Florida’s coasts: It smells like death!

World Animals Voice

In the photo you can see what is happening on the coasts of Florida! Naples is a city on the Gulf of Mexico in southwest Florida. Here, tons of dead crabs were washed away!

Recently, 135 turtles and dolphins and manatees died in Sarasota, Florida.

On the weekend of September 16, 2018, beach visitors at Panama City Beach made a gruesome discovery: thousands of fish had been stranded dead. Nitrates and phosphorus together with rising temperatures are ideal conditions for algae blooms.Water has been drained from a Florida lake that was full of algal blooms, and this contaminated water got into the ocean!

More and more dead sea turtles, dolphins, manatees and fish have been washed ashore on Florida beaches since the end of July. Including a 200 kg sea turtle.
She had swum across the oceans for 100 years and her life ended on the beaches of…

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Protect Ocean-Saving Sea Cucumbers From Poachers

Sea cucumbers are the ocean’s garbage disposals and medicine men all in one, and they are the latest at-risk animals in the crosshairs of greedy poachers. Help save these ocean guardians and, in the process, help save the marine world.

Source: Protect Ocean-Saving Sea Cucumbers From Poachers

Save Remaining Orcas From Toxic Chemical Pollution

Half of all remaining killer whales may be doomed to die due to toxic pollution in the world’s oceans. Sign this petition to demand that nations commit to cleaning up banned PCB chemical waste that is causing severe harm to these animals.

Source: Save Remaining Orcas From Toxic Chemical Pollution

Petition: Oil tankers or orcas? Keep tar sand in the ground!

rainforest-rescue.org

Tankers carrying tar sand oil are a serious threat to the habitat of endangered orcas. Yet Alberta is planning the world’s largest open-pit tar sand mine. If realized, it would wipe out 292 square kilometers of forests and wetlands and be a disaster for the climate. Tell Canada to keep tar sand in the ground!

News and updates Call to action

To: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna

Teck Resources’ planned Frontier Tar Sand Mine would be an ecological disaster with a global impact. Keep tar sand in the ground.

Read letter

The pipelines needed to export tar sand oil are environmental disasters waiting to happen: the Trans Mountain Pipeline crosses the Rocky Mountains to British Columbia’s Pacific coast. Oil spills are virtually pre-programmed, and a tanker accident could devastate the coastline and the habitat of 75 endangered orcas.

Further inland, the tar sand mining industry is turning swathes of northern Alberta, Canada, into a wasteland: Forests are being felled to make way for open-pit mines. Tailing ponds contain water laden with heavy metals. Refineries pollute the air.

Tar sand oil is the world’s dirtiest fossil fuel, and extracting and refining it requires far greater amounts of energy than conventional oil. This project would make a mockery of Canada’s commitment to protect the climate – leaving it in the ground is the only sane option.

UNESCO is alarmed by the prospect of the mine: the guardians of World Heritage Sites see grave danger for Wood Buffalo National Park at the mouth of Athabasca River. The river is already polluted by existing oil sand mines and its condition would become much worse.

Local people are also impacted by the environmental destruction. The Mikisew Cree and Athabasca Chipewyan First Nations reject the project and have declared the land north of Firebag River to be a no-go area. This has not stopped the mining company from running roughshod over the rights of the indigenous peoples.

There will be an official hearing for the pipeline project at the end of September. Together with our Canadian partners, we want to bring international pressure to bear against the dirtiest fossil fuel on the planet. Please sign our petition: Tell the Canadian government to keep tar sand in the ground!

Back­ground
Canada’s boreal forests

Canada’s forests cover an area of 347 million hectares. Of those, 270 million hectares are boreal coniferous forests. Only Russia and Brazil have more forest. 94 percent of all forests in Canada are on public land. Politicians have a great influence over whether they are protected or open to exploitation by business.

The boreal forests of pine, spruce, fir and larch are the habitat of caribou, wolves and numerous bird species. Countless lakes, rivers and mountain ranges form a diverse mosaic of natural spaces. The forests are also a crucial bulwark against climate change, storing twice as much carbon as tropical forests.

Between 1990 and 2015, Canada’s forest area decreased by 1.2 million hectares, mainly due to logging, mining and hydropower projects. In many cases, the ecological impact is greater than the immediate physical one. For example, relatively narrow strips of land are cleared for roads, but caribou generally do not cross them and thus lose large parts of their habitat. They also keep at least 500 meters away from any disturbances of their environment. While the tar sands themselves cover an area of 475,000 hectares, their full exploitation would thus impact an area of 12,5 million hectares.
Wood Buffalo National Park in danger

At 44,807 square kilometers, Wood Buffalo National Park is Canada’s largest national park and largest UNESCO World Heritage Site. It also encompasses the world’s largest inland delta at the mouths of the Peace and Athabasca rivers.

Wood Buffalo National Park was established in 1922 declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983.

UNESCO describes the protected area as “the most ecologically complete and largest example of the entire Great Plains-Boreal grassland ecosystem of North America, the only place where the predator-prey relationship between wolves and wood bison has continued, unbroken, over time”.

The national park is also the only breeding habitat in the world for the endangered whooping crane (Grus americana). Experts estimate the population to be no more than 250 adult individuals.
Canada’s oil reserves

Canada’s tar sand deposits underlie more than 140,000 square kilometers of northeastern Alberta – an area larger than England. The country’s oil reserves are estimated at 170 billion barrels, putting it in second place after Saudi Arabia.

In 2016, Canada produced 2.8 million barrels of crude oil a day, 2.4 million of which come from tar sands. Current plans are to boost production to 5.1 million barrels a day by 2030, with 3.7 million from tar sands.
Three tons of sand – one barrel of oil

Tar sand is often called “oil sand”, a misleading term that trivializes the harmful chemical process required to extract oil from the bitumen in the sand. Two to three tons of sand are needed to obtain just one barrel of oil (159 liters). Processing the sand consumes up to five times more energy than the extraction of conventional oil. The fuel also emits 23 percent more greenhouse gases.

According to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), 12 billion barrels of tar sand oil have been extracted since 1967. As a result, 6.3 gigatons of carbon dioxide have been released into the atmosphere.

Strip mining tar sand not only devastates vast swathes of land, it also causes serious water pollution on a large scale. The contents of the tailing ponds, which presently cover 176 square kilometers, could bury London under a layer of toxic sludge nearly one meter deep. The muck contains heavy metals such as lead, mercury and arsenic, as well as carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. A study by the University of Toronto has shown that up to 1,000 times more toxins evaporate from the ponds than previously assumed. According to the Pembina Institute, 11 million liters of the toxic brew seep into the groundwater and pollute the Athabasca River every single day.
Athabasca River polluted

Fish in the Athabasca river and delta show striking deformations. Among the indigenous Mikisew Cree First Nation living downstream, certain cancers occur at up to seven times the national average rate. Locals in the town of Fort Chipewyan put the numerous deaths down to heavy metals in the environment. The Canadian government does not see a connection. Critics have described the government’s cavalier attitude toward the plight of the indigenous peoples as racist.

To date, the United States has been the main consumer of Canadian oil. Demand is falling, however. The U.S. has been pushing the extraction of oil and gas via fracking with the aim of becoming independent of foreign oil, a policy that has received added impetus under President Donald Trump.
Oil pipelines crossing the continent

Canada is planning major pipelines to transport the crude oil.

