Defenders of Wildlife Blog

Sierra Weaver, Senior Staff Attorney

A right whale calf swims under the chin of its mother, Catalog #2042. Researchers sighted the pair 13 miles off Amelia Island, FL.

Winter tends to be a big time for highly endangered North Atlantic right whales.  Just like some of us who travel to warmer climes during the cold of winter, right whales head south to warm up.  But for them, reaching warm water is more important than just finding a nice vacation spot.  Each winter, pregnant females migrate from their feeding grounds off New England down to their only known calving grounds off the coast of the Southeastern United States to give birth to the next generation of right whales.  There, the warm shallow waters provide ideal habitat for mothers to give birth to and  protect their newborn calves, keeping them safe from natural predators like sharks.  This winter, there have been 17 reported sightings of mother and calf pairs so far, providing hope that this small population of only about 400 animals is slowly inching toward recovery!

But as always, we’re seeking to make sure that recovery continues and that threats to the species don’t sneak in and steal it out from under us!  Back in the 1990s, a small area off the coast of Northeast Florida and Georgia was federally designated as critical habitat for the species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) because of its importance as a winter calving area.  But over time, scientists have realized that an even bigger area stretching north across the coast of South Carolina and farther offshore of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina is “core calving habitat.”  They’ve used these larger boundaries to define areas where fishing should be restricted to protect vulnerable right whale mothers and calves from entanglement, as well as areas where ships should be required to slow down to avoid hitting whales.

This right whale mother and calf were the second confirmed pair in this winter’s survey. The mother has a scar from a vessel propeller on her lower right back.

But despite this recognition that broader protections are needed for these most important members of the species, and a 2009 petition from Defenders and its conservation partners to expand critical habitat along the East Coast of the United States, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has yet to take action.  Expanding critical habitat would ensure that any federal activities likely to affect the area – like fishing, shipping, offshore wind energy development, or Navy activities– are evaluated to make sure right whale calving habitat is not impaired or destroyed.  NMFS itself declared in 2010 that it would propose to amend its critical habitat before the end of 2011, but it still hasn’t moved forward with this beneficial action guaranteed by the ESA.  On January 30,2013, Defenders and our partners notified NMFS that we’ve waited long enough to protect important right whale habitat, and that we’re planning to take them to court to end their unreasonable delay in proposing critical habitat revision.

Also critical for right whale protection is the extension of important rules that require large ocean-going ships to slow down in times and places right whales are likely to be present.  Ship strikes are the leading cause of death for the species, but just like with cars, speed limits help ships avoid collisions either by giving vessels enough time to get out of the way, or giving the whales themselves time to move.  Current speed rules are set to expire in December of this year unless NMFS acts to extend them, and once again, we are concerned that the agency will delay protections this species – and especially this new generation of young calves– needs to survive.  Defenders and its partners petitioned NMFS last summer to extend the speed restrictions and we continue to push them to act quickly to avoid gaps in protection.

But there’s one more threat for right whale mothers and their calves: the Navy has chosen to site its $100 million Undersea Warfare Training Range close to their calving grounds.  The Navy has deferred its decision to actually use the range until it conducts further research and analysis about the impact of operating the range on right whale and other marine species, but for now, the training site still sits uncomfortably close to the calving grounds.  Defenders has taken the Navy and NMFS to court, arguing that this decision to build first and study later violates not only common sense, but also the ESA and the National Environmental Policy Act.

Right whales face a number of threats to their survival as a species.   But here at Defenders, we’re committed to ensuring that right whales thrive, and that means making it safe for mothers to make their southern trek, and for calves to grow up into the next generation of right whales and help secure a future for these endangered gentle giants.

Researchers sighted right whale Catalog #2413 and calf four miles off Ponte Vedra Beach, FL.

Forty foot waves.  60 mile-per-hour winds.  Freezing temperatures.  A fragile, pristine environment.  As if we needed another example of why drilling in the Arctic Ocean is a very bad idea, we sure got one when the Shell drilling ship Kulluk ran aground on Monday.

