Marine Mammals

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><p style="font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 17.024px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 17.024px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">sci am? 1/20? marine mammals will be hit hard b/c of wildfires</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 17.024px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 17.024px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></font></p><p style="font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 17.024px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">orca male missing NW 1/20 an</font></p></div><div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/09/the-blob-a-marine-heatwave-larger-than-alaska-is-wreaking-havoc-on-marine-life-and-the-worst-may-be-yet-to-come/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2019/09/the-blob-a-marine-heatwave-larger-than-alaska-is-wreaking-havoc-on-marine-life-and-the-worst-may-be-yet-to-come/</font></a></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Blob: A marine heatwave larger than Alaska is wreaking </font><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">Written by Nicole Karlis / Salon September 27, 2019</span></div><div><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</span></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the fall of 2013, scientists in Washington noticed a strange physical phenomenon surfacing in the Pacific Ocean — a vast patch of unusually warm water moving through the Pacific. For a year, from 2014 to 2015, this odd mass of water — known colloquially as <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“The Blob” — had horrible repercussions for marine life: thousands of sea lion pups were beached and starved, and The Blob created the first ever mass bleaching event for Hawaii’s coral reefs. Now, scientists are on high alert as they observe the second largest blob on record, one that, at its current growth rate, could exceed the original blob.</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While “The Blob’s” name is reminiscent of the 1958 science-fiction horror movie about a fictitious blob that eats everything in its path, the real-life marine heatwave blob should inspire just as much horror. When the 2014 blob was first discovered, it was 500 miles wide and 300 feet deep; at its peak, it expanded to be 1,000 miles long, 1,000 miles wide and 300 feet deep. The 2014 blob wreaked havoc with the West Coast marine ecosystem — slowing down salmon returns, and likely fueling for strange weather patterns across the country.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The new blob, officially called the Northeast Pacific Marine Heatwave of 2019, is, like the original, situated in a vast swath of ocean off the west coast of the U.S. and Canada. Dr. Andrew Leising, a research scientist at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center and developer of a marine heatwave tracker, told Salon its size is currently around 8 million square kilometers.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></div></div></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">dereg nat 919</font></p><h4 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1.16em; margin: 1em 0px 0.625em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> bad</font></h4><ul style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 1em 0px;"><li style="margin: 3.75px 0px 3.75px 7.5px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Trump administration hid a scientific report showing that its “plan to send more water to San Joaquin Valley farmers would force critically endangered California salmon even closer to extinction, and <b>starve a struggling population of West Coast killer whales</b>,” <a href="http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlUNmugyAQ_ZryaAAX9IGHpt7-hkGYWlIWA2ONf3_RJmROOBM4i1YIS0yHXGNGsmVIkzWSi44OAyVGNob1bU9snl4JwCvrJKYNyLrNzmqFNobrAWU9ecthrjVvGROiaSgXgjd9B7Ohr5ppMcwDOVUmtRkLQYOEL6QjBiBOvhHXfKvvN_4sZ9_3Kis9A1Q6-kIE2HMBF7VyBSF8bYrBQ8ByUwmtdsDrhhcflFdv9I7Y09RAh0LUtGvqilVt2z463tJnO47j4-9-a6hfeJW3OaPSn1OLJLkq9PrD6rJdzsAXXfJOBf0WLB4TBDU7ML8q8NfdFQ2PFeRp1gEipB9Z-mGcsV6QomRi-TNIAwmWzV0Fhmv-Az7QhAs" target="blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlUNmugyAQ_ZryaAAX9IGHpt7-hkGYWlIWA2ONf3_RJmROOBM4i1YIS0yHXGNGsmVIkzWSi44OAyVGNob1bU9snl4JwCvrJKYNyLrNzmqFNobrAWU9ecthrjVvGROiaSgXgjd9B7Ohr5ppMcwDOVUmtRkLQYOEL6QjBiBOvhHXfKvvN_4sZ9_3Kis9A1Q6-kIE2HMBF7VyBSF8bYrBQ8ByUwmtdsDrhhcflFdv9I7Y09RAh0LUtGvqilVt2z463tJnO47j4-9-a6hfeJW3OaPSn1OLJLkq9PrD6rJdzsAXXfJOBf0WLB4TBDU7ML8q8NfdFQ2PFeRp1gEipB9Z-mGcsV6QomRi-TNIAwmWzV0Fhmv-Az7QhAs&source=gmail&ust=1568393105731000&usg=AFQjCNEegga2xpbG3kzGg_TsCED26oCL4g">reports the Sacramento Bee</a>.</font></p></li><li style="margin: 3.75px 0px 3.75px 7.5px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Career scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency told their superiors “to ask for a new environmental review of the proposed Pebble mine,” which would locate a massive copper and gold mine in Alaska, upstream of one of the world’s biggest wild salmon runs. But they “were overridden by political staffers” seeking to get the project approved before the 2020 election, <a href="http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlUNuOgyAQ_ZryaABF4YGHTbv9DUNhtKQKBoY1_v2iTcgwOZOZc7EGYY7p0FvMSEqGNHqn-dBTpShxunNMCkl8HqcEsBq_aEwFyFZei7cGfQzXAmWSvDVvbdsrKbuJ9spOkkoOsnOSs2kQYmjJyTKa4jwECxr-IB0xAFn0G3HLt_bnxp_17fveAATYcxMAK5AxJg-5doxWaQMTvSL-pFVUMcpb2ndtwxohxL3ngj7F4_G47cOrrOvMnlldHYT2PjSpLeDK72w9o6nU9LF1wdjfVfS_B4jBDMawH3NYvfdC7xeGygT2ULIEL6gjUBxhmTA6lMLtabQTtIMJfliihc9R-wkHj2" target="blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlUNuOgyAQ_ZryaABF4YGHTbv9DUNhtKQKBoY1_v2iTcgwOZOZc7EGYY7p0FvMSEqGNHqn-dBTpShxunNMCkl8HqcEsBq_aEwFyFZei7cGfQzXAmWSvDVvbdsrKbuJ9spOkkoOsnOSs2kQYmjJyTKa4jwECxr-IB0xAFn0G3HLt_bnxp_17fveAATYcxMAK5AxJg-5doxWaQMTvSL-pFVUMcpb2ndtwxohxL3ngj7F4_G47cOrrOvMnlldHYT2PjSpLeDK72w9o6nU9LF1wdjfVfS_B4jBDMawH3NYvfdC7xeGygT2ULIEL6gjUBxhmTA6lMLtabQTtIMJfliihc9R-wkHj2&source=gmail&ust=1568393105731000&usg=AFQjCNFuCDuV_F2CWpSBtSCU1lZ25ArUCA">according to Greenwire</a>, who then edited the recommendation out of documents sent to another federal agency.</font></p></li></ul><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2019/05/10/bonnet-carre-floodwaters-dolphins-dying-louisiana-climate" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><b>As More Diverted Floodwaters Head Their Way, Dolphins Keep Dying in Louisiana</b></font></a></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">desmog</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ocean warming, demoic acid, loss of food</font></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">omg (whales starve off CA no food)</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"> As a result, global upwelling drastically decreases, causing a decrease in productivity as the waters are no longer receiving nutrient-rich water. Without these nutrients, the rest of the </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trophic_pyramid" class="mw-redirect" title="Trophic pyramid" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">trophic pyramid</a><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"> cannot be sustained, and the rich upwelling ecosystem will collapse.