Whale lovers it’s time to CELEBRATE and thank the California Coastal Commission (CCC) for protecting whales, dolphins, sea otters and a long list of other marine wildlife from the devastating impacts of a proposed seismic testing project by PG&E. Last Wednesday, the CCC voted unanimously to deny PG&E’s application to conduct seismic testing in California’s coastal waters adjacent to the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant...
The proposed seismic tests would have blasted powerful underwater air cannons every 15 seconds for 9 days decimating marine life from whales to plankton. PG&E had hoped by doing this and mapping another earthquake fault they could then claim that Diablo Canyon was safe and should have it’s operating licensee renewed. Earthquakes, oceans and nuke plants are a dangerous combination no matter how many tests they do – Fukushima – need I say more.
Nearly 60,000 of you took part on our online action and sent the CCC a message urging them to deny PG&E’s permit request. During the Commission’s deliberations they thanked the public for their comments and participation, letting us all know that they heard us and agreed with us. I too want to thank everyone who contacted the CCC. The coalition that came together to fight this insane proposal was rather amazing with whale lovers, conservationists, fishermen, native Americans and a host of others standing together telling the CCC not now, not ever, our coastal heritage both cultural and environmental is priceless and NOT to be sacrificed for one companies profits.
Several of the commissioners went on to tell PG&E that proposals like this will never be approved in California. Also that PG&E should decommission the Diablo Canyon nuke plant, shut it down permanently and start investing in green energy alternatives. I couldn’t agree more.
Today, NRDC sued the U.S. Navy and the government agency charged with protecting marine mammals from the Navy’s harmful use of sonar. Both the Navy and the National Marine Fisheries Service (“NMFS”) have a responsibility to manage, conserve, and protect living marine resources, like whales and dolphins, particularly those protected by the Endangered Species Act. Unfortunately, the Navy and NMFS failed to meet their obligation to protect whales and other marine life from the harmful impacts of low-frequency active sonar (“LFA”), when they authorized the deployment of LFA in 70-75 % of the World’s Oceans without instituting adequate protective measures...
My Greenpeace colleagues aboard our new flagship the Rainbow Warrior in the Indian Ocean shared a heartwarming experience when a frolicking group of humpback and minke whales put on quite a show. The excitement of their encounter just reverberated through their email and I can see from these photos why they were so pumped. It’s not a stretch to say these whales were happy and playful. Why wouldn’t they be as the entire Indian Ocean is a whale sanctuary where they can live in peace? What a contrast this is to other parts of the world where whales not only don’t have protections but face a myriad of direct threats from humans. One huge emerging threat to whales, dolphins and other marine wildlife is happening now in the coastal waters of California... (more)
Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) is posed to conduct seismic testing in a grid pattern over a large area off the Central Coast of California from Cambria to the Santa Maria River. Tests could begin as early as September 2012 and last until the end of the year. The research ship would emit blasts of very loud noise into the ocean. Streamers four or five miles long would be towed behind the vessel, which would pick up the sound waves as they penetrate several miles into the Earth’s crust and reverberate back to the surface...
The goal of the seismic imaging project is to attempt to measure the three major earthquake fault lines which run along our coast. The existence of these fault lines, especially after the continuing disaster at Fukushima, Japan, call into question the advisability of maintaining the Diablo Canyon nuclear power facility, operating near Avila.
The California-based energy company Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) wants to carpet bomb approx. 580 square nautical miles of sea floor with powerful Air Cannons that will blast every 10 to 20 seconds for 42 days straight.
The Chumash warn that these 260db sonic blasts, which will travel through the water and 10 miles into the earth's crust, will devastate the local marine ecosystem and possibly destroy fragile and sensitive Sacred Chumash Cultural Sites.
PG&E itself suggests that fisherman, divers, kayakers, boaters (including our tomol paddlers), and surfers remain out of the water during the tests due to the possibility of illness and even death. PG&E's Environmental Impact Report also lists a number of animals that will be unavaoidably impacted... (more)
Yesterday, the National Marine Fisheries Service – the federal agency charged with protecting whales and dolphins – announced that it received requests from the Navy for authorization to take marine mammals incidental to training and testing activities offSouthern California, Hawaii, and the East Coast, including the Gulf of Mexico, for the five-year period starting in January 2014. It all sounds very innocuous until you dig a little deeper and discover that the Navy is asking for authorization to take 33 million (yes, that’s not a typo: 33,000,000) whales and dolphins over the next five years, including more than 5.23 million instances of temporary hearing loss; almost 16,000 instances of permanent hearing loss; almost 9,000 lung injuries; and more than 1,800 deaths. It’s a staggering and unprecedented amount of harm that should give any federal agency involved, be it the Navy or the National Marine Fisheries Service (“NMFS”), pause.
Yet, the Navy is not pausing, apparently has no plans to go back to the drawing board, and instead continues to rely on a mitigation scheme – centered on the ability of lookouts to detect whales and dolphins and then limit the use of sonar when they get too close – that is demonstrably ineffective and inadequate. It’s ineffective because, as the Navy admits, lookouts on Navy ships only detect about 9 percent of whales and dolphins in the best of conditions. It’s inadequate because the Navy’s own analysis shows that some of the most severe impacts, such as permanent hearing loss, will occur well beyond the Navy’s “too close” zone. How else then does the Navy propose that the harm from its activities can be limited? It doesn’t. Its analysis and application to NMFS fail to present decision makers with any alternatives or mitigation measures that would appreciably reduce the harm to whales and dolphins.
