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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 26, 2009
3:00 PM

CONTACT: International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)
Chris Cutter (IFAW, Headquarters)
+1 (508) 744-2066
ccutter@ifaw.org

Jake Levenson (IFAW, Headquarters)
+1(508) 744-2235
jlevenson@ifaw.org

Newspaper Reveals Secret US Plan to Expand Whaling

YARMOUTH PORT, Mass. - January 26 - According to secret documents obtained by the Washington Post, outgoing Bush Administration appointees have been engaged in intense, closed-door negotiations to undo the global moratorium on commercial whaling and extend unprecedented authorization to the Government of Japan to kill whales off its coastline and in international waters.

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Posted in conservation, oceans

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 23, 2009
3:00 PM

CONTACT: Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
Jessica Lass at 310/434-2300 (main), 202/468-6718 (cell), jlass@nrdc.org

Last Minute Rules Expose Millions of Marine Mammals to Sonar Harm

New Rules Endanger Whales and Dolphins and Fail to Satisfy Federal Law

LOS ANGELES - January 23 - Last-minute rules proposed by the Bush administration will expose millions of marine mammals to harm from naval training with high-intensity sonar unless amended by the Obama Administration. The rules, issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), address Navy sonar training in the Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, in waters off Southern California, and around Hawaii. Together, they authorize over 10 million marine mammal "takes" incidental to Navy sonar training during the next five years.

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The Natural Resources Defense Council is a national, nonprofit organization of scientists, lawyers and environmental specialists dedicated to protecting public health and the environment. Founded in 1970, NRDC has 1.2 million members and online activists, served from offices in New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Beijing.
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) Links:
Posted in biodiversity, conservation, Militarism, oceans

Navy Allowed to Kill Whales in Hawaii During Sonar Training

Ocean noise makes it difficult for whales to find food, mate and avoid predation. (Photo © IFAW)

WASHINGTON - 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 of each of 11 species over the five years covered by the regulations.

Posted in Militarism, oceans

Oceans Passing Critical CO2 Threshold

Coral at the Great Barrier Reef. Rising carbon dioxide levels in the world's oceans due to climate change, combined with rising sea temperatures, could accelerate coral bleaching, destroying some reefs before 2050, said an Australian study in January 2002. (Reuters)

UXBRIDGE, Canada - An apparent rapid upswing in ocean acidity in recent years is wiping out coastal species like mussels, a new study has found.

"We're seeing dramatic changes," said Timothy Wootton of the Department of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago, lead author of the study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study shows increases in ocean acidity that are more than 10 times faster than any prediction.

Posted in global warming, oceans, pollution

Death Bloom of Plankton A Warning on Warming

Vanishing Arctic sea ice brought on by climate change is causing the crucially important microscopic marine plants called phytoplankton to bloom explosively and die away as never before, a phenomenon that is likely to create havoc among migratory creatures that rely on the ocean for food, Stanford scientists have found.

Posted in climate change, oceans

Ten-Year Probe Reveals Oceans in Peril

Corals are seen at the Great Barrier Reef in this January 2002 handout photo. During the eight years the census has run so far, scientists have documented that more than 90 percent of the oceans' top predators -- large sharks, tunas, swordfish, cod and others -- are now gone(REUTERS/Centre for Marine Studies/Handout)

UXBRIDGE, Canada - A thousand points of light are being shone into the dark ocean depths as scientists from 82 countries work to complete the decade-long global research effort called the Census of Marine Life.

"It's been a remarkable time of exciting new discoveries and frightening revelations of how quickly the oceans are changing," said Canadian deep-sea biologist Paul Snelgrove, a leader of a team integrating findings from all 17 census projects.

Posted in biodiversity, conservation, oceans
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