The Trans Mountain Expansion Project of the Kinder Morgan Pipeline has already been approved and is supported by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The pipeline links Alberta’s oil fields to the Pacific Coast. However, the provincial government of British Columbia is trying to foil the construction with proposed environmental regulations.

The Enbridge Line 3 pipeline, which will head south toward the U.S., has already been approved. The planned 2,700 km Keystone XL pipeline would also link Canada’s tar sand fields to refineries in Texas.

The oil industry has been calling for a pipeline to the east to export tar sand oil to Europe. In late 2017, however, the TransCanada group bowed to public pressure and dropped its Energy East project to the Atlantic coast.

Letter

To: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna

Dear Prime Minister,
Dear Minister McKenna,

Canada is among the countries with the most extensive forests on the planet. The old-growth rainforests of British Columbia, the maple tree forest in Quebec, and the boreal forests in the North are habitat for countless plant and animal species. The forests and wetlands store huge amounts of carbon and play an important role in mitigating climate change on a global scale.

It is crucial that Canada protect its forests – yet you have not been living up to this responsibility.

The tar sand areas in Alberta are the most horrible and obvious example of this lack of responsibility. For many years, vast forest and wetlands areas have been destroyed for open-pit mines and the production of the dirtiest fossil oil in the world. The Athabasca river has been poisoned, caribou and bear habitat has been destroyed and First Nations rights have been violated.

Teck Recourse’s proposed Frontier tar sand mine would damage Canada’s climate change commitments. From the year 2026 on, Teck plans to produce 260,000 barrels oil per day – over the course of 50 years. The approval of this new project would perpetuate the burning of fossil fuels despite the urgent need for humanity to switch to renewable energy as soon as possible to avoid further damage to the climate.

Furthermore, the tar sand mine project would be harmful to the habitat of significant plant and animal species, to the Athabasca River and other water resources, and to the Wood Buffalo National Park UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Considering the existing and potential damage and harm, we ask you kindly to:

• stop Teck Resource’s proposed Frontier tar sand mine and tar sand exploitation in general.
• stop the construction of oil pipelines like Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain that are connected with tar sand exploitation.
• protect the Wood Buffalo National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• protect Canada’s forests, wetlands, rivers and lakes.
• respect the rights of First Nations and Métis communities who oppose tar sand mining and oil pipelines.

Your government was praised during the Bonn climate summit when announcing an end to burning coal. That pledge would be hypocritical, however, if you continue keep supporting tar sand exploitation. Canada can neither achieve its climate targets under the Paris Agreement nor its national climate plan if it exploits tar sand further.

Please live up to your responsibility to protect Canada’s forest and the global climate: keep tar sand in the ground!

Yours faithfully,

https://www.rainforest-rescue.org/petitions/1128/oil-tankers-or-orcas-keep-tar-sand-in-the-ground?mtu=356307983&t=3966

Your Member of Congress Can Help Protect Forage Fish Like River Herring and Shad

e-activist.com

Forage fish like river herring and shad are a key part of the marine food web, providing food for commercially and recreationally important species such as tuna, cod, and striped bass, as well as for sharks, dolphins, whales, and birds. These fish are essential to healthy fisheries, stable marine ecosystems, and the communities that depend on them.

Unfortunately, demand for forage fish—which are used to make fertilizer, livestock feed, and consumer products like cosmetics—is increasing worldwide. Right now, much of the U.S. does not have measures in place to avoid drastic declines in forage populations and the resulting negative impacts on the marine ecosystem and associated coastal economies.

For example, despite significant work to improve conservation of river herring and shad in the rivers where they spawn, there are no biologically-based catch limits in place for these fish to promote their sustainable management in the ocean.
Ask your member of Congress to introduce legislation to protect forage fish.

To make sure that there are enough forage fish to fulfill their essential ecological roles, now and into the future, please urge your member of Congress to introduce legislation that would authorize fishery managers to establish stronger conservation measures for these crucial fish when they are in ocean waters.

Forage fish are vital for a healthy ocean and thriving coastal communities—they should be protected now.

https://e-activist.com/page/30453/action/1?ea.tracking.id=Alert&utm_campaign=AA+-+ENV+-+USOC+-+FED+-+Forage+Legislation+2018&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Pew

Petition · Roseanna Cunninham Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary for the Environment: SAVE DOLPHINS, PORPOISES AND SEALS FROM SCOTTISH SALMON FARMS · Change.org

Porpoises, dolphins and whales are being driven from feeding grounds and can be deafened by Acoustic Deterrent Devices (ADDs) used by salmon farms. These mammals echolocate to find food, and if deafened will starve.

Most Scottish farms use cheap single nets. Dead fish accumulate and tempt seals to bite salmon through the net. 121 of 172 farms use ADDs (outputting over 179 decibels) to deter seals, but because ADDs are not very effective, farmers using ADDs also shoot seals.

There are alternatives: Marine Harvest use ADDs and shoot seals in Scotland, however in British Columbia, where ADDs and seal shooting are banned, the same company uses double-skinned anti-predator nets (ref.1), which also solve the problem of escapes.

In 2019, Marine Harvest is predicted to have a net profit of over 1 billion euros (ref. 2). They can afford to fit double-skinned anti-predator nets.

Farms which use ADDs are breaking the law prohibiting “deliberate or reckless disturbance or injury to any porpoise, dolphin or whale”. Scottish Natural Heritage have advised (ref.3) that ADDs cause disturbance and can cause hearing damage and stress, but the regulators, Marine Scotland, have not yet enforced the law.

We call on Roseanna Cunningham to:

Enforce existing laws protecting porpoise, dolphins and whales and ban all ADDs by January 2020.
Honour her pledge not to “roll back our hard-won environmental protections after Brexit” by refusing to allow the laws protecting marine mammals to be weakened.
Insist on independent, peer-reviewed scientific investigations, overseen by a stakeholder committee, including tourism and coastal community members if an ADD is claimed not to disturb or injure any porpoise, dolphin or whale.

Refuse to issue a seal shooting license after January 2020 unless a farm has double-skinned anti-predator nets. Farms not using the best technology are not complying with the licensing condition to only shoot seals “as a last resort”.

David & Jean Ainsley run a wildlife tourism boat. We have lodged a Complaint to Europe (ref.4) calling for our laws protecting marine mammals to be enforced. It is supported by 41 groups and charities representing wildlife, tourism, and coastal communities (ref.5).

PLEASE SIGN AND SHARE THIS PETITION.

has://www.change.org/p/roseanna-cunninham-scottish-government-cabinet-secretary-for-the-environment-save-dolphins-porpoises-and-seals-from-scottish-salmon-farms?recruiter=353339232&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_initial.pacific_abi_gmail_send.variation.pacific_abi_select_all_contacts.control.pacific_email_copy_en_gb_3.control.pacific_email_copy_en_us_3.control.lightning_share_by_medium.share_by_medium.lightning_2primary_share_options.variant

Petition: Tell President Trump: Don’t Harm Marine National Monuments

act.oceana.org
URGENT: President Trump could throw protections for three marine national monuments overboard.

