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DolphinWorld.org Newsletter

!	Judge Limits Navy use of Sonar

Federal ruling cites concerns for marine mammals

ASSOCIATED PRESS

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 26 Citing concerns for marine mammals, a federal judge on Tuesday limited the Navy's use of a new sonar system designed to detect enemy submarines.

THE DECISION scuttles the Navy's plans to experiment with the low-frequency sonar throughout the majority of the worldís oceans, confining it instead to areas with few marine mammals and endangered species. The case stems from a lawsuit by the Natural Resources Defense Council and other environmental organizations that claimed the powerful sonar system harasses and can even kill marine mammals.

The judge ordered NRDC and the Navy to determine where testing the sonar would have a minimal impact on marine life and set a hearing for Oct. 7 to review the matter.

The order does not preclude the Navy from using the submarine-detection system during wartime and acknowledges that the Navy must be allowed to train with it beforehand in various oceanic conditions.

Environmentalists, who say sonar is dangerous, point to a different system the Navy used in March 2000. Hours after it was deployed, at least 16 whales and two dolphins beached themselves on islands in the Bahamas. Eight whales died, and scientists found hemorrhaging around their brains and ear bones ó injuries consistent with exposure to loud noise.

Navy spokesman Whit DeLoach offered no comment, saying the decision was still being reviewed. The Navy can appeal the decision.

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Saving Whales
Rescuers free young humpback whale entangled in fishing gear in Bay of Fundy
Canada East, Canada - September 8, 2003

GRAND MANAN, N.B. (CP) - A young humpback whale entangled in potentially deadly fishing gear in the Bay of Fundy has been released relatively unharmed.

The struggling whale was noticed Sunday afternoon by a whale-watching tour in the bay, located between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, said Jerry Conway, marine mammals adviser for the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Just over three hours after calling the coast guard, the surprisingly docile mammal was freed from the gill netting by a group of volunteers using jackknives and buoys about six kilometres east of Grand Manan.

"It was fairly severely tangled. There was quite a bit of gear on it around the tail," Conway said in an interview late Sunday.

The whale is the third to be successfully disentangled in the bay this summer.
"Humpbacks though not considered an endangered species in Canada, are considered to be of special concern," he said. "The fact that we were able to respond and get the gear off is significant. Ultimately, this whale would have died." Mackie Green, a volunteer rescuer and owner of a nearby whale-watching business, said the whale was breathing hard and "tired out" when they first approached it in a rigid-hulled inflatable boat.

Three other boats were also at the scene.
The whale stayed near the surface under their boat and didn't fight them during the delicate procedure. "It was really amazing. It was like he knew we were there to help," said Green, who has rescued one other whale already this summer.

"It was a textbook case. It was the first time I've ever seen one that went that well." Chris Slay, a whale biologist with the Center for Coastal Studies, said the whale made the situation easy. "The right whales that we're used to working with are like mad buffaloes when they're entangled in line," he said from Lubeck, Me.

"They're really difficult to work - just ornery. This animal just lay at the surface and really wouldn't
let us get away from it."

Afterwards, they watched the whale swim away for about an hour towards a group of other humpbacks feeding in the area, Slay said.

He said he isn't worried about the whale despite the abrasions and cuts it had from the netting around its mouth, and said its chances are good for surviving the ordeal.

Green is one of the first volunteers in the Maritimes to be trained in disentanglements by the Center for Coastal Studies, based in Provincetown, Mass.

The non-profit organization is seen as a world leader in the dangerous and highly specialized field of freeing the gigantic mammals from fishing gear that can saw deeply into the animal's flesh and cause infections, which can be fatal if not treated.

Last month, the centre inked a deal with DFO to provide training and gear to help streamline international efforts to rescue entangled whales.

Humpbacks and right whales travel each summer to the Bay of Fundy to dine on the area's rich supply of plankton.

Aside from getting caught in webs of floating ropes and gear, the other big killer of whales along the eastern seaboard are ship strikes.

Bahamas Wild Dolphin Vacations

Fall 2003

• September 6 - September 12
• September 20 - September 26
• December 13 - December 19
• December 29 - January 4, 2004

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Here are some comments from the August 2003 Trip from Bimini. A great adventure for everyone.

There are no words that I can speak with my mouth though my heart speaks volumes about my energy adventure with both of you and our "pod". I arrived without any expectations, thought I would place myself in the universe and enjoy each moment as blessings and gifts. WOW!!!! those blessings and gifts took the shape of humans, dolphins, sting rays, blue sky, puffy white clouds, sunshine, rain, great food magically safe moments and lots of love. You in your own unique way helped me to not only snorkel for the first time also to trust unconditionally that I would not only survive the snorkeling adventure & grow and heal @ a cellular level also.

