ACS Conservation Committee Report

ACS Conservation Reports are selected summaries of current news articles on whales, dolphins, porpoises, and their environment. These reports are offered to you under the fair use provisions of U.S. copyright law.

  Injunction bars sonar testing on gray whales in California...   A federal judge has issued a permanent injunction against the testing of a controversial sonar system that critics charge could harm migrating gray whales along the California coast.

Judge Samuel Conti had earlier entered a temporary restraining order stopping the testing, designed by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI), until a full hearing could be held. The judge based his decision, in part, on the failure of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to perform an analysis of possible environmental impacts from the testing and on the potential for the testing to harm gray whales.

NMFS had claimed a "categorical exclusion" that allowed them to grant amendments to an existing permit without conducting an environmental assessment. But a variety of environmental groups argued that six different exceptions to this rule applied in this case.

Judge Conti found the exclusion claim did not adequately consider a number of exceptions that could have required preparation of an environmental analysis. His ruling found that an exception for public controversy applied.

"Plaintiffs have proven that NMFS acted arbitrarily, capriciously, and in a manner contrary to law when, during its review of the application for the First Amended Permit and the Third Amended Permit, it decided not to apply the exception to categorical exclusion relating to actions that are the subject of public controversy," Conti wrote.

Dr. Peter Tyack of WHOI had planned to deploy sonar from Pacific Gas & Electric's property at Point Buchon, California from January 8 to 24. The experiment was aimed at learning whether broadcasting high frequency sonar pulses could keep whales from colliding with ships. Environmental groups charged that Tyack's sonar experiment could affect migrating gray whales, including pregnant whales and newborn calves.

The judge cited two earlier cases relating to acoustic testing on marine mammals that had resulted in injunctions. The judge noted that NMFS had prepared an environmental assessment for the initial permit based on the existence of such controversy.

"The presence of the controversy was obvious in 2000," Judge Conti ruled. "It was also obvious in 2001 and in 2002 when NMFS was considering Dr. Tyack's applications for the First Amended Permit and the Third Amended Permit. It is certainly no less obvious today."

The ruling revokes the first and third amendments to a permit granted in August 2000. The amendments permitted additional activities, including the sonar testing on gray whales. The revocation of the amendments also prevents the tagging of humpback whales in Hawai'i and increasing the sound levels reaching the whales to as high as 180 decibels.

"The likely harm is pain and/or injury that marine mammals will suffer when subjected to the sounds. It cannot be doubted that the sound will, at the very least, disturb the animals to whom they are broadcast."

The court did not revoke the initial permit, which allows sonar testing at low, mid, and high frequency levels on hundreds of thousands of marine mammals.

Plaintiffs in the case were the Hawai'i County Green Party, Australians for Animals, Stop LFAS (low frequency active sonar) Worldwide Network, Channel Islands Animal Protection Association, Robert Puddicombe, and Sea Sanctuary, Inc. The coalition is now drafting a petition aimed at returning gray whales to the endangered species list.     Environmental News Service

  Illegal hunting in Peru kills 1000 dolphins per year...   Based on preliminary field reports the Peruvian NGO Mundo Azul (Blue World) estimates that illegal hunting of dolphins for human consumption kills at least 1000 dolphins per year along the Peruvian coast.

"There are very clear indications for a flourishing black market for dolphin meat in Peru", says Stefan Austermühle, biologist and Executive Director of Mundo Azul. He explains: "In order to stop illegal killing we initiated an awareness campaign that informs people about the ongoing problem of dolphin killing, explains why dolphins have to be protected and gives advice how to act if being witness of illegal activities."

The hunting and killing of dolphins, as well as the sale of dolphin meat and its consumption was prohibited by Peruvian law in 1995 as a result of dramatic increase of dolphin hunting during the 80s and early 90s in Peru, that mounted in an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 dolphins being killed each year. The law and a strong awareness campaign of Peruvian NGO's resulted in the complete stop of sales of dolphin meat in supermarkets and restaurants.

"For years the problem was thought to be solved", says Stefan Austermühle: "the truth is, it is not." Reports and photographic material collected by Mundo Azul from places all along the 3000 kilometer long desert coast show clearly that illegal dolphin hunting is not an occasional event, but a widespread practice. In one beach in the northern limits of the coastal department of Lambayeque members of Mundo Azul found more than 20 dolphins killed for human consumption in one single day. On another beach south of the harbor town Chimbote within one week three dolphins being cut into pieces had been washed on the shore. "The problem is not restricted to isolated beaches, being hard to control. Last September we had the case of a dolphin found on the beach of the harbor town of Pucusana, 5 meters away from the fishing dock and 50 meters away from the office of the port authorities. This shows," explains Austermühle, "that the killing of dolphins is still seen as a peccadillo by port authorities, fishermen and clients of this black market." Mundo Azul has also collected reports of dolphin meat being offered in restaurants and on high-society-parties in Lima.

