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.

 Pesticide Reviews Standard Lowered for Endangered Species ...   The Environmental Protection Agency will be free to approve pesticides without consulting wildlife agencies to determine if the chemical might harm plants and animals protected by the Endangered Species Act, according to new Bush administration rules.

The streamlining by the Interior and Commerce departments represents "a more efficient approach to ensure protection of threatened and endangered species," officials with the two agencies, EPA and the Agriculture Department said in a joint statement in August. It also is intended to head off future lawsuits, the officials said. (emphasis-ACS)

Under the Endangered Species Act, EPA has been required to consult with Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service and Commerce's National Marine Fisheries Service each time it licenses a new pesticide. But that hasn't been happening for some time.

"Because of the complexity of consultations to examine the effects of pest-control products, there have been almost no consultations completed in the past decade," the officials acknowledged in their statement. Steve Williams, the Fish and Wildlife director, said it was too complex to have to consider every possible result among the interaction of hundreds of active chemicals and 1,200 threatened and endangered species.

The two services are responsible for enforcing the endangered species law. But the new rules let EPA formally skip the consultations. The heads of the two wildlife services will presume EPA's review work is adequate. But the two services still plan to review EPA's methods occasionally, just to make sure. And EPA can still ask for outside consultations if it wants to. In that case, the wildlife agencies would have final say on whether a species might be harmed by a pesticide.

By not requiring so many consultations, the officials said it was more likely the ones that matter most would get done. The Endangered Species Act was signed into law by President Nixon in 1973.

CropLife America, a pesticide industry trade group (emphasis-ACS), described the new rules as "a sensible approach that strengthens protections to endangered animal and plant species while maintaining access to tested and approved pesticides" used in agriculture, pest control and wildlife protection.

The rulemaking is partly in response to a successful lawsuit against EPA in Seattle by Washington Toxics Coalition, the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations and other groups. They argued that EPA hadn't consulted with the government's wildlife experts to gauge the risks various pesticides pose to salmon in the Pacific Northwest.

A federal judge in January temporarily banned the use of 38 pesticides near salmon streams until EPA determines whether they would harm the fish. An attempt by pesticide makers and farm groups to block the order was rejected by the appeals court.

Last year, the Natural Resources Defense Council sued EPA in federal court in Baltimore on similar grounds, arguing the agency hadn't properly consulted the wildlife agencies while approving a popular weed killer, atrazine. The case is still pending.

Aaron Colangelo, an NRDC staff attorney, said the new rule benefits the pesticide industry at the expense of endangered species.

"The fact that the consultations are so complicated counsels for better protection, not lesser protection," he said. "The solution to ignoring it for decades isn't to rewrite the rule so they can continue to ignore the consultations. The solution is to start complying with the Endangered Species Act."     Associated Press

 Whales Threatened by Chemical Contamination...   Chemical pollution is threatening whales with extinction in parts of Canada and the Pacific Ocean, and is poisoning their food source in the Antarctic.

Beluga whales in the St Lawrence River, Canada, have been dying of cancer, local scientists have found. The local population of Belugas is estimated to be around 650 animals, but 14 or 15 of them are dying each year. When local veterinarians became concerned about the number of dead Beluga whales that were being washed up, they decided to investigate. Between 1983 and 1999 Daniel Martineau and his team from Montreal University carried out autopsies on 100 of the dead whales found on the shores of the river.

What they found shocked them: 27% of adults and 17% of the juvenile Belugas examined had died of cancer. "In dolphins and terrestrial animals, the figure is closer to two per cent. The cancers found in Saint Lawrence Belugas represent about 40 per cent of all cancers ever reported in cetaceans worldwide", said Dr Martineau(1). Most of the cancers were of the gastrointestinal tract (intestine or stomach), but there were also cancers of the mammary gland, skin, ovaries and uterus.

The autopsies showed that the whales had been exposed to carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). PAHs are persistent chemicals that do not break down easily in the environment and accumulate in the sediment of rivers and near shorelines. Beluga whales eat by diving deep down to the bottom of the river and feeding on the organisms living in the sediment and the PAHs accumulate in their blubber.