So what’s an agency like NMFS to do when the Navy – no small fry in the Executive Branch – comes calling? Follow. The. Law.
Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, NMFS has a legal obligation to minimize the harm to whales and dolphins from the Navy’s proposed activities. If the Navy’s application and draft Environmental Impact Statements fail to offer a path forward for minimizing harm – as they do – NMFS is required to develop alternatives and mitigation measures of its own that limit impacts to marine mammals, while still meeting the Navy’s training needs.
Comments to NMFS on the Navy’s application and request are due November 5. NRDC will be submitting comments urging NMFS to meet its obligations under the MMPA – develop and adopt alternatives and mitigation measures that appreciably reduce the harm to whales and dolphins from the Navy’s activities.
Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) is posed to conduct seismic testing in a grid pattern over a large area off the Central Coast of California from Cambria to the Santa Maria River. Tests could begin as early as September 2012 and last until the end of the year. The research ship would emit blasts of very loud noise into the ocean. Streamers four or five miles long would be towed behind the vessel, which would pick up the sound waves as they penetrate several miles into the Earth’s crust and reverberate back to the surface. Tests would last for 24 hours and would kill or injure marine mammals, including whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals and otters. A deaf marine mammal is a dead one as this is the sense they rely on to communicate, navigate and find food. Seabirds and other species such as endangered sea turtles, could be affected as well, with little or no way of mitigating the impacts. Great potential harm is highly possible to the small population of harbor porpoises in the Morro Bay area. They are most sensitive to loud man-made sound and the mammal most vulnerable to habitat abandonment and to hearing loss. PG&E’s position is that the tests are necessary to map the ocean floor so geologists can better understand the earthquake faults near Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, close to San Luis Obispo, California. Earthquake faults were known at the time the plant was built. PG&E states these tests are essential in the aftermath of the Fukushima earthquake and subsequent tsunami, and the potential for a nuclear disaster. If an earthquake happened within the near future, what could be done to ensure that the Diablo Canyon plant would not have a meltdown? How will these tests prevent that scenario? The nuclear plant was constructed knowing that faults were nearby and that earthquakes were a potential danger. Wouldn’t it make more sense to spend the millions of dollars the tests will cost to instead begin plans to shut down the plant and find ways to shift to safe energy? Wouldn’t this be wiser than destroying untold numbers of animals within a Marine Protected Area, particularly when the necessary safeguards have not been implemented?
VANCOUVER — Marine officials hope an analysis of tissue samples in coming days by labs in the U.S. and Canada will solve the mystery of why a bloodied and battered young female killer whale washed up on a beach in Washington State in February.
For weeks there has been speculation that naval military exercises in either Canadian or U.S. waters may have been responsible for the endangered whale's death, but officials are urging the public not to jump to conclusions.
"In an investigation, you don't try to eliminate anything or focus on anything too early. Let the evidence lead you," said Brian Gorman, a spokesman for the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Its law enforcement branch launched an investigation about three weeks ago.
The carcass of the three-year-old orca, known among marine scientists as L112, washed up on the shores of Long Beach, along Washington's southern coast, on Feb. 11. It showed obvious signs of trauma.
But whether the whale suffered those injuries before or after it died is still under investigation, Gorman said.
Some of the dead whale's tissue has been sent to Oregon State University for analysis and investigators hope to begin getting results of that analysis in two or three weeks, he said.
A Brown Pelican is seen on the beach at East Grand Terre Island along the Louisiana coast on Thursday, June 3, 2010. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
For many Americans, the story of the BP disaster began on April 20, 2010, and ended on August 15 of that year, when the Obama Administration declared that “the majority of the oil is gone,” though the opposite was true.
For those on the Gulf Coast, the disaster remains, and life continues to be measured in terms of “before” and “after” the BP oil spill. They are tired of it all: BP, the government, the lies and the lawyers, the hardship and the illness, the oil on the beach and in the water, the dead dolphins and the disfigured fish, the ever-shrinking hauls of oysters, crab, and shrimp, and the rest of the nation’s cold shoulder. They still don’t know the answers to many life-and-death questions. But they keep going, hoping for life to return to the way it was before.
Vessels combat the fire on the Deepwater Horizon while the United States Coast Guard searches for missing crew
By July 9, 2011, roughly 491 miles (790 kilometers) of coastline in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida remained contaminated by BP oil, according to a NOAA spokesperson. In October 2011, a NOAA report stated that dolphins and whales continue to die at twice the normal rate.