</span></span><sup id="cite_ref-Carpenter_16-0" class="reference" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" line-height="line-height" unicode-bidi="unicode-bidi" isolate="isolate" white-space="white-space" nowrap="nowrap"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upwelling#cite_note-Carpenter-16" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 102); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">[</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upwelling#cite_note-Carpenter-16" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">16]</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">]</span></sup></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="header-list-style" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><h2 class="entry-title grid-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; letter-spacing: 1px;"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/05/mike-pompeo-actually-just-cheered-the-new-opportunities-presented-by-the-arctics-melting-ice-sheets/" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; letter-spacing: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"> Pompeo actually just cheered the ‘new opportunities’ presented by the Arctic’s melting ice sheets</font></a></h2><div class="grid-post-box-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 12px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="author-italic author vcard" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">by <a class="url fn n" href="https://www.alternet.org/author/cody-fenwick/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Cody Fenwick</a></span> <span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">May 6, 2019</span></font></div></div><div class="item-content entry-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 18px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has never been terribly worried about climate change, but in a new speech to the Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting in Finland on Monday, he seemed…</font></p></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://insideclimatenews.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7c733794100bcc7e083a163f0&id=eda4afe0a6&e=06876ede6b" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">What the Arctic Offshore Drilling Ban Means to Native Villages Who Rely on the Ocean</a>
BY: SABRINA SHANKMAN
Hunters worry about marine mammals and the survival of a way of life, but there are also some mixed feelings as the Trump administration goes full bore on oil and gas drilling.</font></span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></span></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></span></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/vaquita-extinction-cartels-2630379398.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/vaquita-extinction-cartels-2630379398.html</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> doomed w/o action</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div class="widgetbrief" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">My organization, the Elephant Action League (EAL), spent 14 months investigating and infiltrating the illicit totoaba swim bladder supply chain, from Baja California in Mexico to Southern China. We released a <a href="https://elephantleague.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/EAL-Operation-Fake-Gold-Final.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">public report</a> on what we called <a href="https://elephantleague.org/operation-fake-gold/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">Operation Fake Gold</a> in July 2018. Since then, we have continued to submit intelligence to Mexican, U.S. and Chinese authorities in order to facilitate disruption of the totoaba supply chain. As a result, further review of the situation surrounding the <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/05/more-than-800-totoaba-swim-bladders-confiscated-by-mexican-authorities-in-smuggling-busts/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">totoaba trade and its effect on the extinction of the vaquita</a> is warranted.</font></p></div><div class="js-appear-on-expand" style="transition: all 350ms ease 0s; height: auto; overflow: hidden; opacity: 1; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to various sources in the Sea of Cortez, the price of raw totoaba swim bladder in Baja California is currently about $2,500 per bladder. This is down from highs of $5,000 to $8,000 per bladder in past years. Although this is a positive and promising development, a development that needs to continue and be supported, it is relatively unnoticed and undervalued by the media, other NGOs and government agencies currently trying to save the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/vaquita" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">vaquita</a>. A reduction in profit for the Totoaba Cartels is an important key to ending totoaba poaching in the Sea of Cortez.</font></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image" style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">
</font><small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption..." style="display: block; line-height: 2; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: -4px; text-align: right;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">A dead vaquita</font></small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit..." style="display: block; font-style: italic; text-align: right;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Elephant Action League</font></small></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">More importantly, according to our sources on the ground in Baja California, recent arrests of totoaba traffickers in China and pressure on the Chinese traders in Mexico are beginning to have an effect on the supply chain. Illegal fishermen in Baja have started complaining about a lack of income from the trade. The fishermen claim that the Chinese traders in Mexico are becoming fearful of the possibility of arrest and much less money is flowing to their shores. They are saying that it is not worth the effort and possible danger associated with setting new illegal <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/gillnets" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">gillnets</a> — the same nets that kill vaquita and other important <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/marine-life" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">marine life</a> — to poach totoaba.
