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.

 U.S. Judge Rules Military Sonar Use Restricted...   In a reprieve for marine life and a victory for conservation, a keystone decision was made in late August in a California District Court: the judge ruled that the controversial Low Frequency Active Sonar (LFAS) that the US Navy wishes to deploy is impacting marine life and its use must be restricted. The court also concluded that the plaintiffs showed the likelihood of irreparable harm.

The decision still allows for the limited training and testing of the US Navy LFAS system during peacetime but with large scale additional measures to better protect marine life. These include:

• restriction of operations in certain sensitive areas when marine mammals are particularly abundant;
• the extension of the coastal buffer zone beyond 12 nautical miles, to include more of the continental shelf on the great majority of coastlines; and
• avoidance of certain areas of the deep ocean during seasons when data on marine mammals and endangered species show that they are feeding, breeding, migrating or otherwise clustering there.

Full details of the terms of the permanent injunction are yet to be decided and are in the process of being negotiated by the parties involved in the case.

The US Magistrate, Judge Elizabeth Laporte, who presided, noted the importance of military preparedness and added that "there can be no doubt that the public interest in protecting the worlds' ocean and sea creatures that depend on the oceanic environment to survive is also of the highest importance".

Other nations are in trials with or operating similar low frequency active sonars, including the UK's Sonar 2087.

Mid frequency active sonars also threaten marine life and have been responsible for the stranding and the subsequent deaths of a number of cetaceans. It would appear that this kind of active sonar is used by many nations without environmental assessment.

The LFAS decision is a major victory for the US environmental organizations that led the permanent injunction - NRDC, HSUS, CSI, LCP, OFS and Jean-Michel Cousteau.

This issue will continue to be front and center in the ongoing debate between conservation organizations and the U.S. Department of Defense. Many U.S. environmental laws, including the Marine Mammal Protection Act, are still in jeopardy because of ongoing legal processes that are reviewing these laws in the face of challenges from military interests that they are too restrictive. Legal challenges are sure to follow if the Navy appeals the LFAS court ruling and the injunction is only in place until the defendants correct the violations identified by the court. In the meantime, this is a significant victory for the whales and other marine wildlife!     WDCS and multiple news stories

 Marine Mammal Protection Act in Congressional Review...   ACS and other members of the Marine Mammal Protection Coalition have sent letters to the House and Senate Defense Committees outlining objections to the recently House passed version of the Department of Defense bill, which weakens the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The Senate passed version does not weaken the MMPA. The votes are currently planned for late September. Please see the recently posted ACS Action Alert.    

 Iceland Whale Kill Continues...   Despite worldwide condemnation, Iceland has now killed at least 18 minke whales in the name of "scientific research." Please see the ACS Action Alert recently posted for full details    

 Commercial Whale Watchers Worldwide call on Iceland to Stop Whaling...   Whale watchers worldwide strongly urged the Icelandic Government to reconsider its decision to conduct scientific whaling in the waters around Iceland, saying it would jeopardize the booming whale watch industry and the tourist industry in general.

The Icelandic Government intends to catch 38 minkes by the end of September and follow this up with a bigger catch of minkes next year, supposedly to study whether they threaten Iceland's number one source of income -- cod fishing. This is the same kind of psuedo scientific misinformation the Japanese Government uses to justify its whaling, says whale watch operator and leader of the International Alliance of Commercial Whale Watch Operators Frank Future.

"There are lots of ways to study whales without killing them. The ridiculous argument that whales need to be culled because they are eating all the fish is the same one that the Japanese Government uses. Whales have a right to exist in the ecosystem they've lived in for millions of years. It's our responsibility to keep that ecosystem healthy," stated Future.

Ironically, nature based tourism like whale watching has become Iceland's second most valuable source of income. And whaling is jeopardizing it. The Icelandic Government is ignoring pleas from Iceland's whale watchers and tourism industry to stop whaling.

