CETACEANS

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1997:

Halfway through a two-year investigation of the
possible impact on marine mammals of the ATOC low-frequency
sound experiments, used to measure global warming,
University of California marine biologist Dan Costa says no
harm is apparent. “The animals are not abandoning the study
site,” explained Costa. “We’re finding whales and lots of dolphins
and lots of seals. The abundance has not changed, so
there’s no dramatic effect.”

The National Marine Fisheries Service, responding
to a federal court order won in September by Boston
activist Max Strahan, on December 16 announced plans to
close a 1,500-square-mile area east of Cape Cod to gill nets and
lobstering from April 1 to June 30, to reduce the risk of rare
northern right whales becoming entangled and drowning. Also
on December 16, the deadline day for compliance with the
court decision, the state of Massachusetts formally proposed
restrictions on lobstering and gillnetting within 400-square-mile
Cape Cod Bay, to be in effect from January 1 to May 15.
Seventeen nations on November 24 signed an
Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea,
Mediterranean Sea, and Contiguous Atlantic Area, called
ACCOBAMS for short, pledging to “take coordinated measures
to achieve and maintain a favorable conservation status
for cetaceans,” and to “prohibit and take all necessary measures
to eliminate any deliberate taking of cetaceans,” while
cooperating “to create and maintain a network of protected
areas to conserve cetaceans.”