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill (also referred to as the BP oil spill, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the BP oil disaster, or the Macondo blowout)[5][6][7] is an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico which flowed unabated for three months in 2010. It is the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry.[8][9][10] The spill stemmed from a sea-floor oil gusher that resulted from the April 20, 2010, explosion of Deepwater Horizon, which drilled on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect. The explosion killed 11 men working on the platform and injured 17 others.[11] On July 15, 2010, the leak was stopped by capping the gushing wellhead,[12] after it had released about 4.9 million barrels (780,000 m3) of crude oil.[3] An estimated 53,000 barrels per day (8,400 m3/d) escaped from the well just before it was capped.[10] It is believed that the daily flow rate diminished over time, starting at about 62,000 barrels per day (9,900 m3/d) and decreasing as the reservoir of hydrocarbons feeding the gusher was gradually depleted.[10] On September 19, 2010, the relief well process was successfully completed, and the federal government declared the well "effectively dead".[13] In August 2011, oil and oil sheen covering several square miles of water were reported surfacing not far from BP’s Macondo well.[14] Scientific analysis confirmed the oil is a chemical match for Macondo 252.[15][16] The Coast Guard said the oil was too dispersed to recover.[17]
Oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill pools against the Louisiana coast along Barataria Bay Tuesday, June 8, 2010. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
The spill caused extensive damage to marine and wildlife habitats and to the Gulf's fishing and tourism industries.[18][19] Skimmer ships, floating containment booms, anchored barriers, sand-filled barricades along shorelines, and dispersants were used in an attempt to protect hundreds of miles of beaches, wetlands, and estuaries from the spreading oil. Scientists also reported immense underwater plumes of dissolved oil not visible at the surface[20] as well as an 80-square-mile (210 km²) "kill zone" surrounding the blown well.[21] In late November 2010, 4,200 square miles (11,000 km²) of the Gulf were re-closed to shrimping after tar balls were found in shrimpers' nets.[22] The amount of Louisiana shoreline affected by oil grew from 287 miles (462 km) in July to 320 miles (510 km) in late November 2010.[23] In January 2011, an oil spill commissioner reported that tar balls continue to wash up, oil sheen trails are seen in the wake of fishing boats, wetlands marsh grass remains fouled and dying, and crude oil lies offshore in deep water and in fine silts and sands onshore.[24] A research team found oil on the bottom of the seafloor in late February 2011 that did not seem to be degrading.[25] On May 26, 2011, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality extended the state of emergency related to the oil spill.[26] By July 9, 2011, roughly 491 miles (790 kilometers) of coastline in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida remained contaminated by BP oil, according to a NOAA spokesperson.[27] In October 2011, a NOAA report stated that dolphins and whales continue to die at twice the normal rate.[28]
The oil slick as seen from space by NASA's Terra satellite on May 24, 2010
In January 2011 the White House oil spill commission released its final report on the causes of the oil spill. They blamed BP and its partners for making a series of cost-cutting decisions and the lack of a system to ensure well safety. They also concluded that the spill was not an isolated incident caused by "rogue industry or government officials", but that "The root causes are systemic and, absent significant reform in both industry practices and government policies, might well recur".[29] After its own internal probe, BP admitted that it made mistakes which led to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.[30] In June 2010 BP set up a $20 billion fund to compensate victims of the oil spill. To July 2011, the fund has paid $4.7 billion to 198,475 claimants. In all, the fund has nearly 1 million claims and continues to receive thousands of claims each week.[31]
In September 2011, the U.S. government published its final investigative report on the accident. In essence, that report states that the main cause was the defective cement job, and Halliburton, BP and Transocean were, in different ways, responsible for the accident.[32]
The NOAA Deepwater Horizon Archive serves as a centralized location online for much of the information NOAA gathered during the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill response and restoration activities.
As the nation's experts on oceanic and atmospheric science and the lead science agency for oil spills, NOAA was on the scene of the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill since the earliest moments of the crisis. Our scientists used data from satellites, aircraft, ships, buoys, and gliders to collect and provide mission-critical information to guide the emergency response to the spill and now the long-term restoration of the Gulf Coast.
i just learned that blue whales live for 2 centuries - the few remaining old ones remember the really bad days, even have old harpoons still in them. bigger than dinosaurs... living here and now on earth with us today... - problem is global warming is likely to disrupt their food supply so badly that something that huge won't be able to survive.
Whales and dolphins conjure a deep sense of wonder in us that’s hard to explain. From the Arctic to the Amazon, this groundbreaking three-part series goes on a global expedition with world-renowned underwater cameramen, Doug Allen (Planet Earth) and Didier Noirot (Jacques Cousteau’s cameraman), as they capture spellbinding footage of these marine mammals. Ocean Giants looks at how cetaceans hunt, mate, and communicate, and follows scientists as they strive to uncover new insights about these animals.
The first hour, Giant Lives, enters the world of the great whales. In the Arctic, giant bowhead whales survive the freezing cold wrapped in fifty tons of insulating blubber two-feet thick, making them the fattest animals on the planet. But the biggest animal on the planet is the blue whale. Measuring a hundred feet long, and weighing in at 200 tons, it is double the size of the largest dinosaur.
The second hour, Deep Thinkers, explores the cognitive and emotional lives of dolphins and whales. Like us, cetaceans have special brain cells, spindle cells, that are associated with communication, emotion, and heightened social sensitivity. These cells were once thought to be unique to us, but research is now showing that whales and dolphins may have up to three times more spindle cells than humans.
Marine mammals’ extrasensory perceptions and communication skills are the focus of Voices of the Sea, the final hour of the series. Whales and dolphins depend on sound to function in their ocean home. They use ultrasound to see inside other creatures, clicks and whistles to speak, and echolocation to navigate and hunt in the pitch-black depths.
Join PBS Nature, as it dives into the world of whales and dolphins, and reveals the secrets of their intimate lives like never before. Ocean Giants premieres on Wednesday, February 22, 2012 at 8/7 c (check local listings).
whale song spectogram
Spectrogram of Humpback Whale vocalizations. Detail is shown for the first 24 seconds of the 37 second recording Humpback Whale "Song". The ethereal whale "songs" and echolocation "clicks" are visible as horizontal striations and vertical sweeps respectively. Spectrogram generated with Fatpigdog's PC based Real Time FFT Spectrum Analyzer.
The U.S. Navy is experimenting with a long range underwater sonar system which is to be used to detect the presence and position of submarines deep in the oceans of the world. It uses a low frequency signal that can travel great distances and presumeably bounce off targets that are hundreds of meters below the ocean surface.