"Apparently the phones just stopped ringing once whaling started. As fellow whale watchers, we know that's disaster for commercial operators who rely on daily bookings," "Whale watching is addictive. Once people have seen whales in one part of the world, they often become interested to travel around the world to see more. If the government of Iceland stops whaling, we will happily recommend to our clients worldwide that they also visit Iceland," Future said.

Whale watching has been the fastest growing sector of the Icelandic tourism industry since it started in 1995, with over 62,000 people watching whales there last year. Whale watching is a growing industry around the world as people realize whales are worth a lot more alive than dead. There's great joy in seeing a whale breaching, or a mother teaching her calf acrobatics.

The International Alliance of Commercial Whale Watchers is a network of commercial operators from around the world, gathered together for the purpose of promoting and insuring the sustainability of the whale and dolphin watch industry. Alliance members advocate complete protection for all species of Cetaceans and commit to best practice methods of observation and active conservation of the species. The Alliance includes operators from Australia, New Zealand, Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, the USA, Canada and Tonga and represents an industry worth around US $1.5 billion per year worldwide. Over 10 million people go whale watching around the world every year.    

 Demarche to Icelandic government over the resumption of whaling...   Her Britannic Majesty's Ambassador presents his compliments to the government of Iceland and has the honor to transmit on behalf of twenty-three Governments the following text in response to the Government of Iceland's recent decision to undertake lethal scientific research on minke whales:

The Governments of Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Monaco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Peru, San Marino, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States firmly oppose the recent decision of the Government of Iceland to undertake lethal scientific research on minke whales.

As Governments which have adhered, or intend to adhere, to the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling and its associated protocol, we consider Iceland's decision to be unjustified and unnecessary.

We recall that delegates of a majority of countries represented at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) Scientific Committee expressed their objection to Iceland's proposal submitted earlier this year. They also made it clear that the plan would not meet the scientific standards normally required for endorsement of research by any major international research agency.

Iceland's action does not comply with Resolution 2003-2 adopted at IWC 55, which states that current and proposed Special Permit whaling operations represent an act contrary to the spirit of the IWC moratorium on commercial whaling and to the will of the Commission. Considering that equally good data can be secured in almost all cases by non-lethal techniques, the Resolution urges any country conducting or planning to conduct Special Permit whaling to terminate, or not to begin, such activities and to conduct scientific research using only non-lethal methods. We deeply regret the decision of the Icelandic government to commence a lethal research whaling program despite this and other similar IWC Resolutions.

We do not accept the claim, made by the Government of Iceland, that the research will provide useful data on the amount of fish whales eat. Many experts within the IWC Scientific Committee have already criticized much of the existing science in this area for its overly simplistic approach. Furthermore the proposed Icelandic sampling scheme will not provide the data required to model the complex ecosystem interactions. We do not believe that such lethal research is necessary as a great deal of information is already available on whale diets and further data, especially on stocks or populations, can be obtained by non-lethal means. Therefore, we wish to express our serious reservations as to the scientific value of the Icelandic plan which, moreover, may be seen as a means of circumventing the current moratorium on commercial whaling. Our Governments reaffirm their strong commitment to that moratorium and to the conservation of whales.

We therefore call on the Government of Iceland to reconsider its decision to recommence scientific whaling.     WDCS

 Right Whale Decision from NMFS...   On July 11, 2002, NMFS received a petition dated July 7, 2002, requesting that NMFS revise the present critical habitat designation for the western North Atlantic right whale, Eubalaena glacialis, (right whales) under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by combining and expanding the current Cape Cod Bay and Great South Channel critical habitats in the Northeast and by expanding the current critical habitat in the Southeast. NMFS has determined that the requested revision, as specified by the petitioner, is not warranted at this time. However, NMFS will continue to analyze the physical and biological habitat features essential to the conservation of right whales.     Federal Register

 Southern Right Whale Population Increase...   Research by the Western Australian Museum shows the number of southern right whales, Eubalaena glacialis, is increasing by 8 per cent each year. Former museum director and now honorary researcher, John Bannister, says the figures are drawn from analysis of aerial photographs taken periodically over the past decade. The figures refer to female right whales that come fairly close to the coast, and suggest their numbers will double in the next 10 years. Mr. Bannister says it is considered to be part of an overall recovery from commercial whaling, after the closure of Australia's last whaling station in 1978. "Since then there seems to be a much better recovery," he said.