There are approximately 70,000 Beluga whales worldwide. Most live in the Arctic Ocean, but there are occasionally groups of them in rivers with cold water temperatures, like the St Lawrence River, and this group has been there for the last 10,000 years.

The scientists also noticed that none of the females over 21 years old seemed capable of reproducing, while Belugas living in the Arctic can produce calves until the end of their lives (i.e. between 35 to 50 years old). Veterinary pathologist Sylvain DeGuise from Connecticut University found that, in addition to the cancers in the St Lawrence Belugas, 36% of the females had lesions (i.e. abnormal tissue) in their mammary glands.

The researchers believe that an aluminum plant upstream, which is a source of chronic PAH pollution in the river, could be to blame as the incidence of human cancer in the area is also higher than for Canada as a whole and some of the cancers have been related to PAHs. In addition, river pollution is so severe that environmental officials have warned residents not to eat fish caught from the river more than once a month.

Killer whales or 'Orcinus orca' in the Northeast Pacific Ocean are also being polluted and threatened by chemicals. Researchers reported that "a recent computer viability model suggests a high risk of extinction within 150 years unless habitat improvement measures are taken" and that High levels of PCBs were cited as one reason for the listing of killer whales as "endangered" and communities as "threatened".

Researchers Sierra Rayne and Dr. Peter Ross carried out a study of the level of pollution by a number of chemicals including polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) and polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs) in the killer whales which frequent the waters of the western coast of North America between Vancouver and Seattle. PBDEs are suspected of causing hormone disruption and damaging the immune system in the whales, while some PBBs are suspected of being carcinogenic and some PCNs are toxic.

These whales are some of the most vulnerable wildlife to chemical pollution.

The team analyzed the levels of the chemicals in three different whale groups in the region: northern residents; southern residents and transients. The team found high concentrations of the PBDEs in male southern residents, and male and female northern residents. PBDE concentrations were much higher than those for PBBs and PCNs and evidence suggests that PBDEs and related compounds may pose a serious risk to the whales' health. The levels of PBDE concentration are 2-10 greater than PBDE concentrations in North Atlantic sperm whales and in the range of PBDE concentrations found in North Sea pilot whales, showing that persistent chemicals are accumulating in the coastal food chain off Washington State and British Columbia.

Previous studies have demonstrated that female killer whales significantly reduce their toxic burden by transferring persistent organic chemicals, such as PCBs, to their offspring, either via the placenta during pregnancy or in their fat rich milk during lactation.

It is considered one of the most contaminated marine mammals in the world, and the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) has upgraded the southern residents of the northeastern Pacific killer whale populations to endangered, meaning that there is the threat of "imminent extinction". Transient and northern resident killer whale populations have been upgraded to the status "threatened". In both these cases this is because of the effects of persistent toxic chemicals and a reduction in suitable food sources.

A third piece of recent research has revealed that whales living in the Antarctic during the summer months are being contaminated by chemicals in krill, an important food source. Although the Antarctic is one of the most remote regions in the world, toxic chemicals are being carried through the atmosphere and marine currents to pollute the food chain and hence whales and other marine mammals.

A group of researchers from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science looked at the level of chemicals found in both ice algae and phytoplankton being passed up the marine food chain. Chemicals travel thousands of miles to the Antarctic where they are accumulated by the SIMCO (Sea Ice Microbial Community) and phytoplankton. These are then eaten by zooplankton (tiny marine animals) including krill, small shrimp-like organisms, which are then consumed by whales.

The research team analyzed the ice algae and found concentrations of hexachlorobenzene (HCB) and brominated diphenyl ethers (BDE-47, -99, and -100).