Navy sonar harms whales and dolphins. Check out this video and hear what it sounds like, and see what it does to these marine mammals. Earthjustice is working to get the Navy to use their sonar in places where it won't harm whales and dolphins.
The incident recorded in this video occurred in Puget Sound in May 2003. It was investigated by the National Marine Fisheries Service, Office of Protected Resources, who filed a report.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
A whale's keen sense of hearing is vital in every aspect of its life history, including foraging for food, finding mates, bonding with offspring, communicating with other members of their species, navigating through lightless waters and avoiding predators.
Experts agree that exposure to sonar blasts can cause serious injury or death from hemorrhages or other tissue trauma. Whales can also suffer from temporary and permanent hearing loss, displacement from preferred habitat, and disruption of feeding, breeding, communication and other behaviors essential to survival.
The use of military sonar has been associated with whale strandings in Greece (1996), the Bahamas (2000), Madeira (2000), Vieques (1998, 2002), the Canary Islands (2002, 2004), the northwest coast of the U.S. (2003), Kaua'i (2004) and Spain (2006).
RELATED EARTHJUSTICE LITIGATION
Earthjustice Attorney Steve Mashuda discusses this case in an interview with San Francisco Bay Area NBC News affiliate KNTV.
Navy Sonar and Marine Mammals: On January 26, 2012, a coalition of conservation and American Indian groups sued the National Marine Fisheries Service for failing to protect thousands of whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals, and sea lions from U.S. Navy warfare training exercises along the coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington. In late 2010, NMFS gave the Navy a permit for five years of expanded naval activity that will harm or "take" marine mammals and other sealife. The permit allows the Navy to conduct increased training exercises that can harm marine mammals and disrupt their migration, nursing, breeding, or feeding, primarily as a result of harassment through exposure to the use of sonar.
North Atlantic Right Whales: In 2010, conservation groups challenged the U.S. Navy's decision to build a $100 million Undersea Warfare Training Range 50 miles east of Jacksonville, FL, next to the only known calving ground for the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale. The warfare training grounds would include a system of approximately 300 underwater "sonar nodes" connected by cable to a landside facility some 50 nautical miles away. Scientists believe that the loss of even one right whale from non-natural causes could jeopardize the future of the species.
Navy Sonar and Hawaiian Humpback Whales: In 2008, Hawai'i federal district Judge David A. Ezra found that the Navy violated federal law and enjoined it from carrying out its undersea warfare exercises in Hawai'i's waters without adhering to additional mitigation measures to protect marine mammals. Earthjustice had filed suit on behalf of the Ocean Mammal Institute, the Animal Welfare Institute, KAHEA: The Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Surfrider Foundation's Kaua'i Chapter.
Endangered Species Protections for Southern Residents: In 2005, Earthjustice successfully argued that the Southern Resident orcas in Washington State's Puget Sound deserve protection under the Endangered Species Act, resulting in new safeguards for the orcas, including the creation of a binding recovery plan, protection for the whales' critical habitat, and assurances that all federal projects will protect the whales before the projects can proceed.
Listen to an audio interview with VP For Litigation Patti Goldman.
January 26, 2012
San Francisco, CA - A coalition of conservation and American Indian groups today sued the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for failing to protect thousands of whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals, and sea lions from U.S. Navy warfare training exercises along the coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington.
Earthjustice, representing InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council, Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth, Friends of the San Juans, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and People For Puget Sound, today filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Northern California challenging NMFS’s approval of the Navy’s training activities in its Northwest Training Range Complex. The lawsuit calls on NMFS to mitigate anticipated harm to marine mammals and biologically critical areas within the training range that stretches from Northern California to the Canadian border.
“These training exercises will harm dozens of protected species of marine mammals—Southern Resident killer whales, blue whales, humpback whales, dolphins, and porpoises—through the use of high-intensity mid-frequency sonar,” said Steve Mashuda, an Earthjustice attorney representing the groups. “The Fisheries Service fell down on the job and failed to require the Navy to take reasonable and effective actions to protect them.”
The Navy uses a vast area of the West Coast for training activities including anti-submarine warfare exercises involving tracking aircraft and sonar; surface-to-air gunnery and missile exercises; air-to-surface bombing exercises; sink exercises; and extensive testing for several new weapons systems... > more
"First there were 4 detections of explosive sounds"
A growing coalition of scientists, educators, and citizens are working together to expand a regional hydrophone network in the Salish Sea. This site is part of the SeaSound Project of The Whale Museum and is an experiment in sharing real-time underwater sound. The goals are to monitor the critical habitat of endangered southern resident killer whales to detect orca sounds and measure ambient noise levels.
SURTASS LFA: "The Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System (SURTASS) Low Frequency Active (LFA) is a long range surveillance sonar the U.S. Navy needs for national security."
presence of ulcerative skin lesions might be associated with a suspected disease agent which appears to be affecting other seal species in the region - radiation investigated as cause
Walrus on Togiak National Wildife Refuge
Photo Credit: Bill Hickey/USFWS
No radiation levels were found in these samples that would directly cause the symptoms seen in the pinnipeds. Test results show radiation levels are within the typical background range for Alaska.
- note: this is regarding direct causation - i am still wondering whether Fukushima's radioactive plume could be affecting the seals, walruses and possibly whales. i have heard no news on the whale deaths beyond that a determination was made that it was not caused by human activity (?)
