Foundation, care of the Oregon Coast Aquarium, 2820 S.E. Ferry Slip Road, Newport, OR 97365. More information is also available by calling 1-800-4-WHALES or 1-503-867-3474.
The Oregon Coast Aquarium was first approached about providing a home for Keiko in May 1994. Earth Island Institute, an environmental advocacy group in San Francisco, was charged with finding Keiko a suitable rehabilitation site. The Institute identified four main criteria that would guide its selection: the chosen facility must not have performing animals, must have an educational mission, must have an ample supply of cold, clean, natural sea water, and must have the room for a sizable expansion. After a year and a half of searching, the Oregon Coast Aquarium was the one facility in the country identified by the Institute as successfully meeting all these criteria.
The Aquarium deliberated over its decision to accept Keiko and the new rehabilitation facility until it was satisfied that the rehabilitation facility would offer visitors a unique educational opportunity. The Aquarium's mission is to educate the general public in an entertaining way about the abundant resources of the Oregon coast, and orcas are often found off Oregon's shores.
The Oregon Coast Aquarium is a private, nonprofit, educational facility that is now in its fourth year of operation. In addition to the new rehabilitation facility, the facility is currently planning an expansion that will complete exhibits on freshwater streams, estuaries and upland forests.
CONTACT: Diane Hammond,
PR Officer, Oregon Coast Aquarium,
503-867-3474, ext. 5224; or
David Phillips, President,
Free Willy-Keiko Foundation, 415-788-3666
Date: Sat, 21 Oct 1995
Blue Whale Research by Japanese
The publication AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY reports that Japanese researchers will track the migratory patterns and associated ecological information from blue whales via a space satellite.
The project, scheduled to begin with the launch of a polar orbiting space satellite in 1997, is part of a program undertaken by the International Whaling Commission designed to collect data which will assist in the recovery of the depleted Antarctic blue whale population.
The $2-million ecological project is under development by NEC Corp. and Japan's China Institute of Technology. It was presented at the recent International Astronautical Federation (IAF) congress in Oslo.
Blue whales can reach 100 ft. in length and weigh 130 metric tons. They are the largest animals on Earth. But almost nothing is known about their migratory patterns, current population numbers, and day to day habits. The satellite information collection system will use sensors attached to 50-100 blue whales to gather needed data.
Data from the sensor system will be transmitted to a 50-kg. (110-lb.) Whale Ecology Observation Satellite (WEOS) that will be launched into polar orbit as a piggyback payload on a Japanese H-2 or Chinese Long March missile.
The system is being designed to transmit from a whale's back for 2-3 years, long enough to obtain data across a full migratory cycle, according to Dr. Tomonao Hayashi, a researcher at the Chiba Institute and professor emeritus at ISAS, Japan's space science agency. He presented the plan along with another project official, Takeshi Orii, who heads NEC's Space Systems Development Division.
According to the magazine reporting on the technology, one unusual aspect of the project is the way the satellite system on the whales will generate electrical power for 2-3 years. A kinetic power generation system developed by the Seiko Epsom watch company will be used in the unit. The swimming motion of the whale will continually cycle a mechanical system that will charge a battery to power the 5-w. satellite receiver/transmitter system. The system is similar to that used on Seiko's self-winding wristwatches.
As the whale swims, its attached system will periodically record the physiological parameters of the animal and other information such as the water temperature.
When the whale comes to the surface to breathe, a pressure sensor will tell the system that it is on the surface and thus able to communicate with U.S. Air Force GPS satellites and it's Japanese relay satellite.
The system will automatically calculate the whale's position by acquiring data from two or three GPS spacecraft and then transmit the location and other data to the Japanese Whale Ecology spacecraft when it flies overhead.
On each orbit the satellite will obtain data from numerous whales swimming under it's ground track. The spacecraft will be commanded daily to dump its recorded data when it flies over a Japanese ground station.
Date: Tue, 31 Oct 1995
DOLPHIN STRANDING - MORBILLIVIRUS DETECTED
SAN DIEGO (AP) -- A highly contagious virus responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Atlantic and Mediterranean dolphins has been detected for the first time in a Pacific marine mammal, biologists say.
The infected common dolphin beached itself Aug. 21 near Marina Del Rey and was taken to Sea World for rehabilitation. Routine blood tests performed prior to its scheduled release showed the presence of morbillivirus, which attacks the immune system.