"There's no whaling on them at all now and they've been recovering very nicely since the late 1970s, early 1980s."     WDCS

 Solomon Islands Dolphin Capture Continues...   The capture of dolphins continues in the Solomon Islands, with at least 10 caught at the end of August. The report of the new captures came at the same time as the Mexican environmental authorities announced the closure of the Parque Nizuc facility in Cancun, Mexico, that imported 28 dolphins from the Solomon Islands in July.

The fate of the dolphins held in shallow, overcrowded sea pens in the Solomon Islands remains unknown. Reports suggest several have already died, food is scarce and many dolphins are lying on the surface of the water motionless.

Two dolphins have recently died at Parque Nizuc. One dolphin had been imported from the Solomon Islands, the second was already captive at the facility and is from local waters.     Scoop Please see the recently posted ACS Action Alert! for details.

In August, a letter signed by more than 70 conservation and animal welfare organizations from around the world was sent to the authorities in Mexico and the Solomon Islands, expressing deep concern about the capture of up to 200 bottlenose dolphins in the Solomon Islands.

As military forces from other countries in the region help restore law and order to a country suffering a severe and violent political crisis, it has become apparent that less obvious victims are suffering from the political struggle. A foreign syndicate, apparently taking advantage of the unstable situation in the islands to exploit their natural resources, offered local fishermen money to capture dolphins for international trade.

In addition to the severe threat posed to the continued survival of the dolphin populations targeted, there are also serious concerns about the welfare of those captured. At least 60 and perhaps as many as 200 dolphins captured are being held in makeshift pens in shallow water, and held in crowded, inadequate conditions. Reports also suggest that fishermen being paid to provide food for the animals have resorted to using dynamite in order to catch enough fish. At least four dolphins are reported to have died in the Solomon Islands since capture.

On July 21, twenty-eight dolphins were exported to a captive dolphin facility offering swim-with-the-dolphins programs in Cancun, Mexico. At least one dolphin has already died since their arrival. As Mexico is a party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), it is required to follow international rules when trading in dolphins.

The letter expresses the collective view of the groups that the trade violated CITES and also Mexican national law. For the export of wildlife species such as dolphins an assessment of the status of the population from which the animals are to be taken must be made to ensure that the proposed trade will not be detrimental to the survival of the species. The groups who have signed the letter believe that the export permits issued by the Solomon Islands violated CITES regulations because so little data exist about bottlenose dolphins in the waters of the Solomon Islands, that they could not have been based on a valid "non-detriment finding". They also argue that the introduction of an exotic species into a protected area violated Mexican domestic law.

The letter urges several actions, including:

• the Solomon Islands to release the remaining captive dolphins and allow no further captures or exports,
• Mexico to revoke the import permits it issued and confiscate the imported dolphins,
• other countries not to allow the import of dolphins from the Solomon Islands and
• valid export permits for bottlenose dolphins.

    World Society of the Protection of Animals news release

 Dolphins Targeted by Caribbean Tourism Industry...   Campaigners are stepping up efforts to stop the exploitation of dolphins in the Caribbean tourism industry. Their campaign focuses on swim-with-dolphin facilities - the coastal enclosures, or pens, where paying customers can swim and, according to the promoters, interact with captive dolphins.