Marine national monuments protect irreplaceable ocean habitats and safeguard key marine species from threats such as mining, offshore drilling and trawling – and right now, they’re under attack. The Trump administration is considering allowing commercial fishing in three monuments.

No president has ever attempted to revoke protections for a marine national monument – We can’t sit back and let President Trump start now.

Tell President Trump not to weaken protections of Marine National Monuments now.

Dear President Trump,

I urge you to preserve marine national monuments and maintain all existing protections granted to these monuments in the United States.

Marine national monuments protect ocean treasures by preserving unique and critical habitats that are home to countless coral, fish and other marine life.

Research has found that marine protected areas allow fish populations to replenish and food webs to rebuild, resulting in an increase in the abundance and diversity of ocean life both inside and outside the protected area. Essentially, the more fish and marine animals populate an area, the more they venture beyond the monument’s borders, providing increased opportunities for fishing and nature-based tourism. Bottom line: protecting our marine national monuments is good for our country.

Marine national monuments also help to reduce other ocean stressors by providing vital services such as increased ocean resilience and ecosystem diversity to reduce the risk of losing key species and habitats.

Please do not attempt to withdraw monument designations or allow commercial fishing to resume in any monuments.

https://act.oceana.org/page/18881/petition/1?ea.tracking.id=twitter&utm_campaign=Advo&utm_content=20180912MonumentsTweet&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social&utm_id=3As8MKMB0Ypraa

Petition · FWC Crack Down On Land-Based Shark Fishing · Change.org

OneProtest started this petition to FWC Commissiner Chairman Bo Rivard and 9 others

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is seeking public input on rules and regulations regarding land-based shark fishing.

This controversial hobby amongst recreational “sport” fishermen has drummed up attention after numerous reports of illegal activity, wanton waste, and public safety concerns. Globally shark populations are under extreme pressure; due in part to overfishing. Although, land-based shark fishers practice catch and release the stress often proves too much for the shark. Sharks that swim away may suffer later from post-release mortality which can occur several hours or days later.

There has been no research conducted on the environmental impacts of land-based shark fishing, the effects LBSF has on shark populations, or the potential risks involved with beachgoers in the same vicinity as land-based shark fishers.

We need to let the FWC know that we want more rules, regulations, and enforcement when it comes to protecting our beaches and wildlife from the thrills of land-based shark fishers.

https://www.change.org/p/fwc-crack-down-on-land-based-shark-fishing?utm_source=embedded_petition_view

For more information visit: https://www.floridasharks.org/

California Moves to Ban Fishing Nets Blamed for Killing Numerous SpeciesNow

By Lorraine Chow

Silvertip Sharks (Carcharhinus albimarginatus) caught in gillnet. Jeff Rotman / Oxford Scientific / Getty Images

The California State Assembly unanimously approved a bill on Thursday that phases out the use drift gillnets in the state by January 2023.

The controversial fishing gear, which can stretch a mile long and suspend 100 feet underwater, is used by fishers to target sharks and swordfish, but the nets inadvertently entangle and kill scores of other marine animals, including endangered species.

The Assembly voted 78 to 0 on Senate Bill 1017, sponsored by state Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica). It passed 36 to 1 in the Senate in June. It now heads to Gov. Jerry Brown, who has until Sept. 30 to sign it into law.

“So grateful to everyone for their hard work pulling together a strong bipartisan vote in support of protecting marine-life from unnecessary death with SB 1017,” Allen tweeted Thursday.

Gillnet with white perch. NOAA / Chris Doley

Should the bill become law, it would create a buy-back program that offers up to $110,000 to fishers to give up their nets, NBC Bay Area reported.

California fishers said the ban threatens their livelihood and the buyout amount is not enough for them to transition to another type of fishing.

“I don’t know what I’d do,” Mike Flynn, who has used drift gillnets to catch swordfish for the past 40 years, told the publication. “There’s very few of us left, and we don’t seem to have a chance … we’re being villainized, unjustly.”

The news site reported that some 20 fisherman actively use the gear off the California coast, down from 141 active permits at its peak in 1990, according to NOAA.

The bill’s passage comes just months after conservation group Mercy For Animals and the Ban Death Nets coalition released grisly undercover footage showing the harmful impact of driftnet fishing on marine life.

Mercy For Animals celebrated the vote and urged Gov. Brown to join other governments that have outlawed the nets. “California is the last remaining U.S. state to allow driftnets, which have already been phased out off the U.S. East Coast and banned by Oregon and Washington states, the United Nations, and countries around the world,” the group stated on their website.

World Animal Protection released a report highlighting that 640,000 metric tons of fishing nets are lost or discarded in our oceans each year, trapping and killing countless marine mammals, including endangered whales, seals and turtles. Shallow coral reef habitats also suffer further degradation from the gear, which can take up to 600 years to decompose.

Earlier this week, fishermen found roughly 300 dead sea turtles off the southern Pacific coast of Mexico. The olive ridley turtles, which Mexico classifies as being at risk of extinction, were entangled in an abandoned illegal fishing net.#turtlesbit.ly/2NzxXF8

Mexico’s office of the federal attorney for environmental protection said the turtles were found in a 393-foot long net that is not approved for fishing, according to the Associated Press.

https://www.ecowatch.com/california-bans-fishing-nets-gillnets-2600792569.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=385f9967e3-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-385f9967e3-86074753

Petition: Now Japan Wants to Legalize Commercial Whaling!

by: Care2 Team
recipient: International Whaling Commission

20,836 SUPPORTERS – 25,000 GOAL
“There couldn’t be a better opportunity” — that’s how one Japanese government official replied when asked about the prospects of legalizing and expanding whale hunting. The Japanese government hopes to weaken the current ban on commercial whaling as they chair this year’s International Whaling Commission (IWC) going on now until the September 14 in Florianopolis, Brazil.

But as you know, Japan doesn’t need to weaken the commercial whaling ban to hunt whales, because even though the ban has been in place since 1986, the country has continually ignored it. In fact, Japan has fictitiously given themselves the authority to grant their whalers “waivers” that have allowed them to continue slaughtering whales in the name of “science.”

Earlier this year, several news outlets revealed that Japan had killed more than 333 minke whales in the Southern Ocean already in 2018. 120 of them were pregnant females. If that wasn’t outrageous enough, new information from the World Wildlife Fund suggests that 50 of the whales murdered in the Antarctic were taken inside of a marine refuge established specifically to help marine wildlife like whales, seals and penguins thrive.

Now, Japan wants to be granted permission to kill more whales on an even wider scale. Further endangering these species and paying no price for flouting the law. Japan and other whaling countries like Norway and Iceland have together killed nearly 40,000 whales since 1986. If the IWC decides to grant them more leeway to hunt more whales imagine the damage they could do.

Stand up and tell the IWC that people from all around the world want them to continue to protect whales from commercial hunting. Sign the petition and demand that the IWC deny Japan’s request to expand whaling rights.

https://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/599/249/939/

Photo credit : Christopher Michel

 

Petition: 8 Years after BP’s Gulf Disaster, Sick Workers Are Still Not Being Cared For. Demand Their Day in Court!

by: LT. General Russel L. Honoré, US Army (Ret)
recipient: BP, Judge Carl Barbier and The Plaintiff’s Steering Committee (PSC), BP Medical Claims Administrator

85,911 SUPPORTERS – 90,000 GOAL

Do you remember what happened on April 20, 2010?

