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.

Karla Dutton, Alaska Program Director

A surfacing beluga whale (©Ansgar Walk)

Beluga whales have called Cook Inlet home for a long time – some say they’ve been here as long as 10,000 years. Stretching 180 miles from the Gulf of Alaska to Anchorage, Cook Inlet provides them room to roam, but isolates them from beluga whales elsewhere. Of the five populations of beluga whales in U.S. waters, all found off the coast of Alaska, Cook Inlet belugas are the only population that is endangered.

Each summer, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) conducts aerial abundance estimate surveys over the Inlet in search of Cook Inlet beluga whales. Scientifically-trained observers on board the plane use wide angle and zoomed video to record belugas, then compare the two videos to determine how many whales may have been missed. Two other analysts also count whales from the plane – all of this to ensure that the count is as accurate as it can be. The data is analyzed at NOAA labs in Seattle, and the results tell us how many whales are living in Cook Inlet.

Last week, the Alaska Fisheries Science Center of NOAA announced its 2012 abundance estimate, or population number, for the Cook Inlet belugas. The estimated population for last year was 312 whales — slightly up from last year’s estimate of 284 whales. But even though the population increased this year, if you examine the past 10 years of population estimates as NOAA scientists do, you see a trend: the population is declining at an average of 0.6 percent each year. Considering how small the current population is, this trend could threaten the survival of Cook Inlet belugas.

But there is good news! During the 2012 survey, scientists found Cook Inlet belugas in a part of Cook Inlet where they haven’t been seen since 2001. “A group of belugas was observed just offshore of West Foreland swimming north into upper Cook Inlet,” said Kim Shelden, a NOAA scientist and the chief scientist for this survey. This could mean that the population is expanding further into Cook Inlet, and reclaiming more of the species’ historic range. Until recently, we have watched these whales occupy only a small part of their original range in the waters off of Anchorage, the largest city in Alaska. It would be wonderful to see these whales traveling, feeding and raising their young in more diverse areas of Cook Inlet. If they spread out, it could reduce the chance of many whales being stranded when trying to escape predators like Orcas. It is too early to tell if this year’s survey means we’ll see Cook Inlet belugas expanding into their former range across more of the inlet or not, but good news is certainly welcome for a species already at risk.

A pod of beluga whales seen from the air (©NOAA)

Cook Inlet belugas were listed as an endangered species in 2008, and in 2011 NOAA designated two areas of Cook Inlet as their critical habitat, for a  total of 3,016 square miles. Cook Inlet belugas are top predators in their food chain, which means that their decline could be a sign of a deeper problem in their ecosystem. To find out what’s affecting them, we have to look at their habitat, their food sources and availability, and many other issues including noise, pollution, fishing, ship traffic, disease and climate change. It is important that we learn what is keeping the beluga population from growing so that we can craft a plan to help them recover.

That’s where the Cook Inlet Recovery Plan process comes in. The process uses information in the National Marine Fisheries Service Conservation Plan, which determines that for a “healthy, viable population,” there need to be at least 780 belugas in Cook Inlet – a far cry from last year’s numbers, I’m afraid. This makes the work that we’re doing for Cook Inlet belugas all the more important.

I serve as the representative for Defenders on the Cook Inlet Beluga Whale Recovery Team (CIBRT) Stakeholder Panel. Since March 2010 we have been working to help draft a recovery plan for Cook Inlet belugas. The draft plan will be shared with the public later this year, and the public will have a chance to review and comment on it, so stay tuned. We hope that this plan will help us find out why the belugas are not recovering, and provide us with a plan of action so that we can all work towards the successful recovery of this important and beloved species.

Our office provides field data collection equipment and outreach brochures for some of the 75 trained citizen scientists who collect shore-based observations of Cook Inlet belugas as part of the Anchorage Coastal Beluga Survey, which Defenders helped found in 2008 along with Friends of the Anchorage Coastal Wildlife Refuge. The data from both of these research efforts helps fill in gaps and gets us closer to answering the question of why the Cook Inlet beluga population is not recovering. We’ll continue to work with scientists and the public to find a way to help these iconic whales recover and thrive in Cook Inlet once again.

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.

Sierra Weaver, Senior Staff Attorney

Sierra on a whale watching boat (Credit: Whale & Dolphin Conservation Society)

One of my favorite work trips every year is to the annual meeting of the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The fewer than 500 remaining North Atlantic right whales live almost exclusively in the coastal waters off the Eastern U.S. and Canada, and this annual meeting brings together the scientists, government officials and conservationists working to bring these highly endangered animals back from the brink of extinction. Defenders of Wildlife has long been a forerunner in the fight to address the leading threats to this species.

As I do every year, in November I presented to the Consortium on the efforts of Defenders and our conservation partners to ensure that right whales and the busy waters of the Eastern Seaboard that they call home are protected from increasing industrialization. There’s a lot happening right now on these fronts, so it was great to communicate to the scientists how their research is being used for right whale conservation, and the upcoming opportunities for them — and you — to weigh in on what’s needed to protect right whales.

