Guest guest Posted February 23, 2002 Report Share Posted February 23, 2002 * SWK and List Info In Footer * ...... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... 22/02/2002 01:59 PM Japan - the fight continues to end the slaughter Representatives of environmental groups are visiting in the Japanese fishing village of Taiji this month in a continuing attempt to end the brutal slaughters of dolphins and small whales in the drive fisheries. During recent months BlueVoice.org (http://www.bluevoice.org) and the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (http://www.wdcs.org) have monitored the fishing villages and have initiated inquiries in the United States Congress into the barbaric slaughter of living dolphins. The dolphins are captured and killed both for meat and to provide animals for the growing trade associated with aquariums and solphin swim-with programs. The return to Taiji follows attacks made on members of the BlueVoice.org team in October, 2001. Fishermen attacked the team as they were videotaping the killing of some thirty pilot whales. The fishermen fear exposure of their cruel and brutal methods, especially as new regulations forbid the killing of dolphins in plain view. Source: Bluevoice ============ 21/02/2002 02:02 PM Please help us stop dolphin captures in Chile! WDCS has received reports that the construction of a new dolphinarium is underway in Iquique, Chile and that the project proposes to hold six bottlenose dolphins and six sea lions. The proposal reportedly includes the capture of dolphins off the coast of Iquique and would thus open the first dolphin capture operation in Chile since 1983. According to the newspaper " Diario El Nortino " , permits to capture the dolphins in Chilean waters have been awarded by Chile's National Fisheries Service SERNAP (Servicio Nacional de Pesca). Surveys or assessments of dolphin populations off Iquique (and virtually almost off the entire Chilean coast) are reportedly non-existent. In 1995, two dolphins were imported to Iquique from Cuba for public display. Within only a few weeks, one of the dolphins had died. With conditions worsening at the facility and concern for the plight of the remaining dolphin 'Menique' raising international interest, the Chilean Authorities allowed Menique to return to Cuba in 1997 to enter a rehabilitation programme pending release into the wild. This was only made possible with the co-operation of the Chilean government. Sadly, Menique died at the Acuario Nacional in Havana, Cuba in 1998, never having recovered from the conditions he had suffered in captivity. In 1999, the Chilean authorities again acted responsibly, preventing the import of three dolphins to Santiago for a captive facility. Please write polite letters to express your concerns to the Chilean Fisheries authorities and ask if it is true that they have authorised dolphin and sea lion captures and under what justifications, despite the fact that surveys on dolphin populations in Chilean waters are virtually non-existent and that sealion displays across Chile are closing down. Please send urgent letters and faxes to both Fisheries agencies (details below): Mr. Felipe Sandoval Precht Subsecretario de Pesca Ministerio de Economía Teatinos 120, Piso 11 Santiago, Chile FAX: + 56 2 671 8143 Mr. Sergio Mujica Servicio Nacional De Pesca - SERNAP Bellavista 168, Piso 16, Valparaíso, Chile Email: direccion FAX: (56-32) 819400 Thank you very much for your help! News provided by WDCS - Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society =============== Monday February 18, 2002 18 stranded blind Dolphins rescued LAHORE: Eighteen stranded blind Dolphins have so far been rescued from the distributaries of Sindh under a United Nations project. On his return from a joint venture of Lahore Zoo and Wildlife Department Sindh, Director Lahore Zoo Raja Muhammad Javed said that the team -- headed by Director General Wildlife Punjab MD Chaudhry -- during recent operation rescued two dolphins, one male and one female, from Rohri Canal. He informed that 110 kg and 7 feet 6 inches long female dolphin was released in River Indus near Rohri after tagging and taking all necessary measurements and samples of blood while 75 kg and 6 feet 8 inches long male dolphin died soon after rescue because of shocks stress. The director Lahore Zoo said that the joint team of Lahore Zoo and Wildlife Department Sindh took skin, kidney, liver, lungs and blood samples and also undertook post-mortem of the dolphin. He informed that the blind Indus dolphin is the second most endangered species in the world and purpose of this operation was to rescue the stranded dolphin, which travels in distributaries in search of food. ===================== http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=sciencenews & StoryID=618860 WWF Calls for Saving Harbor Porpoise in Europe February 21, 2002 04:35 PM ET GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) on Friday warned that the harbor porpoise faced possible extinction in the North and Baltic Seas, where thousands die each year trapped in fishing nets. At least 7,000 harbor porpoises, among the smallest members of the cetacean family of aquatic mammals which also includes dolphins and whales, perish annually in nets set at the bottom of the North Sea to catch cod, turbot and plaice, a WWF statement said. The Swiss-based conservation group urged European Union (EU) ministers to agree on measures to reduce this " bycatch. " " The level of bycatch is very high -- most of the harbor porpoises have drowned by the time the nets are pulled in, " said Julian Scola, WWF's European fisheries campaign spokesman. " There have been fewer and fewer sightings in recent years, so there is good reason to be concerned, " he told Reuters. WWF's recommendations include using " pingers " -- boxes attached to fishing nets which emit a sound that discourages porpoises from entering the net. Further research was also needed on acoustically reflective nets, it added. " If some of these measures are not implemented urgently, the harbor porpoise will face extinction, " said Heike Vesper, fisheries officer at WWF-Germany. It also called for sighting surveys to be done to determine the surviving population. In 1994, a survey estimated the number of harbor porpoises in the North Sea at between 267,000 and 465,000, while only 599 were believed to be in the Baltic Sea. WWF said that in the last eight years " a serious depletion of population is highly probable. " ===================== DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 50 CFR Part 226 Endangered and Threatened Species; Determination on a Petition to Revise Critical Habitat for Northern Right Whales in the Pacific Story Filed: Thursday, February 21, 2002 4:05 PM EST Washington, DC, Feb 21, 2002 (FedNet via COMTEX) -- On October 13, 2000, NMFS received a petition dated October 4, 2000, requesting that NMFS revise the present critical habitat designation for the northern right whale under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by designating a new area within the eastern Bering Sea as critical habitat for right whales in the North Pacific. NMFS has determined that the petition is not warranted at this time. NMFS recognizes that the revision of critical habitat may be prudent, but finds that the extent of critical habitat cannot be determined at this time because the essential biological requirements of the population in the North Pacific Ocean are not sufficiently understood. NMFS will continue to analyze issues raised by the petition following the completion of planned 2002 right whale surveys and research. ====================== NOAA says that the Makah's request for $1.3 million dollars for a " research " vessel has been denied due to a lack of funds. This story did get some local coverage and it was nice to see that most folks had the same opinion we did. No tax dollars should be spent to kill whales! However, the Makah's request for $70,000 for their whaling management program is still under consideration. This money is for a salary for their whaling chairperson, to talk to their elders (this part they wanted $11,000) and fringe benefits. For anyone who would like to send another email about this portion feel free to send another email to Conrad.C.Lautenbacher and express your opinions about tax money for whale slaughter. ==================== _______________ Join the world's largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com To change list options, or , go to http://www.topica.com. Or send e-mail to swk-, swk-. Visit our site: http://www.stopwhalekill.org .... Ask a friend today to join our list! ... ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: tacitus EASY UNSUBSCRIBE http://topica.com/u/?b1demT.b1jvh4 Or send an email to: swk- T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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