Too many people are still suffering in the aftermath of the BP drilling disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, while a big corporation and powerful attorneys walk away with barges of cash, ignoring the victims left behind.

This was a devastating and shameful event caused by the greed of a corporation as well as the negligence and greed of politicians, powerful attorneys and so-called administrators for those impacted by the largest single oil spill in America’s history.

Here are the facts that demand our action:

Recently released health studies confirmed that those closest to the BP disaster were made sick by their exposure to oil and dispersants. Many cleanup workers and spill-impact-zone residents are developing cancer, blood diseases, and neurologic problems, conditions that have been proven to follow previous oil spills, caused by exposure to these toxic chemicals.
Cleanup workers were not provided with or required to wear the safety equipment that would have protected them from illness, such as respirators, gloves, boots, Tyvek suits and similar protective gear.
80% of those who submitted a health claim were either denied or only given the bare minimum compensation – only 40 claims (out of 37,226) for compensation for a chronic condition were paid.
Many people who are sick with chronic conditions are being forced to file an individual lawsuit against BP and pay a $400 filing fee to do so. 8 years after the spill, none of these claimants have been able to present their evidence to a jury. Those who opted out of the settlement have fared no better, because Judge Carl Barbier has allowed these cases to be stayed indefinitely.

It is frightfully unamerican for a person who was injured by BP, a big corporation who was admittedly negligent, to be denied their day in Court, while the Plaintiff’s Steering Committee and the Claims Administrators walk off with hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Plaintiff Steering Committee walked away with $700 million; the Claims Administrator, in charge of processing the first round of payments to victims, walked away with $155 million dollars. The total paid to all victims? A single lump sum of $60 million…even while those paid from the $60 million are only a small fraction of the injured people who helped in the cleanup or lived in the designated zones.

My anger is focused on this miscarriage of justice and will not end until the victims are compensated. The suffering and silence has gone on long enough. Please join me in letting BP, the Court, and the Plaintiff Steering Committee know that we won’t put up with it any longer. Let’s make our voices heard. Join me as we speak for our families, friends, and neighbors who are victims of this tragedy.
Update #14 months ago
We’re closing in on 60K signatures demanding the courts and BP take care of the workers they’ve left behind. Thank you for supporting this effort. Please share the petition to generate more pressure and attention.
For more information, read this powerful story of our event outside the federal courthouse last week. As I said to the press: It’s a crying damn shame.

https://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/854/037/331/?z00m=30804706&redirectID=2729624498

 

Petition: People Are Snatching Nesting Sea Turtles Out of the Ocean for the Most Horrific Reason

by: Care2 Team
recipient: President of Nicaragua Daniel Ortega

47,370 SUPPORTERS – 50,000 GOAL
It’s not easy being a baby sea turtle. Once you break out of your shell you have to find the ocean and hightail it to the waves, avoiding seagulls, large fish, and other predators before you even have a chance of survival.

And those are the dangers you face AFTER you hatch. In some parts of the world, they never even get a chance to peek through their shell because the locals find turtle eggs so delicious they collect them by the hundreds.

That’s what happened recently in Nicaragua’s La Flor Beach Natural Reserve. The reserve is a coveted nesting spot among female olive ridley sea turtles. They come in droves to lay their eggs in the soft sand in hopes that in a few months, they will hatch and make it back to sea. But too often that doesn’t happen, and what happened earlier this month is a tragic example.

A video that’s recently gone viral, shows several locals wading in the ocean and grabbing female turtles straight out of the water. Usually, egg hunters wait for the turtles to lay their eggs before they swoop — which is illegal itself — but, as the Daily Mail notes, the most recent “video marks [a] new level of cruelty.” The stunning footage shows the enormous turtles, flipped upside down, propped up on the poachers’ shoulders flailing helplessly before they disappear into the distance.

While the poachers just want their eggs, it’s likely that the mother turtles didn’t survive the ordeal, making this story even more tragic.

The video shows that even though egg poaching is highly illegal in Nicaragua and turtles are protected there, there is still a lot more that needs to be done. If locals can simply walk down to the beach and snatch a 50 to a hundred pound creature out of the ocean in plain sight, with no repercussions then clearly something is wrong.

Nicaragua needs to protect the turtles and their eggs especially at their most vulnerable otherwise their laws are superficial.

Please join us in demanding that Nicaraguan officials implement a beach watch and guard program to protect sea turtles during nesting season and prosecute poachers to the fullest extent of the law. Sign the petition.

https://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/304/009/879/

 

petition: They Thought It Would Be Cool to Ride a Whale Shark and Nearly Killed It

by: Care2 Team
recipient: Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti

11,328 SUPPORTERS
12,000 GOAL
The whale shark — the world’s largest fish — is under threat. Its numbers are in decline and it is up to the global community to implement laws that ensure their survival.

That’s why Indonesian marine laws stipulate that divers — who come from all around the world for a chance to see them in the wild — keep a distance of at least three feet from the enormous creatures.

But those warnings weren’t heeded by a few careless scuba divers in Indonesia’s Cenderawasih Bay National Park. In a video that recently went viral, the group can be seen decked in full scuba gear and with no regard for their safety or that of the sharks. One person straddled the shark’s back while two others held down its fins and another clung on to its tail. Others then proceed to take photos.

Whale Sharks like other sharks must keep moving to breathe. Although they are huge, the fish are extremely fragile, and any type of human contact can lead to injury which could quickly lead to their death.

While the scuba divers are clearly at fault and have been arrested by authorities, there is one other person that should be equally accountable — the tour guide. Tour guides supposedly know the laws that protect Indonesia’s endangered marine species, but this one decided to ignore them and allow his clients to treat the fish like a plush toy.

Indonesian authorities should make sure to find the tour guide and make sure they also pay a price for endangering the whale sharks. Sign the petition and encourage Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti to take action against all guilty parties.

https://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/173/283/627/

 

Copyright © 2018 Care2.com

Petition:Science Transparency Advocacy | Ocean Conservancy

takeaction.oceanconservancy.org
Science Transparency Advocacy | Ocean Conservancy
2 minutes

Don’t be Fooled. Help Take Action for Science

Last spring, then-EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt proposed new regulations and told us they would help “strengthen transparency in regulatory science.” Sounds good, right? Wrong! Take a closer look and you’ll see that this is just a play on words. Instead of helping science—it would actually create rules that would make it harder to share important science and needlessly slow down scientific advancements.

You can help! There is an open public comment period on the EPA’s proposal, but we’re running out of time. We only have three days to speak up before the comment period closes. Will you speak up for science and the health of the ocean by taking action today?

If enacted, the proposed rule would prohibit the use of confidential data—like health studies—in EPA’s rulemaking processes unless that private information is made public. The rule uses the language of “scientific transparency” to prohibit the agency from consulting a wide swath of peer-reviewed scientific research.

If adopted, the policy would essentially bar the EPA from consulting most large-scale medical studies when creating rules about air pollution, toxic chemicals, and water contaminants. The proposal could also force the agency to revoke decades of clean-air protections.

https://takeaction.oceanconservancy.org/page/28233/action/1?_ga=2.87828625.842113781.1534225633-641794172.1534225633&ea.tracking.id=18KPHPEAXX

Speak up today!