Dr Ross, who carried out the work on the killer whales in the Pacific has described the whales as being "sentinels of a contaminated planet and indicators of global contamination". The level of chemicals present in these whales and their food sources indicate that measures need to be urgently taken to ensure the whales' long-term survival and to reduce the threat of chemical pollution worldwide.     Associated Press

 Rare Blue Whales Sighted in Alaska...   Federal scientists have sighted a rare mammal in Alaska waters -- endangered blue whales, the largest animal known to live on Earth.

The sighting by researchers on board a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration vessel means the blue whale population may be getting healthier and expanding back to traditional territories. It is the first confirmed sighting in 30 years.

Most recent population estimates show about 12,000 blue whales worldwide, with about 2,000 in U.S. waters off California in summer and fall. Others are found in found in the western Pacific, the North Atlantic, the Indian Ocean and the Antarctic. Blue whales in the Pacific can reach 85 feet long and 100 feet long in the Antarctic.

Blue whales are believed to migrate in the North Pacific in summer to northern feeding grounds, where they eat about four tons of krill per day, putting on fat for the winter. In winter, the eastern Pacific group migrates south to calving grounds off Mexico and Costa Rica.

Blue whales were hunted commercially between 1860s and the 1960s, with an estimated 350,000 killed during that period, including thousands in Alaska. They have been protected since 1965.

The McArthur II cruise is part of NOAA's SPLASH research, which stands for "Structure of Populations, Level of Abundance and Status of Humpbacks." The project involves NOAA scientists and hundreds of other researchers from the United States, Japan, Russia, Mexico, Canada, the Philippines, Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua and Guatemala. The SPLASH program is dedicated to assessing humpback whale populations throughout the North Pacific Ocean, and the McArthur II's role has been to assess deep-water populations.     Associated Press

 Tracking Rare Right Whales in Bering Sea...   A satellite is helping scientists track two rare North Pacific right whales in the Bering Sea. Scientists hope to find where Alaska's most critically endangered whales spend the winter.

By mid August, one whale had already registered 31 locations on eight different days during a meandering journey toward deeper water. The whale once returned to the same exact location after making a 100-mile round trip between Aug. 26 and Sept. 1. Perhaps the whale, thought to be nearly full-grown, had returned to an especially promising site for a second helping of tiny crustaceans called copepods, scientists said.

Once thought to number 11,000 in the North Pacific, whalers decimated slow-swimming right whales because they were easy to harpoon. Few were seen from 1900 to the 1990s. The whales were considered virtually extinct in Alaska. Since 1996, a small number of right whales have been found foraging in the same area southwest of Bristol Bay each July and August. The first calf seen in half a century was reported there in 2002.

Finding out more about the whales could help people figure out what can be done to help them rebound. The right whale tagging took place during a 40-day voyage by scientists also doing research into other whale species.

From an inflatable boat, using a 26-foot-long pole, the crew implanted a 4.5-inch-long transmitter into the blubber on each whale's back. They said the whales looked fat and healthy.

Since then, the tags have periodically broadcast radio signals that satellites use to estimate the animals' location. While one whale's signal has not yet given clear locations because of a technical problem, the other whale has led scientists on a virtual tour.     NOAA

 Japan Goes Whale Hunting Again...   In mid-August, Japanese ships hauled into port the first of 60 whales they plan to catch along the country's northern coast, in an offshore research program that critics have denounced as commercial whaling.

The 49-day hunt, which has the International Whaling Commission's approval, is limited to 60 minke whales caught in the Pacific Ocean by ships based in Kushiro, on the northernmost main island of Hokkaido, said Fisheries Agency spokesman Takanori Nagatomo. Agency officials will study the impact of the whales' feeding on fish stocks and report their findings to the IWC, he said. The hunt ends Oct. 31. The IWC banned commercial whaling in 1986 to protect the endangered mammals, but a year later approved restricted hauls for research programs.

Environmental groups and anti-whaling countries, including the United States and Britain, say Japan's research whaling program is a thinly disguised commercial whaling venture. Most of the meat from research whales is eventually sold to restaurants to help fund the program.

