Tag Archives | reef protection

California Rejects Navy’s Deadly Sonar Program

March 21, 2013

(OCEANS) Following pleas from several animal activists and environmental groups including the Whale & Dolphin Watch team, the California Coastal Commission has voted to reject the U.S. Navy’s plan to increase their use of sonar and underwater explosives during training off the Southern California coast. Opposed by several environmental groups including the Natural Resources Defense Council and Greenpeace, the Navy’s plan was unanimously ruled against for lacking sufficient evidence that the threat to marine life would be negligible. While the Navy estimates that the proposed program would kill 130 marine mammals and cause hearing loss in 1,600 animals over a span of five years, the Natural Resources Defense Council believe these numbers are stark underestimates. Read on to learn more about this ongoing issue and take a moment to give thanks to the activists involved in this grand victory. — Global Animal

Share Your Thoughts

900 Dolphins Slaughtered In Retaliation

January 25, 2013

(OCEANS) Villagers in the Solomon Islands have slaughtered up to 900 dolphins in retaliation for a payment dispute with the non-profit conservation group Earth Island Institute (EII). The Berkeley-based group had supposedly promised the Fanalei villagers on the island of Malaita $2.4 million Solomon Island Dollars (about $335,000 USD) to stop hunting and selling dolphins and dolphin products, however the islanders claim they only received $700,000. The mass slaughter reportedly occurred after villagers refused to renew a memorandum of understanding with EII that expired in April of last year, however EII director Lawrence Makili claims that after $300,000 was invested amongst individual communities, one group seized the remaining funds without distributing them. Read on to learn more about the unfortunate news and sign the petition demanding the maximum sentence for these villagers as well as the petition urging the Solomon Islands to keep their promise to ban the capture and export of bottlenose dolphins. — Global Animal

Share Your Thoughts

Maldives Announces World’s Largest Marine Reserve

June 21, 2012

(OCEAN NEWS) By the year 2017, the 1,192 islands of the Maldives will be a marine reserve. The plan was announced recently at the Rio+20 UN Conference of Sustainable Development, and will make the country the largest protected area of ocean life in the world. With increasing threats to marine life and environments, this positive step will hopefully highlight the importance of the ocean’s survival. Read on for more on the proposed plan. — Global Animal

Share Your Thoughts

Ghostly Threat Looms Over Tropic Waters

June 18, 2011

(OCEAN CONSERVATION) Although coral looks like branches of a colorful underwater plant, it’s actually teeming with, and created by, living animals — tiny, tentacled polyps. The idea of flora is reinforced by the fact that coral lengthens over time. But this is an occurrence of older generations of polyps dying and leaving behind exoskeletons, on top of which the next generation make their homes.

Coral are an important part of reef ecosystems, and the algae with which they symbiotically pair, is what gives them food, a clean environment, and their magnificent colors. It’s a delicate balance maintaining this relationship, however, and something as minor as climate change can cause coral bleaching. More and more tropical coral are growing ghostly and scientists fear oceans could be losing big in the years to come. Read on…— Global Animal

Share Your Thoughts

New Study Shows Prevention Is Better Than Rehab For Coral Reefs

August 17, 2010

The authors of the study in the journal Conservation Letters found that using marine patrols and enforcement to prevent blast fishing in Southeast Asia’s coral Reefs can be 70 times more cost-effective than rebuilding those reefs after the damage is done.

Share Your Thoughts

Back to top