Petition: Grieving Orca Mom Highlights the Plight of Southern Resident Killer Whales

by: Care2 Team
recipient: Gov. Jay Inslee

41,248 SUPPORTERS -45,000 GOAL
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last couple weeks, you’ve probably heard about Tahlequah, part of the the southern resident killer whale (SRKW) clan, that for nearly 20 days, has been carrying around her calf which died shortly after birth. Researchers, conservationists and animal lovers have been transfixed by the drama, and mourning with Tahlequah over her tragic loss.

The death of the calf is an ominous sign for a clan of orcas that only numbers around 75 and is the only killer whale population protected by the Endangered Species Act.

The SRKW clan of whales is split into three related pods that live within the Salish Sea off the coast of Washington. The pods — J, K and L — vary, in size and have different habits but are part of the same extended family and communicate using sounds used by no other killer whale population.

Tahlequah is part of the J pod, but she isn’t the only pod member whose well-being has worried the public. This week researchers discovered that Scarlet, another killer whale from the same pod, looked severely malnourished. And yesterday an emergency mission was put in motion to deliver antibiotics to the ailing whale.

Scarlet and Tahlequahs struggle is symbolic of the plight of the entire SRKW population. The clan has experienced a remarkable and currently unexplained decline over recent decades. Between 1995 and 2001 for example, they lost more than 20% of their population.

Scientists currently have several theories as to why they are disappearing including lack of prey, stress caused by whale watching boats and exposure to high levels of toxicants.

While researchers race against the clock to find the actual causes, what can’t be delayed is action to help these amazing creatures. The governor has promised to take action to save the SRKW population, but we need keep pressure on to ensure that everything is done to protect these beautiful marine mammals.

Sign the petition and tell Gov. Jay Inslee that you want Washington state to do all it can to save the southern resident killer whales.

https://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/595/758/511/

 

A Mother’s Cry to Justin Trudeau Please Sign the Petition

greenpeace.org
https://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/story/3817/a-mothers-cry-to-justin-trudeau/

by Keith Stewart
It’s been absolutely heartbreaking to watch (and hear).

Photograph: Michael Weiss/Hysazu Photography

For the past nine days a grieving mother orca has carried the body of her dead calf.

The calf was the first in years to be born into the endangered Salish Sea orca population, but it died within just hours. The mother Orca however refused to leave her baby behind and instead carried its body with her. She pushed it by herself for days.

When she started falling behind the rest of the pod — the pod joined her in pushing and supporting the infant’s body.

It’s a truly inspiring and heartbreaking story – watching another species mourning its loss in such a dramatic manner. It speaks to the deep love that a mother has for her child, and the importance of a community especially in a time of grieving.

Unfortunately, while we all try to deal with this immediate loss, the future of the pod is also dire.

This population of orcas is on the edge of extinction. There are only 75 Southern resident orcas left in existence. Another adolescent has already been observed as extremely emaciated and because of dwindling food supplies, and increased marine traffic, the entire population is at risk.

Add to this already bleak situation the pipeline Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau just pledged to buy for $4.5 billion – the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion (TMX). TMX is a massive new tar sands pipeline that would bring a very toxic substance called bitumen from Alberta, Canada to British Columbia and right through the heart of the whales’ habitat.

Only 75 Southern Resident Orcas remain.

One of the reasons these orcas are struggling to survive is because the Chinook salmon they depend on for food are in decline. Without enough salmon to eat, the orcas are literally starving to death. They’re severely emaciated — observers can even see the ribs of some of the whales.

The TMX pipeline would cross over 1300 streams and rivers on its way to the ocean and would put this key food supply even further at risk.

If it goes ahead, the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion could also turn the home of the 75 remaining orcas into a tar sands tanker superhighway – bringing over 400 tankers through their critical habitat every year.

The noise from a sevenfold increase in tanker traffic may interfere with the orca’s ability to find what little food there is left to eat. It will put them at greater risk of being struck by a tanker. And a catastrophic oil spill could be the final nail in their coffin (as the Exxon Valdez spill devastated other orca pods).

These whales can’t just move on to another area. Their home is in the Salish Sea. We can’t let it be put at risk.

Justin Trudeau promised to protect these beautiful animals (in fact it’s a Federal responsibility). Buying a pipeline that would further endanger these fragile creatures and virtually ensure their demise isn’t the way to do it.

The whales are crying out for our help. Listen to their cries.

Tell Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to protect the orcas and stop the pipeline bailout.

With hope,

Mike

PETITION:Add you name today at: https://act.gp/2MdSyS3

Petition: Australia’s Shark Nets Are Killing Marine Life

by: Care2 Team
target: Malcolm Turnbull PM of Australia

Australia’s shark nets — the dubious contraptions designed to keep sharks from reaching beachgoers — are supposed to keep swimmers safe. But more than anything they kill marine life.

The cruel devices ensnare and often kill thousands of protected species like dolphins, turtles, rays, and whales. Case in point, what happened earlier this week off Australia’s Gold Coast. Rescuers found a young adolescent Humpback completely entangled in a shark net. According to the Huffington Post, “the whale was thrashing and rolling repeatedly in an effort to free itself from the net, which caused the lines to tighten around its tail and pectoral fins.”

The whale was the fourth this year to get entangled in a shark net and if it hadn’t been for rescuers, who risked their lives to free the marine mammal, it likely would have tired and drowned. The story might have a happy ending but not all are lucky enough to be saved. In fact, last year, shark nets in the state of New South Wales (NSW) alone ensnared more than 300 nontarget animals and killing half of them.

Shark nets aren’t even proven to protect the public from attacks. In NSW, for example, 65% of shark bites occur at netted beaches.

Australia’s marine life is already under attack. From the degradation and bleaching of the Great Coral Reef to the warming waters that have threatened the survival of critical species like the green sea turtles. Shark nets only make it harder for our precious marine life to survive.

The worst part is it doesn’t have to be this way. There are other methods to protect swimmers while also protecting marine life. Drone technology and using special buoys that emit sounds that scare sharks are just two of the options.

The Australian government can come up with a plan that protects marine life and humans at the same time. Please sign the petition and ask them to find a less harmful and more effective way to protect beachgoers. It’s time to remove the shark nets.

https://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/568/480/968/

 

Copyright © 2018 Care2.com, inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved

Endangered Sea Turtle Killed by Plastic Beach Chair Shows the Impact of Our Carelessness

onegreenplanet.org
Aleksandra Pajda

A photograph of a critically endangered sea turtle found dead after a tragic incident of entanglement shows with tragic clarity what are the repercussions of lack of respect for natural spaces and their inhabitants. The extremely rare animal – a Kemp’s Ridley turtle – was found during the morning turtle patrol on an Alabama beach with a beach chair string wrapped around the neck.

The heartbreaking picture of the strangled turtle washed up at the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge was shared by the Fort Morgan Share the Beach group on Facebook. Share the Beach spokeswoman Debbie Harbin pointed out that barnacles were found on the chair, which means that it had been in the water for quite some time, KMOV.com reports. “How many hundreds of times do we have to ask people to pick their stuff up?” Harbin wondered. “It should just be common decency.”
“This is why we ask people to ‘Leave Only Footprints’, ‘Leave No Trace’, pick up after themselves when they leave the beach,” wrote Matt Ware, research assistant at Florida State University. “Please be responsible when visiting the beach — you are not the only one who uses it.”
The Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle, or the Atlantic Ridley sea turtle, is the rarest and most endangered existing species of sea turtle. The species nests only along a small stretch of coastline in the Gulf of Mexico, and the many threats that affect their population include habitat loss and degradation, wildlife trade, bycatch, climate change, and pollution. The turtle has been on the endangered species list since 1970.