This research hunt was the second authorized by the IWC in Japanese territorial waters. Its only other offshore hunt allowed a 50-whale haul in 2002. Another hunt is scheduled to start early next year off Oshika, a port town about 200 miles northeast of Tokyo.

Annually, Japan kills about 400 minke whales in the Antarctic and another 210 whales- 100 minke whales, 50 Bryde's whales, 50 sei whales and 10 sperm whales -- in the northwestern Pacific. Both hauls are also authorized by the IWC and are considered research programs. This year, Japan will be allowed to boost its catch of sei whales to 100.     Associated Press

 Norwegian Government Increases Whale Kill Quotas...   The Norwegian government has received a green light for a considerable increase of whale quotas. The increase could well amount to 100 whales, the Magazine of Fishery (Fiskeribladet) reports.

The government has received a green light from the Parliament to increase whale quotas for the next couple of years. It is expected to be a limited increase for next year. A number indicated is 877 animals. This figure includes a rest quota from this year. From this year's quota of 670 animals, 128 whales at Jan Mayen were never caught. The quota will be increased by approximately 80 animals.

One point is that this will make it possible to still keep within the boundaries of what the International Whale Commission finds acceptable in relation to the scientific estimates that are still operative in the area. The authorities stated clearly, when treating the Sea Mammal Report, that it is time for the Norwegian government to reconsider other organs to administer the Minke whales. NAMMCO and the other North Atlantic hunting nations are more than willing to do the job.

However, it was announced from a more or less united Parliament that the guidelines to be followed should be those of the Norwegian scientists. They have for a long time pronounced that the Norwegian quotas for whale, both should and could be greater, based on traditional biological parameters.

Another reason to move cautiously is that there are still few buyers of whale meat. Promises from the Norwegian Parliament of increased quotas will make it more interesting for new traders to establish themselves in this type of production.

Increased quotas will with time entail new allocations of the right to hunt whales.

Today there are only about 30 ships that are licensed to capture whales in Norway.     The Norwegian Federation for Animal Protection

 Madagascar Fights to Protect Humpbacks...   Hundreds of humpback whales come to Madagascar for the winter and the whales have given rise to a major tourist industry in the past 10 years. An island of only 19,000 inhabitants off the northeastern coast of Madagascar, Sainte-Marie has more than 50 hotels, including three opened this year. Not surprisingly, local authorities and hoteliers are determined to protect both the singing cetaceans and their livelihood, but say the Madagascar government is coming under strong pressure by Japan and other whale hunting nations to allow the whales to be hunted. They see developing the tourist industry as the best way of saving the humpbacks.

Hotel owners and tour operators are supporting efforts to ban hunting to help their tourist economy. The whale safaris have grown in importance in July and August each year since 1993. There are few places in the world where visitors can be more certain of getting within shutter-snapping distance of the giant mammals. Local authorities and hoteliers this year have organized several events to popularize the humpbacks, including a painting contest in schools and a four-day whale festival. The hoteliers also fund the activities of a French research association, Megaptera, which seeks to identify and follow the whales on an annual basis.

Megaptera is working to educate the people of Sainte-Marie to understand the importance of this sanctuary to resist the pressure of Japan and others who seek to expand whale hunting around the world. There is the danger of the local fishermen beginning to see the whales as a source of profit. For the time being, Madagascar supports the international moratorium on hunting in force since 1986, said Didier Cabocel, president of Saint-Marie's whale commission, "above all because hunting whales is not at all traditional here."

Isabelle Ortolo of Megaptera said the tourist industry wants to turn the offshore waters into a nature reserve, like Nosy-Be, an island off Madagascar's northwestern coast, "so that hunting is definitely banned."     Agence France Presse

 U.S. Navy Still Denies Responsibility for Hawaiian Whale Stranding...   The Navy has acknowledged that vessels on maneuver off Hawaii last month used their sonar periodically in the 20 hours before a large pod of melon-headed whales unexpectedly came to shore in the area. The acknowledgment added to an already contentious debate over whether the sound from sonar has been causing marine mammals to strand.