Negative publicity about the cruelties of "dolphinariums" - the large swimming pool-like installations in which trained dolphins perform for the entertainment of spectators - has prompted attempts by companies to re-invent themselves as eco-friendly concerns.

The capture of wild dolphins separates family members, which causes stress for the remaining wild population as well as the captive animals. Individual dolphins can die from the shock of removal from the wild into captivity.     Latin American Press

 Jamaican Resorts Want More Captive Dolphins...   In an emotional dispute that could shape Jamaica's tourism industry, animal rights activists and resort owners are taking sides over whether dolphins should be captured and imported for marine parks.

Resort owners want Jamaica to clear the way for huge coastal enclosures for the gregarious mammals, and they want to import more dolphins for two existing parks. The animals thrive in such world-class facilities, they argue.

Animal rights activists, on the other hand, say it's inhumane to confine the highly intelligent creatures. They're urging environmental officials and policy makers to exercise caution in granting permits allowing for the importation of dolphins from abroad or for their capture in Jamaica's waters.

"We should not have captive dolphins anywhere," insists Diana McCaulay, head of the non-governmental Jamaica Environment Trust. She says a captive dolphin is an unhappy dolphin, no matter how grand or natural its enclosure.

Naomi A Rose, one of the dolphin experts who visited Jamaica last week, belittled the value of such parks, and their educational value.

"The cost for the dolphins is much higher than any amount of money that tourists can spend," she says.     The Jamaica Observer

 Malta Imports Dolphins from Cuba...   NGOs in Malta and around the world have condemned the import at the end of August of six bottlenose dolphins from Cuba to the Meditteraneo Marine Park in Malta.

The six Maltese NGOs (non-governmental organizations) - Catcare Association, Island Sanctuary, Nature Trust, International Animal Rescue (Malta), World Animal Conscience and Moviment Graffiti - have issued a statement bringing to the attention of the public the fact that "these dolphins were kidnapped from their families and condemned to lifetime imprisonment in a concrete pool to perform silly tricks for the amusement of a few".

These organizations further condemned the authorities for paving the way for this deed by publishing the new law L.N. 203 on 12 August without consulting any organizations, and for what they report as "hurried processing of the application of the marine park". Meanwhile after more than a decade the welfare regulations that protect these dolphins have not yet been implemented.     Malta Independent

 Mediterranean Common Dolphin Population Declines Sharply...   The World Conservation Union (IUCN) has recently accepted a proposal that characterizes the Mediterranean "subpopulation" of short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) in its Red List of Threatened Animals as "Endangered". Although common dolphins were considered relatively abundant in much of the Mediterranean until recently, a sudden, large-scale population decline has occurred, and today common dolphins survive only in relatively small portions of their former Mediterranean range. In some areas these dolphins have become rare or completely absent.

A recent review of common dolphin status suggests that the decline may be largely the result of large-scale habitat changes over the past 30-40 years. "The main threats appear to be represented by the reduced availability of key prey caused by over fishing and by habitat degradation," states Giovanni Bearzi, President of the Tethys Research Institute and contract professor of cetacean conservation at the University of Venice. "Other factors that may have contributed to the species' decline in the region include contamination by man-made chemicals, potentially resulting in immunosuppression and/or reproductive impairment, and incidental mortality in fishing gear, especially gill nets". Environmental changes such as those associated with global warming may make matters worse in the future, for example by influencing the amount or distribution of the dolphins' prey.

Conservationists have joined forces to prevent these magnificent marine mammals from completely disappearing from the Mediterranean basin. A comprehensive assessment of the species' status and the threats that it is facing in the various areas it is still found will form the focus of a detailed conservation plan.

The United Nations Environmental Program "Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and contiguous Atlantic Area" (ACCOBAMS) in cooperation with WDCS, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, and ASMS - Marine Mammal Protection have endorsed a project for the conservation of Mediterranean common dolphins coordinated by the Tethys Research Institute. This initiative is aimed at initiating urgent priority actions to protect this endangered cetacean population in key parts of its range, as recommended by the IUCN`s Action Plan.