“Sea turtles are important enough that we will go to whatever lengths we can to protect them,” Richard Brewer, a volunteer with Share the Beach, told WALA-TV. “It’s very heartbreaking to know that it’s something that could have been prevented.” And prevented so easily.

The death of the turtle is another painfully strong reminder that our actions have serious consequences, even if to some it may seem otherwise. Littering and leaving our things behind on beaches and in other natural spaces is not only thoughtless and selfish, but often it very literally endangers the lives of wild animals. The incredibly precious rare sea turtle was found when nothing could be done to save the animal’s life anymore – but, hopefully, the story and the pictures will not leave anyone who sees them indifferent.

http://www.onegreenplanet.org/environment/endangered-sea-turtle-killed-beach-chair/?utm_source=Green+Monster+Mailing+List&utm_campaign=c4574fe86e-NEWSLETTER_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_bbf62ddf34-c4574fe86e-106049477

To learn about how you can reduce the amount of waste you create every day. http://www.onegreenplanet.org/environment/endangered-sea-turtle-killed-beach-chair/?utm_source=Green+Monster+Mailing+List&utm_campaign=c4574fe86e-NEWSLETTER_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_bbf62ddf34-c4574fe86e-106049477 here.

All image source: Matt Ware/Facebook

Denounce Repeal of Protections for America’s Marine Life and Oceans

Ocean and lake conservation is out. Offshore drilling and corporate greed are in. The Trump Administration just took a hatchet to initiatives shielding marine life and environments. Demand an end to reckless policies that are slowly killing the environment.

Source: Denounce Repeal of Protections for America’s Marine Life and Oceans

Autopsy Reveals The Death Of A Green Sea Turtle Was Due To Plastic

seavoicenews.com
all posts by Alex Larson →

Photo: Department of Marine and Coastal Resources via ReReef

Last week we learned that news that a whale had died due to eating 80 plastic bags and now there is another example of the devastating impact plastic is having on the oceans.

Thailand’s marine officials announced in a report that a green sea turtle was found dead due to plastic that had filled the reptiles stomach.

The turtle was found washed ashore near Chonburi’s Lamchabang Port still living but two days later it died even after receiving medical attention.

Photo: Department of Marine and Coastal Resources via ReReef

The autopsy revealed that was filled with items such as rubber bands, nylon rope, plastic bags and loose pieces of fishing gear. The department’s veterinarian team concluded that the sea creature suffered from a resultant loss of appetite and low levels of protein in its bloodstream, leading to cysts that ultimately resulted in heart failure.

Countries across the world are making a effort to reduce pollution by taking pivotal steps to clean up the environment. One of the many encouraging examples of this over the last year, is India who recently made the decision to ban all single-use plastic by 2022.

Unfortunately for the ocean and the marine life, we have gone way too long looking the other way from the problems we have created and we are now facing the reality where we are finding marine animals regularly dying due to what we have done to our planet.

You can start making a change immediately by saying no to single-use items, reducing plastic usage, and spreading the message of the negative impact single-use plastics have on the world’s oceans.

http://seavoicenews.com/2018/06/12/autopsy-reveals-the-death-of-a-green-sea-turtle-was-due-to-plastic/

Balloon Releases Are Killing Wildlife and Marine Animals – Here’s What You Can Do Instead

onegreenplanet.org
Balloon Releases Are Killing Wildlife and Marine Animals – Here’s What You Can Do Instead
Arianna Pittman

For years, balloon releases have been used to celebrate events or honor the memory of someone lost. Schools release them during football games, they’re sent floating into the air at running events, and released by crowds of people at weddings, funerals, and memorials. And while those who organize and participate in balloon releases have the best of intentions, what they fail to consider is what happens when those balloons eventually land – and when they do the results are detrimental to wildlife and marine animals.

The Long-Lasting Impact of Balloons

Balloons negatively impact our environment by littering streams, lakes, and beaches. It’s basically the same as intentionally throwing trash on the ground or into the ocean. Even balloons marketed as biodegradable or “eco-friendly” can still take years to disintegrate, meaning they’re not any better for the environment than standard balloons.

The Devastating Effects Balloon Releases Have on Wildlife and Marine Animals and What You Can Do About ItBalloonsBlow.Org/Facebook

When balloons make their way into the water, their tattered ends and floating pieces can resemble jellyfish or other sea life consumed by marine animals such as sea turtles, fish, and dolphins. When the pieces of latex or Mylar are mistaken for food and ingested, they can get lodged in the digestive tract, inhibiting animal’s ability to eat and causing a slow and painful death by starvation.

Wildlife can also fall victim to balloons and balloon strings when the pieces fall to the ground or onto trees and bushes. Birds have been found injured with ribbons wrapped around their beaks or wings, and have strangled themselves when they become entangled in strings attached to trees or power lines. And just like marine animals, they can succumb to a painful death after ingesting balloons.

The negative impact on animals and the environment prompted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and local chapters of the National Audubon Society to urge people to stop releasing balloons and instead find more humane alternatives that are safer for animals and our planet. Several states and cities in the U.S. and abroad have also passed laws regarding mass balloon releases after years of witnessing their detrimental effects.

The Devastating Effects Balloon Releases Have on Wildlife and Marine Animals and What You Can Do About It

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

What You Can Do

If you know of someone planning a balloon release, please urge them to consider one of these earth- and animal-friendly options instead. There are so many other symbolic acts that don’t involve the use of balloons. We’ve listed a few options for you below, and you can find more by that offers not only fun alternatives but educational materials to help you spread awareness about the dangers of balloons and balloon releases.

Bubbles

Bubblesare not only fun but can create stunning photo ops. Watching hundreds of bubbles float up into the sky can be mesmerizing and just as symbolic as seeing a balloon float away, but without the resulting of litter and endangerment to wildlife and marine animals.

Luminaries

Luminaries are a beautiful way to honor and memorialize loved ones. Instead of writing messages on balloons and releasing them, you can write messages on recycled paper bags or reusable glass jars with candles placed inside to create a lighted path, or spell out a word or name. Each person can bring their bag or jar home afterward as a personal keepsake to remember the event.
Plant a Tree

Planting native trees and wildflowers is a beautiful way to create a memory that lasts for years to come – and give a little something back to nature. Another fun idea is to have people release milkweed seeds, which helps populations of monarch butterflies thrive by replenishing depleted supplies of the milkweed plant that is essential to their survival. Just remember: If you choose to plant trees or flowers somewhere other than your own yard, make sure you have prior permission if it’s a public park or nature area, as they often have restrictions about potentially invasive species of plants.

Celebrations and commemorative events are meant to allow us to reflect on important times in our lives, there is no reason these should come at the expense of wild animals.

http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/balloon-releases-are-killing-animals/

Lead image source: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service/Flickr

Petition: STARBUCKS, STOP USING PLASTIC STRAWS

by: Stephanie M
target: Howard Schultz and Kevin Johnson, Starbucks Corporation

134,864 SUPPORTERS -140,000 GOAL

Americans use 500 million plastic straws every single day.