Navy officials said that a review of the July 3 incident indicates that two ships turned on their sonar between 6:45 and 7:10 a.m., by most accounts just before the unusual movement of almost 200 deep-water whales to the shoreline of a Kauai bay. The Navy had said earlier that no sonar was used until more than 90 minutes later, well after the animals came ashore.

Lt. Cmdr. Greg Geisen, the Navy spokesman responsible for information about the maneuver, said a Navy review of the incident still concluded that the ships were either too far from the whales or were using the sonar at the wrong time to cause the mass movement.

But the newly released information from Geisen and other Navy officials -- that the ships were testing their sonar in preparation for the maneuver on the day before the whales came ashore, and early on the morning of the near stranding -- has caused some observers to question that conclusion.

"Every time the Navy changes its story, it reduces its credibility on this issue," said Cara Horowitz, a lawyer with the Natural Resources Defense Council, which has sued the Navy over a related sonar issue. "The Navy would be better off spending more time developing commonsense ways to protect whales from sonar and less time denying a connection that is unfortunately been repeatedly shown."

Officials at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which is looking into the incident, said it remains uncertain what caused the near stranding.

"Saying that sonar played no role might be a premature determination," a NOAA spokesperson said. "Even if we can't establish a clear cause and effect, we're having these coincidences [of unusual and sometimes deadly] marine mammal behavior around sonar, and we have to ask why."

Some marine mammals come to shore naturally, because they are following a sick lead animal or trying to avoid predators and such natural occurrences as potentially harmful red tides. Melon-headed whales are relatively small and highly social animals that normally live in deep waters, at least 15 miles from shore. Wildlife officials said it is highly unusual for such a large number of them to come to shore as they did on July 3, although there is one report of a similar mass movement in the 1850s.

The new Navy information about when the sonar was used off Hawaii was first made public in late July, at a meeting of the federal Marine Mammal Commission focused on how to limit the effects of ocean noise on whales and other sea creatures. Rear Adm. Steven Tomaszeski updated the information then, and said the Navy had concluded there was no connection between the sonar use and the unusual whale behavior.

He and Geisen said the July 2 sonar use could not have caused the whales to head into Hanalei Bay because the ships -- four Japanese and two American -- were too far away when the equipment was used. Geisen also said the Navy first learned of the stranding from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) at 5:30 a.m. on July 3, and not between 7 and 7:30 a.m., as earlier reported, making it impossible for the 6:45 to 7:10 a.m. sonar usage to have harmed the whales. Wieting of NMFS said, however, that her office has received no reports of a 5:30 sighting, and still believes the whales were first seen after 7 a.m.

Navy officials are adamant about the need for sonar training. They say there is a substantial and growing threat from "quiet" diesel submarines that could menace the United States from coastal waters, and that only active sonar use can detect them. The Navy is planning a sonar training ground in the Atlantic Ocean, off the Carolinas.

Residents and government officials worked throughout July 3 to steer the whales back to open water, and all made it except one newborn calf that died of starvation. Officials say that some of the animals may have died at sea without a trace.

The Hawaii incident is the third significant one involving sonar and marine mammal strandings near the United States since 2000. The stranding of 17 whales of various kinds off the Bahamas in 2000, which resulted in the death of at least six of them, occurred during a major Navy maneuver. Navy officials at first said there was no connection between their exercise and the stranding, but later acknowledged that the loud sound from the sonar had caused the animals to flee ashore.

The International Whaling Commission said in a report last month that there is "compelling evidence" that Navy sonar is harming some species of whales, but Navy officials dismissed the conclusion as "unscientific."     Washington Post

 Whales at Risk in British Sonar Exercises...   It is one of the loudest sound systems devised by man, capable of sending a sonic boom so thunderous experts warn it can rupture the brains of whales hundreds of miles away.

