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June 27, 2000
There is growing concern for the survival of the remaining 300 - 600 Northern right whales in the northwest Atlantic.  Only one calf has been sighted so far this year, only three in 1999, and six in 1998.  With more deaths than births, the population continues to fall.  Some experts believe pollution may be a factor as only 36% of the adult females are breeding.  Females give birth only every three to four years.

The World Wide Fund is urging Canada and the United States to take stronger measures to protect this dwindling species.  Breeding grounds have recently been discovered off Florida and Georgia. Their main feeding areas are off Nova Scotia, Maine and Massachusetts. 

Although some drown in fishing nets, the biggest mortality factor (90%)is collisions with ships.  The whales are monitored and all ships entering US waters required to radio the Coast Guard for warnings of the presence of right whales. There are times, however,  e.g. during storms, when their presence is not detectable.  WWF is calling for ship-free zones in the most habituated areas. 

The Southern right whale population has been recovering at the rate of 7% a year.

June 27, 2000
Japan is killing 22,000 dolphins annually in her coastal waters against the recommendations of the International Whaling Commission.  Dall's porpoises suffer most with 18,000 deaths. The population of striped dolphins has declined by 90%.   Unlike European and English-speaking nations, Japan has no law protecting these animals.  Instead, it sets quotas limiting the number to be killed, but with no enforcement, this is largely meaningless.

June 23, 2000.
Cook Inlet beluga whale population down almost 50% in past six years.
The National Marine Fisheries Service has so far refused to grant these belugas endangered species status and blames their decline on native Alaskans fishing.  Last year the natives voluntarily stopped killing them.  A coalition of environmental groups also cites "entanglement in fishing gear, oil spills, seismic testing, industrial and municipal pollutants" and plans to sue for endangered  species status.

June 14, 2000
A red letter day for whales.  The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals this week suspended the ruling made by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) that granted the Makah tribe to hunt gray whales.

This ruling, made on a lawsuit lead by US Congressman
Jack Metcalf, the UK's Breach Marine and Australians for Animals,
effectively says that the US government permitted the Makah to kill gray
whales BEFORE adequately considering the full environmental implications of
such a hunt.

The ruling documents indicate that the NMFS appear to have written their
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) while simultaneously proceeding with
the hunt agreements, indicating a bias toward the Makah and presumably
therefore operating in less than an objective manner while preparing their
EIS. As one of the groups who prepared critical comments to NMFS during the
EIS process (and summarily receiving no substantial response to our
comments), SeaWolf supports the tenet of the ruling that NMFS acted
inadequately when they stated that "no significant impact" would come as a
result of the Makah hunt.

While this decision is a small victory for whale hunt opponents, the
ramifications of the decision still remain to be seen. SeaWolf has long
been weary of the fact that the Isaac Stevens Treaty, as written, did not
require US sanction nor approval of this hunt. We believe that the Makah
have previously followed US protocols simply as a courtesy, and now that
the NMFS has been disciplined, the tribe will simply proceed without
anything but their treaty to support their efforts. At that time, it will
be curious whether the NMFS will uphold contemporary law and hold the
whalers responsible for any variation of traditional whaling activities.

At this time, SeaWolf foresees that the following actions should be pursued;

- Citizens should now write strong letters to the NMFS, demanding that any
renegade hunt effort be enforced against under current US laws;
- The IWC must be petitioned and informed that the US government acted
prematurely when representing the Makah -- even prior to domestic
determination that such a hunt would bear no long-term ecological impacts;
- All agencies enforcing against those protesting the hunt should be liable
for these acts, which were now based on a premature determination by the
NMFS (there is arguably room from countersuits and damage suits against
those agencies);
- Citizens should continue efforts to legally and politically impede the
NMFS from assisting with any future hunts.

The Makah whalers are currently in disarray due to the alleged arrest of
rifleman Billy Secor, who reportedly threatened his own family with the
federally funded .50-caliber hunting rifle (a federal violation), and
internal dissent over these and other issues make a year 2000 whale hunt
very unlikely. This ruling could represent a major turn in the tide for
the Makah whalers, whom are now starting to feel the political weight of
their decision to kill whales. Suffice to say, SeaWolf believes that the
coast of Washington will remain safe for gray whales for at least another
10 months

June 14, 2000
The US Navy conceded that the effect of its Low  Frequency Active
Sonar (LFAS) on whales needs further investigation.  "We hope to build on what we will learn...to ensure that it does not happen again anywhere," Cmdr Greg Smith said in a statement from the Pentagon.  The Navy had previously dismissed charges that tests of its powerful sonar were responsible for whale deaths and strandings.

The change of attitude resulted from the lucky chance that 16 whales beached themselves near the Abaco home of marine biologist Ken Balcomb during the Navy's  LFAS trials off the Bahamas in March.  In previous strandings (during Greece and Hawaii tests), the corpses were too decomposed for meaningful autopsies.  Balcomb took pains to preserve the corpses of the seven whales who died, enabling scientists to determine that the whales had suffered hemorrhaging in and around their ears consistent with "an intense acoustic event".

June 7, 2000
NORWAY--The coastal municipality of Mosknes is campaigning to get all coastal communities to appeal to the Ministry of Fisheries to permit the export of whale flesh to other countries in order to make it more profitable.  You can help by protesting to the following:

Postboks 8118 Dep
0032 Olso
Norway
tlf. + 47 22 24 90 90, fax. + 47 22 24 95 85
e-mail: postmottak@fid.dep.no OR otto.gregussen@fid.dep.no

Ministery of Environment
Postboks 8013 Dep
0030 Oslo
Norway
tlf. + 47 22 24 90 90, fax. + 47 22 24 95 60
e-mail: postmottak@md.dep.no