The dolphins came and shared their unconditional love with us on our first full day, when I personally needed physical healing the most after my fall and I am eternally thankful to the universe. The stingrays took me to a whole different level, a definite AHAH!!!! moment.
Cris thank you for allowing me to share my daughters with you and thank you for all your caring, nurturing and yummy food. Geoff thank you for being present with me as I emerged from my crysallis.
Both of you have very healing vibrations for me, thank you for the gift.

Many blessings

Love

Millly

(Click Here for more information on this trip)

REVOLUTIONARY DEVICE HELPS SAVE DOLPHINS
06 September 2003
TONY SUTTON

A Westcountry wildlife expert is becoming overwhelmed with orders, particularly from Europe, for a revolutionary new device that he has invented which is designed to help save dolphins.

Nick Tregenza, who set up the Cornwall Dolphin group, has designed an acoustic device that makes the cetacean switch on its sonar and so become aware of fishing nets close-by.

He believes it is a better solution to the rising tide of deaths than the "pinger" device being trialled by Defra - and he has so far sold 200 of them.

"I've got a kind of global monopoly," he says, explaining that he didn't really appreciate his position until he got a call from a German company wanting to order his porpoise and dolphin detection unit, called a T-pod.

"The caller said: 'Is that Chelonia Ltd?' and I said: 'No. It's not limited. It's just me'.

"And, he said: 'Are you ready for this? We've all got to use your equipment'," said Nick.

The German environment ministry had apparently decreed that Chelonia's T-pods must be used to monitor the impact of offshore construction on dolphins and porpoises.

"There is nothing else like my pod on the market," said Nick, who assembles them in one of his bedrooms in his cottage at Mount's Bay. The components are made in various parts of Cornwall and Devon.

Many of the 200 so far sold have gone for environmental impact study work in Europe involving offshore wind farms, where there is a huge construction programme. A group studying the Baltic porpoise population also uses them.

T-pods are also tracking bottle nose dolphins in the Mediterranean - a huge problem as militant fishermen want to rid the seas of dolphins because of the damage they do to their nets.

In the Shetlands, T-pods monitor the behaviour of dolphins and porpoises to tidal power generators.

His T-pods have even found their way to the Amazon where they monitor the river dolphin, Boto. They are also being used in Africa and the Far East.

Nick describes his invention as "a self-contained submersible computer and hydrophone that recognises and logs echo-location clicks from porpoises and dolphins".

Nick says he never set out to create a "global monopoly", but simply wanted to learn more about dolphins and porpoises.

He started off in 1989 by setting up the Cornwall Dolphin Group through the Cornwall Wildife Trust - the first of its kind in the UK.

Volunteer observers reported sightings of these marine mammals and they were entered into a data base. In 1993, following the strandings and deaths of hundreds of these small cetaceans, he set up a programme which put
observers on fishing boats to see if cetaceans getting accidentally caught in nets were a major factor in strandings. An emphatic "yes" was the answer. The programme was picked up by other European fishing nations with the same results.

The next step was to establish what was happening underwater, out of view of the observers. Out of this was created the T-pod, which has revealed some interesting facets of cetacean life.

For instance, porpoises forage around fishermen's nets without getting caught far more than was realised. During wind farm construction when piles are being driven by huge hammers, porpoises distance themselves some 12km from the noise, but within three hours of the hammering ending they are back.

"We did a lot of work with Newlyn fishermen using the T-pods," says Nick. "The results suggest that porpoises get entangled when they are going around with their sonar off.

"To use the sonar costs them energy. They have to blow internal raspberries all the time to make the sounds and then they listen to the echoes coming back. So they are using effort to make these sounds. Also it advertises their presence to prey, potential predators (if they are small dolphins or porpoises) and the competition. So they might have good reasons for staying silent sometimes," he says.

This winter, Defra is proposing to place its pingers on all nets. But Nick said: "Pingers don't alert dolphins or porpoises to fishing nets. They just scare the hell out of the animal so that it clears off and never knows the net is there.
"People are worried about this because it means that it excludes porpoises from parts of their habitat and in places with deeply indented coastlines you only have to have a few pingers near the entrance and porpoises are either trapped inside or prevented from getting out."

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TropicalAdventure.com
Florida Keys Dive Center, Tavernier FL

I paddled toward the three small gators only to notice the eight-foot mother gator sunbathing next to her babies! I was able to drift slowly and quietly to within ten feet of the mother and babies. I slowly pulled out my camera to get a close up shot of the family. I got the several pictures off before I felt I was drifting too close for my level of comfort. I snapped my last shot within ten feet of the family, and quickly turned and reached for my paddle. The quick turn and poor balance made my kayak lean just enough to allow water to rush into the boat causing it to flip and send me into the water right in front of the family of alligators! I FREAKED!

To find out more about this story, please read this article on TropicalAdventure.com. If you are outdoor lover, this would be a great trip for you.
Please Click Here to Read More!!