</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">This is the most important news for the vaquita in years and a result of — and proof that — intelligence activities and law enforcement can disrupt these criminal enterprises and significantly slow their illegal operations. Intelligence operations produce results.</font></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image" style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">
</font><small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption..." style="display: block; line-height: 2; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: -4px; text-align: right;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">This still from the documentary film 'Sea of Shadows' shows a Mexican navy soldier searching for poaching vessels in the Sea of Cortez.</font></small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit..." style="display: block; font-style: italic; text-align: right;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Richard Ladkani / Malaika Pictures</font></small></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Unfortunately, as is the case with many other <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">wildlife</a> crime-related issues around the world, governments agencies, NGOs, and donors are disproportionately focused on the extremities of the supply chain — <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/poaching" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">poaching</a> and consumer awareness campaigns. There is very little focus and funding for the most important part of the problem, the <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/investigation-reveals-illegal-trade-cartels-decimating-vaquita-porpoises/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">trafficking networks and middlemen driving the trade</a>. The only activities that can truly move the needle are investigation and intelligence collection like that performed during EAL's Operation Fake Gold, filmed as part of the feature documentary <a href="https://www.terramater.at/cinema/sea-of-shadows/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;"><em>Sea of Shadows</em></a>, which recently <a href="http://www.sundance.org/blogs/news/2019-sundance-film-festival-awards-announced" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival</a>.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">A few large, U.S.-based NGOs, with the intent of forcing the Mexican government to save the vaquita, filed and won a lawsuit to ban imports of gillnet-caught seafood from Mexico. EAL publicly opposed this effort as being counterproductive. As expected, the ban has exacerbated the already complex and violent situation in Baja California. According to first-hand sources, the ban not only pushed the last few honest independent fishermen into poaching, but also created a parallel illegal shrimp trade run by local criminal organizations. The ban has done nothing but create more conflict on the shores of Baja California and more illegal fishing in the Sea of Cortez. It is now very hard to find a legal fishery in the area.</font></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image" style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">
</font><small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption..." style="display: block; line-height: 2; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: -4px; text-align: right;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Fresh totoaba swim bladder seized in Mexico</font></small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit..." style="display: block; font-style: italic; text-align: right;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Elephant Action League</font></small></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Again, the most significant pieces of any illegal supply chain, the trafficking networks and middlemen, can only be tackled through intelligence operations, investigations and resulting law enforcement. Intelligence operations work to decrease the militarization of conservation and the violence that now pervades the Sea of Cortez and its shores. Without knowledge of the criminal players within a wildlife trafficking network, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">conservation</a> is impossible, and the rule of law is irrelevant.</font></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image" style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">
</font><small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption..." style="display: block; line-height: 2; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: -4px; text-align: right;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Totoaba on sale in China</font></small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit..." style="display: block; font-style: italic; text-align: right;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Elephant Action League</font></small></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">In Baja, among pervasive corruption, attacks on NGOs, widespread violence and still incredible profits for totoaba traffickers, only serious intelligence and undercover operations along the entire supply chain, including on the flow of money, create any hope for achieving an upper hand over the current chaos. Without these efforts aimed at direct disruption of the supply chain itself and the operations of the wildlife crime networks involved, there is absolutely no chance to win the war in the Sea of Cortez, save the vaquita, and save the rest of the region's extraordinary marine life.
</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Without a serious effort in terms of intelligence collection, investigation and law enforcement to thwart totoaba traffickers, we can say goodbye to the vaquita. The money spent to-date to protect the vaquita will have been wasted.</font></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image" style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">
</font><small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption..." style="display: block; line-height: 2; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: -4px; text-align: right;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">This still from the documentary film 'Sea of Shadows' shows a totoaba caught in a net.</font></small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit..." style="display: block; font-style: italic; text-align: right;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Richard Ladkani / Malaika Pictures</font></small></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Andrea Crosta is executive director and co-founder of international wildlife trade watchdog group <a href="https://elephantleague.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">Elephant Action League</a>.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/02/vaquita-still-doomed-without-further-disruption-of-totoaba-cartels-commentary/?iid=obinsite" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">Mongabay</a>.</font></p><div class="around-the-web"><div class="around-the-webheadline" style="font-weight: 700; text-transform: uppercase; margin-top: 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">RELATED ARTICLES AROUND THE WEB</font></div><ul class="around-the-weblist" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; list-style: none;"><li class="around-the-webitem"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/sea-shepherd-ship-attacked-vaquita-2628055307.html" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Sea Shepherd Ship Attacked by Rocks, Molotov Cocktails in Vaquita ... ›</font></a></li><li class="around-the-webitem"><a href="https://www.outsideonline.com/2386456/sea-shadows-vaquita-undercover-conservationists-saving-small-dolphin" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); 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line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Only Captivity Will Save the Vaquita, Experts Say - The New York ... ›</font></a></li></ul></div></div></div><div><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></p><div class="widgetbrief" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A surprising number of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/dolphins" target="self" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">dolphins</a> are washing up on Southern <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/california" target="self" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">California</a> beaches this February, and the <a href="https://www.pacificmmc.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">Pacific Marine Mammal Center</a> (PMMC) wants to know why.