Despite growing evidence that naval sonar testing is harming and killing cetaceans around the world, U.K. defense chiefs have earmarked £340m for a new submarine sonar system. Experts condemned the decision to press ahead without even a public meeting into its effects. A single ping of the new low-frequency technology can affect animals across 3.8 million square kilometers of water, roughly the size of the Pacific Ocean.

The noise, far greater than any natural sound, has been linked to ear damage and harm to body tissue, and can trigger intense confusion. Startled whales surface too quickly and suffer the bends, a decompression sickness that affects deep-sea divers but was thought an impossible condition in whales.

Environmentalists believe the introduction of the new radar violates marine laws to which the UK has signed up. They point to a series of whale strandings that coincided with naval exercises involving sonar, to support their concern. During the latest, in July, two dead whales being washed ashore on the nearby Canary Islands followed a Nato exercise off Morocco.

Unlike the UK, the US has staged a number of public hearings over the use of low-frequency sonar and 12 months ago a judge banned the American Navy from testing a similar system to that which the UK is eager to introduce. The judge concluded that the booming sounds could damage marine life, yet his comments have done little to deter Britain from entering the low-frequency race in which powerful speakers on a metal post are lowered into the sea. An intense burst of noise designed to detect enemy vessels floods the ocean, causing panic among whales, which use similar sonic booms to find food and mating partners.

Despite such concern and the recent defense spending cuts, negotiations for the sonar sets to be fitted to six UK vessels have just begun. The Defense Department admits that if the technology performs well in secret trials, it will be officially accepted in 18 months.     The Observer

 Russian Oil Project to Be Vetted for Whale Threat...   A top environmental group said in late August it had agreed to probe an oil and gas project led by Royal Dutch/Shell off the Russian far east coast because of fears it threatens endangered whales.

The World Conservation Union said the Sakhalin Energy Investment Company had requested an independent study into its plans to expand production around Russia's Sakhalin Island near feeding grounds of the Western Gray Whale. The independent scientific panel is expected to complete the review by the end of November. Until then, Sakhalin Energy has postponed certain development work.

The union, known as IUCN, said it was guaranteed "full autonomy to ensure the credible, objective review expected."

Plans for the panel come after the International Whaling Commission last month warned energy exploration could kill off the 100 or so remaining gray whales on the oil-rich shelf near Russia's Pacific coast and asked for surveys.

Sakhalin Energy aims to build pipelines linking offshore platforms in the multi-billion dollar Sakhalin-2 project to land.

The Western Gray Whales, which appear near Sakhalin Island in summer and withdraw to deeper waters in winter, can only feed from the seabed. That restricts their feeding ground to within a few kilometers (miles) from the Sakhalin coast - the area where the underwater pipeline is due to be laid.

The Sakhalin venture, which includes Japan's Mitsui & Co. Ltd. and Mitsubishi Corp, says much of the knowledge about the rare mammals is the result of their research and monitoring programs conducted in the Pacific since 1997.

Shell also plans to build the world's biggest liquefied natural gas plant near Sakhalin Island by 2006 and start gas shipments in 2007.     Reuters

 Whale Critical Habitat Recognized as World Heritage...   An area key to the survival of the gray whale has been listed on the World Heritage register by UNESCO. The Wrangel Island Reserve in Russia, which includes the mountainous Wrangel Island, Herald Island and the surrounding waters, is well above the Arctic Circle.

Wrangel did not have glaciers during the Quaternary Ice Age, so there are exceptionally high levels of biodiversity in this region. The Island boasts the world's largest population of Pacific walrus and the highest density of the ancestral polar bear dens. It is a major feeding ground for the gray whale migrating from Mexico and the northernmost nesting ground for 100 migratory bird species, many endangered.

This, along with the Ilulissat Icefjord listing, is the first natural nomination from the Arctic to the World Heritage List, and is one of the few marine sites on the World Heritage List. Of over 800 sites, only around 50 are either entirely marine or have a marine component. UNESCO recognizes they must address this.     United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

 European Commission Rejects UK Bid to Stop Dolphin Kill...   In early September, conservationists condemned the European Commission after it rejected a U.K. Government bid to ban the sea bass pair trawling fleet blamed for the annual slaughter of hundreds of dolphins.

