As both an approach and a practice, Contemplative Filmmaking is a way of seeing. It's an expressive form with a kinship to poetry. 
Laurynn Evans observed an octopus over a 10 month period and filmed its eggs and hatchlings.
Feed aggregator
Petition to create a moratorium on biomass incinerators
Researchers launch winter tracking of killer whales
Tracking J pod from 6 p.m. Monday to
7:15 a.m. Wednesday, using a satellite tag attached to J-26. Sekiu
is near Slip Point, shown on the south shore of the Strait of Juan
de Fuca.
Map: National Marine Fisheries Service
A team of killer whale researchers is tracking J pod by satellite, after attaching a special radio tag to J-26, a 21-year-old male named “Mike.”
Brad Hanson, who is leading the research team from the Northwest Fisheries Science Center, said the tagging occurred Monday without incident as darkness fell over the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
“This is really exciting,” Brad told me today by cell phone from the NOAA research ship Bell M. Shimada. “This is something we have been planning on doing for quite a few years now. Everything worked out to encounter the animals in decent weather condition.”
The map above shows where the whales have traveled since Monday afternoon. A website showing the tracks, including an explanation of the project, will be updated roughly once a day.
The goal is to learn where the Southern Resident killer whales go in winter, what they’re eating and why they choose certain areas to hang out. Until now, these questions could not be answered well, because winter sightings were fairly limited.
When I talked to Brad about 4 p.m. Wednesday, the Shimada was towing an acoustic array near Port Angeles, as the researchers listened for the sounds of killer whales that might venture into the strait.
J pod was fairly spread out Monday during the tagging operation, and visibility was low Tuesday during heavy rains. As the whales headed out into the ocean, the crew decided to stay in the strait to avoid 20-foot seas and heavy winds off the coast. They could have followed the whales out, Brad said, but the satellite tag allows the crew to keep track of their location. In rough seas, there’s a risk that the research equipment will be damaged.
“Everything is weather-dependent,” Brad said. “Our plan is to try to catch up with them as soon as we can.”
The goal is to collect fecal samples and fish scales — as the researchers do in summer when the whales are in the San Juan Islands.
“That data is extremely valuable in determining the species of fish,” he said, “and if it’s chinook, what stocks are important.”
The satellite tagging has been controversial among some researchers and killer whale advocates, but it was approved following a study of the potential risks and benefits. See Water Ways entries from 2010:
Orca tagging raises questions about research, Dec. 8,
2010
Orca researchers divided over use of satellite tags, Dec. 28,
2010
The researchers are scheduled to be out with the whales until March 7.
“We’re keeping our options open,” Brad said. “We will spend as much time with Js as we can. It looks like we could get one low-pressure system after another, as is typical for February, but we might get a break on Friday. Sometimes we’ll get these holes in the weather system.
“Right now, we’re basically hanging out in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. If other animals come in, we hope to detect that.”
The tagging permit allows for up to six orcas to be tracked each year, but nobody expects the number of tagged animals to be close to that.
Data from the satellite transmitter is relayed to a weather satellite as it passes over. The information is then transferred to a processing center that determines the location of the transmitter. Through the process, the information gets delayed a few hours.
Also on board the research vessel are seabird biologists and other experts taking samples of seawater and zooplankton and collecting basic oceanographic data.
Amusing Monday: Babies of all kinds take to water
I’ve got babies on my mind, no doubt because my daughter in Yakima and two of my coworkers in the newsroom are all expecting in April.
It didn’t take me long to locate some great water-related videos of babies, though not all of them are human. Let’s start with some underwater shots of human babies swimming at a very young age. Click on the video player on this page.
If you like animation, you may enjoy my Water Ways entry from August of 2010. It features the Evian underwater babies from 1998, along with a bunch of animated dancing babies — including the dancing baby that started this whole animated baby craze. Personally, most of these babies seem unnaturally creepy — but check out the last video mentioned in that 2010 entry. It shows a real-life toddler who dances better than many adults.
The “water babies” theme in this blog entry focuses on real situations, including some young animals just learning to swim. (For easier for viewing, I’ve chosen to open each item in a new window or tab, which should make it easier to move on to the next video.)
