Marine Mammals

January, 2009

• 16 January

  Whale Entangled in Fishing Line Sighted in San Pedro Channel

  

  (From nbclosangeles.com) California – The Coast Guard announced Wednesday they have received reports of a Fin Whale entangled in fishing line in the vicinity of the San Pedro Channel. The whale was spotted by boaters twice this week. Long Beach Captain Dan Salas of Harbor Breeze Cruises captured images of …
• 16 January

  NOAA Reports Northern Fur Seal Pup Estimate Decline

  

  (From noaanews.noaa.gov ) – Researchers at the National Marine Mammal Laboratory of NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center have marked another decline in northern fur seal pup births in the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea, where most of the world’s population of northern fur seals gather in the summer to …
• 16 January

  Philippines asked to return dolphins

  

  (From solomonstarnews.com ) – International animal activities are urging the Philippine Government to return dolphins exported to them back to the Solomon Islands. Solomon Islands Mammal Education Centre and Exporters Ltd sent seven dolphins there last month. Another 11 left yesterday. These were sent there to be trained before they are …
• 15 January

  Canadian Seafood Boycott

  

  (From qsrmagazine.com) – Each year, more than 200,000 harp seals are killed off Canada”s east coast in the largest commercial hunt for marine mammals on the planet. The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has been working for years to end the practice, and now the animal rights organization …
• 15 January

  Alaska to sue over beluga whales

  

  (From juneauempire.com) Anchorage – he state of Alaska announced Wednesday it will sue over increased protections for Cook Inlet beluga whales, the white whales that swim the silty waters off Alaska”s largest city. The belugas – an isolated group that is genetically distinct – were listed last year as endangered …
• 15 January

  Indonesia Rebuffs Japanese Whaling Ship Amid Widespread Outcry Over Annual Hunt

  

  (From thejakartaglobe.com) –  A Japanese whaling vessel was forced to leave Indonesian waters on Thursday after the government rejected its request to dock at the state-owned PT PAL shipyard in Surabaya, East Java Province, an official said on Thursday. “We asked the Japanese whaling ship to go and it has …
• 13 January

  PETA to NOAA: Please Don’t Let Dolphins Die

  

  (From peta.org)- Sea Bright, N.J.- Today, PETA sent an urgent letter to Dr. William J. Brennan, acting administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), urging him to intervene to save the lives of five dolphins stranded in New Jersey”s Shrewsbury and Navesink Rivers. The marine mammals are those …
• 13 January

  Navy Allowed to Kill Whales in Hawaii During Sonar Training

  

  (From ens-newswire.com) – The federal government today issued authorization to the U.S. Navy to impact whales and dolphins while conducting sonar training exercises around the main Hawaiian Islands for the next five years. The letter of authorization and accompanying rules allow for injury or death of up to 10 animals …
• 12 January

  Good news possible for NJ’s wayward dolphins

  

  (From nbcnewyork.com) – There”s good news for a pod of wayward dolphins in New Jersey”s Shrewsbury and Navesink rivers. Three of the remaining five dolphins are headed back to sea. A volunteer with the Marine Mammal Stranding Center said Saturday that the trio was spotted in Sandy Hook Bay, a …
• 11 January

  Disease, oil spills threaten California sea otters

  

  (From sanluisobispo.com)- Sea otters in California, slowly recovering from their brush with extinction a century ago, still face threats from disease and oil spills. That’s the conclusion of a final stock assessment of the animals by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released to the public just after Christmas. The …
• 9 January

  Reykjavik faces campaign to allow whaling, expand quotas

  

  (From google.com) Reykjavik – Forty-two organisations, unions and municipalities signed an advertisement published Friday urging Iceland”s government to allow whaling again this year, while whalers said any quota should be dramatically expanded. Iceland, which had observed an international moratorium on commercial whaling for 16 years until a controversial October 2006 …
• 9 January

  Senator wants dolphins removed from Shrewsbury

  

  (From app.com)- U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., said federal officials should move the remaining bottlenose dolphins out of the Shrewsbury River or work with private groups that want to guide them to safety. “For some reason, the pod of dolphins seems stuck in a habitat that is not conducive to …