U.S. NAVY/COMMERCIAL WHALERS vs. THE WHALES

http://www.agriculturedefensecoalition.org/?q=oceans

U.S. NAVY & AIR FORCE WARFARE TESTING EXPERIMENTS & PROGRAMS

COMMERCIAL WHALING & OTHER ISSUES FACING OUR OCEANS

Our oceans are under assault from a wide variety of sources. The worst of these are the U.S. Navy Experimental Warfare Testing Programs which were initiated in 2008, and will continue in the Atlantic, Pacific, and the Gulf of Mexico over the next five years. In the U.S. Navy Sitemap Section of this website you will find the U.S. Navy Environmental Impact Statements, a Navy map of all their five year warfare testing areas, notification about those that have already been implemented in Southern California, the Mariana Islands, and Hawaii in the Pacific, and those in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. Many of these 5-Year warfare testing program will be started in the near future unless the public says "NO"! (The U.S. Air Force is also using the Gulf of Mexico for bomb blast testing.) The one that is proposed for Northern California, Oregon, Washington & Idaho is being opposed by many groups at this time and this 5-year warfare testing program could start at any time here in Northern California.

Letter from several Senators including Senators Barbara Boxer and Feinstein to NOAA-June 17, 2009:

"...In many regions, the Navy plans to increase the number of its exercises or expand the areas in which they may occur, and virtually every coastal state will be affected. Some exercises may occur in the nation's most biologically sensitive marine habitats, including National Marine Sanctuaries and breeding habitat for the endangered North Atlantic right
whale. In all, the Navy anticipates more than 2.3 million takes (significant disruptions in marine mammal foraging, breeding, and other essential behaviors) per year, or 11.7 million takes over the course of a five-year permit..."

Please note that NOAA is receiving funding from the Navy and has been issuing permits for the U.S. Navy to proceed with these warfare programs with limited mitigation measures in place. It should also be noted that most studies being conducted at this time are allegedly funded by the Navy with their participation. The ability of NOAA working as a funded partner with the Navy leads one to believed that their test results will be biased in favor of the Navy.

Our oceans and ocean life are already in trouble and now the U.S. Navy and Air Force warfare testing will create a crisis destroying not only sea life, habitat, fish, mammals, birds, and more for years into the future. When you also add the ocean geoengineering schemes to this mix (like ongoing and unregulated iron ocean fertilization, commercial whaling and other programs), we will lose this vital resouce and its inhabitants. (See the Geoengineering Section of this website.)

OCEAN ALLIANCE MARINE TOXICITY REPORT

www.oceanalliance.org/

SEE ALSO the Facebook group "A Race To Save Our Oceans" for up to the minute postings from the crew of the Odyssey...

Ocean Alliance Releases Voyage of the Odyssey Report

6/24/2010

The Voyage of the Odyssey Report is the scientific end-product of Ocean Alliance’s 5-year, round the world research expedition during which scientists and crew collected biopsy samples and other data from almost 1,000 sperm whales globally.

Conducted aboard Ocean Alliance’s research vessel Odyssey, a 93-foot ketch motor-sailor, the expedition collected research data from sperm whales while providing formal and informal education and conservation programs in the 118 ports in 22 countries that the Odyssey and crew visited.

Departing from San Diego and traveling 87,000 nautical miles before its return to Boston, the Voyage of the Odyssey was a remarkably successful expedition to collect the first-ever baseline data set on toxic contaminants throughout the world’s oceans by studying the sperm whale, a cosmopolitan whale species that sits atop the oceanic food chain.