This severely impacts us, future generations, and our precious marine life. It is estimated in the year 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in our oceans.

I would like to see Starbucks, the company I work for, help lead the way to shrink our footprint on the planet. Plastic straws are too lightweight to be recycled, and oftentimes are made out of the same plastic as Styrofoam which CANNOT be recycled. There are many different alternatives to plastic straws! Many companies have started using compostable straws or paper straws.

Plastic straws can be horrible for wildlife. The photo above is from a painful-to-watch video of researchers in Costa Rica struggling to remove an obstruction from the nasal passage of a sea turtle. During the cringe-inducing effort, they realize they are battling a cocktail straw.

I believe we can help the world’s largest coffeshop chain make the switch too. If Starbucks sees this petition filled with thousands of people that care about our environment I am positive that this environmentally responsible corporation will make a change for a healthier planet.

https://www.thepetitionsite.com/360/196/292/?z00m=30543843&redirectID=2678574490

 

Costa Rica Makes Santa Elena Bay a Mrine Protected Area

Thanks to the effort of neighbors of the areas of Cuajiniquil, El Jobo and Puerto Soley in La Cruz, Guanacaste, the 732.1 hectares that make up Santa Elena Bay are now a Marine Protected Area. The objective of establishing this zone as a Marine Management Area is to reserve it for particular purposes, among them the conservation of marine life, the promotion of recreation and tourism and the sustainable use of its resources, particularly fishing resources. Santa Elena Bay receives several marine species with reproductive purposes, among them, dolphins, whales, turtles and other pelagic species like the whale shark, which…

Source: Costa Rica Makes Santa Elena Bay a Marine Protected Area

Petition: Imprisoning and Harassing Animals in a MALL? | Save Animals

action.peta2.com
Imprisoning and Harassing Animals in a MALL? | Save Animals
2-3 minutes

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There have been reports of animal neglect at aquariums owned by Vince Covino, the owner of SeaQuest Aquariums. And although he shouldn’t even be allowed near animals if you ask us, a mall in California is letting his company open an aquarium there. 😠

Not only will the animals be confined to tanks that can never compare to their vast ocean homes, some are also set to be subjected to stressful physical encounters with humans.

At another aquarium that he owned with his brother Ammon—which is now closed—more than 200 animals reportedly died over the course of three months, many allegedly from starvation, infections, and other seemingly preventable causes.

Vince was recently fined $5,000 for failing to disclose information to investors, and Ammon has been thrown in prison more than once for violating his probation stemming from his felony wildlife conviction.

Last spring, former SeaQuest employees came forward with reports of animal neglect at the Las Vegas aquarium. One said that he saw “hundreds of animals” die, 😢 and the Metropolitan Police Department issued citations to the aquarium following complaints.

Despite having learned about Vince’s apparent disregard for the law and animal-welfare concerns at his aquariums, Palladio at Broadstone in Folsom, California, still plans to allow him to set up shop there with an aquarium that will feature public interactions that can expose sensitive animals to harassment or harm.
Ask TRI Commercial Property Management, the company that manages the mall, not to allow aquariums at its properties moving forward.

https://action.peta2.com/page/5398/action/1?utm_source=peta2::E-Mail&utm_medium=E-News&utm_campaign=0518::gen::peta2::E-Mail::P2%20Missions%20Recap%20May%2020%20EA::::p2%20e-news&ea.url.id=81391

When will sardines return? Not any time soon say scientists

By Annie Roth, newsroom@montereyherald.com

Neil Guglielmo, a 76-year-old commercial fisherman, says he doubts the sardine stock will bounce back in his lifetime. (Annie Roth — Herald Correspondent)
Neil Guglielmo, a 76-year-old commercial fisherman, says he doubts the sardine stock will bounce back in his lifetime. (Annie Roth — Herald Correspondent)

Monterey >> Less than 30 years after the Pacific sardine population was deemed “recovered,” the stock has once again fallen into a severe slump according to stock assessments conducted by the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Scientists estimate the West Coast population of Pacific sardines has declined by 95 percent since 2006. Although sardine populations naturally fluctuate in response to shifting climatic conditions, overharvesting is believed to have accelerated the stock’s collapse. Although no one knows exactly how long it will take for the sardine supply to replenish, many scientists are certain it won’t be anytime soon.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if the stock didn’t come back for 20 years.” said Dr. Geoff Shester, California program director and senior scientist at Oceana, the world’s largest ocean conservation non-profit.

In 2012, scientists from the National Marine Fishery Service warned that another collapse was imminent — but this warning went largely unheeded. When this warning was issued, sardine biomass was still above the 150,000 ton threshold required for commercial fishing. The Pacific Fishery Management Council — whose members include fishermen, industry stakeholders, and federal and state officials from the National Marine Fisheries Service — said there wasn’t enough evidence of decline to justify a moratorium on commercial sardine fishing.

Sardine fishing continued until 2015, when the stock fell below the commercial cutoff and the directed fishery was closed. Shester believes the council’s failure to take precautionary measures made a bad situation worse.

“Because the population was already declining, and fishing made it worse, the stock is going to have a lot more trouble recovering than it would have had had we stopped fishing earlier,” said Shester.

Pacific sardines were on the rise during the early 2000s, but in 2006 the population took an unexpected downturn. Estimates suggest the Pacific sardine population decreased from 1.8 million tons to 86,000 tons between 2006 and 2017. The latest assessment puts the size of the Pacific sardine stock at a mere 52,065 tons, a fraction of the 150,000 ton threshold required for commercial fishing.

“Ultimately, a trade off was made to fish in the short term, and that’s now having this detrimental consequence that may last for decades,” said Shester.

Sardines are an important food source for several marine species including sea lions, salmon, brown pelicans, dolphins, and whales, and in California — whose coastal waters boast relatively large numbers of Pacific sardines — the fallout of their decline continues to be evident from shore.

Starving California sea lion pups have been washing up on beaches by the thousands since 2012, most suffering from malnutrition. According to a press release issued by the Marine Mammal Center in 2013, “The sardine and anchovy fish numbers were extremely low in 2012, and it appears this resulted in female adult sea lions having a difficult time providing enough nourishment to their pups.” Scientists estimate that 70 percent of California sea lion pups born between 2013 and 2014 died before weaning age due to a lack of nutrient rich food.

Even though the commercial sardine fishery is closed, you might still see sardines on the menu. The Pacific Fishery Management Council allows a few thousand tons to be harvested by fishermen who catch them incidentally or intend to sell them as live bait. In April, the council set an incidental catch limit of 7,000 tons for the 2018 fishing season.

Shester says this year’s incidental catch quota is “irresponsibly high” and considers the council’s decision to continue allowing a limited harvest a step in the wrong direction.

“There is no level of sustainable fishing on a stock that’s collapsing,” said Shester.

Fishermen rarely meet incidental catch quotas simply because it is very difficult to catch sardines by accident. In order to commercially land sardines caught incidentally, they have to make up less than 40 percent of your catch. Because sardines rarely form schools with other marketable species, achieving this ratio can be challenging.

