OCEAN WARRIORS

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nopalmoil

Check out @CaptPaulWatson’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/CaptPaulWatson/status/803857130751016960?s=09 Advertisements

Are You a Dolphin Fan

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dolphinlove, petiton, sign

Take a look at @Aus4Dolphins’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/Aus4Dolphins/status/885539433302413312?s=09

Australian oil well leaked into ocean for months – but spill kept secret | Environment | The Guardian

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Australia, despicable, disgusting, enviroment, oilspills, public outcry, spills, STOP, twomonths, unreported

An offshore oil and gas well in Australia leaked oil continuously into the ocean for two months in 2016, releasing an estimated 10,500 litres. But the spill was never made public by the regulator and details about the well, its whereabouts and operator remain secret.

In its annual offshore performance report released this week, the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority included a mention of a 10,500-litre spill in April 2016. It provided limited details about, noting that it had been identified during a routine inspection.

After inquiries from the Guardian, Nopsema said the leak went on for two months, at a rate of about 175 litres a day. It went unnoticed while the floating platform was undergoing maintenance and was only discovered when the platform returned.

ExxonMobil criticised over response to Bass Strait oil spill

 

Read more

A spokesman for Nopsema said the leak had been caused by a seal degrading. The regulator investigated the spill and said the operator had been ordered to check the seals were working before disconnecting the platform.

But despite requests to reveal exactly where the spill occurred, or what company was responsible, Nopsema refused to disclose the information, revealing only that it was in the North West Shelf.

The Nopsema spokesman said that since companies were compelled by law to report these leaks the regulator believed there was an “implied duty of confidence”.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/may/18/australian-oil-well-leaked-into-ocean-for-months-but-incident-kept-secret

Help sea life escape the net | Oceana

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Canada, enforecment, fisheries, gov, ministry, NaturalFunction, Nets, Oceans, of, regulation, sealife, waste, why

https://act.oceana.org/page/8747/petition/1

Dont be a nerd 🤓 Sign this

Unfortunately, the Canadian government isn’t consistently monitoring this threat, nor is it taking necessary action to address it.

Help sea life escape the net. Sign the petition and call on Fisheries and Oceans Canada to take immediate action and reduce the collateral damage caused by unsustainable fishing practices.

Up to 10.3 million tonnes of sea life is unintentionally caught each year around the world, captured in nets, lines and other gear. Some of this is kept and sold, or released safely; but far too much is put back in the ocean, either dead or dying. In Canada, this includes endangered and threatened species like whales, turtles, sharks and fish.

Avaaz – Mexico: Save the Vaquitas

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doit, donotwait, NaturalFunction, NetBannMexico, Nets, saveVaquita, TemporaryBann

Please act now before it is too late.

BoycottMexicanshrimp    HELP THIS DOLPHIN FROM EXTINCTION

Gulf of California, the narrow body of water that extends between the Baja Peninsula and mainland Mexico. Since 1997, around 80 percent of the world’s vaquitas have perished as bycatch, many in gill nets operated by illegal totoaba fishermen.

https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/save_the_vaquitas_loc/?aCiKZib

The world’s smallest and most endangered porpoise lives only in Mexico’s northern Gulf of California. Only 30 vaquita remain, after suffering decades of decline due to entanglement in shrimp fishing gear.

Mexico’s fishery agency is failing to fulfill its promises to save the vaquita. Without strong action, these little animals could disappear from the planet forever by 2019.  

You can help stop the extinction. The Boycott Mexican Shrimp campaign is calling on Mexico to permanently ban all dangerous gillnets in vaquita habitat, step up enforcement, and remove illegal nets from the water.

Join the Boycott Mexican Shrimp campaign and send the strongest possible message to Mexico: Act now or we lose the vaquita forever.

BACKGROUND

THE VAQUITA’S DISTURBING DECLINE

The vaquita is the world’s smallest and most endangered porpoise, living in only one place on Earth—Mexico’s northern Gulf of California.

Only 30 vaquita remain. Half the vaquita population was lost between 2015 and 2016 alone. At this rate, the vaquita may be extinct by 2019—just 2 years from now.

Vaquita face one major threat: entanglement in gillnet fishing gear. Gillnets are nets that hang down between two buoys and snag nearly everything that swims by, including vaquita. For decades, these nets were used in the Gulf to catch shrimp, supplying the lucrative market in the United States.

From 1990 to 2010, the Mexican shrimp industry was primarily responsible for the loss of over 70 percent of the vaquita population, as the number of vaquita dropped from 700 individuals to just 200. 

