Tag Archives: “critical habitat.”
The real culprit behind the war on watermen is pollution
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has been accused of waging a “war on watermen,” and watermen are fighting back, seeking changes in the way the bay’s fisheries are being managed. They say their livelihoods are being undermined and their culture threatened. They are right about that, but they are directing their anger at the wrong people. The bay is choking on an overload of nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment from a variety of pollution sources. The results of this over-enrichment are massive population explosions of algae that turn the water to pea soup from spring to fall. This cloudy water blocks sunlight from underwater grasses, reducing this critical habitat for crabs and juvenile fish to only 20 percent of historical coverage. Read the rest here 15:27
NOAA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service – Guam Green Sea Turtles may need more protection.
When Peter Perez, 55, was a child, he used to swim with sea turtles. His father, and grandfather, he said, used to eat sea turtles before they became a threatened species, protected by federal law. Perez questioned the rationale for changing the status of the green sea turtle, saying people have reported seeing plenty of turtles around Guam. He also disagrees with the decision by the federal government to hold a public hearing for the proposal in Hawaii and not in this region. Read the rest here 16:03
Right whales might get extra layer of protection off N.C. coast
Off Southeastern North Carolina, the critical habitat would extend about 25 miles offshore. So will the new designation mean additional red tape for commercial fishermen, ships transiting through the new critical habitat areas or other current offshore activities? No, Gouveia stressed. But it would place the whales on the proverbial radar screen for any future developments in the near-shore waters off the coast that could impact those important habitat features. Read the rest here 19:50
Big mammals vs. big oil: New pipeline puts humpback whales at risk
In a deep fjord in British Columbia called the Douglas Channel, where the Kitimat River pours runs of Chinook salmon into the Pacific Ocean, fishermen see singing humpback whales fling themselves into the air. Now the humpbacks are the flashpoint of an environmental battle. Environmentalists cried foul last month when the Canadian government stripped the whales of protections,,Read more here 20:58