In order to fight illegal dolphin killing Mundo Azul has started a national awareness campaign for the conservation of dolphins. Thanks to the financial support of the Swiss "Working Group for the Conservation of Cetaceans" (ASMS) and the mayor of Pucusana Mundo Azul was able to distribute information material to every household in Pucusana, using the opportunity to engage in direct dialogue with the local fishermen. The NGO will continue now to distribute the material to public institutions and fishermen associations throughout the country. The direct face-to-face-approach of the campaign is accompanied by a strong media campaign and a set of detailed information in English and Spanish on the laws protecting dolphins in Peru on the web-site of Mundo Azul (www.peru.com/mundoazul).     WDCS website

  Oil drillers funding research on gray whales...   A consortium led by the Royal Dutch/Shell Group that is drilling off Russia's Sakhalin Island said Thursday it intends to spend $5 million to fund more research on the endangered gray whale.

Over the past year, oil companies working around Sakhalin have come under increased criticism from environmental groups (Including ACS) for conducting seismic research near the whales' feeding grounds. Critics say the loud noises scare the whales away and discourage them from feeding, leaving them emaciated.

Sakhalin-2 operator Sakhalin Energy Investment Co. already has spent $2 million on gray whale studies and has budgeted the additional $5 million over a five-year period beginning in 2003, Sakhalin Energy chief executive Steve McVeigh told journalists Thursday.

Sakhalin Energy - whose other shareholders include Mitsui and Co. Ltd. and Mitsubishi Corp. - wants to set up an independent council to administer the program, and is inviting specialists from other Asian countries such as Korea, Japan and China to participate in the studies.

Sakhalin Energy hopes to include state agencies, federal research institutes and non-governmental organizations to add credibility to the program, opening it up to broader participation.

Environmentalists and local fisherman have said that Sakhalin-2's dumping of drilling waste - which sometimes contains high levels of toxic compounds - in the sea has led to a shrinking population of fish.

Despite Sakhalin Energy's earlier explanations - that the fish could have died or moved away for other natural reasons - the company said it now reinjects most drilling wastes back into the ocean floor.     Dow Jones News

  Environmentalists sue federal government over change in "dolphin-safe" policy...   Environmental groups are protesting a new federal rule they claim weakens the "dolphin safe" label on canned tuna and could dramatically increase the number of deaths among the ocean mammals.

The Earth Island Institute and six other groups have asked a federal judge in San Francisco for an injunction to the rule change by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The agency in December amended a 12-year-old policy guaranteeing consumers that tuna carrying the familiar label had been caught in nets that did not surround or harm dolphins.

The new rule says that tuna captured in encircling nets could still be declared "dolphin safe" if independent on-vessel observers certified that no dolphins had been killed or injured during a catch.

The change would open the U.S. market to tuna supplies from Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela and Vanuatu, where vessels chase down and encircle dolphins to catch the tuna that swim with them. The Mexican government has threatened to bring barrier-to-trade charges against the United States before the World Trade Organization over the old standard.

But environmentalists argue in their lawsuit that science ... not trade concerns ... hould guide environmental policy.

Stanley Minasian, president of the Animal Fund in San Francisco, said the new federal rule would make more dolphins vulnerable to death or injury.

"If the Latin Americans and the Bush administration have their way, thousands of dolphins will die every year," Minasian said. "They get caught up in the nets, and they drown."

But William Hogarth, head of the oceanic administration, said there wasn't enough evidence to show that encircling nets had a significant role in the continued decline of some dolphin species.     Associated Press

  Charges pending for disturbing L-98 (Luna)...   A woman has been ordered to appear in court and could face the first charge of disturbing a young killer whale as authorities try to stop people from touching and feeding the animal. The 3-year-old orca known as Luna is getting too used to people, damaging his chance of being able to rejoin his pod, scientists say.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police and a special monitoring and education team have spent months trying to educate people about the danger that the whale hanging around Gold River on the west coast of Vancouver Island will become too attached to humans and boats.

On the basis of an incident, police have recommended that a woman be charged with disturbing a marine mammal, a violation of Canada's Fisheries Act that carries a maximum fine of $100,000 ($65,000 U.S.). She has been ordered to appear in Gold River Provincial Court on May 20.

Luna is a male, also known as L-98, who was separated from his family group and settled in remote waters on the west side of Canada's Vancouver Island, which is within his family's year-round range. The fear for Luna has been his growing familiarity with people.     Associated Press

  Iceland might resume catching whales...   Iceland, recently readmitted to the International Whaling Commission, has confirmed it is considering a program of whaling for scientific research.

Its whaling commissioner, Stefan Asmundsson, said that while there had

been no decision yet it was important for Iceland - "enormously dependent" on fisheries - to know the role of whales in the ecological system.

Mr. Asmundsson said there were "very important" questions surrounding the diet of whales. "You can't simply ask a whale to fill out a questionnaire. You have to look into its stomach," he said.