Campaigners' hopes were raised in July, when Fisheries Minister Ben Bradshaw announced that he had written asking the commission to close the fishery in order to protect the vulnerable dolphin population. But those hopes were crushed when it emerged the commission had blocked the move "on the grounds that the data presented by the UK does not justify an immediate ban".

"They are flouting every obligation they have whether it is ethical, legal or moral. I'm devastated, completely devastated. It makes me feel sick to think that we're going to have another winter when dolphins will die in this horrific way."

Hundreds of dead and mutilated cetaceans have been washed up on Devon and Cornwall's beaches in recent years, horrifying conservationists. Blame was focused on the practice of pair trawling, in which two powerful trawlers tow a giant net between them in the hunt for sea bass.

Observers watching net trials off the Westcountry coast last winter witnessed at least 169 dolphins being caught by just two pairs of Scottish boats.

There was widespread suspicion that strong opposition from other nations involved in the fishery - notably the French, had stopped Britain's bid. A spokesman for the commission categorically denied that it had "bowed to pressure" from other member states not to approve the ban.

The question remains how the Government will respond to the rejection. Last month Mr. Bradshaw indicated that he would take unilateral action to ban the fishery within UK territorial waters in the absence of a European agreement.

Bass pair trawling is only one of a number of fisheries that result in these bycatches. The European Commission states they are fully committed to improving the conservation of dolphins and porpoises.     Western Morning News, UK

 Fire Retardant in Killer Whales...   A new study shows that same toxic pollutant recently found in B.C. farmed salmon has also turned up in endangered killer whales on the West Coast. The chemical, polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE), is used a flame retardant and is found in everything from carpets to computers.

Dr. Peter Ross of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans' Institute of Ocean Sciences is one of the authors of the new report. He says BPDEs are similar to PCBs.

"We did ban PCBs 30 years ago for these very same qualities," says Ross, a leading expert in marine mammal toxicology.

PCBs are a known threat to the 85 killer whales that live in the waters between Vancouver and Seattle. Ross says this new chemical could push them closer to extinction.

"We've now discovered they have detectable levels of a new generation of flame-retardants PBDEs similar to PCBs but we have not regulated them," he says.

The chemicals were found in samples of orca blubber taken between 1993 and 1996. Ross says the levels are probably much higher now.

Across the border, Washington State is fine-tuning its plan to clean up PBDEs in the environment. But Canada still has no regulations to deal with the problem.

Ivy Sager-Rosenthal of the People for Puget Sound says it's time Canada did something, because the chemicals don't restrict themselves to one side of the border.

"We can do all we can here in Washington State, but if Canada continues to allow these chemicals out into the environment, the orca whales that feed up there are going to be just as contaminated," she says.

Ottawa is expected to have a policy in place this winter. But the critics say the ubiquitous compound will continue to spill into the whales' environment for years to come.     Orca Sighting Network website

 $1.5 Million for Continued Orca Recovery Research in Senate Spending Bill ...   Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) announced on 9/16 that she secured $1.5 million in a Senate spending bill for research funding to study the decline in the Puget Sound Southern Resident orca population and to support ongoing recovery efforts.

These funds would support ongoing research by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries and build upon the $1.5 million Cantwell secured in fiscal year 2004 and $750,000 in fiscal year 2003. The research will determine factors that may be causing the population's decline, define goals for population recovery, identify specific measures to help restore the population, and help develop a comprehensive recovery plan.

Last October, Cantwell successfully persuaded NOAA to allocate $100,000 of the funds to help reunite L-98 with his pod. Known as Luna, the orca has been stranded in the Nootka Sound near Gold River for over three years, while his pod is based in the Puget Sound.

While the early stages of a reunification effort earlier this summer fell victim to poor communication between the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) and a First Nations tribe of Vancouver Island, the funds secured by Cantwell were not used, as NOAA would have only been involved in later stages of the reunification within American waters.

