News

October, 2008

• 4 October

  Alarm over future of prized turtles

  

  (From gulfnews.com) New Delhi- Coastal development, industrialisation and harmful fishing are whittling the numbers of this endangered species in India”s eastern state of Orissa, says a recent United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) report. Already a whopping 120,000 Olive Ridleys have succumbed to illegal fishing and coastal development in Orissa over …
• 3 October

  Dolphin’s death draws attention, but no action

  

  (From bayshorenews.com)- Has the death of a dolphin from the pod visiting the Navesink River changed the National Fisheries Service’s (NFS) plan to “wait it out”? Marine Mammal Stranding Center (MMSC) Director Schoelkopf maintained that the dolphins should have been removed from the waters in June. The MMSC had submitted …
• 3 October

  Rescuers at the ready should manatee reappear

  

  (From capecodonline.com)- The search for a wayward manatee continued yesterday with state environmental police checking bays, freshwater streams and drainage pipes from the Cape Cod Canal to Wellfleet. Massachusetts Environmental Police Capt. Peter Hanlon said a major concern was that the manatee, a tropical animal and a member of an …
• 3 October

  Mass extinction may be underway

  

  (From newsinfo.inquirer.net) Paris-  Earth”s animal and plant species are vanishing at unprecedented rates, evidence that the planet is facing a tsunami of mass extinction, experts gathering for a global conservation conference next week have warned. Whether through habitat loss, pollution, hunting, or indirectly by global warming, humans are squarely to …
• 3 October

  Feds to consider making parts of main Hawaiian Islands as seal habitat

  

  (From honoluluadvertiser.com) – The federal government will consider designating areas in the main Hawaiian Islands as critical habitat for endangered Hawaiian monk seals. The announcement, to be published in the Federal Register on Friday, comes in a response to a petition filed by three environmental groups. The petition seeks to …
• 2 October

  Why the environment is turning middle-class to veganism

  

  (From sl.farmonline.com.au) – The widespread acceptance of vegetarianism has paved the way for veganism to emerge from the shadows as a more accepted alternative lifestyle. Vegans steer clear of all meat and also avoid animal byproducts such as milk, eggs, butter, cheese, gelatin, whey and honey. Vegan numbers are believed …
• 2 October

  20 waterbirds added to threatened list

  

  (From news.mongabay.com)- The U.N. has added 20 species of migratory waterbird to the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) giving them greater international protection in Africa, Europe, and Asia.  Seabirds are at risk from overfishing, which both depletes their prey and snags birds as by-catch; pollution and …
• 2 October

  Campaign to save wolffish

  

  (From metrobostonnews.com) Boston – With a mouth full of large teeth and its long, thin tail, the Atlantic wolffish is a true rarity among ocean fish species. But two decades of overharvesting and habitat loss have caused it to become truly rare. Those concerned for the future of this predator …
• 2 October

  Enhanced Protection of Marine Turtles in The Bahamas

  

  (By Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources) Please read a press statement issued today by the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources on the phasing out of capturing turtles by April 2009.The Honourable Minister Larry Cartwright and his team at the Ministry are to be commended for this long awaited …
• 2 October

  Planning underway to stop dolphin strandings

  

  (From abc.net.au)- A Queensland authority on marine life says at least five dolphins have been trapped in a northern New South Wales lake in recent years. The director of Marine Sciences at Seaworld, Trevor Long, helped to free a bottlenose dolphin and her calf from Prospect Lake near Ballina yesterday.
• 2 October

  Despite rescue attempt, whale dies after beaching in Avalon

  

  (From pressofatlanticcity.com)- Efforts to save a beached True”s beaked whale failed Wednesday afternoon, as the large mammal died surrounded by those who had tried to help her. The whale, measuring some 14 feet and weighing an estimated 1,200 pounds, first appeared along the beach at 23rd Street and passersby managed …
• 1 October

  Navy’s sonar has a killer sound

  

  Scientist may have found the explanation for the role of naval sonar in the mass stranding of whales and dolphins with the discovery that ships’ equipment uses the same frequencies as killer whales. They suggest that the bursts of sound emitted by warships to spot submarines resemble the noises used …