The director of the Census of Marine Life on broadening the scope of global change to include illumination and noise.The director of the Census of Marine Life on broadening the scope of global change to... more
SAN FRANCISCO – A 70-foot, female blue whale that officials believe was struck by a ship has washed ashore on the Northern California coast in what scientists are calling a rare occurrence.
The whale was first spotted on shore near Fort Bragg in Mendocino County on Monday night, hours after an ocean survey vessel reported hitting a whale a few miles away, said Joe Cordaro, a wildlife biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's marine fisheries service.
Blue whales are the world's largest mammals.
more in the link...SAN FRANCISCO – A 70-foot, female blue whale that officials believe was struck by a... more
But jellyfish don't have legs! For that reason, or possibly for fun or exercise, Dolphins have been spotted off the coast of Wales flipping them out of the water (at times up to six feet high) in what looks like an improvised game of football, with the poor jellies acting as the ball.But jellyfish don't have legs! For that reason, or possibly for fun or exercise,... more
There have been some small but significant developments recently in the fight to save sharks from possible extinction. Let's hope that it's a sign of more to come and that it is not too little too late.There have been some small but significant developments recently in the fight to save... more
PLEASE LET YOUR VOICES BE HEARD!
If you care about about marine wildlife, the health of our oceans, and the future of life on this little blue planet... please read this report and comment.
The Task Force’s Interim Report is now available and is undergoing a 30-day public review and comment period. This report provides proposals for a comprehensive national approach to uphold our stewardship responsibilities and ensure accountability for our actions. Additionally, the report outlines a more balanced, productive and sustainable approach to our ocean resources.
The Task Force seeks input on its work from interested communities, governments, tribes, businesses, associations, non-governmental organizations and the general public.
THE PRESIDENT'S MEMORANDUM
On June 12, 2009, President Obama sent a memorandum to the heads of executive departments and federal agencies establishing an Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force, led by the White House Council on Environmental Quality. The Task Force is charged with developing a recommendation for a national policy that ensures protection, maintenance, and restoration of oceans, our coasts and the Great Lakes. It will also recommend a framework for improved stewardship, and effective coastal and marine spatial planning.
"The oceans, our coasts, and the Great Lakes provide jobs, food, energy resources, ecological services, recreation, and tourism opportunities, and play critical roles in our Nation’s transportation, economy, and trade, as well as the global mobility of our Armed Forces and the maintenance of international peace and security," President Obama wrote in the memorandum. "We have a stewardship responsibility to maintain healthy, resilient, and sustainable oceans, coasts and Great Lakes resources for the benefit of this and future generations."
"The challenges our oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes are facing are complex, and to meet these challenges we must have the participation of a wide spectrum of views from within the federal government," said Nancy Sutley, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. "The Task Force has a wealth of opportunity to make our oceans, coasts and Great Lakes healthier - both environmentally and economically."
The recommendations and frameworks developed by the Task Force will be cost effective and improve coordination across federal agencies. The Chair will terminate the Task Force upon the completion of its duties.
Bowing to international pressure, the Tokyo International Film Festival announced it will screen the controversial award-winning American documentary about the annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture, at the nine-day event in October.
The decision to screen "The Cove," which has already soured relations between Taiji and the town of Broome, its sister city in Australia, attracted attention following media reports that it had been rejected for what the film's director called a "hypocritical reason."
When organizers announced the lineup for the twenty second annual film festival, TIFF Chairman Tom Yoda singled out "The Cove," explaining the decision to include the documentary was made after the festival had reached an agreement with the movie's producers to take full responsibility should any problems arise from the screening.
UK Retailer Tesco's Linked to Slaughter
Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and Greenpeace are reported to have revealed that Tesco PLC, a large UK retailer has been linked to products from Japan's controversial hunting of whales, dolphins and porpoises.
EIA Cetacean Campaigns Manager, Clare Perry said: "C Two-Network are selling internationally protected species, and as such, are not only sustaining the market for these products in Japan, but are supporting Japan's refusal to abide by the international ban on commercial whaling."
