Marine ecology notes

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1998:

The Emily B. Shane Award, a
$10,000 stipend, supports “conservation-oriented,
non-harmful research on free-ranging seals,
sea lions, and sea cows. Application deadline is
May 1. Get details c/o Carol Fairfield,
Awards/Scholarship Committee, Society for
Marine Mammalogy, NOAA/NMFS/SWFSC,
c/o University of California, EMS Bldg., Room
A319, Santa Cruz, CA 95064.
At least 16 manatees were killed by
red tide poisoning in southwestern Florida during
November, just as construction of a manatee
hospital at the Miami Seaquarium halted
when anticipated costs rose over $500,000,
more than three times initially estimate. On top
of that, the Miami Herald disclosed on
December 27, of 13 coastal Florida counties
that were to draft manatee protection plans
under a 1990 directive by then-governor Bob
Martinez, just three have actually done so.

A school of herring dove for deeper
water when netted, the Norwegian newspaper
Dagbladet reported on January 6, with so much
mass and force that they capsized and sank the
60-foot trawler S t e i n h o l m within 10 minutes.
The six crew members were rescued.
Australia, after earlier in 1997 banning
all shark fishing in national waters, on
December 11 declared great white sharks and
grey nurse sharks to be endangered species.