Despite a moratorium on commercial whaling, Iceland - which quit the IWC in 1992 - would be able to conduct whaling for research under the IWC convention. Japan takes hundreds of whales a year under the provisions, with the catch being sold on the domestic market.

A scientific whaling program by Iceland would further inflame anti-whaling nations such as Australia, which argue that research whaling adds nothing to knowledge about whales.     Sydney Morning Herald

  New Zealand creates protection for the critically endangered Maui's (Hector's) dolphins...   New Zealand's Minister of Fisheries, Pete Hodgson has taken new management measures to protect the country's critically endangered Maui's dolphin population (formally known as the North Island Hector's dolphin) from the danger of entanglement in fishing gear. A joint Ministry of Fisheries/Department of Conservation decision has taken two steps: 1) to ban commercial set netting within four nautical miles of the coast in certain areas; and 2) to ban all amateur and commercial set netting in other areas off the coast.

Hector's dolphin was recognized as an 'endangered species' by the New Zealand Government of Conservation (DOC) in 1999, with the North Island population classified as 'critically endangered' by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in November 2000 - In late 2002, the North Island dolphins were classified as a separate subspecies and are now know as Maui's dolphin. The Maui's dolphin population could contain fewer that 100 individuals (possibly as low as 74).

An initial decision in August 2001 to ban set-netting was set aside in early 2002 as a result of a legal challenge by commercial fishing interests, although the ban on amateur set netting remained in place.

After the court case the High Court agreed to a proposal from the Northern Inshore Fisheries Company Ltd. and the Minister of Fisheries to close the area from outside the Manukau Harbour to near Kawhia (excluding the harbors) to commercial set netting within four nautical miles of the coastline. Research surveys showed the dolphins were most frequently seen in this area.     NZ Department of Conservation, WDCS

  Alaskan annual count of belugas very low...   The annual June count of Cook Inlet's beluga whales has produced an abundance estimate of only 313 animals, the lowest number ever reported, according to calculations released in late January by the National Marine Fisheries Service.

The population could range from 248 to 396, about the same number of whales estimated during the past four years, said federal biologist Rod Hobbs, who supervises the survey for the National Marine Mammal Lab in Seattle.

The new figure is not statistically different from previous years', Hobbs said. "It's inconclusive."

"I hope people don't take it that the population is going down, because it doesn't mean that at all," added Michael Payne, director of protected resources for the fisheries service in Alaska.

But a Native hunter and an environmental group director found the latest beluga whale number disconcerting. Maybe the agency ought to begin looking into factors like shipping, industry, pollution and noise, they said.

By tracking beluga numbers over many years, federal biologists hope to figure out whether the genetically isolated Cook Inlet whales have started recovering from a population plunge blamed on over hunting by Natives in the early 1990s.

Once thought to number 1,300, the local stock of whales had dropped to about 350 animals in 1998. Hunting was halted under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and continued under a co-management agreement with a Native group, Cook Inlet Marine Mammal Council. Two whales have been harvested in the past two years: one by a crew from Tyonek in 2001 and one by an Anchorage-based crew in 2002.

A surge in belugas could expand these traditional subsistence hunts while delighting people who value belugas as an element of local marine life. Yet another crash could ultimately trigger stricter government regulation, including a listing under the Endangered Species Act.

Previous abundance estimates have gone from 347 in 1998 to 435 in 2000. None suggest a conclusive change in the actual population because they have been based on estimates with very broad ranges. "Unfortunately, even with our best survey efforts, we can only expect to be within 20 percent of the true abundance," Hobbs said.

The counts from any single year might say more about the difficulty of counting fast-moving cetaceans that spend most of their lives submerged in silty water than about shifts in the actual number of Cook Inlet whales, Hobbs said.

"It's important to recognize the trend of the past couple of years has either been stable or slightly up," Payne said. "I don't think there is any reason for people to think that belugas are decreasing."

But the low figure alarmed an environmental activist seeking endangered species status for the whales before the state Supreme Court.

"We know that the whales crashed, but we need to be making sure that recovery happens rather than just hoping it happens," said Randy Virgin, executive director of the Alaska Center for the Environment. "We shouldn't be leaving something like this to chance."

Lifelong hunter Joel Blatchford, who organized one Native group and joined a suit against the federal government to list the whales as endangered, said he had always argued that the whales should be left completely alone until recovery began.

To get more accurate estimates, Hobbs hopes to track local belugas this June and tell how long they stay underwater, using special recording tags attached to the whales with suction cups.     Anchorage Daily News

  Alaskan killer whale pod may get special protection...   Federal biologists have begun looking into whether a unique family of fast-disappearing Prince William Sound killer whales deserves special protection under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

The AT1 group of seal-eating whales has lost 13 of 22 members over the past 13 years in a decline never before documented among orcas in the North Pacific Ocean.

