The San Francisco Judge has handed down
a strong, although
not perfect, injunction against the Navy's deployment of LFA Sonar.
The good news is that Judge Laporte agreed with
environmentalists that LFA Sonar is a threat to whales and other marine
life. She has instructed the Navy and the environmental groups filing
the lawsuit (Natural Resources Defense Council) to sit down and map out
portions of the ocean where LFA Sonar should be off
limits, clearly not impressed by the Navy's and National Marine Fisheries
Service's claims that their "mitigation" and environmental review
were adequate. This provides us with a major political boost
against LFA Sonar.
The downside is that she agreed with the Navy on the
strategic need for LFA Sonar for national security reasons, and
ordered that the Navy be able to use LFA Sonar for testing and
training, as well as for warfare.
More to come, no doubt...
You can read more about this victory for whales at:
http://www.nrdc.org/media/pressreleases/021031.asp
at http://montereybay.nos.noaa.gov/ . Check it out and bookmark it for future use, as it is a major update and addition to their previous site. Under resource
management, new sections have been added summarizing an array of resource protection issues facing the sanctuary, and updates provided for many of their existing programs.
During the Picasso meet up on Ocean Cove, Sonoma, Curt found an ab even he wouldn't eat. He sent it to Dept of Fish and Game. Here's their report :
Selected by: Curt Haney, (415) 841-1492Collection Date: 9-7-02
Location: North of Ocean Cove, Sonoma County California. Total Length
9.45 inches, Estimated age 10 years+, Total Weight: 1,407 grams. Shell
Weight: 812 grams
Gross Shell Description: Shell broken and beaten with wear. Shell riddled with boring Polydora spp. and Cliona boring clam holes. Heavy fungal growth near respiratory pores continuing back to whorl.
Gross tissue Description: Body mass approximately 1/4-1/2 it's normal
size. Foot appears emaciated. Digestive gland morphology stunted. No
gonad visible. Not suitable for histology.
PCR results: Sample: post-esophagus / digestive gland, negative for
the presence of the DNA of the causative agent of withering syndrome.
The abalone probably died of starvation/old age, or being kept in a cooler
for 2 days with his bottles of ale.
Thea Robbins
Phone(707) 875-2066
U.C. Bodega Marine Laboratory Fax
(707) 875-2009
Shellfish Health Laboratory
ttrobbins@ucdavis.edu
California Department of Fish and Game
P.O. Box 247 / 2099 Westside Road
Bodega Bay, CA 94923
From Catherine in NYC:
UC Santa Barbara Scholar Co-Authors Book
on Rockfishes;
Publication Timely in Light of Recent Fishery Closures
SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Nov. 7 (AScribe Newswire) -- "The
Rockfishes of the Northeast Pacific," a 416-page book
published by the University of California Press and
co-authored by Milton Love, research scientist at the
University of California, Santa Barbara, is designed to be
accessible to educators, resource managers and
conservationists, professional marine biologists, and the
general public.
"Especially considering the public's heightened interest
in rockfishes surrounding recent closures of rockfish
fisheries on the West Coast, the information contained in
this book will contribute to an increased understanding of
the biology and ecology of rockfishes, and will most
certainly promote the protection, conservation, and
appreciation of these valuable living resources," said
co-author Mary Yoklavich of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration. The third author is Lyman
Thorsteinson of the United States Geological Survey.
The book provides comprehensive information on the
biology, ecology, evolution, nomenclature, fisheries and
conservation of the 72 species of rockfishes occurring from
Alaska to the Gulf of California. In addition, a key to
identifying each species is followed by detailed species
accounts of appearance, life history, location, and fishery
status. The book includes over 500 spectacular color
illustrations and photographs and 75 distribution maps.
Milton Love first became interested in rockfishes when
his father took him fishing on a party boat out of Malibu in
the mid-1950s. "When we fished on a reef we caught at leasteight
species of rockfish, all of them colorful and cool
looking," said Love. "From that time on I was interested in
that group of fishes and never really changed my focus."