"We didn't release it back into the wild for fear of contaminating all the other animals out there," said Joe Cordaro, a wildlife biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service in Long Beach.
Researchers do not know how the dolphin caught the virus, whether it is common -- but so far undetected -- in the Pacific and how it is transmitted between dolphins.
And it's unclear what will happen to the female common dolphin, which has so far shown no symptoms of disease and remains in captivity at Sea World. More tests will determine whether it was shedding the virus.
The virus, which is related to distemper in dogs and measles in humans, threatens only dolphins and some types of whales. Other varieties affect sea lions, Cordaro said.
Date: Thu, 2 Nov 1995
JAPANESE WHALERS LEAVE FOR THE ANTARCTIC
TOKYO (AP) -- A Japanese whaling fleet left port today for the Antarctic, where it plans to catch about 400 minke whales for research purposes, 100 more than last year.
The International Whaling Commission voted to ban commercial whaling in 1986, but left each nation the option of carrying out research whaling. Japan has conducted a hunt every year since then.
Japan, the world's largest consumer of whale meat, says the research is needed to accurately gauge whale populations and migrations, but critics say the program is an attempt to keep its whaling industry alive.
In May, Tokyo submitted to the IWC a report on plans to raise the catch quota to 400, with the hunting area expanded.
"The new catch quota is apparently intended to boost whale meat supplies," said Junko Sakurai of the environmental group Greenpeace, which opposes whaling.
Takanori Ohashi of the Fisheries Agency denied the charge, saying the increased catch is a result of expanding research.After being examined, the whale carcasses are distributed to wholesalers and restaurants for sale across Japan.
Date: Fri, 3 Nov 1995
VOLUNTEERS SPOT WHALES FOR SCIENCE
Los Angeles, California: Breaching whales within a stone throw of the beach. Dolphins in the thousands frolicking in mile long columns. Killer whales slowly swimming just under the surface, their high dorsal fins undulating through the air.
Is it Hawaii? Patagonia? Some far off wild land? No, its Los Angeles' own San Pedro Channel viewed from the Point Vicente Interpretative Center in Rancho Palos Verdes. Each Year dozens of dedicated volunteer researchers use this spectacular viewing platform to count and record migrating grey whales on their journey to and from feeding grounds in the Arctic and breeding lagoons in Baja.
For over a dozen years, the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Cetacean Society, a nonprofit whale conservation and information organization, has been conducting a census on the near shore migration of the Pacific Gray whale. From December to May, dawn till dusk, volunteer whale spotters scan the ocean for the telltale blows of the whales to record their passage by Los Angeles.
The information gathered is used by researchers to study the come-back of the first whale taken off the endangered species list. During peak weeks, they may sight from 50 to 100 of these 40-foot barnacle-encrusted cetaceans (whales and dolphins) a day.
They also record sightings of the over twenty other species of marine mammals that can be found in L.A. waters. A partial list of other marine mammals seen from Point Vicente include the blue, fin, sperm and minke whale; common, bottlenose whitesided and Rissos dolphin; killer whale and false killer whale; California sea lion, and the elephant and harbor seal.
And because of their constant vigil during the whale watch season, the volunteers have, on occasion, assisted boats and planes in distress, and even helped rescue a young gray whale entangled in a lobster trap line by using telephones and emergency radios to call for help and to guide rescuers to the scene.
Unlike most research projects, the census actively recruits whale spotters from the general public. Amongst the occupations represented by volunteers from past years were airline pilots, teachers, nurses, aerospace workers, movie industry professionals, students and retirees. Some volunteer for a day, some throughout the entire migrations season. A few even come from out of state. The only requirement is an interest in whales and a pair of binoculars.
Hugh T. Ryono
Date: Tue, 7 Nov 1995
JAPAN TARGETS WHALES WITH SCIENCE
by Craig Arfman - American Reporter Correspondent
NEW PLYMOUTH, N.Z. -- While continuing to kill whales this year inside the internationally-declared Antartic whale sanctuary, allegedly for "scientific" purposes, Japan now plans to extend its science program by firing harpoons carrying radio transmitters into dozens of blue whales, reports The Observer, a leading British newspaper.
Each harpoon will be connected to a football-sized electronic float containing a recorder, a radio transmitter and a small computer, the Observer report said.