Military cargo vessel safe after being adrift–PDN
So far, sonar has not been linked to orca death
When one of our resident killer whales, L-112, was found dead north of Long Beach on Feb. 11, people wondered immediately if the death might be related to a sonar incident reported a few days before.
Could the two events be linked or could the timing be just a coincidence?
The two-year-old killer whale,
L-112, was laid out after death and prepared for a
necropsy.
Photo by Cascadia Research
So far, I have been unable to find a ship that was deploying sonar off the coast. At the same time, it appears highly unlikely that L-112 could have been injured by sonar in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and then somehow swam out of the strait and down the full length of the Washington coast, succumb to death and then wash up on the beach, all in less than five days.
New evidence may come to light, but for now I would caution that we need to wait for an investigation by the National Marine Fisheries Service and not jump to conclusions over our concerns about sonar.
I discussed the investigation with marine mammal expert Lynne Barre of NMFS. She said the endangered listing of Southern Residents has heightened interest in all killer whale strandings, particularly unusual deaths like that of this 2-year-old female orca.
Lynne seems to confirm the idea that the investigation will proceed along three tracks. First, there’s the physical condition of L-112, as will be determined through careful examinations. Second, there’s the question of where L-112 and her family group were located during the time of injury. And, third, investigators need to locate ships with sonar capabilities and determine whether any of them had been using them in the time period in question.
Jessie Huggins of Cascadia Research and Dyanna Lambourn of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife provided an initial report from the necropsy:
“The whale was moderately decomposed and in good overall body condition. Internal exam revealed significant trauma around the head, chest and right side; at this point the cause of these injuries is unknown.”
Jessie told me that the whale was probably dead two to four days before it washed up on the beach. Trauma to the head was consistent with a blunt force, such as a boat collision or an attack by another large animal. The report mentions the prospects for what researchers may learn from various tissue samples taken from the whale.
Of particular interest to the sonar question is the skull, which has been frozen for the time being. Lynne Barre said it will undergo a CT scan with the hope of obtaining information about the condition of the inner ear and the delicate tissues involved in echolocation. Damage to those tissues could be an indication of trauma from a sound source, but experts will need to account for any decomposition after death. These issues are more complicated than they might seem.
As for the location of L-112 and her family, that probably will never be known unless one of the hydrophones picked up and recorded calls from L pod. Scott Veirs, associated with OrcaSound, has been working tirelessly the past few days to locate any orca sounds that may have been picked up throughout the area.
Scott has noted that killer whale calls consistent with K and L pods were picked up on two hydrophones in the San Juan Islands on Monday, Feb. 6, just 18 hours after a Canadian frigate, the HMCS Ottawa, transmitted loud pings throughout the area (Water Ways, Feb. 11). The two hydrophones picked up the sounds one after the other, suggesting that those whales were heading south toward the Strait of Juan de Fuca (OrcaSound, Feb. 8).
The next day, Tuesday, Feb. 7, some members of K and L pod were spotted in Discovery Bay between Sequim and Port Townsend, according to reports to Orca Network. Nobody can remember seeing Southern Resident killer whales there before. Could they have gone into the bay one day earlier, seeking refuge from the sonar? We may never know.
But if we’re talking about the death of L-112, subsequent IDs of the whales in Discovery Bay suggest that the group probably did not include L-112 or her family. I’m still trying to learn which whales likely would have been with L-112 around the time of her death. But chances are she and her family were out in the ocean when all this excitement was taking place in Puget Sound.
So that leaves the question of whether a ship could have been using sonar off the coast when L-112 was within range. I have been in touch with both U.S. and Canadian Navy public affairs officials, and both have denied that their ships were using sonar in the ocean during this time.
Lt. Diane Larose of the Canadian Navy confirms that two sonar-equipped Canadian Navy ships, the HMSC Ottawa and the HMCS Algonquin, were out at sea before entering the Salish Sea at the time of Exercise Pacific Guardian. But neither ship deployed their sonar before reaching the Salish Sea on Feb. 6, when Ottawa’s pinging was picked up on local hydrophones, she said. Navy officials say they followed procedures to avoid harm to marine mammals and have seen no evidence that marine mammals were in the area at the time.