Their investigations have allegedly exposed Japanese supermarket chain C Two-Network, a member of the Tesco Group, as selling fresh cetaceans products in 10 stores and canned products in 32 of its 78 stores. Tesco purchased more than 95% of the Japanese company in July 2003.
The products are sourced from the Kyokuyo and Nissui. These companies sell the meat from the hundreds of Bryde's, Minke and Sei whales that are killed each year in the name of science. According to staff working at the supermarkets, fresh meat from 'toothed whales', a generic term for dolphins, porpoises, and small whales, is also sold.
Richard Page, Greenpeace Ocean Campaigner said: "We are appealing to Tesco to use its ownership of C Two-Network to bring about an end to the sale of cetacean products in C Two-Network stores. Tesco's UK customers will be appalled to learn that Tesco is so closely linked to the sale of whale meat." http://www.squidoo.com/dolphinslaughterinjapanBowing to international pressure, the Tokyo International Film Festival announced it... more
It's a great tragedy that the initial dramatic effects of global warming are felt more at the poles and in the tropics rather than in the temperate area of the rich, greedy and polluter West. If the environmental disaster began to hit us too the Western public and politicians would understand that the danger is real and imminent and it's essential to do something before it's too late. The next important opportunity to wake up is the UN climate conference scheduled for December in Copenhagen.It's a great tragedy that the initial dramatic effects of global warming are felt more... more
September 11, 2009—The Japanese town made infamous by the movie The Cove has temporarily suspended its hunt. The annual Taiji hunt claims around 2,000 dolphins, killed by hand after being herded into a shallow cove.
The Japanese town chronicled in the award-winning film "The Cove" for its annual dolphin hunt that turns coastal waters red with blood has suspended killing the animals, at least for this week's catch, following an international outcry.
The western Japanese town of Taiji (TAH-ee-jee) will sell some of the dolphins to aquariums as it does every year, but the remainder of the 100 bottlenose dolphins that were caught early on Wednesday in the first catch of the season will be released.
Traditionally, theyre captured and most are then killed and sold for meat.
While Japan officially declares that the move had nothing to do with the protests, an official at the Taiji fisheries association, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said on Thursday that the decision was made partly in response to the international outcry created by "The Cove."
SOUNDBITE (English) Ric O'Barry, Earth Island Institute and Lead Character, "The Cove": "Well it seems as though the town of Taiji is responding to the world community, asking that this dolphin slaughter stop and today they implemented a no-dolphin-slaughter policy, so that is cause for great celebration. Not only for dolphins and whales but for Japanese people who are being contaminated by this product." Dolphin meat is consumed as a delicacy in Japan, and hunts date back thousands of years. Meat from one dolphin fetches about $500 US dollars but dolphins can be sold to aquariums for 10 to 20 times that price, with some kinds going for as much as 150-thousand US dollars.
Under the International Whaling Commissions ban on whaling, hunting for dolphins and small whales is still permitted, but draws sharp criticism from activists around the world.September 11, 2009—The Japanese town made infamous by the movie The Cove has... more
Beyond the shock of the imagery, it seems as though the vast majority of our population can somehow empathize with sea creatures dining on oceanic pulverized plastic and feel bad about how it got there in the first place, but at the end of the day, the issue of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch drifts off into the distance.
Why is it that 3.5 million tons of plastic junk ended up floating in the middle of our ocean?
It's because of you and me and our neighbors and their family and work colleagues and casual acquaintances.
Passing the buck has never been acceptable, but now more than ever, it is inexcusable.Beyond the shock of the imagery, it seems as though the vast majority of our... more
The End of the Line. The film explains the catastrophic consequences of over fishing - and looks at the many important warning signs from the ocean that we have been ignoring.
The United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organisation says that around 80 per cent of wild marine fish are now either fully exploited or over fished.
Follow link to 'The End of the Line' film homepage that features the movie trailer, interviews (videos), an interactive screening location look-up, educational links, news, a newsletter (& optional sign-up), campaign information and more.The End of the Line. The film explains the catastrophic consequences of over fishing -... more
Just when you thought that you crossed everything off your list in your quest to be the squeaky greenest person possible, here's a new lifestyle change you may not have thought about before.