Japan plans to launch a 50kg whale ecology observation satellite in 1997. The satellite will receive signals monitoring the animals' health indicators such as temperature and blood pressure, plus track the whales' numbers. Data will be automatically transmitted when the whale surfaces for air.
"We should gain a great deal of important scientific information from the project, but the days of doing research for its own sake have long gone. The results have a clear objective - to help Japan when it starts whale hunting again", Roy Gamble, secretary of the International Whaling Commission, told The Observer. Commercial whaling was outlawed in 1985. Conservationists say meat from whales killed for so-called scientific purposes is sold commercially.
Japan is not alone in what many see as a cynical misuse of science. Earlier this year, Norway announced plans to allow 2,600 baby seals to be killed for "scientific" purposes. Some of the pups were to be clubbed to death in the traditional way.
Copyright: The American Reporter
Date: Tue, 7 Nov 1995
ATOC Study Begins.
[New York Times via Greenwire]
Scripps Institution of Oceanography scientists were to begin the first sound transmissions in the Acoustic Thermometry of Ocean Climate (ATOC) program, to study how the sound transmissions might affect marine mammals.
Date: Wed, 15 Nov 1995
From: Hal Whitehead/Lindy Weilgart hwhitehead@kilcom1.ucis.dal.ca
Organization: Dept. of Biology - Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada
A total of three dead humpback whales were spotted off the Farrallon Islands, in the broad area around the ATOC sound source. The first was found 3 Nov., and buried without autopsy. The second two were found floating 9 Nov. These two were lost somewhere outside Santa Cruz; one was last sighted Monday, Nov. 13, I believe. The ATOC sound source was first turned on during the night of Oct. 28, and was broadcasting on 12 further occasions between 28 Oct. and 4 Nov. Unfortunately, the Scripps oceanographers in charge of the ATOC project had neglected to clearly notify the ATOC marine mammal scientists that the source would be broadcasting, which was in violation of agreed-upon scientific protocol.
Information on whether anyone has spotted humpback whale carcasses or any other dead marine life near the Farrallons would be highly appreciated. Has anyone made any observations of toxic algal blooms in this area? Any comments (stranding patterns this time of year, etc.) would be welcome.
Date: Wed, Nov 15, 1995 - SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Whale Deaths Delay Undersea Tests
Sound transmissions called off until probe completed
Stephen Schwartz, Chronicle Staff Writer
Three humpback whales found dead at Stinson Beach and the Farallon Islands last week have caused further delays in a controversial undersea sound experiment off the coast at Half Moon Bay, scientists said yesterday.
The sound transmissions by researchers from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California at San Diego were intended to gauge whether a larger, $35 million program to measure global warming would injure or disrupt marine mammals. While preparing the experiment, scientists tried out the device that emits sound waves into the Pacific. Scripps does not believe that procedure is linked to the whale deaths, but the subsequent experiments were nonetheless called off at the request of the National Marine Fisheries Service. The agency has asked that no tests take place until it has completed an investigation of what killed the leviathans.
"The operation of the sound source during the installation to test its performance is not related to the whale deaths," said Andrew Forbes, a Scripps researcher. But, he added, "because the time of deaths of the whales and the exact cause of their deaths is not known, we are taking a very conservative position and will not operate our program until we receive a report from the NMFS."
Testing of the sound program's effects on marine mammals is led by Dan Costa, a researcher at UC Santa Cruz. Costa had already called off a November 9 test because bad weather blocked an aerial survey of an underwater mountain 48 miles offshore. The aerial test must be conducted within 48 hours before the underwater tests begin. Then, the research ship used to monitor marine mammal behavior during the tests became unavailable, further delaying the transmissions.
Scott Anderson, an Inverness field biologist, observed all three dead whales last week. He said he went out into the Pacific off the Farallones in a small boat and found two that "were bloated, floating high in the water, looking like little islands, with no apparent wounds that would indicate how they died. They did not have injuries such as they would if they had been struck by ships."
He said "it is unusual for a group of baleen whales to die like this all at the same time, especially at this time of year." A humpback is a type of baleen whale. However, he discounted any connection between the sound transmission program and the whale deaths. Other naturalists said the whales could have been poisoned by toxins in the fish they ate or the buildup of potentially harmful "brown algae" in the water.