A lot of gaps remain to be filled in, including the source of an unusual explosive-type sound at the beginning of the hydrophone recording that includes the Ottawa sonar, which Scott Veirs discovered (OrcaSound, Feb. 6).
Lynne Barre of NMFS agreed that the best thing for now is to wait until the investigation begins to answer some of the lingering questions. Sometimes the cause of death may include contributing factors, such as weakened immune systems that lead to disease that ultimately lead to a physical injury of some kind.
This is the third dead killer whale to be found in the vicinity since November. The others were a newborn calf from an offshore group of orcas and a very decomposed adult orca from the offshore population.
In all the discussions about sonar, we should not forget that the loss of this young female killer whale is significant for a variety of reasons. I remember the optimism that came with her birth back in the spring of 2009. See Kitsap Sun, March 5, 2009. L-112 also was one of the orcas who received two names, in this case Sooke and Victoria, because Ken Balcomb also named some whales at the time. (See Water Ways, Aug. 25, 2010.)
Bainbridge’s Izumi Stephens is off to guard ‘the cove’
Izumi Stephens of Bainbridge Island, who appeared in the program “Whale Wars” last year, has returned to her native Japan as a “Cove Guardian” for Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.
Izumi Stephens
Izumi left yesterday, traveling with her daughter Fiona, who will be 14 in April and who shares her mother’s passion to save whales and dolphins.
Cove Guardians are volunteers who document and photograph the slaughter of dolphins in Taiji, Japan, a town made famous by the award-winning documentary “The Cove.”
I talked to Izumi Wednesday before she flew out. She was excited and a little nervous. As a Japanese citizen who has lived in the United States 19 years, she was not sure how she would be received by Japanese residents when she stands alongside Sea Shepherd volunteers.
A year ago at this time, Izumi was serving aboard the Sea Shepherd vessel Steve Irwin as it followed Japanese whaling ships and disrupted their activities in the Southern Ocean of Antarctica. Izumi translated messages between the Japanese whalers and Sea Shepherd and helped coordinate coverage by Japanese reporters.
Izumi was the first Japanese translator who did not conceal her identity from the photographers filming “Whale Wars,” a weekly reality program on Animal Planet. Izumi appeared in several scenes but was not a major character. Check out my initial story for the Kitsap Sun on Oct. 31, 2010, with follow-up reports on Water Ways: Jan. 4, 2011 … Feb. 22, 2011 … and June 1, 2011.
Izumi says her language skills may come in handy in Taiji. Also, her understanding of Japanese values may help her build a “bridge of understanding” with the Japanese people. Many see no difference between killing dolphins and killing fish to eat, she said, yet dolphins are intelligent mammals, and the rate of hunting cannot be sustained.
“To them, killing dolphins is a tradition,” she said, “but every country has its horrible traditions. Spain gave up the bull fight, and Japan can give up this.”
Izumi said her daughter Fiona put together a school project about the anti-whaling conflict last year, so she understands the arguments on both sides.
Cove Guardians say they are careful to obey the local laws as they document the daily killing of dolphins, which they claim is about 20,000 per year. Besides documenting and filming the deaths of dolphins and the movement of fishing boats, the general goal is to create a sense of shame among the hunters and local residents, they say.
Suzanne West of Seattle, whose husband Scott is coordinating Cove Guardians in Japan, said Izumi may receive increasesd attention from the Japanese media. Some people will be surprised at her opposition to the hunt. By now, most Japanese are fairly used to seeing Western visitors speaking in opposition to the events in Taiji, said Suzanne, who coordinates efforts in the U.S.
“A big thing is making them aware that the world is watching,” Suzanne said. “We got a lot of footage last year of them actually killing the dolphins.”
Now, the hunters are conducting the slaughter behind tarps, she noted, “but we can still count the actual bodies going in with none coming out.”
Izumi will return to Bainbridge Island on Thursday, March 1. Two days later, she will participate in a gathering of Sea Shepherd supporters at Casa Rojas Mexican restaurant, 403 Madison Ave., on Bainbridge Island. The event is free, with donations going to Sea Shepherd. For reservations, e-mail Seattle Sea Shepherd.