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The PMCC has responded to six beached dolphins in just 14 days, it said in a <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5bb6555ef8135a760bccc650/t/5c7427d2104c7b2ddf275f1f/1551116243274/Dolphin+2.25.19.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">Monday press release</a>. By this time last year, it had only responded to one stranding.</font></p></div><div class="js-appear-on-expand" style="transition: all 350ms ease 0s; height: auto; overflow: hidden; opacity: 1; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">"This drastic and unexpected increase in cetaceans has had a significant impact on our Center. With so many incidents concentrated in such a short period of time, this has taken up much of the attention as well as our resources away from our more 'traditional' animal care operations focused on seals and sea lions," PMMC CEO Peter Chang said.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">PMCC is working with scientists from the <a href="https://www.noaa.gov/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration</a> (NOAA) and NOAA certified labs at universities across the country to determine what is causing the uptick in dolphin deaths.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">"There are a variety of potential reasons as to why these dolphins are stranding. These include, but are not limited to, viral infections, bacterial infections and toxins," PMCC veterinarian Kristen Sakamaki said.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">One source of toxins could be algae blooms that the Southern California Coastal Ocean Observing System (SCCOOS) has observed off the coast of Southern California. Algae blooms can release domoic acid, which is poisonous for humans, marine mammals and seabirds.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Another potential source could be the storms and heavy rainfall that Southern California has received this winter, which flushes more excess nutrients and pollutants from land into the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oceans" target="self" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">oceans</a>.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">...</font></p></div><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></p></div><div><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/red-tide-florida-2626179993.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/red-tide-florida-2626179993.html</a></font></p><div class="headline-container" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h1 class="headline h1" style="margin: 10px; padding: 0px; position: relative; line-height: 31px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A Record 589 Sea Turtles Killed By Florida's Toxic Red Tide</font></h1></div><div id="utm_campaign" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p><span class="js-scroll-trigger" data-target="body" data-triggers="render-rebelbar" data-toggle-class="with-floating-shares" data-loaded="true" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></font></span></p><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url css-listicle-body-2626179993" data-elid="2626179993" data-authors="Lorraine Chow" data-headline="A Record 589 Sea Turtles Killed By Florida's Toxic Red Tide" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body-description"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Florida's longest <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/red-tide" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none;">red tide</a> in more than a decade has killed scores of the state's most iconic <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/marine-life" style="text-decoration-line: none;">marine animals</a>.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The current outbreak, which began in October 2017 off southwest Florida, has been tied to a record 589 <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/turtles" style="text-decoration-line: none;">sea turtle</a> deaths and 213 <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/manatees" style="text-decoration-line: none;">manatee</a> deaths, the <a href="https://www.heraldtribune.com/news/20190115/red-tide-episode-kills-record-number-of-sea-turtles" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Herald-Tribune</a> reported, citing figures from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As of December 20, 127 bottlenose <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/dolphins" style="text-decoration-line: none;">dolphins</a> have been stranded along the southwest coast, according to the <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/southeast/marine-life-distress/2018-bottlenose-dolphin-unusual-mortality-event-southwest-florida" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration</a>. The mammals showed positive results for the red tide toxin, brevetoxin.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That's not to mention the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/red-tide-plagues-floridas-coasts-2610279647.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">massive fish kills</a> that resulted from the toxic <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/algae-blooms" style="text-decoration-line: none;">algae bloom</a>.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sea turtle species that have been affected by the poisonous brew including loggerhead and Kemp's ridley sea turtles, both of which are federally protected. Kemp's ridleys are considered the world's <a href="http://wwf.panda.org/knowledge_hub/endangered_species/marine_turtles/kemps_ridley_turtle/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">most endangered</a>marine turtle.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Local turtle patrollers, including Suzi Fox, the director of <a href="https://islandturtlewatch.com/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch & Shorebird Monitoring</a>, told the Herald-Tribune that the outbreak could affect next year's sea turtle nesting season, an unfortunate turn after several record </font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div><div><span class="mw-headline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></span></div><div><span class="mw-headline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/trump-plans-unleash-fossil-fuel-industry-conduct-violent-destructive-assaults">https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/trump-plans-unleash-fossil-fuel-industry-conduct-violent-destructive-assaults</a></font></span></div><div><span class="mw-headline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></span></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span class="mw-headline">De</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">fenders of ocean habitats and marine life are up in arms on Friday as the Trump administration is set to approve new abilities for the fossil fuel industry to conduct widescale and "deafening" underwater seismic in federal waters off the U.S. Atlantic coast.</span></b></font></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The decision is expected to come from the National Marine Fisheries Service, a division of the Commerce Department, but conservation groups say it is a smack in the face to ocean ecosystems and a political nonstarter they vow to fight tooth and nail.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"This action flies in the face of massive opposition to offshore drilling and exploration from over 90 percent of coastal municipalities in the proposed blast zone," said Diane Hoskins, campaign director at Oceana. "These permits were already denied because of the known harm that seismic airgun blasting causes. President Trump is essentially giving these companies permission to harass, harm and possibly even kill marine life, including the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale – all in the pursuit of dirty and dangerous offshore oil. This is the first step toward offshore drilling in the Atlantic and we're going to make sure coastal communities know what's happening and fight this."</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Michael Jasny, director of the Marine Mammal Protection Project at NRDC, said the president's action is totally detached from the reality of the threats the world's ecosytems now face.</font></p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><interaction data-token="5b96855f8198b4e625350260" data-context="true" data-tags="" data-fallback="true" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></font><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Just one week after issuing dire warnings on the catastrophic fallout of climate change to come, the Trump Administration is opening our coastlines to for-profit companies to prospect for oil and gas—and is willing to sacrifice marine life, our coastal communities and fisheries in the process," fumed Jasny. "This is the first step towards drilling and <b>scientists warn that seismic activity alone could drive the endangered North American right whale to extinction.