The problems began last Thursday, when the Kulluk, a conical Arctic drilling ship on its way to Seattle for repairs, broke away from its towing vessel and was set adrift.  Things only got worse from there:  The tow vessel, Aiviq, lost function in all four of its engines due to mechanical issues.  This is the vessel Shell heralded as a symbol of its commitment to doing things right in the Arctic. It is the vessel company president and CEO Gary Chouest described as “the world’s largest and most powerful anchor-handling icebreaker.”  It was designed to operate in minus-40 degrees and is apparently a state of the art vessel. And yet it could not keep control of Kulluk.  As winter seas continued to pummel the drill ship and its now two attendant tow vessels, the Coast Guard was called in to evacuate all of the Kulluk’s crew members.

But the Kulluk wasn’t just carrying crew members.  While the ship pitched up and down in the icy waters, about 150,000 gallons of fuel were sloshing around inside it, too, in the form of sulfur diesel, hydraulic fluid, and lube oil.  In effect, the Kulluk was an oil spill waiting to happen.

By Monday afternoon, the Kulluk was reattached to a repaired Aiviq and a new tow vessel, Alert. The ships were headed for safe port in Kodiak to weather the storm.  But the relentlessly rough water separated the Kulluk from the Aiviq, forcing the crew of the Alert to sever their line, as well.  Kulluk was adrift again, and this time, grounding was all but inevitable.  The ship ran aground around 9 pm on New Year’s Eve on a small island off the coast of Kodiak.

As of this writing, there have been no reports of leakage from the ship or oil sheen on the water.  But the event serves to remind us that drilling attempts in the Arctic will be costly and difficult at best and an environmental tragedy at worst.

Polar bears and other large mammals could suffer damage to their eyes, mouth, skin and lungs from petroleum exposure. Like bird feathers, polar bear fur loses its insulating and water-repelling properties when coated with oil.

This time, the Kodiak Coast Guard station was close enough to respond quickly, with plenty of helping hands and the right equipment. The Coast Guard station can also provide a base for personnel to coordinate efforts or to hunker down when the weather gets too bad to send response vessels.   But the drill sites in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas are over 1,000 miles away from Kodiak, and there’s no Coast Guard station nearer than that.  Shell claims their spill response ship Arctic Challenger can contain an underwater leak, but external support could take days or weeks to reach an out of control vessel, or even worse, a spill.

If something like the 2010 BP Oil Spill were to occur in the Arctic Ocean, the environmental damage would be truly unimaginable: iconic arctic species like whales, polar bears and walruses could all suffer. There is also a huge risk of damaging the intricate and pristine ecology of the Arctic Ocean in ways we don’t fully understand yet.  Combine that with the danger to spill response crews, and it’s hard to believe Shell is willing to risk drilling in the Arctic Ocean at all.

This latest fiasco with the Kulluk could have been a New Year’s oil spill.  The incident surely shows that Shell, even with state of the art equipment, cannot  prevent accidents in the remote Arctic. We can only hope that this and Shell’s other recent travails will convince lawmakers and the administration to put an end to offshore drilling in the Arctic before it’s too late.

by Haley McKey

When you think of climate change, you think of more heat waves and droughts, extreme weather, and melting ice caps.  But there’s another problem caused by carbon dioxide emissions, one which is less familiar to us, but no less catastrophic for our planet: ocean acidification.

How it happens:

Carbon dioxide (or CO₂, its chemical formula) is released by the burning of fossil fuels and the clearing of forests and natural areas.  Most CO₂ goes into the earth’s atmosphere, but some is absorbed by our oceans; in fact, about a quarter of the carbon dioxide emitted every year.  That comes to at least 5 million tons of CO₂ absorbed every day.

Algae and marine plants take up some of this CO₂ for photosynthesis, just as land plants do.  But a large amount of CO₂ simply dissolves into surface seawater.  This is what causes ocean acidification.  When CO₂ in the air is absorbed by the ocean, it bonds with water to form carbonic acid, the same stuff that gives an acidic bite to carbonated water and soda pop.  Like all acids, it releases positively charged hydrogen atoms, leaving behind the bicarbonate ion. The problem is that many marine creatures make their shells from a substance with a slightly different chemical composition – calcium carbonate – and the bicarbonate formed by the extra acidity is useless at best, and downright dangerous at worst.