"The Contracting Parties of ACCOBAMS recognized that urgent action to prevent the complete disappearance of common dolphins should include a reduction of fishing pressure and measures to preserve their critical habitats in the Mediterranean," explains Marie-Christine Van Klaveren, ACCOBAMS Executive Secretary. "Ten years of research on common dolphins indicate that a reduction of fishing effort would benefit both the animals and the fisheries that have brought fish stocks near the point of collapse." Concludes Nicolas Entrup, Managing Director of WDCS Germany.     WDCS

 Japan Frets About Loss of Whaling Culture...   The International Whaling Commission's (IWC) decision to set up a whale conservation committee at its general meeting in Berlin in June has dealt a fresh blow to the Japanese whaling industry. The decision, as well as the IWC's rejection of a series of Japanese requests, has scuttled Japanese plans to push for the resumption of commercial whaling.

Industry sources say Japan's "whaling culture" will disappear because young people are not so eager to eat whale meat.

The Fisheries Agency conducted so-called "research whaling" off Oshika in Miyagi Prefecture in April to study how whales affect Japan's fishery stocks.

Japan gave up commercial whaling in 1986 in compliance with an international moratorium and turned to research whaling the following year. Conservationists maintain the research whaling is a cover for commercial whaling, noting the meat of the whales caught is sold for consumption in Japan.

Fifty minke whales that had been caught during the voyage were unloaded at Ayukawa port, which was once a prosperous whaling hub. Some of the meat was distributed to households in the city under the local tradition that whale meat should be shared among the people. It fetched a price as high as 9,000-yen per-kilogram at the Sendai wholesale market because it was the first catch in 17 years.

Oshika's economy has continued to deteriorate since Japan suspended commercial whaling. Its current population of about 6,000 is less than half that in the heyday of the 1960s. The only signs of the town's whaling past are a large whaling ship displayed at a theme park and big fishing warehouses along the port.

But less and less people are showing interest in eating whale, especially because the many young people have never even tasted it, municipal officials said.

"The tradition is going to disappear," said 80-year-old Jin Ito, a former whaler who used to hunt the giant creatures around the South Pole and in the seas surrounding Japan.

Local and prefectural officials from around the country gathered in Sendai in May to discuss the relationship between whaling and their local communities. They reported that the decrease in whaling was having a serious impact on their economies.

Miyagi Gov. Shiro Asano attended the IWC general meeting in Berlin with a copy of a declaration adopted at the Sendai meeting, which calls for natural resources utilization based on scientific surveys. Asano actively met cabinet ministers from countries opposing whaling, but he came away disappointed.

"For anti-whaling countries, whales are like mountain flowers," Asano said. "They cannot conceive that whales can be caught if their population increases. The wall is getting higher and higher."

Katsuya Yusa, managing director at Toba Whale Catching Co., one of a few remaining whaling companies at Ayukawa port, said, "We cannot have serious talks with anti-whaling countries because the same discussions have continued for more than 10 years."

Oshima Town Fisheries Corp. has attempted to preserve the whaling tradition by introducing former whalers and fishermen on its home page.

"We hope transmitting information about our old fishing activities to the young generation can lead to the resumption of whaling," said Kiyoshi Hirama, an official at the corporation.     Kyodo News Service

 Australia Attempts Sustainable Management of Southeast Oceans...   A new era in oceans management was introduced in July with the release of the first regional marine plan under Australia's Oceans Policy. Launching the draft Southeast Regional Marine Plan (SERMP) in Melbourne, the Minister for the Environment and Heritage Dr. David Kemp said that nowhere else in the world had ocean planning and management been attempted on such a scale and in such an integrated manner.

The government has brought ministers together onto a National Oceans Ministerial Board that includes the portfolios of industry, science, transport, tourism and environment.