To access the Executive Summary, click below:

http://www.oceanalliance.org/documents/OAVoyageoftheOdyssey-ExecutiveSummary.pdf

WISE MARINE TOXICOLOGY GULF MISSION

http://rachels-carson-of-today.blogspot.com/2010/08/wise-marine-toxicology-labgulf-mission.html

Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded resulting in an uncontrolled release of oil into the ocean. Estimates now indicate that 1.5 million to 4.2 million gallons continue to flood into the Gulf on a daily basis totaling between 85.5 million and 239 million gallons with no end in sight. Superimposed on the threat of the oil, is the already more than one million gallons of toxic chemical dispersants that British Petroleum (BP) dumped into the Gulf to try and breakup the oil. These chemicals are being used in unprecedented amounts and in untested ways.

One major concern is the impact of this crisis on wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico. Marine mammals are a particular concern because they serve as sentinels for human health and because they are key species for both the ocean ecosystem and coastal economies. Marine mammals are at risk in this crisis. For example, there is a resident population of about 1,600 sperm whales in the Gulf of Mexico. This population is endangered, as all sperm whales are, but this population is considered to be at particular risk because the size of the group is so small. Losing even a few whales will have dramatic population effects because individual whales take a long time to reach sexual maturity and then only produce a few calves over their lifetimes. The Gulf Oil spill is a specific threat to these sperm whales, because they occupy deeper waters and thus are much closer to the greatest amount of oil. Moreover, studies show that prior to the explosion, many sperm whales spent a lot of time near the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. In fact, a dead sperm whale has recently been discovered near the oil spill though the cause of death has not yet been reported.

"TOXINS FOUND IN WHALES BODE ILL FOR HUMANS"

http://www.physorg.com/news196611627.html

Report: Toxins found in whales bode ill for humans

June 24, 2010 By ARTHUR MAX , Associated Press Writer

Enlarge

This undated file photo provided by by Michael Moore of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts shows a sperm whale. Levels of cadmium, aluminum, chromium, lead, silver, mercury and titanium together are the highest ever found in marine mammals, scientists who spent five years shooting nearly 1,000 sperm whales with tissue-sampling darts say, warning that the health of both ocean life and the people who consume seafood could be at risk. (AP Photo/PA, Michael Moore, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

(AP) -- Sperm whales feeding even in the most remote reaches of Earth's oceans have built up stunningly high levels of toxic and heavy metals, according to American scientists who say the findings spell danger not only for marine life but for the millions of humans who depend on seafood.

A report released Thursday noted high levels of cadmium, aluminum, chromium, lead, silver, mercury and titanium in tissue samples taken by dart gun from nearly 1,000 whales over five years. From polar areas to equatorial waters, the whales ingested pollutants that may have been produced by humans thousands of miles away, the researchers said.

"These contaminants, I think, are threatening the human food supply. They certainly are threatening the whales and the other animals that live in the ocean," said biologist Roger Payne, founder and president of Ocean Alliance, the research and conservation group that produced the report.

The researchers found mercury as high as 16 parts per million in the whales. Fish high in mercury such as shark and swordfish - the types health experts warn children and pregnant women to avoid - typically have levels of about 1 part per million.

The whales studied averaged 2.4 parts of mercury per million, but the report's authors said their internal organs probably had much higher levels than the skin samples contained.

"The entire ocean life is just loaded with a series of contaminants, most of which have been released by human beings," Payne said in an interview on the sidelines of the International Whaling Commission's annual meeting.

Payne said sperm whales, which occupy the top of the food chain, absorb the contaminants and pass them on to the next generation when a female nurses her calf. "What she's actually doing is dumping her lifetime accumulation of that fat-soluble stuff into her baby," he said, and each generation passes on more to the next.

Ultimately, he said, the contaminants could jeopardize seafood, a primary source of animal protein for 1 billion people.

"You could make a fairly tight argument to say that it is the single greatest health threat that has ever faced the human species. I suspect this will shorten lives, if it turns out that this is what's going on," he said.

Payne called his group's $5 million project the most comprehensive report ever done on ocean pollutants.

U.S. Whaling Commissioner Monica Medina informed the 88 member nations of the whaling commission of the report and urged the commission to conduct further research.