In August 2011 a large herd of Pacific walruses (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) hauled out onto a barrier island near the coastal community of Point Lay, Alaska. Some of the walruses at the haulout site were reported to have bleeding skin lesions, and a ground-based survey confirmed the presence of ulcerative skin lesions on several walrus carcasses and some of the live animals.
The cause(s) and significance of the skin lesions are currently unknown. Most walruses exhibiting skin lesions appeared to be otherwise healthy. One hypothesis under investigation is that the skin lesions observed in walruses at the Point Lay site might be associated with a suspected disease agent which appears to be affecting other seal species in the region.
In December 2011 the Working Group on Marine Mammal Unusual Mortality Events (WGMMUME) determined that an “Unusual Mortality Event” (UME) involving multiple species of pinnipeds is occurring in the Arctic. A UME is defined as: "a stranding that is unexpected; involves a significant die-off of any marine mammal population; and demands immediate response..."
...The primary species involved in the mortality event has been ringed seals (Phoca hispida); however other species of arctic pinnipeds, including walrus have exhibited similar symptoms. As part of the UME investigation process, The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will be working with the WGMMUME and an Inter-agency response team to investigate factors contributing to the observed symptoms.
Summary of findings: Scientists have conducted preliminary qualitative screening of a few tissue samples from both healthy and sick pinnipeds (ice seals and walruses) involved in this UME for possible radionuclide exposure. No radiation levels were found in these samples that would directly cause the symptoms seen in the pinnipeds. Test results show radiation levels are within the typical background range for Alaska.
Wildlife Protection Agency Challenged for Not Doing Its Job
Low Frequency Active Sonar spectogram
SAN FRANCISCO— A coalition of conservation and American Indian groups today sued the National Marine Fisheries Service for failing to protect thousands of whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals and sea lions from U.S. Navy warfare training exercises along the coasts of California, Oregon and Washington.
Earthjustice, representing InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council, Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth, Friends of the San Juans, Natural Resources Defense Council and People For Puget Sound, today filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Northern California challenging the Fisheries Service’s approval of the Navy’s training activities in its Northwest Training Range Complex. The lawsuit calls on the agency to mitigate anticipated harm to marine mammals and biologically critical areas within the training range that stretches from Northern California to the Canadian border.
All around the world, our oceans are in crisis. Three quarters of global fish stocks are suffering from overfishing and 90% of top marine predators are already gone.
Destructive fishing practices destroy critical ocean habitats, pirate fishing harms global fish stocks and as the ocean becomes more vulnerable—it will succumb more quickly to the harmful effects of global warming.
Whale slaughter continues to put endangered species at risk and pollution from land-based sources is turning the oceans into a dumping ground.
Ocean advocates must work harder than ever to chart a new, sustainable course for the oceans before it’s too late. Over the next three years Greenpeace will:
1. Continue to change seafood choices made at a wholesale level by working with supermarket retailers to make sustainable seafood the only choice available.
2. Convince governments and the United Nations that marine reserves are critical to the oceans' future—especially to advocate for setting aside 40% of the world’s oceans as marine reserves.
3. Ensure that the Obama administration uses their diplomatic leverage to close the loopholes and end all commercial whaling.
We’ve made significant progress to turn the tide towards ocean conservation, but a lot more needs to be done in a short time. By working together, we can save the oceans.
What we focus on
Whale Defenders
A few countries, namely Japan, Norway and Iceland, continue to ignore a 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling—every year they kill thousands of whales to feed a black market of illegal whale meat.
For more than 40 years Greenpeace has been at the forefront of this evolving fight to end this needless slaughter of one the most magnificent creatures on the planet. Read more
Bering Witness
The waters of the Bering Sea-—between Alaska and Russia— are a rich marine environment that’s home to a diverse array of wildlife. Polar bears, seals, sea lions, walruses, whales and millions of seabirds make their home here.
The Bering Sea is also one of the most productive fishing spots in the world. But, the fragile ecosystem cannot sustain this level of commercial fishing without paying a price.
Seafood
The problems taxing the ocean resources translate directly into what's available at the seafood counter. As consumers demand for fish grows, destructive fishing and aquaculture continues to increase to meet the demand.
Marine Reserves
In order to protect the world’s oceans, portions have to be left alone. That’s where marine reserves come into the picture. A marine reserve is like putting a giant “Do Not Disturb” sign around an area of the ocean. These protected areas are so important to the future of our oceans—giving wildlife a safe haven free from danger.
Wildlife Facts
Our oceans are home to some of the most magnificent and unusual creatures on Earth. In the beautiful waters surrounding the Hawaiian Islands, many species from around the globe congregate, while some species exist here, and nowhere else on Earth. Discover for yourself the wonders that lie beneath the surface.
Tuna
Tuna is one of the world's favorite fish. It provides a critical part of the diet for millions of people, as well as being at the core of the world's luxury sashimi markets. But, did you know that globally tuna stocks are under threat?
Our appetite for tuna is pushing the fish closer and closer to extinction. As more and more people consume tuna there has been a surge in the number and capacity of tuna-fishing vessels across the world.
Oceans Reports
A breakdown of ocean related reports, publications, images and news.
Follow photojournalist James Balog to some of the most remote and beautiful places on Earth as he documents the disappearance of an icy landscape that took thousands of years to form. An artist, scientist, explorer, and former mountain guide, Balog braves treacherous terrain to site his cameras in ideal locations to record the unfolding drama. Remarkable time-lapse footage reveals massive glaciers and ice sheets splitting apart, collapsing, and disappearing at a rate that has scientists alarmed. This NOVA-National Geographic Television special investigates the latest evidence of a radically warming planet.