"For the first time this integrated system of oceans management takes all uses of our oceans into account rather than the sector-by-sector approach that was used previously," said Kemp. "In this way, we take account of the cumulative effects of these ocean uses, on each other as well as on ecosystems, upon which regional marine planning is based. This regional marine plan is the first of a series that will cover Australia's 16 million square kilometers of ocean territory," said Kemp.

The plan takes in more than two million square kilometers of Australia's ocean territory around Victoria, Tasmania, eastern South Australia and southern New South Wales, as well as the sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island.

"It will put in place for the first time a whole of government framework for decision making on oceans issues in Commonwealth waters. This will ensure that key ecosystems are protected, providing for the sustainable development of marine industries currently values at more than $30 billion a year. Future generations of Australians will recognize the importance of this milestone, which marks a new era of respect for the value of our oceans and their resources."

Environmental groups said the new plan will be an important first test of the Commonwealth's commitment to the protection of Australia's oceans and sustainable management of the industries that depend on them.

"Australia is responsible for one of the largest and diverse ocean expanses in the world. With increasing pressure on our oceans, we have to get the management right and avoid the mistakes we've made on land," says Michelle Grady of the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), the country's largest environmental organization.

The ACF expects the final Southeast Regional Marine Plan to deliver a system of Marine National Parks which strongly protect at least 20 to 50 percent of each habitat type in the southeast region, as well as strict environment standards enforced by a National Oceans Authority and enshrined in a National Oceans Act.

The environmental groups say the plan must produce ecosystem-based management and ecologically sustainable marine industries through integrated management. They are also seeking a significant increase in funds for scientific research to underpin decisions.

Kemp said that the new system of oceans management contained in Australia's Oceans Policy will equip Australia to avoid the resource management mistakes that have occurred in marine environments in other parts of the world.

"In the Northern hemisphere some of the most productive fisheries, such as the North Atlantic cod and pilchard fisheries have virtually collapsed, resulting in the devastation of ecosystems and the economies that depend upon them," Kemp said.

"These are the types of disasters that we hope to prevent with the strong institutional arrangements at the heart of the Howard Government's Oceans Policy. The government has invested more than A$50 million in the development and implementation of Australia's Oceans Policy since it was announced in 1998."

"The southeast region is globally significant in conservation terms, with many threatened species, including the endangered Blue and Southern Right Whales. Over 85 percent of the plants and animals in this region are unique - found nowhere else in the world", said Margi Prideaux, Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society.

"The unique feature of Australia's approach is its recognition of all users of our ocean, from commercial and recreational fishers, indigenous Australians, the conservation sector, industries such as oil and gas, shipping and tourism and our coastal communities," Kemp said.

More than 270,000 people work in marine related industries in the Southeast Marine Region, and their contribution is valued at A$19 billion annually.

"Following rapid improvements in our understanding of the deep ocean and with world leading marine management arrangements established, we will be well placed to develop our ocean resources for future generations," Kemp said.

"But there is mounting pressure on this important marine heritage", warned Kate Davey of the Australian Marine Conservation Society. "The southeast region hosts Australia's busiest shipping lanes, the largest fishing fleet, and some of Australia's largest oil producing areas with new frontier areas opening up in sensitive ecosystems."     Environmental News Service

 Whales Safer in Tonga...   Whales will be safer in Tongan waters following the establishment of new industry group focused on their protection.

The formation of the Tongan National Whale Watching and Conservation Association was unanimously agreed at a national whale-watching forum in the capital Nuku' alofa.

"The formation of such a forward-thinking and pro-active conservation association in a Pacific Island state is not only a first for the region but it is a huge step toward ensuring the conservation of highly endangered southern hemisphere whales," said Lesley Gidding, a marine biologist with the Asia Pacific Office of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).

"This Association will have representatives from government, industry, non-government organizations, researchers and other stakeholders and will be tasked with working toward the protection and conservation of whales in Tongan waters", she added.