The transmission experiment is designed to learn whether increases in the rate of global warming can be detected by using underwater sound waves to measure long-term changes in ocean temperature. The project would place noise emitters 3,000 feet under Pacific waters off Half Moon Bay, linked by a one-inch diameter power cable to the shore. Although some experts say the sound emissions would be no louder than those produced by passing ships, strong objections to the program from environmental groups forced researchers to accept a range of conditions, including a stipulation that the experiment be substantially modified or halted outright if it is found to harm marine life.
In a similar development, Exxon Corp. began a seismic survey off Santa Barbara yesterday, using sound waves to assess oil and gas reserves in the 126-square-mile Santa Ynez field, the largest offshore reserve in contiguous U.S. territory. Environmental groups and the state Coastal Commission had threatened to block the testing, saying sound waves could disrupt the migration of gray whales and adversely affect more than 34 other marine species. But a compromise permitted Exxon to go ahead with the probe on the condition that the emissions be halted if marine mammals enter protected areas around the transmitters. Bruce Tackett, a spokesman for Exxon at corporate headquarters in Houston, said yesterday that a trial run Friday resulted in a decision to begin the test at midnight Monday.
Date: Thu, 16 Nov 1995
Lance Morgan morgan@megalopa.ucdavis.edu
Wildlife, Fish & Conservation Biology, University of California
In diving at Bodega Marine Lab and Salt Pt. (both areas north of the Farallones) during the Halloween week there was indeed a very large Plankton (dinoflagellates ?) bloom. This water mass was traveling north at the time so that it likely originated within the Gulf of the Farallones and was traveling north as a buoyancy current of was advected onhsore from an offshore source. My guess is the former. There was also a rainstorm that week. No idea whether they were toxic algae.
Date: Fri, 1 Dec 1995
National Marine Fisheries Service Clears Way For Start of ATOC Marine Mammal Research Program
Officials with the National Marine Fisheries Service have reported that they believe it is unlikely that the deaths of three humpback whales off Half Moon Bay, Calif., are linked to acoustic engineering tests conducted as part of Scripps Institution of Oceanography's Acoustic Thermometry of Ocean Climate (ATOC) program and have authorized the project to start operations.
The California Marine Mammal Research Program (MMRP) component of the project, intended to study whether underwater sound signals might have any adverse impact on marine mammals, was scheduled to begin Nov. 9. Upon learning a humpback whale had been discovered dead in the region, however, project scientists placed the program on hold as a precautionary measure while seeking advice from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the MMRP Advisory Board.
Following an extensive review, NMFS officials stated in a letter dated Nov. 30 that "the Scripps Institution of Oceanography may proceed with initiation of the MMRP." Accordingly, the program is to start as soon as weather permits.
Based on available data, the National Marine Fisheries' Southwest Region Office (NMFS-SWR) in Long Beach, Calif., was unable to determine the cause of the death of the three whales, which were discovered in the San Francisco area between Nov. 4 and Nov. 9. However, agency officials said they did not believe tests of the ATOC sound source were responsible for the whale deaths.
Date: Thurs, Dec. 14, 1995
The California Coastal Commission voted to ask NMFS to reopen its investigation of the three humpback whale deaths after ATOC researchers were reported to have stated that determining cause-of-death to marine mammals in the ATOC project area is not part of the ATOC project design.
Date: Wed, Dec. 27, 1995
ATOC is now continuing transmissions despite the fact that its Advisory Board noted that they "...could not categorically rule out a relationship between the ATOC transmissions and the [three humpback] whale deaths." The Advisory Board, however, concluded that the ATOC transmissions were "unlikely" to be responsible. No autopsies could be conducted on the three humpbacks.
It is disturbing to me that in a letter by Christopher Clark, director of the Marine Mammal Research Program for ATOC, to Ann Terbush, National Marine Fisheries Service, dated 9 Nov.,
"AFTER all three humpbacks were found in the general vicinity of the ATOC source, and
AFTER it was clear that Scripps had violated its permit by conducting 12 broadcasts of the sound source, yet
BEFORE there was any hard evidence as to the cause of death,
My intent is to reschedule the start of the transmissions for tomorrow morning..."
Luckily, thanks in part to pressure from environmental groups, this did not happen. Nevertheless, as an initial reaction by Dr. Clark, this does not reflect a great deal of precaution and prudence from someone charged with determining whether the ATOC transmissions are harmful to marine mammals.