Ditch your cats because they are responsible for the downfall of Mother Nature -- at least that's what one deeply opinionated person recently informed me.Just when you thought that you crossed everything off your list in your quest to be... more
Action Alert - Deadline August 30, 2009!
Stop the Navy from "taking" 32 species of marine mammals in their 5 years warfare testing program in the Pacific Ocean
The United States Navy and the U.S. Department of Defense intend to expand their Northwest Training Range Complex. Their draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), dated December 2008 has an August 30, 2009 deadline for public review and comment.
The expansion of their area of warfare operations will include the State of Washington, more areas in the State of Oregon, part of the state of Idaho, Northern California, and large areas of the Pacific Ocean along the Pacific coast. (The extent map designating this program area also extends throughout Northern California to the San Francisco Bay area under an "Extent Map Warning Area" designation).
U.S. Department of Commerce - NOAA Definition: "TAKE" Defined under the Marine Mammals Protection Act (MMPA) as "harass, hunt, capture, kill or collect, or attempt to harass, hunt, capture, kill or collect".
"TAKE" Defined under the ESA as "to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct".documents/htmldocs/action_alert_USNavy.htm
Action Alert - Deadline August 30, 2009!... more
In an ECO FAIL of grand proportions, the project that aimed to recycle used subway cars into habitats for marine life has ultimately resulted in more junk floating around in the ocean. New Jersey paid millions to have the old subway cars shipped from other states and sunk into the ocean off the coast of Delaware, but the stainless steel cars quickly disintegrated.
Only two of the 48 cars that were submerged are still upright and intact. The Press of Atlantic City spoke to Darlene Yuhas, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Protection:
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had estimated they would serve as good reef habitat for 25 to 30 years.
“All the evidence suggested they would be long-lasting. In fact, the EPA data was these cars should last 25 years,” Yuhas said.
Other East Coast states that took the subway cars have reported similar problems.
The state DEP has done more surveys since February and has decided to end the program after cars were only deployed at the Atlantic City Reef and the Cape May Reef, which is about 9.1 nautical miles off Cold Spring Inlet. Cars had been earmarked for three other reefs, including the Shark River, Garden State South and Deepwater reefs, before the termination.
“We did in fact notify the New York Transit Authority that we would no longer be accepting their cars,” Yuhas said.
As Shea Gunther points out over at MNN, we tried something like this before and made a big mess instead of helping marine life. The tires that were dumped into the sea off Florida’s coast in the 1970s to act as an artificial reef broke apart and caused damage to actual living reefs nearby. It’s probably just not a great idea to dump our crap into the oceans, no matter what it’s made out of.
As Shea Gunther points out over at MNN, we tried something like this before and made a big mess instead of helping marine life. The tires that were dumped into the sea off Florida’s coast in the 1970s to act as an artificial reef broke apart and caused damage to actual living reefs nearby. It’s probably just not a great idea to dump our crap into the oceans, no matter what it’s made out of.In an ECO FAIL of grand proportions, the project that aimed to recycle used subway... more
Ocean wildlife off the coast of Oregon are getting a boost with a recent grant from NOAA to remove old crab pots. These pots, which are lost in storms or when propellers cut the lines, often ensnare passing whales, turtles, sea lions, and other creatures.
The state's Department of Fish & Wildlife estimates that as many as 10 percent of the pots are lost, roughly 15,000 of them dropping to the ocean floor each year.
This program, apparently the largest grant ever given to clean up discarded fishing gear, will hire fishermen to retrieve the pots.
While this program, estimated to clean up 4,000 pots, is a good start, there is a lot more to do and no plan to continue the retrieval after the funds run out in 2010.
