Watson gets 30 days

November 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1995:

ST. JOHN’S, NEWFOUNDLAND––
A jury on October 9 found Captain
Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation
Society innocent of endangering the lives of
the crews of the Cuban trawler Rio Las Casas
and his own vessel, the Cleveland Amory,
during a high seas encounter on July 28, 1993,
but convicted him of simple mischief for
enabling members of OrcaForce to throw noxious
buteric acid from the Cleveland Amory to
the desk of the Rio Las Casas. Watson was
thus cleared of counts that could have brought
him a double life sentence, but drew a felony
conviction, a fine of $35, 30 days in prison in
addition to the six days he served after his
arrest, and most significant, a “prior”––his
first in 22 years of frontline activism––in the
event he should again be arrested.

Coloradans seek trap ban initiative

November 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1995:

DENVER––Colorado People Allied With
Wildlife will on Febuary 1, 1996 begin seeking the
54,000 signatures needed to put an anti-trapping, snaring,
and wildlife poisoning initative on the 1996 state
ballot. A Colorado State University survey commissioned
by the Colorado Division of Wildlife found earlier
this year that 61% of the electorate would favor
such a ban, with 28% opposed and 11% undecided.
Addresss CPAW c/o Robert Angell, 702 S. Corona
St., Denver, CO 80209; 303-722-3966.
“The decision to try a ballot initiative was
made after all other avenues were exhausted,” said
Angell in an October 9 appeal. “In 1990 an anti-trapping
bill was shredded in the state senate natural
resources committee. Last year a bill to appoint
wildlife commissioners in a different manner and to
reorganize and reorient the activities of CDOW met a
similar fate in the state senate agriculture committee.

Hunting predators

November 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1995:

California governor Pete Wilson on
October 17 signed a bill to put the state ban on
puma hunting back before the voters. The state
legislature halted puma hunting in 1972, when the
puma population was estimated at 2,400. An initiative
approved by voters in 1990 made the halt “permanent,”
except when pumas threaten people or
livestock. Hunting groups claim the puma population
is now up to 6,000, and have amplified reports
of puma sightings over the past few years, especially
since two women were killed in separate
attacks during 1994.

Marine life

November 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1995:

Sea turtles
The Senate Appropriations
C o m m i t t e e, at urging of Senator J. Bennett
Johnson (D-La.) on September 14 approved
$500,000 to monitor changes in the sea turtle
population––and $750,000 to research ways to
protect sea turtles without forcing shrimpers to
use turtle exclusion devices (TEDS), which
they blame for declining catches. Thus pressured,
NMFS announced September 18 that it
would consider a shrimp industry proposal to
set aside sea turtle management areas in the
Gulf of Mexico, where turtles would be protected,
in exchange for elimination of the TED
requirement. Catching flak from both directions,
NMFS also faces a lawsuit over alleged
failure to enforce TED use, filed July 8 by
Earth Island Institute, Help Endangered
Animals––Ridley Turtles, and HSUS.

Fish stories

November 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1995:

The House on October 18 approved a tougher
reauthorized edition of the Magnuson Fishery
Management and Conservation Act, 388-37. The new
version dropped a clause exempting Gulf of Mexico
shrimpers from having to immediately reduce bycatch and
sea turtle deaths. The Gulf bycatch averages four pounds of
wasted finfish for every pound of shrimp retrieved.
After three years of negotiation sponsored by
the United Nations, 99 countries agreed in August to a
treaty regulating commercial fishing in all waters, including
sovereign waters. The treaty will take effect when and if it
is ratified by at least 30 nations.

Salmon at risk?

November 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1995:

WASHINGTON D.C.––The U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service
jointly proposed on September 28 that Atlantic salmon
should be listed as threatened in Maine, but not in the rest
of its historic range, as requested by Protect the North
Woods, because south of Maine the salmon are already lost
as a distinct species through overfishing, habitat loss, and
hybridization with introduced strains.
Maine governor Angus King charged that the proposed
listing would cause undue economic hardship.
Earlier, NMFS proposed listing the Coho salmon
as endangered from Monterey Bay, California, to the
Columbia River in Washington, sparking furor in the west.

Fish vs. seals

November 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1995:

ST. JOHN’S, Newfoundland–– “Decimated fish populations
like the northern cod will recover if fishing is cut down,”
Fisheries and Oceans Canada biologist Ransom Myers reported in
the September edition of Science. “What happened to [Atlantic
Canadian] fish stocks had nothing to do with the environment,
nothing to do with seals. It is simply overfishing.”
Myers was lead author of a review of the population
dynamics of 128 stocks of 34 commercially fished species over a
16-year period, commissioned by Fisheries Canada and the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service to see if overfishing might slow fish
breeding because survivors have a harder time finding mates, a
phenomenon called the despensation effect. Among the species
reviewed were salmon, cod, hake, haddock, herring, and
anchovies. The review discovered apparent despensation afflicting
only Islandic herring. Historically, despensation is believed
to have contributed to the extinction of the Lake Erie blue pike,
and many bird and mammal species.

U.S. subsidizing Makah whaling

November 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1995:

SEATTLE––The U.S. government is spending
$7 million to underwrite the Washington-based Makah
Tribe in killing whales next summer, charges Captain Paul
Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.
Watson cites grants, subsidies, and interest-free
loans to help build a marina big enough to serve whaling
vessels, provided by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
Forest Service, Department of Commerce, USDA, Office
of Native American Programs, and Washington State
Department of Parks and Recreation.
“The Corps of Engineers signed the Project
Cooperative Agreement with the Makah on May 2, 1995,”
Watson told ANIMAL PEOPLE. “On May 5, the
Makah informed the U.S. government that they would
resume whaling, for commercial reasons under the guise
of aboriginal whaling, without regulation under
International Whaling Commission rules. It is clear that
the Makah intend for the U.S. government to fund the
facilities for landing and processing whales. The federal
agencies are proceeding with no information on the
impending whaling operation other than the tribal
announcement of their intent and treaty right to kill grey
whales.”

BLOOD SPORTS

November 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1995:

Facing the release of undercover
video obtained at a summer live
turkey shoot by the Chicago Animal
Rights Coalition, the Lone Pine
Sportsman’s Club of Middleport,
Pennsylvania cancelled an encore shoot set
for October 15. “Lone Pine agreed to permanently
stop live animal shoots almost
immediately when they found out we had
the video,” CHARC president Steve Hindi
said, “even before we released the footage
to media. They specifically said they
didn’t want their town to become the next
Hegins. We know other live turkey shoots
are still held in the area, and we will now
be hunting them.”

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