Colossal numbers of plastic bottles and bags float around the earth, and their severe impact on marine life has been extensively documented. But there’s another, lesser-known killer plastic lurking in our oceans. Every year, more than 136,000 whales, dolphins and… Read More ›
A humpback whale entangled in fishing gear in Unalaska Bay ended up giving its body to art and science last week. The whale was last seen barely alive, trailing lines from a big fishing pot, perhaps a crab pot, but… Read More ›
Conservationists, Maas told The Dodo, have been notifying the New Zealand government for years that the dolphin was struggling for its survival. But like many storylines around endangered species, there’s a loop that inevitably takes place. “You go through these cycles where there’s denial of your findings by the detractors,” says Maas. “Then you produce evidence and scientific facts. And if you are lucky, you make incremental progress. And then the cycle starts again: denial, refusal, new evidence and incremental progress.”
Of the 30 cases last year, seven whales were disentangled and released free of lines, seven were found dead, two were observed to self-release and the remaining entangled whales had an unknown fate. Most recent entanglements have occurred with Dungeness crab gear, although lobster and spot prawn gear as well as gillnets have also been identified.
Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpted report from the Times Colonist, “Human discards mean slow torture for B.C.’s marine mammals.” Highlighted portions by Neptune 911. Marty Haulena positions himself atop a federal fisheries patrol boat, his CO2-powered dart rifle… Read More ›
State lawmakers want to end a fishing practice that hauls in millions of dollars a year and puts swordfish on restaurant plates – and might be an all-too-efficient killer of dolphin and whales. The culprit is the drift gillnet. A… Read More ›
Death by fishing gear entanglement is the most commonly diagnosed cause of death among eight large whale species on the eastern North American Continental shelf.
Hundreds of thousands of marine mammals are injured or killed every year by fishermen around the world. And because most seafood in the U.S. is imported, that means our fish isn’t as dolphin-friendly as you might expect. Under pressure from… Read More ›
As early as this week, federal fisheries regulators are expected to propose a new rule so North Atlantic right whales, humpbacks and fin whales will be less likely to get entangled in vertical fishing lines. A team of commercial fishermen,… Read More ›
June 7, 2013 Marine mammal experts are trying to find a whale in distress in the St. Lawrence River near Tadoussac, Que. Tour operators reporting sighting the fin whale entangled in crab-fishing gear yesterday. The whale, a female nicknamed Captain… Read More ›
Neptune 911! 