The Kingdom of Tonga is a critical breeding and calving ground for the endangered humpback whale. In 1978, His Majesty, King Taufa'ahau Tupan IV issued a Royal Decree to prohibit whaling in all Tongan waters and since then the number of humpbacks seen in Tonga is slowly increasing. These whales have become a symbol of national pride for Tongans since the early 1990s and there is now a thriving whale-watching industry there.

The manager of IFAW's Marine Awareness Center on the Tongan island of Vava'u, Filipe Tonga, said the forum also recommended that the Prime Minister's office urgently consider the formal declaration of Tonga's waters as a Whale Sanctuary.

This would again show the overwhelming support in the region for the establishment of a South Pacific Whale Sanctuary by the International Whaling Commission and would complement similar moves in other countries such as Fiji, French Polynesia, Samoa, Niue and the Cook Islands to protect their whale populations.     IFWA Press Release

 Fishing Bycatch Endangers Marine Creatures...   In June, along the shorelines of Mauretania in northwest Africa, scientists made a gruesome discovery: the carcasses of 230 dolphins, a pilot whale and 15 endangered hawksbill and leatherback sea turtles.

"Because of the mixture of species found and the fact that some of them were entangled in sections of fishing nets, it is likely that these animals were killed as bycatch," says Jean-Christophe Vie, a deputy coordinator of the species program at the World Conservation Union in Gland, Switzerland.

Across the world's oceans, large commercial fishing boats haul aboard huge nets and longlines teeming with unwanted creatures ... bycatch, sometimes called "bykill" or "dirty fishing."

Bycatch includes young or low-value fish, seabirds, marine mammals and sea turtles, often considered worthless and tossed overboard ... dead or dying.

Every year, bycatch amounts to more than 30 million tons of sea life, or a third of the total global catch, says Jane Lubchenco, a marine biologist at Oregon State University in Corvallis. Among the worst offenders are shrimp trawlers, which often discard up to 10 pounds of sea life for each pound of shrimp they catch.

"If a hunter is hunting for elk, he's not killing sparrows, eagles, coyotes and pronghorn," says Elliott Norse, president of the Marine Conservation Biology Institute in Redmond, Wash. "That's different in the sea. We fish blindly ... and it's an exceedingly wasteful way of doing things."

Many fish and other marine animal populations, including creatures like whales and marine turtles, show alarming declines.

Bottom trawling inflicts the most damage on the undersea environment, according to an MCBI report. Trawlers drag weighted nets up to a quarter-mile wide that bulldoze deep-sea coral reefs and other ecosystems where many sea animals live or breed. The study also classifies longlines and gill nets as "high impact." Longlining -- one of the most common fishing methods -- sets out miles of baited hooks that snag or entangle unwanted species, including 40 species of sea birds. Longlines also take hundreds of thousands of turtles every year. All seven species of marine turtle are on the endangered list. The population of the rarest species, the Pacific leatherback, has declined by 95 percent.

"If longline fishing continues unabated, there's a 50 percent chance of (leatherback) extinction in the next 10 to 30 years," says Larry Crowder, a marine biologist at Duke University in Durham, N.C.

Bycatch is a complex international issue. "There is no one-size-fits-all solution," Lubchenco says. "Bycatch must be addressed fishery by fishery."

In some cases, the answer is to modify gear. In the Bering Sea, changing the net mesh size cut bycatch of young pollock by 75 percent, says Ellen Pikitch, director of the Ocean Strategy Program at the Wildlife Conservation Society in New York City.

Another lifesaving technique is to outfit gill nets with acoustic alarms called "pingers." The alarms have significantly reduced bycatch of harbor porpoises, according to a study by the British Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs.

Longline tuna fishing in the sub-Antarctic Ocean has imperiled the wandering albatross. But some Japanese fishermen are scaring away the birds by rigging their nets with metallic red streamers.