Is Antarctica headed for a catastrophic meltdown? New evidence of ancient climate change may hold clues.
Almost three miles of ice buries most of Antarctica, cloaking a continent half again as large as the United States. But when an Antarctic ice shelf the size of Manhattan collapsed in less than a month in 2002, it shocked scientists and raised the alarming possibility that Antarctica may be headed for a meltdown. Even a 10 percent loss of Antarctica's ice would cause catastrophic flooding of coastal cities unlike any seen before in human history. What are the chances of a widespread melt? "Secrets Beneath the Ice" explores whether Antarctica's climate past can offer clues to what may happen. NOVA follows a state-of-the-art expedition that is drilling three-quarters of a mile into the Antarctic seafloor. The drill is recovering rock cores that reveal intimate details of climate and fauna from a time in the distant past when the Earth was just a few degrees warmer than it is today. As researchers grapple with the harshest conditions on the planet, they discover astonishing new clues about Antarctica's past—clues that carry ominous implications for coastal cities around the globe.
In this series of video stories, explore the past and future of the fast-changing Bering Sea region, its culture and people, and the new polar science that is emerging from an expedition on board the Coast Guard cutter Healy.
PART 1: Polar Science and Yup'ik Culture
"The Healy is really a science machine... We have people studying everything from whales to walruses."
PART 2: Science and Subsistence
"Most of the hunters spend a lot of time observing the weather, the ice conditions, the water currents. This information is going to save your own life, or somebody else's life."
PART 3: Hot Spots and Cold Patches
"The Bering Sea is warming. What we are trying to do is understand how this system, which is shallow, it's vulnerable, how it is going to respond and change."
PART 4: Bering Sea Harvest
"We may not have sea ice whatsoever—potentially in the next couple decades... That is in our lifetime."
What would happen if all of Greenland’s ice or all of Antarctica’s ice melted? Nobody expects this anytime soon, but as a kind of visual thought experiment, the late Bill Haxby of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University graphically depicted how the coastlines of four regions—the mid-Atlantic U.S., the state of Florida, northern Europe, and Southeast Asia—might change if the planet's seas rose 17 feet or 170 feet. (These are conservative estimates for how much seas would rise with the melting of all of Greenland’s or Antarctica’s ice, respectively.) For comparison, Haxby also showed how the same coastlines would have looked 20,000 years ago at the height of the Ice Age, when sea levels were some 400 feet lower than they are today.
Jim White, Director of INSTAAR, the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at University of Colorado, Boulder, answers questions about the speeded-up melting of glaciers and ice sheets now occurring worldwide, the possible consequences for the natural and human worlds, and more.
DEATHS OF RINGED SEALS IN ALASKA DECLARED AN UNUSUAL MORTALITY EVENT; WALRUS PENDING
NEWS RELEASE
December 20, 2011
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Fisheries Service
Cause not yet identified; public encouraged to report sightings of diseased or dead animals
NOAA today declared the recent deaths of ringed seals in the Arctic and Bering Strait regions of Alaska an unusual mortality event, triggering a focused, expert investigation into the cause. A decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on making such a declaration for Pacific walrus in Alaska is pending...
Since mid-July, more than 60 dead and 75 diseased seals, most of them ringed seals, have been reported in Alaska, with reports continuing to come in. During their fall survey, scientists with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also identified diseased and dead walruses at the annual mass haul-out at Point Lay.
...Seals and walruses suffering from this disease have skin sores, usually on the hind flippers or face, and patchy hair loss. Some of the diseased mammals have exhibited labored breathing and appear lethargic. Scientists have not yet identified a single cause for this disease, though tests indicate a virus is not the cause...
Necropsies and laboratory tests to date have found skin lesions in most cases, as well as fluid in the lungs, white spots on the liver, and abnormal growths in the brain. Some seals and walruses have undersized lymph nodes, which may indicate compromised immune systems.
Testing continues for a wide range of possible factors that may be responsible for the animals’ condition, including immune system-related diseases, fungi, man-made and bio-toxins, radiation exposure, contaminants, and stressors related to sea ice change.
Walruses and ringed seals in Russia, and ringed seals in Canada, have reportedly suffered similar symptoms. While it is not clear if the disease events are related, the timing and location of the disease suggests the possibility of transmission between the populations, or shared exposure to an environmental cause...
NOAA’s Alaska regional fisheries website has more in-depth information about this disease outbreak in ringed seals and walruses at alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/protectedresources/seals/ice/diseased/. NOAA will make any new information available to the public on this website and will work with local native organizations, including the Ice Seal Committee and the Eskimo Walrus Commission, to ensure that information is distributed to affected communities. Any findings of public health significance will be immediately released.
more below regarding radiation testing
Are seal deaths a result of Fukushima nuclear catastrophe radiation poisoning? - they could be.
it appears possible that these seals may have been poisoned outright, or perhaps exposure to radioactive pollution is the cause of secondary infections or other complications...
my heart sunk when i saw the seal photos, like it hadn't since i watched the second reactor explosion... visions of dying sea life back then, and now here it is?
Alaska Dispatch | Alex DeMarban | Dec 23, 2011 — The University of Alaska Fairbanks' Institute of Marine Sciences is launching an investigation into whether radiation, including possibly from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power-plant disaster in Japan, has harmed or killed more than 100 ringed seals off Alaska's coasts...