</b>  We'll stand with citizens, coastal businesses, scientists, lawmakers, and commercial and recreational fishermen who oppose seismic blasting, and we will fight this illegal action."</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/to-your-health/wp/2018/11/30/trump-administration-to-let-companies-run-deafening-seismic-tests-that-can-kill-marine-life-a-step-toward-oil-drilling-in-atlantic/?twitter_impression=true&noredirect=on" style="text-decoration-line: none;">According</a> to the<em> Washington Post</em>:</font></p><blockquote><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In addition to harming sea life, acoustic tests — in which boats tugging rods pressurized for sound emit jet engine-like booms 10 to 12 seconds apart for days and sometimes months — can disrupt thriving commercial fisheries. Governors, state lawmakers and attorneys general along the Atlantic coast say drilling threatens beach tourism that has flourished on the coast in the absence of oil production.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Seismic testing maps the ocean floor and estimates the whereabouts of oil and gas, but only exploratory drilling can confirm their presence. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill that soiled the Gulf of Mexico resulted from an exploratory drill. Another gulf disaster that looms almost as large has spewed oil for more than 14 years. The Taylor Energy Co. spill of up to an estimated 700 barrels a day started when a hurricane ripped up production wells, and could continue for the rest of the century, according to the Interior Department.</font></p></blockquote><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Seismic blasting is a violent, destructive precursor to unnecessary offshore oil drilling," said Angela Howe, Surfrider Foundation Legal Director, in a statement. "According to estimates from the<b> Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM),</b> the seismic exploration projects could directly harm tens of thousands of whales and dolphins, in addition to thousands of manatees, seals, and sea turtles. This type of damage to our coastal resources is unacceptable. The Surfrider Foundation and our strong coalition of allies will stand up to protect our ocean, waves and beaches for the future."</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While the seismic blasting is awful enough, Earthjustice warns that this is only a part of the Trump adminstration's assault on the oceans and marine life. As the group notes:</font></p><blockquote><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">While destructive in their own right, the seismic tests are only a first step in the Trump administration’s broader plans for dramatic expansion of offshore drilling in the Atlantic and beyond. The Department of the Interior has proposed opening 90 percent of U.S. federal offshore waters to the fossil fuel industry, exposing nearly every coastline in the nation to the risk of an environmentally devastating oil spill and the degradation that comes with industrializing more of our rich ocean environments.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> Since the planning process for this offshore leasing expansion got underway, more than 1.45 million Americans have demonstrated intense opposition with rallies, marches and comments submitted to the Department of Interior agency responsible for crafting the plan.</span></font></p></blockquote><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"As usual, the Trump administration is pulling out all the stops to give favors to the fossil fuel industry, whatever the cost to coastal communities and wildlife," said Athan Manuel, the lands protection program director for the Sierra Club. "We will continue to fight back against their dangerous plans to subject our coasts to seismic blasting and expanded offshore drilling."</font></p><div><span class="mw-headline"><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></span></span></div></div><div><div><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></span></div><div><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><h1 class="widgetheadline h1" style="margin: 10px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; cursor: pointer; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a class="widgetheadline-text custom-post-headline" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/arctic-ship-traffic-animals-threatened-2618873213.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: 31px;"><font size="4">Arctic Ship Traffic Threatens Narwhals and Other Extraordinary Animals</font></a></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></h1><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url css-listicle-body-2618873213" data-elid="2618873213" data-authors="The Conversation" data-headline="Arctic Ship Traffic Threatens Narwhals and Other Extraordinary Animals" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body-description"><div class="widgetbrief"><p style="margin: 10px 0px;">By Donna Hauser, Harry Stern and Kristin Laidre</p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;">Americans often associate fall with football and raking leaves, but in the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/arctic" style="text-decoration-line: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Arctic</a> this season is about ice. Every year, floating <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/sea-ice" style="text-decoration-line: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;">sea ice</a> in the Arctic thins and melts in spring and summer, then thickens and expands in fall and winter.</p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;">As climate change warms the Arctic, its sea ice cover is declining. This year scientists estimate that the Arctic sea ice minimum in late September covered 1.77 million square miles, tying the <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/92817/arctic-sea-ice-reaches-2018-minimum" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;">sixth lowest summertime minimum on record</a>.</p></div><div class="js-appear-on-expand" style="transition: all 350ms ease 0s; height: 0px; overflow: hidden; opacity: 0;"><div class="widgetshow-more with-primary-color js-keep-reading js-page-view-and-reload-embeds" style="cursor: pointer; border-radius: 15px; float: left; padding: 7px; font-weight: 600; background-color: rgb(240, 240, 240);"><span class="show-more js-expand">Keep reading...</span></div></div></div></div></span></div><div><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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<a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/03/the-trump-administration-might-let-the-worlds-rarest-marine-mammal-go-extinct/">https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/03/the-trump-administration-might-let-the-worlds-rarest-marine-mammal-go-extinct/
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/us-military-marine-life-2551833384.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/us-military-marine-life-2551833384.html</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/congress-preparing-sacrifice-entire-whale-species-so-fossil-fuel-industry-can" class="external text" title="https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/congress-preparing-sacrifice-entire-whale-species-so-fossil-fuel-industry-can" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background: url(" lock_icon.gif="lock_icon.gif" right="right" center="center" no-repeat="no-repeat" rgb="rgb" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" font-family="font-family" georgia="Georgia" lucida="Lucida" grande="Grande" verdana="Verdana" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size">Congress Is Preparing to Sacrifice an Entire Whale Species So Fossil Fuel Industry Can Search for Offshore Oil</a><span style="" lucida="Lucida" grande="Grande" verdana="Verdana" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"> 11/17. see </span><a href="https://ic.ucsc.edu/college8core/c8wiki/index.php/Category:Marine_Mammals#Articles.2FReports" class="external text" title="https://ic.ucsc.edu/college8core/c8wiki/index.php/Category:Marine Mammals#Articles.2FReports" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background: url(" lock_icon.gif="lock_icon.gif" right="right" center="center" no-repeat="no-repeat" rgb="rgb" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" font-family="font-family" georgia="Georgia" lucida="Lucida" grande="Grande" verdana="Verdana" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size">Marine Mammals</a><span style="" lucida="Lucida" grande="Grande" verdana="Verdana" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">.