An abiding success is the dolphin. During the 1960s, 200,000 dolphins a year drowned in drawstring nets for Pacific yellowfin tuna. Public outcry and a consumer boycott spurred Congress to pass the Marine Mammal Protection Act in 1972. Since then, nets are set to spare dolphins. However, the Bush Administration is attempting to weaken the regulations protecting dolphins and other bycatch. The revised regulations are currently on hold pending a lawsuit.

The Pew Oceans Commission, funded by the Pew Charitable Trust in Philadelphia, recommends a new approach to managing fisheries that preserves habitat in addition to setting catch limits.

Lubchenco advocates a network of marine reserves, linked by corridors, to protect breeding and nursery grounds. "We need to come to grips with the bycatch issue," Lubchenco says. "The answers are going to have to be fishery-specific and they must come from leadership at the highest levels."

Regulations can save species. A success story is Kemp's ridley turtle, once the most endangered marine turtle. In the Gulf of Mexico, the turtles are bycatch for shrimpers. By the 1970s, only 300 nesting females remained. In the mid-1980s, the Turtle Excluder Device, or TED, a turtle escape hatch, was introduced. Since 1990, TEDs are required in U.S. waters. Today, nesting females number 3,000.     National Geographic Channel

 Proposal to Ban Cruise Ship Dumping in Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary...  Under new rules recommended by the Sanctuary Advisory Council, cruise ships would be prohibited from dumping waste inside the 5500 square-mile Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS), which stretches from Cambria to San Francisco Bay.

The arrival of cruise ships in Monterey over the last year has raised public concern about discharges from ships. One cruise line was slapped with a 15-year ban after one of its ships dumped in the sanctuary.

The dumping ban is included in a proposed overhaul of the sanctuary's management plan and would bar cruise ships from dumping sewage, oily bilge water desalination brine, ballast water and hazardous and solid waste into the sanctuary. In addition to the proposed ban, the recommended regulations include provisions for education, monitoring and enforcement. The sanctuary will work in concert with the federal Environmental Protection Agency and state legislators to develop the new regulations.

The MBNMS is currently participating in a joint review of management plans with neighboring Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries. These sanctuaries are located adjacent to one another and share many of the same resources and issues. For more information about the Joint Management Plan Review and links to the three Sanctuary sites, visit http://www.sanctuaries.nos.noaa.gov/jointplan/welcome.html     Monterey County Herald, Aug 1 2003, Gulf of the Farallones NMS website. Compiled by Joanne Lasnier, Conservation Chair, ACS SF Bay Chapter.

 Rare sight graces South Puget Sound waters...  A species of dolphin rarely seen in state waters has been spotted in South Sound this summer, marine scientists said Monday. Two saddleback dolphins have been seen sporadically around Boston Harbor, Dana Passage and Anderson Island in the past two months.

Also known as the common dolphin, their typical range is from Central America to Southern California, although they have been spreading north in recent years, said J30-Jun-2006 9:45ertainly not very common here," he said. They feed on a variety of small fish and squid.

The dolphins are roughly 8 feet long. They are gray on top, with white sides and undersides, and have longish beaks, said Stephanie Norman, a marine mammal veterinarian with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries in Seattle.

They have been seen approaching and playing in the wakes of boats, said Susan Berta of the Whidbey Island-based Orca Network.

Their identity has been confirmed by photos and sightings, Norman and Calambokidis said.

One of the dolphins spotted has a bent or broken beak, and both have blotchy skin. The skin condition could be the sign of some type of disease, although their overall health is not known, Norman said. She also said that a saddleback dolphin washed ashore on Vancouver Island in the spring; one also stranded in Oregon in 1996; otherwise the last documented stranding of a saddleback dolphin in Washington waters was in 1942. The two species of common dolphin are delphis and capensis. The two South Sound visitors are capensis, which have longer beaks.     John Dodge, The Olympian