Lindy Weilgart
Hal Whitehead/Lindy Weilgart: HWHITEHEAD@Kilcom1.UCIS.Dal.Ca
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuter) Jan 17, 1996 - After several weeks of testing a controversial experiment to measure global warming by transmitting noises deep in the ocean, scientists said on Wednesday they have so far found no change in animal behaviour.
Under a plan proposed by scientists at the University of California at San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the low-frequency sounds would be picked up by receivers located around the Pacific Ocean, enabling them to detect long-term changes in ocean temperatures since sound travels faster in warmer water.
After environmentalists voiced concern about the possible effect of the noise on whales, dolphins and other marine mammals, project scientists agreed to a preliminary study by independent marine biologists to test whether the signals would have any adverse impact on the animals. The researchers installed a loudspeaker deep in the Pacific Ocean off the central California coast and began the preliminary study in early December, occasionally broadcasting the low-pitched rumbles at 185 and 195 decibels.
The marine biologists, headed by Dan Costa of the University of California at Santa Cruz, said on Wednesday that during the first five transmission cycles from the loudspeaker, they had observed no apparent changes in the behaviour of marine mammals in the area. But they said in a statement that more data would have to be collected and detailed analysis done before they could draw any definitive conclusions.
During each transmission cycle, which lasted from one to four days, the sound source was turned on for 20 minutes every four hours, the scientists said. The scientists said they had spotted large numbers of whales, dolphins and other animals near the loudspeaker both when the loudspeaker was on and when it was silent.
Initial data from 14 elephant seals, each carrying a satellite tag that tracks their position in the ocean, showed no dramatic changes in their migration route from Alaska to California waters, the scientists said. Some environmentalists had expressed concern that the noises could affect animals' migration patterns.
The loudspeaker is located 50 miles (80 kms) offshore from Half Moon Bay and 3,200 ft (1,000 metres) under the ocean surface.
The first phase of the experiment to test the impact on marine mammals will run at least through September 1996 when a decision will be taken on whether to go ahead with the global warming experiment, during which the loudspeaker will broadcast more regularly.
SANTA CRUZ, California (CNN) December 1, 1996
Several years ago, a low-frequency transmitter was proposed as one way to study ocean's temperatures and monitor global warming. Environmentalists objected, fearing the noise reverberating through the deep would disrupt whale and seal migration or cause deaths in the population.
The project went ahead, and scientists monitored the ocean life off the coast of California. Now, halfway through the two-year test, preliminary results are available, and it appears that the transmitter has had no ill effect.
"The animals are not abandoning the study site," said Dan Costa, a marine biologist at the University of California at Santa Cruz. "We're finding whales and lots of dolphins and lots of seals. The abundance has not changed ... So there's no dramatic effect."
Researchers outfitted some elephant seals with devices to measure changes in their swimming patterns.
"We can look at the animals' behavior changes in terms of how deep it dives, how fast it swims, "how much time it spends at the surface," Costa said. "With 14 animals, there were no changes of behavior."
Scientists took to the skies to see whether the animals would continue swimming near the site. But researchers admit it's tough to measure the finer details of behavior that far out at sea.
The big question is still whether the noise masks the sounds that marine mammals make to one another to communicate about feeding areas or the presence of a predator nearby. But the sounds of most marine mammals are of a much higher frequency than those of the transmitter.
"We don't think they'll be masking sounds they make," Costa said. "As far as other sounds that might be important to them, we just don't know."
Hearings will be held following the completion of the study next year. If scientists do not detect any negative effects on marine mammal behavior, the transmitters in California and Hawaii will begin sounding off on a regular basis.
Date: Fri, 7 Dec 1995
Posse of game wardens gets its manatee
HOUSTON, (Reuter) - A posse from the Fish and Wildlife Service finally got its manatee, netting the wayward mammal Thursday as it swam outside a sewage treatment plant near downtown Houston.
The manatee first appeared swimming in warm waters discharged from the wastewater plant, and spent the past week plying the polluted waters of Buffalo Bayou and the refinery-lined Houston Ship Channel.
During an initial attempt by a crew of manatee experts flown in from Florida Wednesday the huge animal slipped under a 30-foot deep net and escaped into deeper waters. So, weights were added to the bottom of the net for the second attempt, and the manatee was lured back into shallower water with the offering of lettuce.