In response to a petition from seven environmental and Native groups, the National Marine Fisheries Service will now consider whether these genetically isolated animals should be listed as a separate population that is depleted under the federal act, the agency announced in late January in the Federal Register. The move could lead to a plan to try to keep the whales from going extinct.

Their plight has been drawing increasing attention. Two adult males have been confirmed dead over the past two years, including a whale nicknamed Eyak that grounded outside Cordova.

Before 1989, researchers often saw all 22 members of the group every season and recognized their calls. The decline began when nine members were lost in the years after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, including several whales videotaped swimming through rafts of crude.

Over the same period, the number of harbor seals in the region crashed and boat traffic increased. The whales didn't produce any new calves and never mingled with other Alaska whales that also eat marine mammals. Tissue samples of several AT1 whales contained some of the highest levels of industrial contaminants ever found in marine mammals.

The agency hopes to make a final decision by mid-June.     Anchorage Daily News

  Puget Sound killer whales may be listed as depleted...   On January 30, 2003, the National Marine Fisheries Service issued a proposed rule to designate the Eastern North Pacific Southern Resident stock of killer whales as depleted under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. In 2002, NMFS declined to list this population under the Endangered Species Act, but are now accepting comments to list them as depleted.    

ACS created a policy in 2000 supporting the ESA listing, and the Puget Sound Chapter is closely following the issue, and will assist in drafting the comments.

  Hawai'i humpback numbers may double...   With their numbers increasing by about 7 percent a year, the total number of humpback whales in Hawai'ian waters -- now at about 5,000 -- could double in a decade, experts believe.

The cetacean population explosion will create more opportunities for visitors and residents to not only watch whales from shore or a boat, but also participate in whale research experiences offered on "whale-friendly" vessels.

After a late start, the winter whale-watching season has begun in Hawai'i, with visitors expected to spend more than $20 million to see up close humpbacks arriving here to breed and calve. Daily sightings off Maui this year will extend to April but started three weeks later in the season than is typical. The late start, around Nov. 22, delayed some companies' whale-watching business operations.

The surge in whale numbers will create more challenges, according to Jeff Walters, Hawai'i's co-manager of the 10-year-old Hawai'ian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary.

Whales, like Yellowstone's bears, have become savvy about spectators. The whales are increasingly "mugging" viewers aboard boats, passing repeatedly under vessels so the boats can't move.

"As numbers increase, whales become more prone to vessel strikes, and when a boat hits a 40-ton animal both the boat and the whale lose," Walters said.

"Becoming fatally entangled in marine debris, such as rubbish and discarded fishing gear, is still a real and present danger."

Another outcome of increased numbers, Walters said, will be higher mortality among baby whales. Another concern is interaction with humans and boats, possibly leading to injuries or death.

David Matila, science coordinator for the sanctuary, said the number of humpback whales is gradually increasing. No one can be sure if the total will come back from an estimated low of 1,200 to 1,400 to the 15,000 some scholars believe to have flourished before commercial whaling began, he said.

But Walters said some government officials are beginning to talk about possibly listing the humpback as a threatened species rather than an endangered species.

"I argue that the sanctuary role changes somewhat, that you focus on making the interaction between whales and people mostly positive," Walters said.     Honolulu Advisor

  Planned Baja California natural gas projects could impact whales...   Fireballs, tanker collisions with whales, the destruction of a unique cactus species these are some of the fears Baja California residents voiced in early February about proposals to build liquefied natural gas terminals on Baja California's Costa Azul. Mexican federal officials held two days of public hearings on the environmental permit applications filed by Sempra Energy and Shell Gas and Electric.

Each company wants to erect a regasification facility and storage tanks on Costa Azul, a plateau south of the Bajamar golf resort. The projects include the construction of breakwaters and piers extending into the Pacific Ocean so tankers could offload the liquid fuel.

The environmental permit is one of three crucial documents the companies need to develop their multimillion-dollar proposals. They also must obtain the federal energy commission's approval of the overall project and local government's land use approval.

Executives from both companies said their project's economic benefits would offset any destruction of plant and animal life. Any damage that might be done would be mitigated, either by restoration or compensation.

Martin de Groot, a Shell security official, took on what he said is the biggest fear regarding LNG regasification plants: the danger of an explosion. "We've spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on research, and we've never been able to create a fireball," he said. Even spills are a remote possibility, de Groot said: "There have been eight instances of spills in the last 40 years, and none have been connected with Shell."

Most speakers urged the government to preserve the pristine character of the land at Costa Azul and the adjacent ocean.

"It's one of the only untouched areas between here and the United States," said Lydia Ladah, an ecology researcher at Ensenada's Center for Scientific Research and Advanced Education, or CICESE. "It's such an important natural laboratory, it needs to be preserved so we can study it. It's important to take care of it."

Many speakers noted that the federal government has designated Costa Azul as suitable only for low-density tourist development, with just four houses allowed per 2.5 acres. The protection stems from a recent survey, known as the Cocotren, that traces the Baja California coast from Tijuana to Ensenada. Plans for a government electricity plant were rejected because they weren't compatible with the designated land use.