</span></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/biggest-attack-marine-mammals-2509135255.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/biggest-attack-marine-mammals-2509135255.html</a></font></p><div class="headline-container" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h1 class="headline h1" style="margin: 10px; padding: 0px; position: relative; line-height: 31px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Congress: Biggest Attack on Marine Mammals in Decades</font></h1></div><div id="utm_campaign" style="margin-top: 10px;"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="js-scroll-trigger" data-target="body" data-triggers="render-rebelbar" data-toggle-class="with-floating-shares" data-loaded="true" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></span></font></p><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url" data-elid="2509135255" data-authors="Natural Resources Defense Council" data-headline="Congress: Biggest Attack on Marine Mammals in Decades" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px;"><div class="body-description" style=""><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By Michael Jasny</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Thursday, the House Natural Resources Committee passed a bill, called the "SECURE American Energy Act" (<a href="https://naturalresources.house.gov/uploadedfiles/hr_4239.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">H.R. 4239</a>), that can only be described as an oil industry wish-list. The bill's purpose is to mow down environmental concerns that stand in the way of the complete exploitation of fossil fuels in this country. For the oceans, this would mean an end to national monument designation and to some of those pesky safety regulations that were put in place after the Deepwater spill, <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/experts/alexandra-adams/house-republicans-vote-risky-drilling-and-less-safety" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">among other things</a>. And although it hasn't received much attention—yet—one late addition to the bill targets marine mammals in a very big way.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>H.R. 4239 would eviscerate one of the core provisions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA)</b>, the law that for more than 45 years has been the bulwark of conservation for many of our most iconic ocean species. The Protection Act works by placing safeguards on human activities, like offshore oil exploration, that harm whales, dolphins and other marine mammals. Simply put, H.R. 4239 would gut a whole lot of those safeguards.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">What would this mean for marine mammal protection? For starters:</font></p><ul class="ee-ul" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px;"><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">H.R. 4239 would allow industry to harm huge numbers of marine mammals, by killing the safeguard limiting its impacts to "small numbers."</font></li></ul><ul class="ee-ul" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px;"><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It would eliminate the requirement that activities have the "least practicable impact" on marine mammals, allowing industry to proceed without attempting to minimize harm.</font></li></ul><ul class="ee-ul" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px;"><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It would prevent the wildlife agencies from requiring industry to monitor the long-term consequences of its actions.</font></li></ul><ul class="ee-ul" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px;"><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It would establish an impossibly short timeline for the wildlife agencies to review industry activities for their marine mammal impacts, and automatically permit those activities if the agencies fail to meet it.</font></li></ul><ul class="ee-ul" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px;"><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And, having turned much of our marine mammal law into a dead letter, it would exempt industry from having to comply with Endangered Species Act protections for marine mammals as well.</font></li></ul><p style=""><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Destroying the Marine Mammal Protection Act would pave the way for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/seismic-airgun-blasting" style="text-decoration-line: none;">seismic blasting</a>—the first big step in oil and gas development—off the East Coast. As my colleagues and I <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/experts/new-science-seismic-blasting-devastates-oceans-zooplankton" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">have</a> <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/experts/atlantic-seismic-will-impact-marine-mammals-and-fisheries" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">written</a>, the industry's blasting is known to seriously compromise marine life from zooplankton to fish to the great baleen whales, and scientists have warned of "<a href="http://news.neaq.org/2015/03/full-text-letter-urging-president-to.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">significant, long-lasting and widespread impacts</a>"</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> on entire species and populations if the oil industry gets the green light. Blasting the Atlantic is broadly opposed by </span><a href="http://www.protectourcoastnow.com/" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none;">more than 120 coastal communities</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> from southern New Jersey to Florida, by </span><a href="http://protectingtheatlanticcoast.org/" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none;">more than 40,000 coastal businesses</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, by fishing associations, Chambers of Commerce, and more. But the oil industry doesn't care what the coast thinks.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nor, of course, does it care about the love that people in this country have for whales and other marine mammals. In a recent poll, some 76 percent of Americans said they want to protect marine mammals from threats, including from offshore oil and gas exploration, and 73 percent said they support the Marine Mammal Protection Act. When the Committee released its bill, there was no mention of its bid to gut the Act in <a href="https://naturalresources.house.gov/newsroom/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=403321" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">its press release</a>, and that's not surprising. If I were them, I wouldn't want to let folks know what I was doing here either.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The "SECURE American Energy Act" (H.R. 4239) may come to a vote on the House floor this week. Please demand that your representatives strongly oppose this legislation and its attack on marine mammals. <a href="https://act.nrdc.org/letter/marine-mammals-171107" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">You can sign our petition here</a>; and <a href="https://www.callmycongress.com/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">you can go here</a> to find the office number of your Congressional representative and give them a call.</font></p></div></div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-administration-pacific-walrus-2493348314.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-administration-pacific-walrus-2493348314.html</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Trump administration</a> announced Wednesday it would decline to list the Pacific walrus on the endangered species list, reversing an Obama-era finding that the walruses should be protected under the Endangered Species Act.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recommended in 2011 that the walrus be considered for <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" style="text-decoration-line: none;">endangered species</a>status in the near future due to increased habitat loss from disappearing Arctic <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/sea-ice" style="text-decoration-line: none;">sea ice</a>. While its Wednesday announcement acknowledged the species faced "stressors" due to habitat loss, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said it could not determine if the walrus will become endangered "in the foreseeable future"—a date the agency defines as 2060.