State officials hope that fishermen will keep the program going once funding runs out, which seems a bit optimistic at a time when catches are dropping.Ocean wildlife off the coast of Oregon are getting a boost with a recent grant from... more
At the Leesburg Pharmacy, located in a Loudoun County strip mall, a big, round fish tank sits atop the prescription counter. There are no fish inside, not even any water: The tank is a repository for unused medications. People can drop off the Vicodin that didn't get used once the pain of a root canal subsided. Or the heart pills remaining after a grandmother's death. Or an asthma inhaler that had passed its expiration date. Or an antidepressant that turned out to have unpleasant side effects.
Once a week, the tank is emptied; the drugs are packed in cartons by pharmacy personnel and ultimately incinerated by a commercial waste firm.
"Our customers are thrilled because they had no idea what else to do with this stuff," said Cheri Garvin, chief executive of the employee-owned pharmacy.
These are customers who are trying to do the responsible thing. Over the years, Americans have been alerted to the dangers of a lot of problematic waste materials -- paint thinner, batteries, air conditioners. But leftover pills can seem so small, so easily disposable, that many people routinely flush them down toilets, wash them down sinks or throw them in trash that goes to a landfill.
And then they often end up in places where they shouldn't be, like the public water supply.
The average American takes more than 12 prescription drugs annually, with more than 3.8 billion prescriptions purchased each year, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. The most commonly cited estimates from Environmental Protection Agency researchers say that about 19 million tons of active pharmaceutical ingredients are dumped into the nation's waste stream every year.
The EPA has identified small quantities of more than 100 pharmaceuticals and personal-care products in samples of the nation's drinking water. Among the drugs detected are antibiotics, steroids, hormones and antidepressants. Last year, the Associated Press reported that trace amounts of drugs had been found in the water supplies of 24 major metropolitan areas; water piped to more than a milllion people in the Washington area had tested positive for six pharmaceuticals.
The EPA does not require testing for drugs in drinking water and has not set safety limits on allowable levels. While the minute quantities now being detected appear not to pose an immediate health risk, according to federal authorities, "there is still uncertainty about their potential effects on public health and aquatic life" over the long term, the EPA's water chief, Benjamin Grumbles, told a Senate committee last year. But the impact of long-term exposure of drugs on humans as well as on other species is less clear. Hormone-disrupting pharmaceuticals, for example, are one possible cause of a high incidence of "intersex" fish in the Potomac River basin: male smallmouth bass producing eggs, females exhibiting male characteristics.
Until recently, federal guidelines recommended that surpluses of highly toxic medications be flushed down the toilet; the same advice applied to drugs with a high potential for abuse or "diversion" -- the industry's word for what happens, for example, when kids help themselves to the OxyContin or Percocet in their parents' medicine cabinet. For other drugs, consumers have been directed to adulterate the medication by mixing it with an unpalatable substance -- such as cat litter or coffee grounds -- and put it out with the household trash.
But this spring, concerns about pharmaceuticals in the water supply led the Office of National Drug Control Policy to amend its advisory, telling consumers to avoid flushing unless the label or patient information specifies that method of disposal. The new guidelines still describe the cat-litter method of putting drugs in the trash, but they also encourage consumers to make use of community drug take-back programs.
JAPAN has asked Australia to prevent the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin leaving port to harass its whalers in the Antarctic next summer, but the plea may have little effect.
The anti-whaling activists plan to upgrade their fleet from an ageing, former North Atlantic fisheries patrol boat to include another ship - something out of the future. The global speedboat Earthrace would head south under Sea Shepherd colours next summer, the group's leader Paul Watson said.
"It looks like a spaceship. It can do 40 knots and dive under waves completely. We'll be using it to intercept and block harpoons."
In 61 days last year Earthrace circled the globe fuelled by biodiesel. The New Zealand owner/skipper, Pete Bethune, said he decided to become involved because "this is happening in my backyard and it really pisses me off. I'm going to make a stand."
He said he was adding half a tonne of Kevlar to the vessel to toughen it against the ice. It had the endurance to go half way round the world on a tank of fuel.
"They won't get away from me," he said.
Earthrace's role was unveiled as the International Whaling Commission heard that Sea Shepherd's protests endangered the lives of whalers in the Southern Ocean last summer when the Steve Irwin was involved in two collisions.