Corporate representatives said they have compiled lists of all plant, animal and marine species in the area. They promised to remove and reintroduce any wildlife their projects might harm, including ferocactus viridescens, a cactus species unique to the Costa Azul plateau.

Several of the numerous scientists and academics who attended the meetings criticized the companies' plans, noting that transplanting endangered species isn't always successful. They also noted that the companies' estimates missed many species.

CICESE professor Lorenzo Rojas-Bracho noted the companies' attention to the gray whales, but said there are eight other marine mammal species in that area. "Killing them is a federally punished crime," he said.

Rojas-Bracho also took issue with the gray whale protection and mitigation proposals, which includes alerting government officials of tanker movement during the migratory season and using tugboats to divert whales from the LNG activity.

Other speakers found the companies' applications deficient in other ways. Ensenada lawyer Jaime Palafox, for instance, noted that neither Sempra nor Shell had included information on disposal of human waste. And Eladio Betancourt Robles, a fisherman, said he and other members of his Manchuria fishing cooperative fear the LNG projects will wipe out a colony of sea urchins and dislocate schools of fish they depend on for their livelihoods.     WDCS website

  Declaration of support for the South Atlantic whale sanctuary proposal by participants of the high seas marine protected areas workshop Málaga, Spain, 15-17 January 2003...   A large group of scientists and specialists in marine conservation, on the occasion of the IUCN and WWF High Seas Marine Protected Areas Workshop held in Málaga, Spain, have agreed to convey their support for the creation of the South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary, in accordance with the provisions of the 1946 International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling and as proposed jointly by Brazil, Argentina and many co-sponsor nations.

Whale Sanctuaries such as the one proposed for the South Atlantic promote scientific research and adequate appropriation of whale resources by coastal States through non-lethal uses such as tourism, while allowing for the recovery of whale species, which in most cases have been overexploited in that oceanic basin. With this in mind, and taking note of the shared responsibility of mankind to safeguard marine living resources not only in coastal areas but also, and as a matter of urgency, in the high seas, we commend this Sanctuary proposal for approval at the next meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Berlin, May-June 2003.     Intl Whale Coalition

  Maui bans displays of captive cetaceans...   The County Council of Maui recently made the Hawai'ian county the 17th city or county in the United States to ban displays of captive cetaceans.

"The Council finds that cetaceans (dolphins and whales) are highly intelligent - and highly sensitive - marine mammals," the legislation prohibiting the displays states. "The Council further finds the presence of cetaceans in the Pacific Ocean surrounding Maui County provides many cultural, spiritual, and economic benefits to the County's residents. The Council also finds that the exhibition of captive cetaceans leads to distress living conditions for these animals. Therefore, the purpose of this ordinance is to prohibit the exhibition of captive cetaceans (dolphins and whales)."

Violators are subject to imprisonment for not more than one year and fines of as much as $1,000.

Hundreds of letters and a petition signed by more than 15,000 individuals calling for the ban had been received by the members of the Council.

"This matter received more public support than any other matter in the history of Maui County," said Council member Jo Anne Johnson.

"Maui will now be recognized as a place where whales and dolphins will all live free and in the wild," said Council member Alan Arakawa. "This decision proves we can do what is right."     Environment News Service

  US Navy uses toxic ammo in coastal waters ...   The Navy routinely tests a weapon by firing radioactive, toxic ammunition in prime fishing areas off the coast of Washington, raising concerns from scientists, fishermen and activists.

The Navy insists the use of depleted uranium off the coast poses no threat to the environment. Depleted uranium, known as DU, is a highly dense metal that is the byproduct of the process during which fissionable uranium used to manufacture nuclear bombs and reactor fuel is separated from natural uranium. DU remains radioactive for about 4.5 billion years.

Cmdr. Karen Sellers, a Navy spokeswoman in Seattle, also said there are no hazards to the servicemen and women on board the ships, adding that "all crew members are medically monitored" to ensure their safety.

But a coalition of Northwest environmental and anti-war activists say they are considering seeking an injunction to halt the tests.

"The Navy is willing to put us all at risk, including its own sailors, to improve its war-fighting capabilities," said Glen Milner, of Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action, one of the groups weighing a suit to stop the Navy tests. Milner received information on the Navy's tests of depleted uranium ammunition off the coast in a memo released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

No major studies apparently have been done on the effects of such weapons in the ocean. Where depleted uranium munitions have been used in combat on land, such as in Iraq during the Gulf War, or in tests on land, such as Vieques Island in Puerto Rico, they not only give off relatively small amounts of radiation, but also produce toxic dust that can enter the food chain.

Seattle environmental attorney David Mann asked, "How can the Navy fire depleted uranium rounds and spread radioactive material into prime fishing areas off our coast?"