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/environment/trump-administration-says-no-protecting-endangered-whales-dolphins-and-sea-turtles">http://www.alternet.org/environment/trump-administration-says-no-protecting-endangered-whales-dolphins-and-sea-turtles</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Trump administration has <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-trump-marine-mammals-20170612-story.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">announced</a> it is canceling plans that would have protected whales, dolphins, and endangered sea turtles from high levels of <a href="http://www.alternet.org/environment/uncovering-californias-secret-massacre-whales-and-dolphins" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">drowning deaths</a> in drift gillnets set off the California coast. The most puzzling thing about this announcement is that the fishery itself had supported the plan. It’s yet one more example of politicians taking more extreme positions than industry—akin to the case of several farm-state attorneys general fighting <a data-stamped="true" href="http://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/05/attack-farm-lobby-states-rights.html?credit=blog_post_061417_id9050" style="text-decoration-line: none;">California’s anti-confinement laws</a> for laying hens even after the egg industry recognized that it must transition to a cage-free future.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The marine-animal protection plan was the result of negotiations between environmentalists and fishermen. It would have capped the annual number of deaths by species and then temporarily closed the fishery if these mortality caps were exceeded. This joint agreement was something of a triumph for all parties, and the Pacific Fisheries Management Council—the federal management body for west coast fisheries—agreed to put the agreement into writing and forward it to the National Marine Fisheries Service in the Department of Commerce for approval.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It is fairly rare that a regional fishery-management council’s proposal would be overruled by bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. When the federal government sought public comments on the plan in October last year, shortly before the election, it attracted widespread support (including from The HSUS) and little dissent. But, in a baffling turnaround, the Department of Commerce has now stamped the plan with a giant “NO.” The agency is overruling its own fishery management council as well as the fisheries that agreed to the plan, along with the countless citizens who weighed in and overwhelmingly favored this new, conservation-minded legal framework.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">To be clear, the administration is saying “no” to proactively protecting endangered leatherback turtles, and it is saying “no” to a plan that would have limited the entanglement-related deaths of endangered sperm whales. In fact, it was the deaths of sperm whales that prompted the Council to take this step when it became convinced that the Department of Commerce had not acted intentionally to prevent future deaths.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Marine mammals remain some of the most beloved creatures in the country. Sperm whales are legend, especially since the publication of Herman Melville’s classic <em>Moby Dick </em>166 years ago. Dolphins are revered, with scientists documenting their intelligence and mariners recounting their acts of heroism to save sailors. Leatherback sea turtles, whose mass can exceed half a ton, are a sight to behold for land-based tourists and underwater divers and contribute immensely to the economy of coastal communities.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">These creatures do warrant special protection. When the fishery that has threatened them and the environmental and animal welfare community that have advocated for them find common ground, politicians and executive agencies should rush to bless the outcome. We have enough division in the country without searching for and sowing disunity where it doesn’t exist.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p></div><div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/orca-lulu-monsanto-pcbs-2404432231.html">http://www.ecowatch.com/orca-lulu-monsanto-pcbs-2404432231.html</a></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Monsanto PCBs May Leave Orca Pod 'Doomed to Extinction'</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By Carey Wedler</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Guardian reported last Tuesday that Lulu, the full-grown whale who died, "was a member of the UK's last resident pod and a postmortem also showed she had never produced a calf. The pollutants, called PCBs, are known to cause infertility and these latest findings add to strong evidence that the pod is doomed to extinction."</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The levels of PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, found in Lulu's blubber were "more than 100 times the 9mg/kg limit above which damage to the health of marine mammals is known to occur," the Guardian noted. Lulu had 950mg/kg in her blubber. The average orca in the North-Atlantic ocean has 150mg/kg.</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Polychlorinated biphenyls were first used in the 1930s until they were banned by the U.S. government in 1979. According to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), PCBs are synthetic organic chemicals found in "old fluorescent lighting fixtures, electrical devices or appliances containing PCB capacitors made before PCB use was stopped, old microscope oil and old hydraulic oil." When released into the environment, they take long periods of time to break down.</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">They have been found to cause damage to human health. As ATSDR notes, "Some studies in workers suggest that exposure to PCBs may also cause irritation of the nose and lungs, gastrointestinal discomfort, changes in the blood and liver and depression and fatigue."</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Guardian explained the effects these chemicals have on marine life, as well:</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"PCBs, which cause cancers and suppress the immune system, are especially harmful to top predators because they accumulate in fat up the food chain. Killer whales can live for many decades, meaning they can end up with very high levels of PCBs."</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Though Lulu died after getting caught in ropes used for fishing, according to Andrew Brownlow, head of the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme, "Given what is known about the toxic effects of PCBs, we have to consider that such a high-pollutant burden could have been affecting her health and reproductive fitness."</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Lulu's apparent infertility is an ominous finding—with no new animals being born, it is now looking increasingly likely that this small group will eventually go extinct. One of the factors in this group's apparent failure to reproduce could be their high burden of organic pollutants," he said.</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to Monsanto's website, the company was deeply involved in the proliferation of the chemicals:</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The former Monsanto Company produced and sold PCBs to manufacturers—such as General Electric and Westinghouse—that incorporated the fluid into their products. The former Monsanto's PCB products bore the trade name 'Aroclor' (although not all Aroclor products were PCB products).</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Although the former Monsanto Company was the principal manufacturer of PCBs in the United States, its share of the global production was about 45 percent. There were many manufacturers in other countries, including West Germany, East Germany, Japan, France, Czechoslovakia, Spain, Italy, Poland, Russia and China. Production and use of PCBs continued in many of these countries into the 1990s."