"These are highly dangerous, and it can only be described as a miracle that there has been no death or large-scale accident to date," said a Japanese delegation member, Jun Yamashita.
"We cannot tolerate such audacity," Mr Yamashita told the commission. "We ask for
all appropriate measures, including a ban on the ship from leaving port, so that we can prevent these acts from being repeated."
Mr Watson, who is not permitted inside the meeting, said the Steve Irwin was soon to leave Brisbane for Hobart after a $500,000 refit. Its buckled hull plates had been repaired, and it was fitted with a powerful water cannon on the bow to match the whalers'.
He dubbed next summer's campaign Operation Waltzing Matilda and has adopted a symbol with a kangaroo wearing a pirate's eye patch.
An official from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, David Dutton, told the 71-nation meeting in Madeira that the Rudd Government was "deeply concerned" about clashes in the Southern Ocean..."Earthrace" is joining the fight for the whales.
JAPAN has asked Australia to... more
Great white sharks have some things in common with serial killers, a new study says: They don't attack at random, but stalk specific victims, lurking out of sight.
The sharks hang back and observe from a not-too-close, not-too-far base, hunt strategically, and learn from previous attempts, according to a study being published online Monday in the Journal of Zoology. Researchers used a serial killer profiling method to figure out just how the fearsome ocean predator hunts, something that's been hard to observe beneath the surface.
"There's some strategy going on," said study co-author Neil Hammerschlag, a shark researcher at the University of Miami who observed 340 great white shark attacks on seals off an island in South Africa. "It's more than sharks lurking at the water waiting to go after them."
The sharks feeding at Seal Island could have just hovered right where the seals congregated if they were random killers-of-opportunity, Hammerschlag said. But they weren't.
The sharks had a distinct M.O.
They were focused. They stalked from a usual base of operations, 100 yards from their victims. It was close enough to see their prey, but not close enough to be seen and scare off their victims. They attacked when the lights were low. They liked their victims young and alone. They tried to attack when no other sharks were around to compete. They learned from previous kills.
And they attacked from below, unseen.
There's a big difference between great white sharks and serial killers and it comes down to that old gumshoe standard: motive. The great whites attack to eat and survive, not for thrills. And great whites are majestic creatures that should be saved, Hammerschlag said.Great white sharks have some things in common with serial killers, a new study says:... more
Congress is debating a bill that would open up oil and natural gas platforms just 10 miles from portions of Florida's Gulf and Atlantic coasts. It's putting pressure on state lawmakers to decide how close is too close to search for new energy sources.
As it stands, oil and natural gas exploration is limited to dozens of miles away from Florida's beaches and some in the state worry that allowing access just ten miles away, in Federal waters, puts Florida at risk environmentally without any of the financial windfalls.
Florida's Petroleum Council argues lawmakers should open up state waters, the first 10 miles of ocean and gulf waters beyond the shoreline, to oil exploration. Analysts estimate such a move could generate more than $1.5 billion a year in lease agreements and jobs.
"We know it's out in the eastern Gulf of Mexico," Council spokesperson Eric Hamilton says. "And we can get to that with a very small footprint."
Governor Charlie Crist has remained open-minded on the offshore drilling debate, provided platforms were largely out of sight and environmental risk was small.
"It's such an important issue that all the aspects of it, particularly if it would mean any revenue for Florida," Crist said Wednesday. "I understand that it may not. That would be a deal breaker."
Ultimately, voters could decide if near-shore drilling is in Florida's future. A push is on to put the question of opening up Florida's waters for oil and natural gas leases on the 2010 ballot.
"We've got this beautiful economy that every other state would envy," Audubon of Florida spokesperson Eric Draper says. "Why would we put that at risk for a little bit of oil that's not even going to bring that much money into the state of Florida."
Recent polling by Mason-Dixon Polling and Research Institute find a majority of Floridians support drilling off Florida's coasts, if safety was guaranteed.
