California gillnet fishery eyed as threat to whales

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Bob Berwyn
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Spem whale photo by Tim Cole, National Marine Fisheries Service.

Endangered whales perishing in mile-long nets

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — California’s drift gillnet fishery may be classified as one of the most deadly to marine mammals, the National Marine Fisheries Service said this week, announcing its proposed list of fisheries classifications in the Federal Register as required by the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

According to federal biologists, more than three sperm whales die inadvertently each year after being entangled in the drifting nets along with other non-target species like sharks, turtles, dolphins and sea lions. The loss of sperm whales isn’t sustainable considering the small overall population, according to the proposed listing. (more…)

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Feds eye critical habitat for loggerhead sea turtles

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Bob Berwyn

More than 700 miles of beaches included in USFWS proposal

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Loggerhead sea turtle. Photo via NOAA, courtesy  Marco Giuliano/Fondazion Cetacea.

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A long swath of Florida’s Gulf Coast has been proposed as critical habitat for loggerhead sea turtles.

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — Federal biologists have proposed protecting hundreds of miles of U.S. shoreline from North Carolina to Mississippi to protect critical nesting habitat for threatened loggerhead sea turtles.

Florida beaches could be especially crucial to the survival of the species, with the most recent science showing that the state harbors one of only two global loggerhead aggregations with more than 10,000 nesting females nesting per year. The other is on Masirah Island, Oman.

The proposed critical habitat areas include 90 nesting beaches in coastal counties located in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi. The proposed areas incorporate about 740 beach shoreline miles and account for approximately 84 percent of the documented nesting in these six states. (more…)

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Can a high-tech navy coexist with marine mammals?

Posted on January 28, 2013 by Bob Berwyn

Federal biologists propose new rule to guide naval training

A humpback whale near Hawaii. Photo courtesy NOAA.

A humpback whale near Hawaii. Photo courtesy NOAA.

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — In a preliminary assessment, federal biologists said the mid-frequency sound generated by active sonar, the sound and pressure generated by detonating explosives and other activities associated with naval exercises aren’t likely to have a significant impact on protected marine species.

Nevertheless, the National Marine Fisheries Service is proposing a new rule to minimize impacts from naval training activities, including mitigation zones and observers trained to spot marine life during exercises.

The rule also calls for implementing a stranding response plan that includes a training shutdown provision in certain circumstances, and allows for the Navy to contribute in-kind services to NOAA’s Fisheries Service if the agency has to conduct a stranding response and investigation. It would also designate a humpback whale cautionary area to protect high concentrations of humpback whales around Hawaii during winter months.

Those steps don’t go far enough protect marine life, said Miyoko Sakashita, oceans director at the Center for Biological Diversity.

“Many whales and other marine mammals, like Hawaiian monk seals, are already struggling for survival. Now the Navy’s going to intensify war games in their habitat?” Sakashita said. We’re learning more and more about the tragic effects of sonar on whales and dolphins, yet the Navy’s being given carte blanche to blast the oceans with it and harm animals over and over again,” she added. (more…)

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Groups want critical habitat for loggerhead sea turtles

Posted on January 11, 2013 by Bob Berwyn
A loggerhead sea turtle off the coast of New England. Photo courtesy NOAA/Matthew Weeks.

A loggerhead sea turtle off the coast of New England. Photo courtesy NOAA/Matthew Weeks.

Lawsuit filed to speed up designation

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — Gill net fishing in Mexico and coastal development in Florida is driving loggerhead sea turtles to the brink of extinction, according to conservation groups, who filed a lawsuit this week to try and get better protection for the turtles’s critical habitat.

The groups acknowledge that conservation efforts in Florida have helped populations recover, but insist that the overall long-term threats require greater protection. The number of loggerhead sea turtles nesting along Florida beaches has grown in recent years, but these numbers have varied significantly over the past two decades.

North Pacific loggerheads, which nest in Japan and cross the Pacific to feed along the coasts of Southern California and Mexico, have declined by at least 80 percent over the past decade and were recently reclassified from threatened to endangered. It has been estimated that more than 1,000 loggerheads die each year as a result of gillnet fishing in Mexico, with more than 400 washing ashore dead last summer. (more…)

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Oceans: Feds to consider de-listing Puget Sound orcas

Posted on November 27, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

The National Marine Fisheries Service will consider a petition to de-list Puget Sound orcas. Photo courtesy NOAA.

