Marine Impacts News

Concerns over Alaska sonar training
(Added: 20 January 2010)
NGOs and Alaska residents have been voicing their concerns over the US Navy's plan to train with mid-frequency active sonar in the Gulf of Alaska beginning in the summer of 201 because of the impact it could have on the marine life.
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Young whale freed from rope
(Added: 08 December 2009)
Marine Connection was happy to receive the news recently from colleagues in Hawaii that a young whale had successfully been freed - cut loose from hundreds of yards of plastic rope that ran through the animals' mouth, around the head and behind its blowhole.
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Australian offshore oil update
(Added: 17 October 2009)
An Australian offshore oil well in the Timor Sea is still leaking crude oil after nearly two months of attempts to cap it. The spill, about 100 miles off Australia's northwestern coast, began when a drilling rig suffered a well head blowout, releasing 300-400 barrels of oil per day into the Timor Sea. At its peak the spill had spread over 7,000 square nautical miles, leaking into Indonesian waters and threatening the Ashmore and Cartier reef marine reserves.There is no question that Montara offshore platform's oil leakage's impact on marine life will be felt for years, if not decades. Oil can be a slow and silent killer and can take a long time to manifest itself on marine populations.

Whales disturbed by seismic surveys
(Added: 23 September 2009)
Seismic surveys used for oil and gas prospecting on the sea floor are a disturbance for blue whales, biologists have confirmed.
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Oil slick could endanger whales
(Added: 01 September 2009)
The danger to migrating whales and turtles posed by a massive oil spill off the Kimberley coast, located in the northern part of Western Australia has been exposed by a satellite tracking and aerial surveys.
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Navy completes military exercise study
(Added: 17 August 2009)
The U.S. Navy and its partners recently completed two studies that monitored marine mammal responses to military exercises. The studies were conducted from April 20 to May 20 on the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center (AUTEC) in northern Bahamas, and from July 15 to July 28 on the Southern California Offshore Range (SCORE) off Coronado, California.
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Whale probably struck by a ship
(Added: 08 August 2009)
The dead whale found recently in the Port of Tacoma, Washington was most likely struck by a ship. A team of eight conducted a 6 hour necropsy on the 46-foot-long juvenile fin whale and found it
had broken ribs, hemorrhaging, bruising and associated trauma in its chest cavity - all of which indicates that the animal was alive when the collision happened.

Safeguarding killer whales
(Added: 30 July 2009)
The Marine Connection welcomes the news that NOAA's Fisheries Service is proposing new rules on vessel traffic, aimed at further protecting Southern Resident killer whales in Washington's Puget Sound. These marine mammals were added to the Endangered Species list in late 2005.
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Dolphin population falls below 300
(Added: 20 July 2009)
The Ganges River Dolphin faces a high risk of extinction in India's Brahmaputra river system unless critical habitat is protected.
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Navy cleared of killing whales
(Added: 12 July 2009)
The South African Navy has been cleared of responsibility in the deaths of dozens of false killer whales in May. The animals beached themselves at Kommetjie, near Cape Town. Environment ministry officials and scientists at the University of Pretoria have been working on a report on the beaching. Various samples were collected from each whale and once analysed, the report can be completed. Preliminary results indicate that the animals were healthy with no obvious cause for the stranding.

Fears for whales in war zone
(Added: 12 July 2009)
The Talisman Sabre war games involving 20,000 United States and 10,000 Australian troops have started live-firing exercises at Shoalwater Bay, just north of Rockhampton, Queensland, Austalia. The area is visited by migrating whales as well as being home to dugongs, dolphins, turtles and other marine life.
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Mining threat to humpback whales
(Added: 09 July 2009)
Humpback whales migrating along the east coast of Australia could be threatened through a new seabed mining project because their migration paths sit squarely in the area where drilling and air gun blasts would take place. Authorisation is still awaiting Federal Government approval.
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Beaked whales and the bends
(Added: 11 June 2009)
A new study recently published in the journal Respiratory Physiology and Neurobiology offers evidence to support the theory that beaked whales get the bends when they surface rapidly, possibly after being startled by naval sonar.
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Humpback whale strike
(Added: 04 June 2009)
Wildlife officials say an oil tanker struck an endangered humpback whale and carried its carcass on its bow into Alaska's Port Valdez. The whale was lodged on the bulbous protrusion of the ship's bow. It's not known if the whale was alive when it was struck by the vessel. The carcass was towed to sea and sunk.

Robson Bight salvage a success
(Added: 21 May 2009)
Our colleagues from Orcalab are happy to report that the Robson Bight salvage operation has been a success!
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Robson Bight salvage set to begin
(Added: 14 May 2009)
The Marine Connection were delighted to learn from our colleagues Paul and Helena Spong who conduct research on the orcas frequenting the area around Vancouver Island, that at last the Robson Bight clean up has commenced.
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Seismic testing suspended
(Added: 29 April 2009)
An oil and gas consortium has agreed to suspend this summer's planned seismic testing off Sakhalin Island in the Russian Far East, the only feeding area for the critically endangered Western gray whale.
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Research boat hits whale
(Added: 23 April 2009)
A research vessel belonging to an agency which protects endangered right whales hit one of the animals off the Massachusetts coast recently, cutting into the animal's left tail fluke with its propeller.
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Right whales could face sonar threat
(Added: 15 March 2009)
Right whales that frequent Florida waters may be threatened by recently approved US Navy sonar projects. Approved by the National Marine Fisheries Service, the Navy’s plan will include training in the right whales’ natural habitat along the Eastern Seaboard.
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Blast kills dolphins and turtles
(Added: 22 February 2009)
One of the most delicate ecosystems along the Gujarat coast, the Marine National Park near Jamnagar, India was jolted by a shocking incident recently when a contractor used dynamite to extract the wreckage of a sunken ship.
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Shipping noise and marine mammals
(Added: 01 February 2009)
The issue of anthropogenic sound and its effects on marine life is one of increasing public and scientific interest. Ocean noise can travel over vast distances and affect marine species across many national sea boundaries.
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NOAA consent to sonar impacts
(Added: 13 January 2009)
The U.S. Navy has been given authorisation to impact whales and dolphins while conducting their sonar training exercises around the main Hawaiian Islands. The letter of authorisation and accompanying rules from NOAA's Fisheries Service allow for injury or death of up to 10 animals of each of 11 species over the next five years covered by the regulations.
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