Crustaceans like this sargassum crab need calcium carbonate to fortify their shells. Photo credit David S. Lee

How it threatens wildlife:

When the oceans have more bicarbonate and less carbonate, this interferes with the healthy growth of a variety of organisms, like mollusks (oysters and clams) and crustaceans (crabs, shrimp, lobsters and tiny krill, which are very important to the whole marine food web).  Mollusks take in calcium carbonate, a molecule in ocean water, and excrete it over their bodies to form hard, protective shells.  Crustaceans also use calcium carbonate to fortify their exoskeletons.  But human activities have increased the acidity of the ocean by almost 30% making it more difficult it is for these creatures to create their natural armor. Even tiny zooplankton, the building blocks of marine food chains, need calcium carbonate and cannot grow properly in acidic seawater.

Coral reefs may be in even more trouble.  Corals secrete calcium carbonate skeletons over their bodies to protect them, just like mollusks and crustaceans do.  Ocean acidification can cause corals to grow more slowly, and it is estimated that at current rates of increasing acidity, corals will no longer be able to lay down skeletons by 2150.

 Profound Effects:

The animals directly harmed by acidification may be small, but the effects are far-flung.  Baleen whales like the endangered Atlantic right whale depend on krill and plankton as a food source.  We humans have built whole economies around shellfish, not to mention the hundreds of fish species we eat that depend on them for food, too.  And as coral reefs die, the diverse and unique ecosystems they support can collapse.

Ocean acidification pulls the rug out from under marine food chains and coastal economies.  The only way to stop it is to make serious cuts to carbon emissions worldwide.  If not, it won’t be long before species begin to disappear and many ocean systems collapse completely in their absence.

Petition calls for stronger protections from ship strikes

Collisions with ships in the busy waters off the U.S. East Coast are one of the greatest threats to the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale. And with only about 400 of these animals left, every whale death can have a huge impact on the long-term recovery of the species.

That’s why Defenders and a coalition of our conservation allies filed a petition today with the National Marine Fisheries Service, demanding stronger protections to guard against the threat of ship strikes.

Temporary protections were put in place in 2008 that set speed limits in important whale habitat, including the species’ calving grounds off the coast of Florida, their feeding and breeding grounds off the coast of New England, and their well-traveled migration path in between. But those protections were arbitrarily set to expire in December 2013, even though the threat of ship strikes remains.

As a result, Defenders is asking federal officials to extend the current ship speed limits, apply them to additional areas where ship strikes are likely to occur, and lengthen the amount of time that seasonal protections are in place.

As Defenders senior staff attorney Sierra Weaver says:

“Protections for highly endangered whales should not be removed until the whales have recovered. We hope the agency will follow the advice of its own experts and act quickly to make sure there is no gap in protections.”

Read the coalition’s press release about extending right whale protections.

In past centuries, North Atlantic right whales were decimated by the commercial whaling industry, and while whaling is no longer a threat, other man-made problems like ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear continue to regularly kill and seriously injure whales.

Right whales received federal protection under the Endangered Species Act in the early 1970s but still have not recovered. Females don’t reach reproductive maturity until age eight, and they only give birth to one calf every four years. Furthermore, these reproductive females and their babies are both the most important animals to the future of the species and the most vulnerable to ship strikes because they spend more time near the surface of the water.

Extending seasonal boat speed limits is the best way to ensure as many right whales as possible are able to survive and reproduce.

For most Americans, summertime is a chance to finally enjoy the great outdoors and appreciate the incredible diversity of native wildlife our country has to offer. It’s time for swimming at the beach and watching shorebirds, hiking in the mountains through fields of wildflowers, and spending lazy afternoons fishing on our nation’s lakes and rivers.

But in recent years, summer has meant the exact opposite here in D.C. It’s time for wildlife opponents in Congress to make their sneak attacks on some of America’s most imperiled plants and animals by cutting holes in our nation’s safety net—the Endangered Species Act.

Polar bears would lose federal protection under a Farm Bill amendment introduced by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah).