Sellers, however, said that only 400 to 600 rounds would be fired during a typical test at sea. And even though these tests have been going on since 1977, she said Navy environmental experts say that the DU dissolves very slowly in the ocean.

"It would be too diluted to distinguish from natural background uranium in the sea water," she said.

The weapon in question is the Phalanx, also known as a Close In Weapons System. Such a system is on virtually all U.S. Navy combat ships. It includes radar and rapid-fire 20mm guns. The guns are capable of firing up to 3,000 or 4,500 rounds per minute of depleted uranium, a superhard material prized for its armor-piercing ability.

The Defense Department says the military uses the munitions "because of DU's superior lethality against armor and other hard targets."

Although depleted uranium emits radiation, a second, potentially more serious hazard is created when a DU round hits a hard target. As much as 70 percent of the projectile can burn on impact, creating a firestorm of ceramic DU oxide particles. The residue of this firestorm is an extremely fine ceramic uranium dust that can be spread by the wind, inhaled and absorbed into the human body and absorbed by plants and animals, becoming part of the food chain.

Once in the soil, DU can pollute the environment and create up to a hundredfold increase in uranium levels in ground water, according to the U.N. Environmental Program.

The Defense Department said DU munitions are "war reserve munitions"; that is, used for combat and not fired for training purposes," with the exception that DU munitions may be fired at sea for weapon calibration purposes."

Another Navy spokeswoman described those firings at sea as "routine" and says they occur regularly off both the East and West coasts.

"If the firing is with DU, it's probably with what we call the Close in Weapons System, and it is routine," said Lt. Brauna Carl, a Navy spokeswoman in Washington, D.C., and a former gunnery officer who has worked with DU weapons.

When asked if the tests of DU rounds posed any health hazards, she replied, "God, I hope not. All I know is I haven't started glowing."

But Milner says, "It just makes sense that if DU can contaminate land and get into the food chain, then it would do the same thing in the sea."

Robert Alverson, president of the Fishing Vessel Owners Association in Seattle, said he was "very troubled" to hear that the Navy was using depleted uranium off the coast of Washington. "I don't like what I'm hearing," he said.

The Navy memo obtained by Milner described a June 2001 operation by the USS Fife, an Everett-based destroyer. The memo said the Fife would conduct gunnery operations with depleted rounds in what was described as areas W237C and W237F.

These areas are designated Navy Warning Areas and are about 25-100 miles off the coast between Ocean Shores and Ozette, south of Neah Bay, according to Milner.

"These are certainly prime fishing areas" for some salmon, flounder and other bottomfish, Alverson said. "It is folly to be testing anything in this area that might contaminate the natural food supply."

"How would the Navy feel about eating fish caught there?" he asked. Alverson said even the perception that fish might be contaminated could scare consumers and have dire consequences.

"If any species ever turns up with radiation, it would be devastating to the fishing industry," he said.

Leonard Dietz, a research associate with the private, non-profit Uranium Medical Research Centre in Canada and the United States, said that the degree of environmental contamination the DU rounds will cause in sea water depends on what kinds of targets were hit and how much DU was fired.

"Corrosion of the DU by sea water would occur over a long time," said Dietz, who with Asaf Durakovic, director of the center, and research associate Patricia Horan, published a landmark study on inhaled DU that showed Gulf War veterans still had DU in their urine nine years after the war.

"The end result is that the ocean becomes a dumping ground for the spent DU penetrators and they add to the (natural) uranium content of sea water," he said.

The Pentagon has sent mixed signals about the effects of depleted uranium, saying there has been no known health problems associated with the munition. At the same time, the military acknowledges the hazards in an Army training manual, which requires that anyone who comes within 25 meters of any DU-contaminated equipment or terrain wear respiratory and skin protection, and says that "contamination will make food and water unsafe for consumption."

Some researchers and several U.S. veterans organizations say they suspect depleted uranium of playing a role in Gulf War Syndrome, the still-unexplained malady that has plagued hundreds of thousands of Gulf War veterans.     ECOTERRA

  Nicaraguan government bans dolphin exploitation...   The Nicaraguan Minister of Environment, Jorge Salazar Cardenal, confirmed in early February, through a letter addressed to World Society for the Protection of Animals Regional Director Gerardo Huertas, that his Government has banned the use & exploitation of Bottlenose dolphins indefinitely. In his communication, Salazar said that this new law guarantees that in Nicaragua, these animals will be fully protected.

WSPA was expecting this ban after the successful rescue, rehabilitation and liberation of Bluefield & Nica, two bottlenose dolphins captured last August in Corn Island, Nicaragua, and released by their organization just a month later. During this operation, Minister Salazar himself participated and collaborated with the liberation of both animals.

As a result of a campaign promoted by WSPA Latin America and member society Amigos de los Animales in Panama, at present, similar legislation is being considered at the Panamanian Congress as part of a new law on Animal Welfare that also includes a circus ban.     ECOTERRA

  Dominican state rejects dolphin capture...   The Dominican State has ratified the Cartagena Convention and supported petitions before the Senators and legislators asking them to dictate resolutions to prevent, alert and reject dolphin capture in this country.

