Marine Impacts News

Beluga whales at risk from oil plan
Oil and gas exploration in Alaska that requires the use of seismic air guns could kill endangered Cook Inlet beluga whales due to Apache Alaska Corporation being granted a permit by The National Marine Fisheries (NMFS) "to take, via harassment, 30 belugas in the first year of what will ultimately be three to five years of seismic surveys."
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Investigation into whale death
The gray whale recently found dead in Puget Sound had been feeding on shrimp but also had some pieces of rope, plastic and a golf ball in its stomach.
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Monitoring marine traffic
Scientists are placing hydrones up and down the British.Columbia coast to learn more about the movements of whales and the threats they face from increased marine traffic. Hydrophones are a cost-effective method of listening for whales, including those populations still recovering from commercial whaling.
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Ordinance disposal school may harm dolphins
(Added: 27 March 2012)
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is to allow the U.S. Air Force to proceed with a naval explosive ordnance disposal school, even though it could harm bottlenose dolphins in the area, near the Air Force base in Eglin, Florida.
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Saving New Zealands' dolphins
(Added: 27 March 2012)
For many years Marine Connection has been highlighting the dangers that New Zealand dolphins - Hector's and Maui's face on a daily basis and the charity is pleased to report that research has proved the effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas as an effective conservation tool to protect the marine mammals against fisheries bycatch.
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Speed limits on Arctic shipping
(Added: 18 March 2012)
Environmentalists and Arctic aboriginal groups are urging speed limits on ships and other rules to protect marine mammals as the Northwest Passage and other polar transportation routes become more heavily travelled in an era of retreating sea ice.
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Concerns over BP seismic testing
(Added: 15 March 2012)
Marine Connection has concerns with regards to BP operating its seismic testing at night in the Great Australian Bight area as observers may not see the whales in the dark should they come close to the ship. The company has been undertaking seismic studies there since November but have now said they will be going into areas where there are expected to be higher numbers of whales as they are known feeding areas. The species include blue, pilot, short beaked and the rare Cuvier's beaked whales.

Cetaceans at risk
(Added: 20 February 2012)
Various dolphin and whale species are abundant in waters around Orkney and the Pentland Firth proposed for renewable energy developments, according to a new report recently published by Scottish Natural Heritage.
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Stress in whales
(Added: 12 February 2012)
A decrease in ship traffic in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks lowered the levels of stress hormones in the faeces of endangered North Atlantic right whales in the Bay of Fundy.
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Groups sue Navy over sonar use off Northwest
(Added: 29 January 2012)
Conservationist groups and native american tribes are suing over the Navy's expanded use of sonar in training exercises off the Washington, Oregon and California coasts, claiming the service was wrong to approve the Navy's plan for the expanded training. Repeated sonar use is known to have huge effects on various species and it's the job of the fisheries service to balance the needs of the Navy with measures to protect marine life. In 2010, the fisheries service approved the Navy's five-year plan for operations in the Northwest Training Range Complex, an area roughly the size of California - about 126,000 nautical square miles from the waters off Mendocino County in California to the Canadian border. A spokeswoman for the Navy declined to comment saying she had not seen the lawsuit.