If Pacific sardine biomass falls below 50,000 tons, fishery managers are required to close the live bait fishery and implement a moratorium on incidental harvest. In 2018, the estimated sardine stock was only 2,000 tons over this threshold. If current trends continue, it’s unlikely the stock will make this cutoff next year — but many fishermen have high hopes that it will.

In a press release issued earlier this month, Diane Pleschner-Steele, executive director of the California Wetfish Producers Association, said “fishermen are seeing more sardines, not less, especially in nearshore waters.”

Not only does Pleschner-Steele reject the notion that overfishing played a role in the decline of the sardine stock, she calls the stock’s collapse “fake news.”

“Oceana claims that overfishing is the cause of the sardine fishery decline, but the absolute opposite is true: fishing is a non-issue and more importantly, the sardine stock is not declining.”

Pleschner-Steele believes the way the National Marine Fishery Service conducts its sardine stock assessments is fundamentally flawed and urges members of her organization to disregard them.

“This [latest] stock assessment was an update that was not allowed to include any new methods and was based primarily on a single acoustic survey that reached only as far south as Morro Bay and totally missed the nearshore coastwide,” said Pleschner-Steele.

The National Marine Fishery Service has acknowledged its inability to survey nearshore areas, but the agency doesn’t believe the lack of this data has compromised the accuracy of its assessments.

“We’re likely missing some sardines but maybe not at a huge portion,” said Josh Lindsay, a fishery policy analyst from the National Marine Fisheries Service.

“There is a broad understanding from the agency that we are not sampling the entire population, and a lot of that uncertainty gets built into our stock assessment model,” said Lindsay

For the last several years, scientists from the National Marine Fishery Service have been developing new ways to improve the accuracy of the agency’s stock assessments. The agency recently announced plans to use solar powered autonomous drones, also known as saildrones, to survey waters that their ships can’t reach.

Pleschner-Steele hopes surveys of nearshore areas will prove her theory that the stock is increasing, but not all fishers share her optimism. Neil Guglielmo, a commercial fisherman and member of the California Wetfish Producers Association, fears the stock won’t bounce back in his lifetime. The commercial purse-seiner says he began to suspect the stock was crashing seven years ago, because sardines were becoming increasingly difficult to catch.

“When there’s a lot of fish around, they’re easy to catch,” said Guglielmo.

Guglielmo, who has been catching sardines, anchovies and squid off the California coast for more than 40 years, shares Pleschner-Steele’s view that the latest stock assessment underestimated the true size of the stock, but unlike Pleschner-Steele, Guglielmo doesn’t think the sardine population is bouncing back.

“I’m 76 years old. Unless something drastic happens, I don’t think I’ll ever fish sardines again,” said Guglielmo.

http://www.montereyherald.com/environment-and-nature/20180506/when-will-sardines-return-not-any-time-soon-say-scientists

Tell Congress: Protect Whales, Dolphins, Not Oil Interests

act.oceana.org
Tell Congress: Protect Whales, Dolphins, Not Oil Interests
4-5 minutes

URGENT: Oil special interests in Congress are trying to gut the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), an important ocean conservation law that seeks to restore and maintain healthy populations of all marine mammals in U.S. waters.

The changes proposed in a new bill could devastate populations of whales, dolphins, seals, manatees and other marine mammals, risk ocean health, and reverse years of ocean conservation. We must speak up for whales and other marine mammals now – this is a fight we must win.

Tell your member of Congress: Defend whales, dolphins and other marine mammals! Reject all proposed changes to the MMPA.

Dear Member of Congress,

I am writing to ask you to oppose any legislation that would weaken the Marine Mammal Protection Act, including H.R. 3133, the Streamlining Environmental Approvals Act.

The Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) provides protections for all marine mammals in U.S. waters, including whales, dolphins, seals, sea otters, and manatees. It recognizes the importance of marine mammals to the oceans and seeks to restore or maintain populations of these animals at healthy and productive levels. The law protects marine mammals by prohibiting activities that harass, hunt, capture, or kill any marine mammal, or attempt to do so. There are already exemptions granted by the law that permit limited harm to marine mammals from human activities.

H.R. 3133 would gut core provisions of the law that require careful review before permits to harass marine mammals can be issued to industrial users of the ocean, such as oil and gas companies. Federal government scientists who are responsible for reviewing these permit requests and ensuring the protection of marine mammals would be sharply restricted in their ability to do so. For example, the bill would remove standards in the law to limit harm to “small numbers” of marine mammals. Furthermore, the bill would fast track approval of permits to harass marine mammals. Even worse, it would require automatic approval of permits to harm marine mammals if government scientists had not finished their reviews in short order.

Thanks to the Marine Mammal Protection Act, a number of marine mammal species that were suffering heavy losses or even facing extinction have grown to healthier population levels. Hundreds of thousands of dolphins have been saved from large commercial fishing nets in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, harbor porpoise deaths in the Gulf of Maine have declined, and Northern elephant and gray seal populations have rebounded. It is essential that the law remain highly protective, because it can take several decades, or even a century, for a species to recover from low population levels. This is particularly the case for longer-lived species such as whales, which may not start reproducing until they are 10-20 years old and can live to be over a hundred years old.

The MMPA provides vital protections that marine mammals cannot afford to lose. Human uses of the ocean can continue with these protections in place, just as they do now. Thanks to the MMPA, whales, dolphins, seals and other marine mammals have a fighting chance for survival.

Therefore, I urge you to maintain the Marine Mammal Protection Act in its current from by opposing H.R. 3133 and any other bills or amendments that aim to undermine or weaken this essential ocean conservation law.

https://act.oceana.org/page/13217/petition/1?ea.tracking.id=twitter&utm_campaign=Advo&utm_content=20180507HR3133Tweet&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social&utm_id=pWP8CmHDXUBxue

Stop President Trump’s Dangerous New Offshore Drilling Agenda | Oceana

https://act.oceana.org/page/21057/action/1?ea.tracking.id=twitter&utm_campaign=Advo&utm_content=20180309OffshoreDrillingTweet2&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social&utm_id=sSi8XAmnl5VAtq

10,000 Dolphins Are Being Secretly Killed In France Every Year

The Extinction Chronicles

https://www.thedodo.com/in-the-wild/dolphins-caught-fishing-nets-france

BY ELIZABETH CLAIRE ALBERTS  

02/27/2018

A dolphin trapped in a net being pulled onto a fishing vessel off the coast of France |Sea Shepherd Global

“It was extremely hard for the crew to watch the trapped dolphins without being able to rescue them,” Essemlali told The Dodo.

In a small portion of France’s coastal waters (between Vendée and Charente Maritime), it’s estimated that up to 10,000 dolphins are killed each winter after getting caught in fishing nets, according to Sea Shepherd Global — in comparison, Taiji, Japan’s infamous dolphin hunt, usually kills less than 1,000 dolphins.

“The most outraging part is that the French government knows about this,” Essemlali said, explaining that the French government seems reluctant to address the issue.

Sea Shepherd Global

But the problem isn’t isolated to France. More than 650,000 marine mammals, including dolphins, whales, seals and turtles, are killed or severely…

View original post 544 more words

Study Finds 73% of Deep Water Fish Ingested Microplastics

Surprising Sea Turtle Facts