A Committee for the patrimonial protection of dolphins was created at Bayahibe community. This was the national park where eight dolphins were captured by representatives of a marine show - the so called MANATI PARK - in 2002.

Many organizations and thousands of individuals had protested in a global campaign against the illegal capture of these dolphins in a marine national park of this country.

A tourist boycott is still in place against those hotels and tourism operators, which continue to co-operate with Manati Parks' captured dolphin facility.     ECOTERRA

  Australia acts to stop Iceland from whaling...   Australia has taken action to protest the readmission of Iceland to the International Whaling Commission, according to Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Dr. David Kemp. The basis of Australia's objection is Iceland's refusal to abide by the current global moratorium on commercial whaling.

In early February in Washington, DC, Australia lodged an official document with the U.S. Department of State - the depository government for the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling - dealing with Iceland's formal reservation to the moratorium.

This document states, "The Government of Australia considers that the reservation [to the ban on commercial whaling] is prohibited as it is incompatible with the object and purpose of the Convention."

After several unsuccessful attempts, Iceland was readmitted to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) at a Special Meeting of the IWC October 14, 2002 in Cambridge, UK where the IWC is based. Iceland's readmittance brings the number of IWC member nations to 49.

Before withdrawing from the International Whaling Commission in 1992, Iceland was subject to the moratorium on commercial whaling. Icelandic whalers continued their commercial trad30-Jun-2006 9:46o effect, from 1986 to 1989, under the "scientific whaling" provision.

"After quitting the IWC in 1992, Iceland was readmitted in controversial circumstances at a special meeting of the Commission in October 2002. This controversy was sparked by a clause in Iceland's bid for readmission, which exempts it from the moratorium on commercial whaling. Under this self-proclaimed exemption, Iceland has threatened to start commercial whaling as early as 2006," Dr. Kemp said.

"As a result of Australia's action, any whaling by Iceland would breach the Convention which stands between Australia and Iceland," the Australian government document states. "In IWC parlance, it would be from Australia's perspective an 'infraction' against the rules of the Convention. We would therefore be well placed to call that country to account before the IWC."

Iceland's reservation on the commercial whaling issue threatens to "render the Convention meaningless," said the Australian minister, and could "set a precedent that could have negative consequences for the orderly development of international law and could possibly undermine the authority of other international conventions."

Dr. Kemp said he was concerned by media reports that Prime Minister of Iceland David Oddsson said during his January visit to Japan that Iceland may resume "scientific" whaling under research provisions of the Convention that created the IWC.

"Late last year, Iceland announced it envisaged a return to commercial whaling as soon as 2006. Now, it appears Iceland may start whaling even earlier - under the guise of scientific research," Dr. Kemp said.

In Tokyo on January 14, Prime Minister Oddsson told a gathering to mark the establishment of an Icelandic Chamber of Commerce in Japan that Iceland is indebted to Japan for its new status within the IWC. Iceland looks to Japan as a market for its whale products, Oddsson said.

"Iceland became a member of the International Whaling Commission again last year after 10 years' absence," Oddsson said. "Our membership now is made with a reservation against the ban on commercial whaling, and the Japanese government deserves our most heartfelt thanks for their invaluable assistance in enabling us to rejoin with this condition. On becoming a member Iceland undertook not to begin commercial whaling until 2006 at the earliest, but scientific whaling could start earlier. As ever, because of the small size of our home market it is a precondition for whaling off Iceland that it must be able to export the products, and in this respect we naturally look to Japan as our traditional market for them."

Referring to the Japanese research whaling, the Australian environment minister said, "We already have a situation in which, in the name of 'research', approximately 700 whales are killed each year for sale at market. This harvest adds nothing to our knowledge of whales that cannot be drawn from historical records and non-lethal research."

The Australian government hopes that other IWC signatory governments will also register protests to send a strong message to any countries intending to resume whaling without the support of the international community.

During the IWC vote on Iceland last October, Britain and the United States opposed Iceland's readmission. The United States took the position that the Icelandic reservation to the commercial whaling moratorium constituted a proposed amendment to the Schedule and had no legal effect until accepted by a vote of a three-fourths majority of the IWC members.

The United States believes that a country leaving the IWC, then rejoining with a reservation, "could undermine the effectiveness of the organization and could set a precedent for similar actions in other fisheries organizations," the U.S. State Department said in a statement at the time.

Sweden said its representatives made a "mistake" when they voted in favor of Iceland's IWC membership. But no other IWC signatory nation has registered a formal objection as Australia has done.

"Australia expects members of the IWC to participate on an equal basis to other Commission members," Dr. Kemp said. "More than a dozen other countries have joined the IWC over the past three years. None of these have attempted to exempt themselves from the moratorium or any other provisions of the Convention. Iceland should be as bound by the whaling ban as other members."