"I think we got him," field supervisor David Hankla said excitedly as the endangered manatee was rolled onto the muddy banks of the bayou, tangled in a 250-foot long net.
Known locally as Hou, the manatee turned out to be female and appeared to be in good condition when it was put in a specially built sling and lifted from the bayou by a crane, he said.
The manatee was quickly trucked to Sea World of Texas in San Antonio for a medical examination that will determine whether it came from Florida or Mexico, both hundreds of miles away. The manatee then will be airlifted home.
"You have to be prepared to modify your plans and react accordingly when the animal does something that you're just not anticipating," said Jim Valade, a Fish and Wildlife manatee expert.
Date: Fri, 8 Dec 1995
STRANDED DOLPHINS SAVED BY CLEAR-THINKING LOCALS
South Australia
ADELAIDE, Dec 6 AAP - Two adult dolphins stranded on tidal sands in South Australia's Coffin Bay National Park owe their lives to the efforts of two local people, wildlife authorities said today. National Parks and Wildlife Service west district manager Ross Allen said Tom Hyde and Myriam Sheehy (Sheehy) were out walking around 3pm when they discovered the female Bottlenose Dolphins, some two-metres in length and weighing about 300kg each.
Tom, 21, and Myriam, 18, kept the animals wet, covered them in clothing to guard against sunburn, and telephoned wildlife authorities.
"They were out on the sandflats and initially we thought they were dead," said Tom, who lives on a farm at nearby Coomunga, about 10km north of Port Lincoln, 670km west of Adelaide.
"We only saw one at the start and when it began breathing that gave us bit of a fright."
"I'm sure that if they (Tom and Myriam) had done nothing,it would have been absolutely disastrous for the dolphins," Mr Allen said. "They might well have died."
A team of four National Parks and Wildlife Service officers arrived at the scene, digging in under the dolphins to place them on slings specially designed for the retrieval of marine animals. Their size and weight meant it took the NPWS staff an hour to lift each dolphin across 200-300 metres of sand flats and back out to sea. Mr Allen said the dolphins were probably stranded after chasing fish in the shallows and and misjudging the tide. He said it was rare for authorities to find Bottlenose dolphins stranded because they lived near the shore and were used to fishing close-in.
"The first thing to do is to get water on them (stranded dolphins), to make them feel comfortable, which they did, and they had some clothing they got wet and then draped over them," Mr Allen said.
"So by the time we got to them, they weren't in too bad (a) condition, though theywere showing some signs of distress and sunburn.
"It took us the best part of an hour each (dolphin), to get them back into the water. They were that heavy."
Date: Tue, 19 Dec 1995
U.S. Commerce Chief Targets Japan for Whale Kills
WASHINGTON, Dec 19 (Reuter) - The U.S. Commerce Department has accused Japan of undermining an international whale conservation treaty and one official said on Tuesday this could prompt Washington to impose trade sanctions. Commerce Secretary Ronald Brown, in a letter to President Bill Clinton last week, said Japan was weakening efforts to save whales by killing them for research in a sanctuary in the Antarctic Ocean.
"Japanese nationals are engaged in scientific whaling activities that diminish the effectiveness of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) conservation programme," Brown said in a December 11 letter, required under the Fisherman's Protective Act.
Clinton "is now authorised to impose trade measures on Japan, although he is not obligated to do so," said Scott Smullen, spokesman for the Commerce Department's National Marine Fisheries Service. There is no deadline for the president to decide on trade action, but he has until Feb. 9 to inform Congress of any measures he has taken to respond to the secretary's notice.
This was the second time the United States had targeted Japan for research whaling. Action in 1988 led to a ban on Japanese fishing in U.S. waters. Brown said Japan had increased its catch of minke whales in the North Pacific this year and expanded hunts into the southern ocean whale sanctuary.
In talks with the United States, Japan said it did not intend to increase its minke whale kills in the Antarctic waters over the next seven years. But Brown said he decided to certify Japan as a threat to whale conservation because it had failed to promise to cut back whaling elsewhere or limit its hunt to minke whales.
"(Japan) has made no commitments, however, regarding scientific whaling in the North Pacific or regarding the possibility of lethal research in any location involving another species of whale," his letter said.