The work so far has yielded at least one important clue: "Tests indicate a virus is not the cause," said a recent press release from NOAA and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service...
John Kelley, with the Institute of Marine Sciences at UAF, said he's just received a large batch of tissue from afflicted ringed seals and will soon begin the university's hunt for radiation as a possible cause...
January 1, 2012 | Fairbanks, Alaska — With more than 135 dead and diseased ringed seals found off the Alaskan coast since July 2011, SFOS Professor Emeritus Dr. John Kelley is leading efforts to test ringed seals for radiation stemming from the March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan.
i have requested updates from the staff of the marine mammals division
"At this point, scientists do not believe that radiation is a primary factor in this UME or that radiation is causing the symptoms and deaths in pinnipeds."
UPDATE Feb 8, from NOAA's NMFS:
"Thank you for your interest in this topic. As you know, NOAA is working collaboratively with many marine mammal experts throughout Alaska and the United States, as well as with a number of international scientists on this Unusual Mortality Event. We just posted an update at our website for this disease: http://alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/protectedresources/seals/ice/diseased/default.htm
"Our team continues to test for a wide variety of possible causes and contributing factors such as bacterial, viral, fungal or toxic agents. In response to your question about possible link to the Fukushima nuclear event, our scientists believe this is highly unlikely. However, we do have scientists at two separate labs analyzing tissue samples for the possibility of radiation exposure. This is a rather complicated process, which includes drying the tissue samples by a particular method before radiation testing can be conducted--which explains the length of time involved in conducting these tests." - Public Affairs Officer, NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service, Alaska Region - - ( thank you! )
UPDATE Jan 20: so far it appears that the NOAA press release is still current with no new info available regarding the cause of the disease - radiation testing is underway. i have received the following via email:
"The NOAA press releases are the most recent information on the diseased seals. News articles also reported on lack of a Fukushima signal in air filter surveys. WE have some tissue for analysis of radioactivity, but those results will not be available for at least a couple of months."
- and -
"...have just returned from the Alaska Marine Science Symposium in Anchorage and there were a number of presentations on the topic of the seal disease outbreak in the Arctic. It appears that the number of cases is going down, but it is unclear if this is due to a decrease in the actual disease outbreak or a lack of harvest during the winter months by subsistence hunters. Thus far all tests have been negative, so a cause has not yet been established. There a several analyses still pending.
"If you are interested in updates, NOAA has a listserve right now where information on the disease outbreak is being distributed.
"Send a blank email to: subscribe-arctic_seal_disease@listserver.afsc.noaa.gov"
(note: there is an online archive of list messages with access for subscribers)
Evidence has emerged that the impacts of the disaster on the Pacific Ocean are worse than expected.
Since a tsunami and earthquake destroyed the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant last March, radioactive cesium has consistently been found in 60 to 80 per cent of Japanese fishing catches each month, as tested by Japan's Fisheries Agency.
Overall, one in five of the 1,100 catches tested in November exceeded the new ceiling of 100 becquerels per kilogram. (Canada's ceiling for radiation in food is much higher: 1,000 becquerels per kilogram.)
"I would probably be hesitant to eat a lot of those fish," said Nicholas Fisher, a marine sciences professor at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
Cesium was especially prevalent in certain of the species:
• 73 per cent of mackerel tested
• 91 per cent of the halibut
• 92 per cent of the sardines
• 93 per cent of the tuna and eel
• 94 per cent of the cod and anchovies
• 100 per cent of the carp, seaweed, shark and monkfish
Some of the fish were caught in Japanese coastal waters. Other catches were made hundreds of kilometres away in the open ocean.
There, the fish also can be caught by fishers from dozens of other nations who fish in the waters of the Pacific.
Yet, Japan is the only country that appears to be systematically testing fish for radiation and publicly reporting the results. - The Vancouver Sun (reproduced on ReaderSupportedNews) *
Beyond Nuclear note: Although this story is about seafood concerns in Canada, it is worth noting that the US allowable contamination level is greater that both Japan and Canada, and that the US imports seafood and other foodstuffs from Japan. The Food and Drug Adminstration (FDA) of the United States is allowing a contamination level of 1200 Bq/kg of just Cesium 134 and Cesium 137 to be present in food imports from Japan that are not banned outright. Foods banned outright seem mainly limited to only select items grown in the localized areas of contamination within Japan.
NOAA has received word that the third of three killer whales that had spent at least three weeks in the Nushagak River has been found dead. The carcass of the juvenile killer whale was found Friday near Grass Island, an island in the Nushagak River across from Dillingham in an area that is tidally influenced. Based on the description of the location where the animal was found by a local resident, biologists believe the juvenile whale would've had to have swum there, rather than having been carried there by the tide.
i have requested updates from NOAA's Nation Marine Fisheries Service PR office
BY MARY PEMBERTON; ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: 10/12/11 11:33 pm | Updated: 10/16/11
Veterinarians said Wednesday that a killer whale that baffled biologists after swimming up a river in Alaska and remaining in the fresh water for weeks until its death had been pregnant.
A necropsy revealed that the whale was carrying a late-term fetus, veterinarians said. That could indicate that the animal was having pregnancy complications and "that may have been a factor in the whale dying," said Julie Speegle, spokeswoman for NOAA Fisheries Alaska Region...
Federal biologists have said the rare sighting represented an unprecedented journey into fresh water for the killer whales in Alaska.