By 2010, another problem emerged. Fishermen in the Gulf also began illegally setting gillnets to catch totoaba, a large fish that is itself endangered. Demand for the totoaba’s swim bladder—which is used in China for soup perceived to have medicinal benefits—skyrocketed. A single bladder sells for astronomical prices, with some fetching up to $50,000. The vaquita population continued to plummet as a result, and by 2015, there were only 60 vaquita left.

As of November 2016, only 30 vaquita remain. If this decline continues, our planet will lose the vaquita forever by 2019.

 

MEXICO’S FAILED RESPONSE

Mexico said it will ban the use of gill nets for shrimp fishing in an area of the northern Gulf of California that is the habitat for the endangered vaquita marina porpoise.

The national fisheries commission said on Wednesday the permanent ban on gill nets used in shrimp fishing will go into effect in September.

The population of vaquita marinas has dropped sharply in recent years to the point that only about 60 survive in the northern Gulf of California, the only place in the world they are found.

The species is believed to be headed for extinction unless conservation measures are adopted.

Scientists attribute the decline to their being caught in the various types of nets used to catch shrimp, sea bass and sharks.

A spokeswoman for the environmentalist group Sea Shepherd said the shrimp net ban was a “good start” but not enough to save the rare porpoise.

“We would hope that they would permanently prohibit all types of gill nets,” said Sea Shepherd’s Oona Isabelle Layolle.

Nets used to catch sea bass and shark are believed to also be used to illegally fish another endangered species, the totoaba, a type of drum that is much in demand in China.

A temporary ban on the use of those nets has been in place since April 2015 and could be made permanent when it expires in April 2017, Rigoberto Garcia, a fisheries commission official, told AFP.

The Mexican government has pledged to provide $70 million to help fishermen hit by the gill net ban to make the transition to other methods of fishing.

Gulf of California, the narrow body of water that extends between the Baja Peninsula and mainland Mexico. Since 1997, around 80 percent of the world’s vaquitas have perished as bycatch, many in gill nets operated by illegal totoaba fishermen.

In Mexico, Fish Poachers Push Endangered Porpoises to Brink

China’s lucrative black market for fish parts is threatening the vaquita, the world’s most endangered marine mammal. The porpoises, who live only in the Gulf of California, are getting caught up as bycatch in illegal gill nets and killed.

BY BEN GOLDFARB • MARCH 1, 2016

Reports and helpful documents:
CIRVA reports I, II, III
CIRVA report IV 
CIRVA report V
CIRVA report  VI
CIRVA report VII
CIRVA report VIII
Taylor 2016
Jaramillo-Legoretta 2016
Rojas-Bracho 2006
Rojas-Bracho 2013
Center Pelly petition
Center Pelly notice letter
AWI + Center WHC petition
EIA Collateral Damage
EIA Dual Extinction report

Over the past 25 years, Mexico has proposed numerous plans to limit gillnet fishing and “save” the vaquita, including in 1993, 2005, and 2008.

Each plan ultimately failed due to Mexico’s lax enforcement efforts.

In April 2015, Mexico issued a new, two-year ban on most gillnet fishing in vaquita habitat. Once again, enforcement has been dismal.

In March 2016, three vaquita were found dead due to gillnet entanglement. Many more likely died without being recovered. In late 2016, the Mexican government, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, and Gulf fishermen conducted a 21-day search of a small portion of the upper Gulf. The search revealed 136 pieces of abandoned fishing gear, including 36 illegal totoaba gillnets and 36 illegal shrimp gillnets. In February 2017, 22 illegal nets were recovered, along with 16 dead totoaba, all with their swim bladders removed. In addition, 14 dolphins, a Bryde’s whale, and other marine species were killed.

Recently, shrimp vessels have been caught fishing illegally in a vaquita refuge. And a loophole in the gillnet ban allowing continued gillnet fishing for corvina caused a spike in illegal totoaba fishing. Totoaba fishermen use the legal corvina fishery as cover for their illicit activities.

Most disturbing, Mexico recently indicated it may lift the gillnet ban in April 2017. That would be a death knell for the vaquita.

https://www.worldanimalprotection.ca/thank-you/thank-you-urging-carnival-cruise-lines-stop-sending-cruise-passengers-cayman-turtle-centre

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Caymen turtle centre, Carnival Cruise lines, sea turtles, tourists

Humans are the intelligent species apparently,and we need to stop abusing animals now, for the sake of verifying our superior ability to stop destroying living things we believe we love.
Sign or share if you really do care2

https://www.worldanimalprotection.ca/thank-you/thank-you-urging-carnival-cruise-lines-stop-sending-cruise-passengers-cayman-turtle-centre

Who will catch the last Bluefin Tuna

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Bluefin, CITES, extinction, greed, ICATT, japan, longlining, NOAA, profit, tuna

Unfortunately, the CITES meetings concluded without providing any trade protections whatsoever for severely depleted Atlantic bluefin tuna and four vulnerable species of sharks – scalloped hammerhead, oceanic white tip, porbeagle and spiny dogfish in 2010.