The latest onslaught started last week with an insidious rider proposed to the Senate Farm Bill that would eliminate protections for polar bears, Florida panthers and hundreds of other species that exist in only one state.  That was followed quickly by another proposed farm bill amendment that would make it virtually impossible to protect species on private lands by mandating onerous economic analyses and discounting valuable scientific information. We should be doing everything we can to rescue America’s imperiled wildlife, not throwing up additional roadblocks that will push them closer to extinction.

This week, we’re anticipating several more anti-wildlife provisions to be introduced that would eliminate vital protections for endangered species and the habitats they depend on for survival.

First up is a bill that includes an array of nightmarish attacks on our public lands and wildlife.   One of these could spell disaster for jaguars, caribou, lynx, grizzly bears and dozens of other species along our borders. This provision, which was introduced by Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), would waive about three dozen essential environmental laws on Federal public and tribal lands within 100 miles of our borders with Canada and Mexico.  In addition, the bill would give the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) unilateral authority to engage in numerous destructive activities on Federal public and tribal lands anywhere in the U.S., regardless of protective status or proximity to the border.  If passed, the law would allow DHS to build roads through wilderness areas, erect fences around key wildlife habitat and restrict access to national parks without any public involvement whatsoever.

But as two thoughtful ranchers point out in an op-ed for the LA Times, the disastrous border provisions are completely unwarranted. Many landowners already work very closely with border patrol agents to make sure our border regions remain safe without discarding America’s most important environmental safeguards. In another fantastic op-ed for U-T San Diego, a returning Iraq veteran makes the case that our public lands are a source of inspiration and healing for our troops, both when they’re abroad and when they return home.  Rep. Bishop may offer an amendment to this provision on the House floor, but it will do little to address the most significant problems with the legislation.

Last year, this loggerhead was crushed by an off-road vehicle while nesting on Cape Hatteras shores.

Another provision in the same bill would undo critical protections for piping plovers and sea turtles at Cape Hatteras National Seashore. The National Park Service finally announced new rules earlier this year to restrict access to the beach and put a stop to the destruction caused by excessive off-road-vehicle use. Nesting populations of shorebirds and sea turtles have started to recover since 2008 when interim regulations were put in place. Let’s not turn back the clock by allowing Congress to override necessary protections for continued recovery of these rare birds and sea turtles.

A key subcommittee in the U.S. House of Representatives will also begin work on the Interior Appropriations bill this week. This is the same legislation that included more than a dozen attacks on wildlife last year, and it’s likely to have a similar fate this year. We’re particularly concerned about a rider that’s been floated by Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) that would prevent anyone from challenging the delisting of wolves in Wyoming. Such a rider would make it virtually impossible for Defenders, our conservation partners, or any citizens to undo a deadly wolf plan in Wyoming that would allow unrestricted wolf killing across the vast majority of the state.

We’ll be keeping a close watch on Congress this week and urging our champs to take a strong stance to make sure vital wildlife protections remain in place. Please take a moment today to contact your members of Congress and tell them to uphold America’s commitment to preserving our natural heritage for future generations.

Click here to see what you can do to help!

It’s been more than two years since the BP oil spill that spewed 200 million gallons of crude into the Gulf of Mexico, but not all the damage has yet been done.

According to the latest AP report, the lingering effects are still taking a toll on fishermen in the Gulf, who are seeing much smaller catches in some areas. In the Barataria estuary, for example, the shrimp haul for last fall was down nearly 40 percent while the crab harvest was down nearly 30 percent.

High seafood prices have helped compensate for the shortfall to some extent, and some are blaming high water in the Mississippi River and drought in Texas in addition to residual oil. But it’s clear that we haven’t seen the last of the devastation from the spill.

It’s vital that we keep the BP disaster in mind, especially now that the Obama administration has agreed to let Shell drill in the Arctic this summer. Polar bears, whales and countless other species could be at serious risk from yet another oil spill that could be even more deadly than the BP spill in the Gulf.

See how Defenders is working to protect wildlife and natural habitats from the dangers of offshore drilling.

Help support our work to protect sea turtles and other wildlife. Text GULF to 90999 to make a $10 donation. (Message and Data Rates may apply. Mgive.com/t)