The necropsy showed no evidence that the whale died because of human interaction, such as a boat strike or entanglement in fishing gear, said Judy St. Leger, director of pathology and research at SeaWorld who is a member of the necropsy team.
The veterinarians took samples from the whale carcass for tests and hope to answer some basic questions about its age, health and pod identity. A full report was expected to take a month or two to complete...
Feb 8 update: "We have received the report. No cause of death is suggested, although human interaction has been ruled out. Histological results are still pending."
Carefully scanning the ice for lurking polar bears, a ringed seal surfaces to catch a breath of air. Like most Arctic animals today, however, this seal's biggest threat is not a predator but global warming.- Photograph by Paul Nicklen
The most common and widely distributed seals in the Arctic, ringed seals make their home throughout the Northern Hemisphere’s circumpolar oceans, where they feed on polar and arctic cod and a variety of planktonic crustaceans. Different populations have different names and some variation in behavior and appearance. But ringed seals—the smallest seal species—get their name from the light-colored circular patterns that appear on their darker gray backs. Some of these markings are so dense, in fact, that they take on the look of splattered paint...
Seals that hang out year-round near sea ice are called ice seals. In Alaska, people as well as nanuuq rely on four species of ice seals for food. Because seals are so important to both nanuuq as their main prey and to people for food and clothing, the ANC has developed an Ice Seal Committee to help manage the four species. Alaska Natives are seeking to strengthen partnerships with the National Marine Fisheries Service to co-manage ice seals through research and education. The Committee also builds partnerships with other organizations and local governments to help conserve ice seals. The structure of the Ice Seal Committee is made up of representatives from five different regions that span the coast of Alaska starting at Bristol Bay then northward to the Canadian border (regions with polar sea ice).
"Conserving Nanuuq and
the Arctic Ecosystem for
present and future
generations of Arctic
Alaska Natives"
The Alaska Nanuuq Commission (ANC) was formed in 1994 to represent the villages in North and Northwest Alaska on matters concerning the conservation and sustainable subsistence use of polar bear. The tribal council of each member village has passed a resolution to become a member and to authorize the ANC to represent them on matters concerning polar bear at regional and international levels.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska | December 3, 2010 — Responding to a petition from the Center for Biological Diversity, the Obama administration today proposed Endangered Species Act protection for two ice-dependent Arctic seals threatened by climate change. The bearded seal and ringed seal will be the first Alaskan species since the polar bear to be protected primarily due to threats from climate change.
“Global warming is rapidly robbing these Arctic seals of the ice they need to survive,” said Rebecca Noblin, the Center’s Alaska director. “With this decision, the Obama administration is improving the odds for these two struggling species of ice-dependent seals. The Arctic is warming at twice the rate of the rest of the world, so no animal reliant on Arctic sea ice is safe.”
The ringed seal, the primary food for polar bears, excavates snow caves on top of the sea ice to create protected shelters for nursing pups. As the Arctic warms, the sea ice is breaking up earlier, and rain is falling on snow, causing snow caves to collapse and leading to the deaths of pups...
note: these quotes are from at least as far back as October
...The Northwest Arctic Borough has also posted a notice on its website warning people to watch for sick seals in Northwest Alaska villages. Enoch Shiedt, natural resource coordinator for the Maniilaq Association in Kotzebue, said he’s received a few reports of sluggish seals hauled out on beaches this summer. But he hasn’t been able to confirm the sightings. One sighting occurred on the Kotzebue waterfront several weeks ago, but by the time he arrived, the seal had been rolled back into the water and was gone. He’s concerned the illness will spread up the food chain, affecting other animals and hunters near Kotzebue Sound.
“I’m scared they might pass it on one way or another and the whole ocean could be affected,” Shiedt said. Folks in the Barrow region also are worried. Many of the Slope’s Inupiat residents are about to begin hunting for seals, and some are wondering if they are safe to eat, Herreman said. The wildlife department has posted fliers around the borough — titled Natchiq On Our Beach. Natchiq means ringed seal in the Inupiaq language. The borough has also gone on the radio, asking villagers to report sightings of marine mammals that appear to be weak. The wildlife department is advising hunters to notify it of any sick seals they harvest and, if they choose to eat them, to cook the meat thoroughly. The animals don’t appear to be ailing from stress-related causes, something people might suspect because climate change has reduced the ice habitat that ringed seals normally prefer, Herreman said. Seals also don’t appear to be suffering from a lack of food. “They are all showing classic symptoms of disease,” he said.
The sickest ones don’t move much on the beaches and they have blisters or wounds that bleed easily, including around the nose, eyes and especially the rear flippers. Others have lost much of their hair. “They’re not deathly skinny. It’s not like they’re dying from malnutrition. But they’re not in great body condition,” he said. The reports haven’t let up. “I just went out this morning and I saw a seal that died last night,” Herreman said Wednesday afternoon. “It was frozen and the seagulls had gotten to it,” he said. Weakened seals are susceptible to predator attacks. Large numbers of polar bears have been gathering at Kaktovik, east of Barrow near the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and some have been eating hauled-out ringed seals there, he said. Some sick seals have survived weeks with the illness. Scientists also don’t know how pervasive the illness is, since even healthy ringed seals are difficult to track and census. Ringed seal numbers aren’t well documented. A study done in the 1980s estimated about 250,000 ringed seals hauled out on northern Alaska’s shore-fast ice during the spring. Many more are thought to live farther out in the pack ice. But those estimates are very rough, Herreman cautioned. The worldwide population has been estimated at 4-6 million, he said.
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