Update from the Gulf
Devastation in the Gulf
As oil continues to seep into the Gulf of Mexico, aggressive awareness campaigns and protection efforts are vital in order to save what’s left of the delicate balance of life in the ocean. The devastating effects of the BP oil spill on wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico can be witnessed in an exhibit at the National Mississipi River Museum and Aquarium in Dubuque, Iowa. According to KTTC, the exhibit was originally planned to display the beauty of the Gulf, but after the April 20 Deep Water Horizon rupture it will now showcase what is perhaps the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history. The aquarium exhibit includes a 40,000 gallon tank laden with dark window stickers resembling the oil that covers aquatic life in the Gulf. It allows visitors to face the effects of the tragedy.
The reality is that the ecosystems surrounding the Gulf may never be the same, as countless plants and animals have died or been forced from their habitats. Veterinarian news DVM 360 estimates that out of the approximately 1,812 birds that have been collected in the area, only 766 have been found alive. Similarly, only 128 of the 539 sea turtles collected, and 5 of 52 dolphins, were reported as living.
The New York Times reports that dozens of heavily oiled sea turtles were recently found near a site where workers were burning off oil, raising the possibility that the turtles had been burned.
Good News From the Gulf
Luckily, wildlife rescue and rehabilitation efforts shine a ray of hope over the murky depths of the Gulf. More than 63 cleaned and rehabilitated brown pelicans were set free at Arkansas National Wildlife Refuge in Texas, which was picked due to its ideal coastal habitat for the pelicans.
Also, the Center for Biological Diversity has advised that conservation groups, BP and the Coast Guard agreed Friday (in court) that efforts will be taken to rescue sea turtles from the water’s surface before setting fire to oil slicks in the Gulf. A shrimp boat captain noticed turtles, including the endangered Kemp’s ridleys, were being burned when fire-resistant booms were drawn together to form a “burn box” that was then burned. Turtles were being caught in the box and killed. Now qualified scientists and observers will attend every burn to make sure that all turtles are identified and removed before the burning starts.
Thank You and Good Luck to all the people rescuing and rehabilitating animals and cleaning up the oil. Efforts as rapid and forceful as the leaking oil are needed.
Tags: aquarium, Arkansas National Wildlife Refuge, birds, BP, Center for Biological Diversity, Coast Guard, devastation, dolphins, exhibit, fire, Gulf, Kemp's Ridley, Mississippi River, museum, oil, rehabilitation, sea turtles, wildlife rescue
Protecting Whales and Dolphins
The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, (WDCS), along with eleven other groups, have gone to court to try to stop the US Navy from building a US warfare training site east of Jacksonville, Florida. The area happens to be the only known calving area for endangered North Atlantic right whales. So I called Erich Hoyt, Senior Research Fellow and Programme Head for Critical Habitat/MPAs for the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, to find out more.
Erich reports that the Navy and the National Marine Fisheries Service have acknowledged that the training site may impact right whales and other species in the area. (The National Marine Fisheries Service manages marine sites and marine mammals and is responsible for enforcing the Marine Mammal Protection Act, Erich told me.) In spite of this, however, the Navy has decided to construct the site. Promises that they will evaluate the impacts after the site has been built do not satisfy environmentalists who can’t imagine the Navy spending that kind of money and then not using the site.
The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, along with the eleven other groups, feel that these impacts must be addressed first and that mitigation plans need to be developed before the site is constructed.
The US Navy has acknowledged that their sonar caused Cuvier’s Beaked Whales off the Bahamas to strand. Training exercises involving sonar have also caused whales to strand elsewhere, including the Mediterranean and off the Canary Islands. The US Navy is interested in these results, and apparently are trying to find out more about the impacts of their sonar. I like to believe that many US Navy people enjoy the sea so much that they also care about whales and dolphins.
The problem is that underwater, “noise travels so fast and far that something that might not seem to be a problem on land is quickly a big problem under the sea,” Erich reflected. I remember as a child, swimming off an island beach, hearing what sounded like the engine of a motorboat almost on top of me. I burst to the surface, expecting to see the boat and was surprised when I couldn’t locate it. It was not yet within view. I continued my swim but looked up every few minutes until finally the small boat came into view. I can only imagine how unnerving the noise must be to whales that can’t understand what’s happening.
Further, whales and dolphins are very dependent on sound. The background noise of the container ships that are on the ocean has doubled every decade since the 1950s as the number of ships grew. Scientists, Erich told me, have found evidence of whales communicating using louder sounds and blue whales using lower noises. The supposed link is being investigated.
This is not only an American issue. It’s a Canadian issue as well, Erich pointed out. North Atlantic right whales migrate north and feed in summertime off of the Bay of Fundy and the coast of New Brunswick. They go to Florida to breed. So they summer in Canada and winter in Florida – sounds like they do their own version of snowbirding!
Erich has written several books, including one about marine protected areas. Entitled Marine Protected Areas for Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises (Earthscan, 2005, 516 pp), it is in its second edition and is available on Amazon.com. It features protected areas around the world which include marine mammals. “There are about 600 of them existing or proposed worldwide,” Erich commented, but many of them “are too small to be really effective”. The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society is campaigning to establish 12 representative, large, highly-protected areas or networks. Some of these are actually networks of several marine protected areas that protect migrating whales.
More details about Erich and reviews of his books can be found on his personal website at www.erichhoyt.com. To find out more about the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, visit their website.
Tags: Caribbean, Conservation, dolphins, Erich Hoyt, National Marine Fisheries Service, sonar, US Navy, whales, Whales and Dolphins