Some things to watch for:

Speed Limits for Ships
Ship strikes are the leading cause of death for North Atlantic right whales. In 2008, following years of pressure from Defenders and our partners, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) imposed the first-ever speed limits for large ships on the East Coast. These requirements give crew members more time to stop and avoid whales, and for whales to move out of their path. But the speed restrictions we fought so hard for will expire in December, 2013 unless the governments acts to extend them. Defenders and our partners petitioned NMFS in June to do just that, as well as to expand the restrictions to other times and places that right whales need protection. Making sure these rules stay in place and are as effective as possible is vital to right whale survival and recovery.

A right whale and her calf

Fishing Gear Entanglement
NMFS is scheduled to release a proposed rule and draft environmental impact statement in early- to mid-2013 on new measures to prevent right whales from being entangled in fishing gear. Entanglement can lead to the long and painful death of large whales as fishing lines cut into their blubber and limit their ability to feed and swim. I’m a member of the team advising NMFS on the entanglement problem, and am pushing strongly for the agency to take prompt action to protect right whales and other endangered species from this serious threat.

Critical Habitat
We’re also urging NMFS to move forward with proposed changes to the critical habitat for the North Atlantic right whale. Defenders and our partners petitioned NMFS for expanded critical habitat back in 2009, calling for expanded protection of right whale breeding, calving and feeding grounds, and for the designation of their migratory corridor as critical habitat for the first time. When they failed to act on our petition, we took legal action, and NMFS promised a proposal before the end of 2011. We’re still waiting, but will continue our efforts to shake loose this important conservation measure.

North Atlantic right whales have a long road to recovery, and threats to the survival of the species abound. With your help, Defenders of Wildlife is continuing the fight to make our oceans a safer place for whales.

A right whale killed by a ship strike is lifted onto the beach.

After years of court battles and advocacy efforts by Defenders and its partners, the federal government proved it means business when it comes to protecting right whales. The government announced yesterday its first notices of violation and proposed fines against ships breaking the Right Whale Ship Strike Reduction Rule.  Ship strikes are the leading cause of death for this population of only about 400 animals. This important rule was put in place in 2008 in order to avoid potentially deadly collisions, and requires ocean-going vessels of 65 feet or greater to slow to 10 knots or less in areas where highly endangered North Atlantic right whales are known to congregate.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) said that the proposed penalties range from $16,500 to $49,500 depending on the frequency of violations – dollar amounts that hopefully will cause more oceangoing vessels to realize that compliance with the law is good for both the whales and their own pocketbooks.

The timing couldn’t be better for this highly endangered animal.

November 15 marked the start of the species’ winter calving season, with right whale moms arriving in the waters off Georgia and Florida to give birth to the next generation of right whales!  Because right whale moms and calves tend to spend more time at the surface, they are especially vulnerable to vessel collisions in the busy waters of the Southeast.

Sierra Weaver

In a population so small, every animal counts, and enforcement of this crucial law helps give North Atlantic right whales a fighting chance for survival.

Learn more about right whales and what Defenders is doing to protect them and the places they call home.

Blog post by Sierra Weaver, attorney for Defenders of Wildlife who works to protect endangered right whales.

Alas, no snorkeling photos. But Alejandra Goyenechea’s week in Jamaica was time well spent for marine conservation. Here’s a recap from both meetings in Montego Bay last week to discuss protecting wildlife in the wider Caribbean region.

Alejandra puts on her game face for daylong meetings on marine conservation in the Caribbean last week.

• New marine sanctuary: “Agoa,” the mythical Amerindian goddess of the sea, is the name of a newly protected area for marine mammals near the French Antilles.  France contributed the sanctuary as part of the Marine Mammal Action Plan in order to bring attention to the importance of protecting dolphins and whales in the Caribbean.
• Taming the lionfish: Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (SPAW) countries in the Caribbean will be launching an initiative to curtail the invasive lionfish that has taken over fisheries throughout much of the region. Lionfish populations have been growing steadily up and down the Atlantic Coast, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean, where they have no natural predators and feast on other sea creatures. Some countries have offered a bounty for killed lionfish; others are urging gastronomes to eat them all.
• Raft of ratifications: A critical part of these international meetings is to come up with actionable plans that become legally binding. For that to happen, parties must sign on to various protocols before they can be enforced. There were several important ratifications in Jamaica that will help protect biodiversity and reducepollution:
  • Guyana ratified the Cartagena Convention and all three major protocols (SPAW, LBS and Oil Spill)
  • Bahamas ratified the Cartagena Convention and became the ninth party to ratify the LBS protocol, therefore entering the protocol into force.
    
    

    The conference hotel in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Notice the lack of conservation experts out enjoying the sunshine.

• Making island history: Two islands, formerly a part of Netherlands Antilles, became autonomous countries under the Kingdom of Netherlands. The implications are still unclear and perhaps trivial, as this Time story notes. Nevertheless, welcome Curacao and St. Maarten to (partial) statehood!
• Seafood faux pas: Alejandra reports disappointedly that her hotel in Jamaica served queen conch–a Caribbean mollusk that is often over-harvested, putting the future population at risk. The species currently has limited protections under Appendix II of CITES, which establishes an export quota for countries like Jamaica. Yet international trade in conch continues at unsustainable levels, highlighting the need for regional collaboration on conservation strategies. Needless to say, Alejandra passed on eating the conch.