This funding is even more critical in light of NOAA's ongoing consideration of listing the Southern Resident orca population under the Endangered Species Act. An announcement is expected in December. In May 2003, NOAA listed the population as officially "depleted" under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.     Washington Post

 Orca Dies at Marineland, Canada...   Ontario Veterinarians are trying to figure out why a 12-year-old killer whale died at Marineland in Niagara Falls, Ontario in August.

It's the fifth whale to die at the amusement park in less than five years. Neocia was a show whale who was born at the park. She died early in August before the park opened. Marineland spokeswoman Ann Marie Rondinelli says the whale had been recently examined by veterinarians after she appeared to lose her appetite and wasn't acting normally. Tests showed nothing unusual.

Killer whales may live up to their mid-twenties in captivity but live much longer in the wild.

There are now four killer whales and a score of beluga whales at the 42-year-old tourist attraction. In July 2002, two beluga whales were born in the park's Friendship Cove within a week of each other.     Associated Press

 Six Flags in California Tries Again to Import Captive Argentine Orca...   Six Flags Marine World in Vallejo is trying to import a captive Argentine orca, angering marine-mammal advocates who say the whale should swim free.

Six Flags revealed its intention to apply for a federal application to import "Kshamenk," a male orca captured in 1992 in Patagonia, in a July 14th letter to the National Marine Fisheries Service, the federal agency that oversees the international trade in whales, dolphins and other marine mammals.

"Shouka," a female killer whale, is already in residence at Vallejo. Six Flags officials said they hope Kshamenk and Shouka will become paramours and, ultimately, parents. Joe Meck, vice president and general manager, said it is also likely Kshamenk will participate in the amusement park's orca show, which features the black-and-white, multi-ton predators performing various stunts.

Meck said Kshamenk would be brought in to the United States on loan from Mundo Marino, the Buenos Aires aquarium that would continue to own the whale.

Mark Berman, the assistant director of the International Marine Mammal Project for Earth Island Institute in San Francisco, said the whale should be released to the open seas.

"This is a captive whale, taken from his family group when he was young," said Berman. "It's irresponsible for Six Flags to continue the insidious trade in orcas. It's time for Kshamenk to go back to his family, not to a tank in the U.S. thousands of miles from his home."

Kshamenk originally swam with a population of orcas that hunt elephant seals and sea lions off Patagonia. The group has evolved a singular technique for taking prey: They sidle next to pinniped rookeries on gently sloping beaches, then lunge suddenly out of the water to snare unsuspecting seals.

They sometimes extend almost a full body length out of the water and must shimmy backward on the sand to regain the sea. Their kills have been documented on video and have been widely aired.

Kshamenk was a juvenile whale, between 4 and 6 years old, when he was stranded on a beach during an attempted kill. At that point, he should have simply been returned to the sea, said Berman. Instead, he was transported to Mundo Marino. Meck said the Argentine government took sworn affidavits that Kshamenk was terminally stranded.

Six Flags applied for permits from the fisheries service and the Argentine government to import Kshamenk for its Cleveland, Ohio, park in 2001. The fisheries service granted the permit, but the Argentine government refused, citing a law that forbids the exportation of the nation's wildlife.

The original fisheries service permit for Kshamenk expired in May. If the new permit is granted, it will differ from the original permit primarily in Kshamenk's final destination: Vallejo rather than Cleveland.

Berman said he is puzzled by Six Flags' move, because the Argentine law against orca exportation is still in effect. Jennifer Skidmore, a biologist with the fisheries service's permit division, said the importation of orcas for public display purposes is allowed under the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act. That's the critical legislation, Skidmore said, that determines whether an importation application will be approved.

"We can't issue any permit that violates U.S. law," Skidmore said, "and the applicant is also required to fulfill any foreign export obligation."

If the service approves Six Flags' application, said Skidmore, a 30-day public comment period will ensue, followed by a final agency decision.     San Francisco Chronicle