Nowadays, when you are snorkeling in the Hawaiian Islands, unless you are in a protected area, you may be faced with the fact that the very marine animals have left the building. I returned to the Big Island to go snorkeling after 15 years and was shocked at the absence of beautiful reef fish that […]
Tag: national oceanic and atmospheric administration
Cape Cod: eight great white sharks seen feeding on humpback whale carcass
For those aboard a recent whale watching cruise off Cape Cod, the decomposing carcass of a year-old humpback calf floating in the waters of the Stellwagen Bank national marine sanctuary made for a heartbreaking sight. But it turned into a camera-ready moment, and a rare bonanza for shark researchers, when two large great whites showed […]
Humpback Whale Habitat Protected by Biden Administration
The Biden Administration took a significant step to protect humpback whales. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NFMS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and Commerce departments have finalized a rule to protect ocean habitats used by humpback whales. Humpback whales were once hunted to the brink of extinction and now two of the five “breeding […]
Man sentenced for shooting protected elephant seal dead on California coast
A man has been sentenced to three months in federal prison for shooting a protected northern elephant seal to death on the central California coast. Armed with a .45-caliber handgun and a flashlight, on the night of 2 September 2019 Jordan Gerbich, 30, opened fire on an elephant seal at a popular viewing area where […]
Petition: New Whale Species that Washed Ashore in Florida is Already Endangered
Scientists have identified a new species of whale—and they say it’s already endangered. LiveScience reports that in January 2019, the body of a whale washed ashore in the Florida Everglades. Scientists initially thought the whale was a subspecies of the Bryde’s whale called Rice’s whale. Bryde’s—pronounced “broodus”—is a baleen whale species in the same category […]
Mysterious California sea lion deaths linked to toxic synthetic chemicals
Sea lions in California had been dying of a mysterious cancer for decades. Now, scientists say they have finally uncovered the likely cause: toxic chemicals from industrial trash, pesticides and oil refinery waste. A team of mammal pathologists, virologists, chemists and geneticists have concluded that sea lions with higher concentrations of DDT, PCBs and other […]
US allows killing of hundreds of sea lions to save struggling salmon
US authorities have given wildlife managers in Washington, Oregon and Idaho permission to start killing hundreds of sea lions in the Columbia River basin in hopes of helping struggling salmon and steelhead trout. The marine mammals long ago figured out that they could feast on the migrating fish where they bottleneck at dams or where […]
Sea lions to be culled to protect salmon
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is accepting public comments on a new plan to cull sea lions on the Columbia River, along the Oregon-Washington border, in order to benefit populations of salmon and steelhead, which have been falling in recent years. Current management policy allows up to 92 California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) to […]