</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no link</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/seismic-tesing-oil-drilling-2402920868.html"><font size="4" color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">http://www.ecowatch.com/seismic-tesing-oil-drilling-2402920868.html</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div class="headline-container" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h1 class="headline h1" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-weight: 500; position: relative; line-height: 22px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Seismic Testing to Begin in Atlantic Ocean in Push for Offshore Drilling</font></h1></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="js-scroll-trigger" data-target="body" data-triggers="render-rebelbar" data-toggle-class="with-floating-shares" data-loaded="true" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></span></font><div id="utm_campaign" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="article-body body js-expandable sm-mb-2 md-mb-4 js-update-url selectionShareable" data-url="http://www.ecowatch.com/seismic-tesing-oil-drilling-2402920868.html" data-headline="Seismic Testing to Begin in Atlantic Ocean in Push for Offshore Drilling" data-elid="2402920868" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="article-description" style="margin-bottom: 20px;"><p style="line-height: 21px; margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Interior Department announced it is moving forward with <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/seismic-airgun-blasting" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">seismic</a> surveys in the Atlantic Ocean following President <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Donald Trump</a>'s executive order last month to <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-expand-offshore-drilling-2383011441.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">aggressively expand</a> offshore <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-expand-offshore-drilling-2383011441.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">drilling</a> in protected areas off the Arctic and Atlantic oceans.</font></p><p style="line-height: 21px; margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Six permit applications by energy companies—ones that were rejected by the Obama administration—are being reviewed by the department.</font></p><p style="line-height: 21px; margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The oil and gas industry has long pushed for seismic surveys used to search for oil and gas deposits deep below the ocean's surface.</font></p><p style="line-height: 21px; margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">However, environmental groups warn that the surveys are an extremely loud and dangerous process.</font></p><div id="AdThrive_Content_1_desktop" class="adthrive-ad adthrive-dynamic adthrive-content" data-google-query-id="CMGU7tvY6tMCFccPPwodZHcDew" style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center; overflow-x: visible !important;"><div id="google_ads_iframe_18190176/AdThrive_Content_1/58d2e52b44e6236dc5819ee2_0container_" style="border: 0pt none; display: inline-block; width: 1px; height: 1px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></div></div><p style="line-height: 21px; margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Seismic airguns create one of the loudest manmade sounds in the ocean, firing intense blasts of compressed air every 10 seconds, 24 hours a day, for weeks to months on end," Dustin Cranor, <a href="http://oceana.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">Oceana</a>'s senior director of U.S. communications, told EcoWatch. "The noise from these blasts is so loud that it can be heard up to 2,500 miles from the source, which is approximately the distance from Washington, DC to Las Vegas."
</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="line-height: 21px; margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"These blasts are of special concern to marine life, including fish, turtles and whales, which depend on sound for communication and survival," Cranor said. He noted that the government's own estimates show that seismic airgun blasting in the Atlantic could injure as many as 138,000 marine mammals like dolphins and whales, while disturbing the vital activities of millions more.</font></font></font></p><p style="line-height: 21px; margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Furthermore, <a href="http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">Greenpeace</a> said "pursuing this development stands at cross-purposes with the nation's necessary and rapidly accelerating move away from fossil fuels, and with previous commitments to address global <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">climate change</a>."</font></font></font></p><p style="line-height: 21px; margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.seashepherd.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's</a> Capt. Paul Watson explained, "One of the major threats to the survival of cetaceans, is noise pollution. More seismic testing and military LFS testing will <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/seismic-testing-whales-dolphins-2344214359.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">result in more strandings</a>. This decision equates to a death sentence for thousands of whales and dolphins."</font></font></font></p><p style="line-height: 21px; margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Seismic data has not been gathered in the mid- and south-Atlantic regions, from northern Florida to Delaware, for at least 30 years.</font></font></font></p><p style="line-height: 21px; margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Interior Department said that the surveys are needed to update information about the Outer Continental Shelf that was gathered more than three decades ago, "when technology was not as advanced as today."
</font></font></font></p><p style="line-height: 21px; margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The <a href="https://apnews.com/eecd45d301bf436891e6472564860353/Gov't-to-begin-seismic-surveys-in-Atlantic-in-drilling-push" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">Associated Press</a> reported that any new drilling activity is expected to be limited to the coasts of Virginia, North and South Carolina and Georgia.
</font></font></font></p><p style="line-height: 21px; margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Interior Sec. <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/ryan-zinke" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">Ryan Zinke</a> <a href="https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/interior-department-advances-america-first-offshore-energy-strategy" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">said</a> that the surveys will help "a variety of federal and state partners better understand our nation's offshore areas ... and evaluate resources that belong to the American people."</font></font></font></p><p style="line-height: 21px; margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Industry groups applauded the department's decision to review the permit applications. "There has been no documented scientific evidence of noise from these surveys adversely affecting marine animal populations or coastal communities," Randall Luthi, president of the National Ocean Industries Association, <a href="https://www.noia.org/noia-applauds-doi-reversal-atlantic-seismic-permit-denials/" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">said</a>.</font></font></font></p></div></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Two new developments have linked BP oil from the 2010 Gulf disaster to ongoing wildlife, habitat, and economic impacts in Louisiana. </font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">First, a new peer-reviewed scientific study by a team of government, academic, and non-governmental researches was released linking BP oil from the 2010 Gulf oil disaster to dolphin deaths and illness in Barataria Bay, La. Seventeen percent of the dolphins sampled were classified as being in "poor or grave condition"--meaning they are not expected to survive. </font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dr. Lori Schwacke, the study's lead author, stated, "I've never seen such a high prevalence of very sick animals--and with unusual conditions such as the adrenal hormone abnormalities."</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The facts are that this year alone, more than three years after the BP disaster, more than 4.6 million more pounds of oily material have been recovered from Gulf of Mexico shorelines. There is no question that more oil is out there. BP saturates the market with its pricey PR onslaught, implying that the clean-up is over and the Gulf is better than ever. But this is simply not true. The Gulf is still waiting for BP to accept responsibility to ensure restoration that it deserves.  </font></font></font></div></div></div></div>