The International Whaling Commission last year condemned Japan's whale hunts. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which released Brown's letter, urged Clinton to impose trade sanctions on Japan.
"We certainly are going to push for sanctions on Japanese fisheries products that we import," WWF International policy director Ginette Hemley said. Hemley said the president could choose whatever sanctions he wanted, but they would probably target the Japanese fishing industry if they were imposed.
The wildlife advocacy group said Japan sold whale meat from the hunts to restaurants. The WWF said Japanese vessels set off last month to kill up to 440 minke whales, up more than 100 from last year's hunt.
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 1995
Japan defends whale hunts under U.S. attack
WASHINGTON, Dec 20 (Reuter) - Japan has not violated an international whale-protection treaty, a Japanese official said on Wednesday, defending the country's whale hunts for research against a protest by the U.S. government.
Research whaling "is perfectly legal under the IWC (International Whaling Commission) convention," said Joji Morishita, first secretary for fisheries at the Japanese embassy. "We already expressed great regret to the U.S. government because both our North Pacific and Antarctic research are appreciated by the scientific committee of the IWC," Morishita told Reuters.
"Legally speaking, the IWC states that each country has a right to issue scientific permits," he said, calling the U.S. view that Japan was weakening whale conservation efforts "a subjective assessment of the situation."
According to Morishita, Japan increased its hunt for minke whales in the Antarctic this year by 100 to around 400 in response to criticism from the IWC's science panel last year that its research programme was inadequate. However, Kevin Chu, foreign affairs officer for the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service, said Japan's justification for stepping up whale hunts was "not correct."
The research that came under criticism involved tracking whale population stocks and would require "a huge sample size" of much more than 400 whales, Chu said.
"The extra 100 whales they're taking in southern ocean is not for the same research purpose," he said.
NMFS officials declined to predict what action the White House might take. No talks have been scheduled between Japanese and American officials since the letter was issued.
"We hope that they will not go one step further and impose sanctions," Morishita said.
Environmental groups have long protested Japan's whaling and say the government is making money selling whale meat to expensive restaurants. Morishita defended the whale meat sales, saying that "we are just following the IWC convention" which requires that byproducts of research not be wasted. The meat sales do not cover the cost of the research, which runs into tens of millions of dollars, he said.
Date: Sun, 24 Dec 1995
China - Rare Dolphin Found
BEIJING (AP) -- After searching for three years, researchers have found one of the nearly extinct freshwater dolphins of the Yangtze River. The 10-year-old, 7 1/2-foot long female Baiji dolphin was captured Tuesday near the central industrial city of Wuhan and placed under observation in a dolphin reserve along the river, the China Daily reported today.
The Baiji (white fin) dolphins appeared 25 million years ago. Scientists value them as an important subject for the study of evolution and the development of mammals. China has only one other Baiji dolphin in captivity, a male named Qiqi (pronounced chee-chee). Fewer than 100 of this ancient species of dolphins are believed to remain in the Yangtze, China's longest river. With such small numbers remaining, it will be very difficult to save them from extinction, the official Beijing Review said in a report earlier this year. The newspaper quoted experts as saying the dolphins cannot survive 25 more years at the present rate of decline.
The Baiji dolphin lives only in the heavily polluted middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. In this densely populated area, fertilizers and pesticides run off from the fields and waste spews from factories lining the river. In some places, its dark waters are frothy with pollution. The giant hydroelectric dams on the Yangtze pose another threat. The river is blocked by the Gezhouba dam in its middle reaches in Hubei province. The world's largest hydroelectric project is being built near Gezhouba in the Three Gorges. The dolphin are also threatened by a decline in fish stocks, increasing numbers of motor boats, and fishermen who catch them illegally or accidentally.
The newspaper held out some hope for the Baiji, because Qiqi finally has a chance to mate. Chances the pair will mate and produce offspring are, unfortunately, slim. Qiqi, who has been alone and swimming in circles around a 10-yard-diameter pool for 10 years, is 18, somewhat old for successful reproduction, the report said.
"Thank heaven, our darling boy will now have a mate and possibly offspring to escape extinction," the report quoted an unidentified expert as saying.
The number of Baiji dolphins fell drastically from 6,000 in the 1950s to 400 in 1984. Last year, the Chinese estimated that fewer than 100 remain.
|