I CAN NOT IMAGINE ANYONE BEING IGNORANT ENOUGH TO BELIEVE ANY "GUARANTEE' (OR ANYTHING ELSE) BY BIG OIL AND/OR CORRUPT POLITICIANS THAT SUPPORT IT!
$1.5 BILLION WOULD NOT COVER THE LOSS INCURRED BY 1 MAJOR SPILL. THE DAMAGE TO MARINE WILDLIFE, ENDANGERED COASTAL HABITAT AND ALREADY FRAGILE MARINE ECO-SYSTEMS WOULD NOT BE REPLACEABLE.
IT IS STRANGE HOW NATIONAL AND LOCAL MEDIA FAIL TO REPORT ALL OF THE OIL SPILLS HERE ALONG THE GULF COAST AFTER A HURRICANE...
PLEASE DO NOT ALLOW THE DESTRUCTION OF FLORIDA'S DELICATE ECO-SYSTEMS!
NO MORE DRILLING! WE NEED REAL ENERGY ALTERNATIVES THAT ARE SUSTAINABLE AND RENEWABLE NOW!
OUR GROTESQUE CONSUMPTION OF EARTH'S NATURAL RESOURCES HAS NOT BEEN REDUCED BY EXTINCTION, POLLUTION, STARVATION, WAR, POVERTY, HABITAT-LOSS, DISEASE... WHAT MORE WILL IT TAKE?Congress is debating a bill that would open up oil and natural gas platforms just 10... more
Whoever thought that our heart-healthy, low-cal, doctor-approved trips to the supermarket fish counter would become fraught with moral choices?
That's exactly the case being made by "The End of the Line," the disturbing new documentary on what overfishing is doing to the world's oceans. (It opens in Los Angeles next Friday.) The film from director Rupert Murray and investigative journalist Charles Clover was screened Monday at UCLA to mark World Oceans Day. Producer Lawrence Bender and longtime environmental activist Kelly Meyer (wife of Universal Pictures President RonMeyer) hosted a crowd that included Rosario Dawson, Saffron Burrows and Kimberly Estrada.
Later this summer, the campaign will include broadcast and online public service announcements featuring Martin Sheen, Alyssa Milano, Rosanna Arquette, Ellen Page, Kelly Preston, Anthony LaPaglia, Gia Carides, Brenda Strong, Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon, Shawn Pyfrom, Keisha Whitaker, Ken Baumann, Kelli Williams, Dave Lieberman, Rene Auberjonois and former NBA player John Salley.
There's a new optimism stirring among activists in this community because after eight years of outright hostility emanating from the Bush White House toward environmental issues, the Obama administration is more willing to engage questions that involve complex international questions.
"The End of the Line," based on Clover's groundbreaking book of the same title, is the first feature-length documentary to take on the overfishing crisis.
According to the filmmakers, failure to take quick action will mean the end of most commercial fishing within less than half a century with dire consequences both in terms of depleting the food supply and the loss of jobs.
To make their case, Murray and Clover not only traveled to fishing grounds all over the world, but also confronted politicians and celebrity restaurateurs on camera.
As examples of what's in store for other popularly consumed species, Murray and Clover examine in detail the near extinction of commercial cod stocks and the impending collapse of bluefin tuna populations around the world, much of the latter caused by the West's newly aroused appetite for sushi and sashimi.
(Add that happy thought to your deliberations the next time you're trying to decide whether to spring for the toro at the local sushi bar.)Whoever thought that our heart-healthy, low-cal, doctor-approved trips to the... more
The astonishing collection of everyday plastic items swallowed by a single albatross.
At first glance this collection of bright plastic toothbrushes and bottle tops looks like a colourful mosaic.
But astonishingly all these pieces were found in the stomach of a dead fledgling Laysan albatross.
The stark image is on the cover of today's special issue of the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, which highlights the effect plastic has on the environment and human health.The astonishing collection of everyday plastic items swallowed by a single albatross.... more
![Dolphins "play football" with jellyfish [video] - video](http://i2.crtcdn.net/images/asset/900/474/59/e20379_60x45.jpg)
