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Marine Impacts News Archive 2008
US Supreme Court allows sonar use
(Added: 12 November 2008)
The US Supreme Court has removed restrictions on the navy's use of sonar in training exercises near California. This is a huge blow for environmental groups who have been campaigning hard to protect whales and other marine life.
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Thermal imaging system may help whale collisions
(Added: 28 October 2008)
The Hawaii Superferry is soon to install a high-tech thermal imaging system that could help detect whale spouts more than a mile away and reduce the risk of collisions with humpback whales which migrate to Hawaiian waters annually to mate and calve.
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Man prosecuted for speeding through whales
(Added: 15 August 2008)
A British Columbia man has been convicted and fined for driving his boat at full speed through a pod of orcas off the coast of the B.C. mainland. The southern residents are listed as endangered under the Species at Risk Act.
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Sonar does affect whales
(Added: 04 August 2008)
Whales subjected to military sonar will neither dive nor feed, according to an unpublished 2007 report from the UK military. The UK military report details observations of whale activity during Operation Anglo-Saxon 06, a submarine war-games exercise in 2006. Produced for the UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, it states the results are “potentially very significant”.
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Bladerunner returns
(Added: 29 July 2008)
Bladerunner the humpback whale who was badly injured by a boat propeller in 2001 has made an appearance again off Australia's Gold Coast, solving a seven-year mystery.
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Rimpac exercise attracts ten nations
(Added: 04 July 2008)
Rimpac is the largest multi-national, multi-military exercise on planet Earth, turning 21 this year. The focus? Maritime security.
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Robson Bight update
(Added: 4 July 2008)
Pollution charges have been laid in connection with the incident against barge owner Gowlland Towing, Ted LeRoy Trucking, the company that hired the barge, and tug skipper Carl Strom. The charges, including unlawfully discharging oil in waters frequented by fish, were laid under the Shipping Act, the Migratory Birds Convention Act and the Fisheries Act. Those charged are to appear in Campbell River provincial court July 21. Vancouver Island-based Ted LeRoy Trucking filed for bankruptcy protection just months after the barge overturned. It is unclear how authorities will proceed against the company.
Supreme court accepts Navy sonar requests
(Added: 24 June 2008)
On June 23, the US Supreme Court accepted a request by the Navy that the Court review a series of lower court rulings that restrict the Navy's use of sonar in training exercises off the coast of Southern California.
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Scallop dredging ban for Lyme Bay
(Added: 20 June 2008)
Ministers have announced a ban on damaging types of fishing in Britain's largest ever closure of a marine area to protect wildlife. The ban will cover 60 square nautical miles of Lyme Bay, from West Bay in Dorset to Beer Head in Devon.
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Robson Bight update
(Added: 16 June 2008)
Thanks to all of our supporters who have been helping us in trying to persuade British Columbia’s Ministry of Environment to salvage the diesel fuel tanker that has been lying at the bottom of Robson Bight since last August’s tragic barge accident.
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Concern over UK power boat course
(Added: 13 June 2008)
The 2008 Round Britain Powerboat Race is the “Mount Everest” of all powerboat races. Offshore powerboat racing is racing by large, ocean-going powerboats, typically point-to-point racing and this causes concern for vulnerable UK marine life.
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Injured whale spotted alive and well
(Added: 09 June 2008)
A whale run over by a boat near Boston, Massachusetts in July 2007 has been spotted almost a year later alive and apparently healthy near a major whale feeding ground. Following the incident the boat skipper was later charged under the Marine Mammal Protection Act for hitting the whale and fined $5,500. The strike left a three-foot gash and several smaller cuts on the whale's back.
Monitoring equipment registers navy exercise
(Added: 09 May 2008)
The activities of navy warships on exercise off the north-west coast of Scotland (Hebridean area) recently were picked up by earthquake monitoring equipment and registered three times at magnitudes of 1.1, 1.5 and 1.9. The British Geological Survey said they were registered as earthquakes until confirmation from the Royal Navy. The Exercise Joint Warrior involved 36 vessels from the UK and Nato countries.
White House block whale protection
(Added: 02 May 2008)
The North Atlantic right whale is considered one of the most endangered species on Earth, with a population estimated at about 300 animals but according to documents obtained by the Union of Concerned Scientists, White House officials for more than a year have blocked a rule aimed at protecting these marine mammals.
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Good news from Robson Bight
(Added: 21 April 2008)
We are delighted to report there has been some good news from our colleagues on Hanson Island! The BC Environment Minister, Barry Penner has announced that the government and Department of Fisheries and Oceans will salvage critical pieces of wreckage from Robson Bight following the August 2007 barge incident (see below news item 31 March 2008).
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Navy releases marine impact study
(Added: 04 April 2008)
The US Navy for the first time has released a massive study that examines the potential collateral damage to wildlife when training sailors to use sonar, drop bombs and fire missiles. It comes after judges repeatedly ruled that the Navy failed to do a proper assessment on how to protect whales and dolphins from sonar used to look for submarines.
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Orca habitat under threat
(Added: 31 March 2008)
The Marine Connection has received updated news from our colleagues at Orcalab on Hanson Island, British Columbia with regards to the fuel tanker that sunk in August 2007 in the world’s best known orca habitat – the Ecological Reserve at Robson Bight.
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Sonar limits frustrate Navy
(Added: 31 March 2008)
The Navy have raised concerns about new sonar restrictions as it finished three days of anti-submarine warfare training off Hawaii — the first such training under a US court order on sonar use that is meant to give better protection to whales and dolphins.
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Airport plans threat to dolphin population
(Added: 27 March 2008)
A population of rare Chinese white dolphins in Hong Kong's coastal waters may be threatened by several upcoming construction projects including a proposed new airport runway.
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Judge overturns sonar waiver
(Added: 05 February 2008)
A federal court has struck down a waiver issued by the White House stating that President Bush cannot exempt the U.S. Navy from complying with environmental law during sonar training exercises off southern California.
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Navy training will go ahead
(Added: 18 January 2008)
Navy officials have said that training planned for week commencing January 21 off the coast of Southern California will go on despite the ruling by a U.S. District Court Judge (see article below, 04 January.) However most of the protections will be left intact including a 12-nautical-mile no-sonar zone along the coast and requirements to monitor for marine mammals. More arguments for the case are set shortly.
US Navy must cut sonar use
(Added: 04 January 2008)
On January 3 2008, a federal judge in Los Angeles ordered the toughest set of restrictions ever imposed on the U.S. Navy's use of mid-frequency sonar off the Southern California coast as part of a protracted court battle to protect whales and other marine mammals from underwater sonic blasts.
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