Ocean Sentry
Former federal environment minister Ian Campbell wants a boycott of Tokyo”s bid for the 2016 Olympics, in protest at Japan”s alleged annual slaughter of 23,000 dolphins. Allowing Japan to host the Summer Games only 300 nautical miles from Taiji, the Japanese port where the killings occur, would be a “travesty”, …
July, 2009
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14 July
New laws to protect dugongs off Facing Island
New laws for commercial net fishermen will now afford greater protection for the local dugong population around Facing Island off the coast of Gladstone. Minister for Primary Industries, Fisheries and Rural and Regional Queensland Tim Mulherin said the rules came in on 1 July 2009 and followed extensive community consultation.
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14 July
Protest launched against whale-watching boats
Last Saturday morning, July 11, 2009, for the first time in history, a protest action was launched by San Juan Island residents against commercial whale watch boats following resident orca whales. The action began a few miles off San Juan Island’s west side.
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13 July
Sharks are being attacked all over the world
The expression “shark attacks” has taken on a new and ominous meaning. The number of people bitten each year by sharks is minuscule. Attacks on sharks by humans, however, have reached unacceptable levels around the world, putting some of these great predators on the threshold of extinction. We are killing …
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12 July
Mexico finds cocaine haul hidden in frozen sharks
Mexico”s navy has seized more than a tonne of cocaine stuffed inside frozen sharks, as drug gangs under military pressure go to greater lengths to conceal narcotics bound for the United States. Armed and masked navy officers cut open more than 20 shark carcasses filled with slabs of cocaine after …
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12 July
Necropsies planned for 2 pygmy sperm whales
Necropsies will be performed on a pair of pygmy sperm whales found stranded off Florida”s southwest coast. The mother and calf were found Friday struggling in the mangrove stands off Kice Island, to the south of Marco Island. They were later euthanized at the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota. Officials …
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12 July
Manatee survives after difficult rescue
Even from the sky, you can see the propeller marks on the manatee’s back. It’s a female. She weighs nearly one thousand pounds and she’s likely been struck by a boat. A Florida Fish and Wildlife team boated to her rescue to try and help Friday. After the crew members …
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11 July
World Population Day: Let overpopulation topic out of closet
July 11 is World Population Day, as declared by the United Nations in 1989 to raise awareness of global population issues. Sadly, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of awareness out there. Of the 6.77 billion people on the planet, too few have either the courage or the awareness …
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11 July
Devastation of mangrove swamps
Advocating one thing and doing another best describes the situation in Sungai Sepang Kecil where mangrove trees lining the river have been sacrificed by a certain authority for a river-deepening and widening project. The culprit in question is the Sepang Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID). According to experts, the damage …
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9 July
A thinner Arctic for bears and ice
Another research paper has confirmed that ice in the Arctic is thinning, while another report warns that polar bears are too. Using data from NASA’s ICE-Sat (Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite), Ron Kwok of the space agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and colleagues found overall Arctic sea ice thinned by …
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7 July
Seabed mining threat to humpback whales
Whale migration paths sit squarely in the way of drilling and air gun blasts trying to find coal reserves under the ocean in a plan awaiting Federal Government approval. Miners are seeking to explore 6000 sq/km of seabed coal deposits in Commonwealth waters stretching from Newcastle to Wollongong.
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7 July
Driver plows through protected birds near Astoria
For the second time in a week, a driver has deliberately driver over protected sea birds, this time, on Sunset Beach area by Fort Stevens State Park. On June 26, a driver plowed through birds in Ocean Park, on Washington’s Long Beach Peninsula north of Astoria, killing 34.