Description

Size: Exceed 10 feet in length and weights over 1,000 pounds, making them among the largest bony fish in the world. However, most are commonly see at 78 inches. One-year-old tuna are about 10 pounds and age 2-4 bluefin tuna are typically 20-80 pounds. ‘Giant’ is a subjective term used for mature bluefin tuna that typically are at least 10 years old and 200 pounds or more.
Color: Deep metallic blue dorsally – although on larger fish this can appear black – fading down the sides to silver with a silvery-white belly. Sometimes irregular iridescent white, grey, and silver bands and spots are on the belly. The first dorsal fin is yellow or blue while the second dorsal fin is red or brown. The anal fin and finlets are yellow and edged in black.
Body: Like all tunas, the body is fusiform, making the fish look something like a giant football. The body is tallest behind the operculum and where the pelvic fins begin. The body then tapers to the caudal peduncle. This tuna has a pointed snout and smaller eyes than other tuna species. Like most other tunas and pelagic bony fish, the dorsal, pelvic, and pectoral fins fit into slots in the body to reduce drag while cruising in the water.

At least 8.2 tonnes of the seized tuna documented in the report were below the size limit (pdf, p.47)—many around 1 kilo (2.2 pounds), indicating that they were only four months old when caught. In late October of last year, for instance, the Sicilian coast guard seized five trucks carrying around 3,000 such baby tuna, according to the report.

What’s to be done? Track the catch better, for one thing. Pew recommends that the EU scrap its paper-based catch documentation system in favor of electronic tracking, which will help buyers ensure that their bluefin purchases were legally caught. After several years of delays, the electronic system is finally set to launch in March of 2015. Considering the volume of tuna that will be killed in the meantime, that’s too long to wait, says Pew.

STOP ILLEGAL Japanese Whaling in Australian Sanctuary

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Australia, genocide, JapanesePirates, killing, sanctuary, Whaling

The Japanese whaling fleet were caught red-handed slaughtering whales in the Australian Whale sanctuary. The Australian Government has done nothing but express ‘disappointment’. We want action for the whales and need your help today!

Operation Nemesis is Sea Shepherd’s 11th Antarctic whale defence campaign. Two Sea Shepherd vessels, the Ocean Warrior and the Steve Irwin, departed from Australia the first week of December carrying 51 crew members from eight countries. Our goal is to prevent the Japanese fleet from killing their quota of 333 protected minke whales. Sea Shepherd is currently all that stands between the whales and the harpoons. 

We are doing our best and we are doing the job that the Australian government promised they would do and we should not be there alone. 

The whales need your urgent help now.

Please join us in calling for the Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, to take action against the illegal slaughter in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary

Thanks for supporting the campaign.Together we can win, for the whales! Now multiply your impact by sharing with your friends!

To do even more good tell your friends!

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https://seashepherd.good.do/stopwhaling/

Debunking Captivity: 3 Reasons Not to Keep Dolphins in a Tank – National Geographic Society (blogs)

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captivitykills, diseases, dolphins, extinction, humanfailure, humanityIsAnAsteroid, nomanagement, studies, whales

http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2014/04/08/debunking-captivity-3-reasons-not-to-keep-dolphins-in-a-tank/

Generally speaking, because of the artificial settings, research in captivity provides little knowledge that can be applied to the protection and management of these species at sea. In fact, this kind of research can even be misleading. Many published studies on captive animals focus on training techniques and improvement of husbandry practices, which have no relevance to dolphins living in the wild. For example: captive studies on dolphin diseases have failed to predict outbreaks of viruses in wild populations that may often cause mass mortality.

Humanity in itself is like an asteroid to life on Earth

Watch “Paul Watson (Sea Shepherd) Interview” on YouTube

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commercial, Illegal, illegalJapWhalers, Japanese.gov, sanctuary, whales

At sea in action,Sea Shepherd intervenes illegal Japanese whalers where no government enforcement exists.

Commercial Whaling a species hanging on near extinction, in a sanctuary, is what the Japanese do.

Humans want to desperately go back in part, to the origins of our inner self,but no matter how hard we try the impossible,our love for the freedom and soothing cannot be grasped no matter how hard we try.We cannot escape the fact we are minds of the land,and really don’t understand the Ocean for what it really is.