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.

Trafficking

November 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1995:

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service on September 25 intercepted 60 bear
gallbladders that were hidden among a ton
of reindeer antlers arriving from Russia at
the Anchorage International Airport.
Hong Kong customs officers on
October 4 seized 1,500 dried dog penises,
airmailed from Thailand labeled “Chinese
medicine.” To be sold as a tonic to boost
male sexual performance, the penises were
valued at 87¢ each.
British Columbia on October 17
laid 29 charges of smuggling bear gallbladders
against 11 individuals and businesses as
result of a July raid on several stores in
Vancouver’s Chinatown.

Down in Monterey

November 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1995:

MONTEREY, California––Alarmed by
the decline of sea life within the Monterey Bay
National Marine Sanctuary, stretching from the
Golden Gate area off San Francisco to the vicinity of
Hearst’s Castle at San Simeon, diver Ed Cooper of
Pacific Grove and underwater photographer Kevin
McDonnell of Seaside have proposed strengthening
the existing federal protections by creating an undersea
park straddling the Hopkins Marine Refuge at
Point Cabrillo, just west of the Monterey Bay
Aquarium. The park would ban all fishing and marine
life collection within an area extending 200 to 300
yards offshore, to a depth of 60 feet.

Still no sweetness and light at Sugarloaf

November 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1995:

SUGARLOAF KEY, Fla.–– Controversy
over the Sugarloaf Dolphin Sanctuary flared again on
October 4 when marine mammal veterinarian Joseph
Geraci, brought from Canada by the National Marine
Fisheries Service to do yet another of many inspections
of the site in recent months, flunked Sugarloaf health
care in a four-page report to Dale Schwindaman,
USDA Deputy Administrator for Regulatory
Enforcement and Animal Care. Geraci called for either
“a major overhaul of SDS philosophy, program and
resources,” or “relocating the dolphins to one or more
facilities with strong established health care programs.”
At issue: Geraci believes the Sugarloaf dolphins
should be kept sling-trained to enable close
inspection and blood-drawing to make sure they do not
transfer disease to the wild population. Sugarloaf director
of rehabilitation Ric O’Barry––who was away at the
time of the inspection––believes all response to human
command must be extinguished, to insure that the dolphins
pursue a wild way of life upon release instead of
hanging around harbors begging.

WHALE-WATCHING AND SWIM-WITH

November 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1995:

The Australian Nature Conservation
Agency on September 18 recommended
restricting whale-watching in breeding areas,
accrediting tour operators, and forming a
code of ethics for whale-based tourism. The
Australian whale-watching industry grew
13% from 1991 to 1994, as more than
500,000 people spent up to $70 million a year
to see whales. Protecting whales from whalewatchers
became a public issue on June 2,
1994, when Andrew Curven of New South
Wales was photographed standing on the back
of a right whale. On September 1, Curven
was fined $500 (Australian currency). He
faced a maximum penalty of two years in jail
and a fine of $100,000 for allegedly violating
the 1974 National Parks and Wildlife Act––
aimed at industrial polluters, not individuals.

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.”

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