Right-wing property rights group files nuisance petition

By Bob Berwyn

SUMMIT COUNTY — An anti-environmental property rights groups has successfully petitioned the National Marine Fisheries Service to reconsider its Endangered Species Act listing for Puget Sound’s resident orcas, more formally known as southern resident killer whales.

Puget Sound orcas have had endangered status since 2005, when federal biologists listed them due to threats from pollution, habitat destruction and over-collection by the marine aquarium industry. Puget Sound orcas are one of a few populations to feed extensively on salmon; they have a unique dialect; and previous studies have shown they are genetically unique. (more…)

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Lawsuit targets critical habitat for loggerhead sea turtles

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Endangered species still facing threats from fishing, coastal development

A NOAA map showing the range of loggerhead sea turtles.

A loggerhead sea turtle off the coast of England. Photo courtesy NOAA/Matthew Weeks.

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Federal officials aren’t moving fast enough to protect critical habitat for endangered loggerhead sea turtles, according to conservation advocates, who hope to speed up the process with a lawsuit aimed at spurring the National Marine Fisheries Service to act sooner, rather than later.

According to the Center for Biological Diversity, critical habitat protection would help safeguard key nesting beaches as well as migratory and feeding areas in the oceans. The designation would also prohibit federal projects that would potentially destroy or harm these areas to ensure the conservation and recovery of imperiled sea turtles. Endangered species that benefit from protected critical habitat are twice as likely to show signs of recovery than those without it. (more…)

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Are great white sharks an endangered species?

Posted on August 14, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Great white sharks may get protection under the Endangered Species Act. Photo courtesy EPA.

Conservation groups petition to protect West Coast populations

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Recent studies suggest that populations of great white sharks off the West Coast of the U.S. have dwindled well  below previous estimates, leading conservation groups to call for Endangered Species Act protection for the apex predator of the ocean.

In a formal petition to the National Marine Fisheries Service, a trio of environmental groups outlined threats to the sharks, including high mortality from gillnets used to catch other fish. The petition is based on 2011 studies suggesting that adult and sub-adult great white sharks may number as few as 350  — far fewer than researchers expected, presenting an inherently high extinction risk. (more…)

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Feds claim progress on recovering fisheries

Posted on May 28, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

A flounder in seagrass. PHOTO COURTESY NOAA.

Several valuable species have been rebuilt to sustainable levels

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Federal fisheries experts say that collaborative efforts have helped rebuild stocks of several valuable commercial and recreational fisheries, including Bering Sea snow crab, Atlantic coast summer flounder, Gulf of Maine haddock, northern California coast Chinook salmon, Washington coast coho salmon, and Pacific coast widow rockfish — all fully rebuilt to healthy levels.

Those are record results for a single, year, the National Marine Fisheries Service said in a report, declaring that experts have been able to recover 27 U.S. marine fish populations to sustainable levels in the past 11 years. (more…)

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Report: Up to 50 coral species at high risk of extinction

Posted on April 15, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

The diversity of coral reef ecosystems is at risk from climate change and other threats outlined in a new federal report.

Feds taking comment to help make endangered species listing decision

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — More than 50 species of coral face extinction by the end of the century, mainly because of global warming, disease and ocean acidification, according to a report released last week by the National Marine Fisheries Service. The report also identified other threats, including increased population and development in coastal areas.

The agency’s report focused on 82 types of coral that are being considered for protections under the Endangered Species Act following a 2009 petition by the Center for Biological Diversity. It was compiled as a status review as a step toward making a decision on listing the species under the Endangered Species Act. The agency is taking public comment through July 31.

Of the 82 corals, populations of 56 species are likely to fall below critical survival thresholds before 2100. The report covers corals are in U.S. waters, ranging from Florida and Hawaii to U.S. territories in the Caribbean and Pacific. (more…)

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Lawsuit challenges naval sonar testing

Posted on January 28, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Groups say federal agencies should use updated biological information to permit large-scale training exercises in the Pacific

Orcas in the Pacific. PHOTO COURTESY NOAA.

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY —Conservation groups say federal wildlife officials have failed to use the best available information on locations of marine mammals to protect the animals from the impacts of naval sonar training.

Last week, a coalition of conservation and American Indian groups sued the National Marine Fisheries Service for failing to protect thousands of whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals and sea lions from U.S. Navy warfare training exercises along the coasts of California, Oregon and Washington.

The lawsuit calls on the agency to mitigate anticipated harm to marine mammals and biologically critical areas within the training range that stretches from Northern California to the Canadian border. (more…)

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