"Australia has consistently called for the cessation of this so-called scientific version of what is, in reality, commercial whaling. Any decision to expand existing whaling or to establish new industries strikes me as absurd, given the moratorium," Dr. Kemp said.

The issue will be heard at the next IWC meeting to be held in Berlin in June. The IWC's North Atlantic Minke Whale Assessment Group will gather before the main meeting to determine the health of this whale population that is the most likely target of Icelandic whalers.

"At this meeting," Dr. Kemp said, "Australia will continue the drive for the permanent cessation of commercial whaling, including lethal research, and for the establishment of a South Pacific Whale Sanctuary."     WDCS website

  Pro-whaling nations say International Whaling Commission (IWC) on 'last legs'...   Two of the world's last whaling nations, Japan and Norway, lashed out at the International Whaling Commission on Wednesday, saying the organization was "on its last legs" and lacked credibility because it didn't approve of limited commercial hunts.

Participants at a special meeting of whaling nations in Tokyo honed their call for an end to the IWC's moratorium on commercial whaling. Delegates from Iceland and several Caribbean nations also were at the meeting.

Whaling nations' failed attempts to overturn the 1986 ban on commercial whaling have led to a deadlock at the IWC, sharpening differences between member nations who favor limited whaling and those who oppose it.

On Wednesday, Japanese Fisheries Agency official Joji Morishita called the commission dysfunctional, while Norway's IWC ambassador Odd Gunnar Skagestad said internal divisions had undercut the commission's global role.

"The commission has lost so much relevance and so much credibility that it certainly gives the impression that it is on its last legs," Skagestad said. To restore trust, the commission must come up with a system that balances demands for whale hunting with worries about excessive harvests, Skagestad said.

Environmentalists and antiwhaling nations, led by the United States, Britain, and Australia, have blamed Norway and Japan for the current impasse.

Last year's IWC convention in Shimonoseki, Japan, ended without addressing much of the 49-nation commission's agenda. The group could face more contentious debate at this year's meeting in Berlin, Germany, in June.

Iceland, which was voted back into the commission in October after leaving it a decade earlier, backs a lifting of the moratorium. Iceland said it would not authorize commercial whaling by its vessels before 2006. But it is considering asking the IWC for a scientific permit to hunt whales for research, the country's whaling commissioner Stefan Asmundsson said. Iceland ended research whaling in 1989.

The only other nation with IWC approval for scientific hunts is Japan, which started its program in 1987. Tokyo says it is researching claims that whale populations have recovered from over-hunting and can again be killed for commercial purposes.

Critics of Japan's research say the hunts are commercial whaling in disguise because the government sells leftover meat from the killed whales to wholesalers and much of it ends up in restaurants.     Associated Press

  Washington senator secures new federal funding for orca recovery research...   Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) today announced new federal funding for research to help understand the decline in the Southern Resident orca population in Puget Sound and nearby waters.

"We know that orca population in the Northwest is in trouble," Cantwell said. "These research funds will help us understand the reasons why orca population has declined by twenty percent in the last six years."

The final version of the recently approved budget included $750,000 in additional funding for orca research to be conducted by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), an agency within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). These funds, which were included in NOAA's FY 2003 final budget, may be used for research into orca genetics and other areas to help understand the orca population decline.

Senator Cantwell requested the funding in early February following NMFS's January 30, 2003 proposal to list the orca population as depleted under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. A depleted designation under MMPA would expand federal protection for orcas under current law. The new research funds announced today can be used to help develop a conservation plan under a final MMPA depleted designation.

The additional $750,000 in federal funds will complement state funds announced by Governor Gary Locke earlier this week for orca recovery.     Seattle Post Intelligencer

  Washington governor outlines Puget Sound recovery plan...   Gov. Gary Locke yesterday pledged to redouble state efforts to pull Puget Sound out of its environmental tailspin, tapping a consensus-oriented environmentalist to spearhead the campaign.

Locke opened an emergency fund to spend more on research and advocacy for the Sound's declining orca populations as federal officials decide this year how to protect the killer whales. He also asked the state Department of Fish and Wildlife to put together programs to save the orcas and the Sound's imperiled groundfish.

And the governor repeated his call for the Legislature to fork out $1.4 million to station a tugboat year-round at Neah Bay to head off oil spills, and to spend $400,000 investigating why certain marine bird populations have plummeted over the past quarter-century.

But, faced with the state's largest budget shortfall in decades, Locke stopped short of tackling some of the most nettlesome issues facing the Sound. The most glaring is polluted storm water, a product of the Sound's rapid urbanization, which a new study suggests is killing spawning salmon in urban creeks.

Fish and Wildlife Director Jeff Koenings said recovery plans for groundfish, orcas and salmon will outline specific, detailed steps to be taken to ensure they rebound. He said Native American tribes will help state officials decide which steps to take.     Seattle Post Intelligencer