Izumi’s arrival in Japan coincides with the release from jail of Cove Guardian Erwin Vermeulen of the Netherlands, who was arrested in December during a pushing incident while trying to photograph dolphins in the cove.
A judge ruled that Vermeulen should pay a fine of 1,000 euros ($1,315 U.S.), but he cannot leave Japan pending an appeal by the prosecutor. Officials with Sea Shepherd say they may file formal proceedings to protest the two-month detention for a minor crime. See Expatica News.
Update, Feb. 18: After I posted this blog entry, I received an e-mail from Sea Shepherd’s media department that provides additional details and clarifies the Expatica report. See News Release (PDF 24 kb)
"The Cove," Taiji, Japan / Sea Shepherd photo
Drawn from the deep
Hood Canal group seeks Atlantic salmon moratorium
Hood Canal Coordinating Council has voted to support Jefferson County — one of its three member counties — in calling for a moratorium on the deployment of new net pens for raising Atlantic salmon.
Manchester Research Station in Kitsap County conducts studies involving fish diseases. / NOAA photo
A resolution presented to the council yesterday asks Gov. Chris Gregoire to impose and maintain the moratorium “until there is a plan in place to ensure that there is no risk to native salmon runs.”
I’m not sure how much direct authority the governor has over siting net pens, but she appoints the director of the Department of Ecology — one of the agencies that permits aquaculture projects.
Kitsap County Commissioner Josh Brown, chairman of the coordinating council, said he supported the resolution as a way to encourage the governor to increase research into the environmental impacts of salmon farming. Brown said he does not intend for his support to influence Kitsap County’s shoreline planning process.
The latest draft of the Kitsap County Shoreline Master Program includes language that would allow net pens and other aquaculture (PDG 60 kb) with limitations:
- “Aquaculture activities should be located, designed and operated in a manner that supports long term beneficial use of the shoreline and protects and maintains shoreline ecological functions and processes and should not be permitted where it would result in a net loss of shoreline ecological functions and processes…
- “Aquaculture facilities should be designed and located with the capacity to prevent: a) the spread of aquatic pathogens, b) the establishment new non native species in the natural environment, and c) significant impact to the aesthetic qualities of the shoreline.”
In contrast, Jefferson County’s proposed Shoreline Master Program (PDF 2.7 mb) has proposed banning all commercial net pen operations as well as “finfish aquaculture that releases herbicides, pesticides, antibiotics, fertilizers, pharmaceuticals, non-indigenous species, parasites, genetically modified organisms, or feed into surrounding waters.”
The proposed ban has not been accepted by the Washington Department of Ecology, which must sign off on the document before it goes into effect. The standoff has kept Jefferson’s otherwise-approved shorelines plan in limbo for the past year.
In its findings and conclusions (PDF 488 kb), Ecology wrote:
“Ecology considered whether there was enough discussion and evidence of a science basis in the record to support a ban. We concluded there was not a conclusive science basis on the record to support such a ban.”
Ecology proposed changing the outright ban to a requirement that “all significant impacts have been mitigated” before approval of any aquaculture project.
The resolution approved yesterday was brought to the Hood Canal Coordinating Council by Jefferson County Commissioner Phil Johnson, who cited concerns about the highly contagious virus that causes Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA) in wild fish. The ISA virus, he said, has been found in juvenile sockeye in British Columbia, where there are more than 100 salmon farms.
“The virus discovered tested positive to the European strain of ISA and therefore almost certain to have originated from Atlantic salmon farms,” according to Johnson’s resolution, which adds, “No country has gotten rid of the ISA virus once the virus arrives.”
A letter supporting the resolution was approved unanimously by the coordinating council, which includes the county commissioners from Kitsap, Mason and Jefferson counties along with tribal chairmen from the Port Gamble S’Klallam and Skokomish tribes.
Meanwhile, a coalition of environmental and native groups last week petitioned an international tribunal to investigate Canada’s salmon-farming industry and its effects on wild salmon.
Jeff Miller of the Center for Biological Diversity stated in a news release:
“Industrial salmon feedlots function as disease-breeding factories, allowing parasites and diseases to reproduce at unnaturally high rates. Marine feedlot waste flows directly, untreated, into contact with wild salmon. Putting feedlots hosting a toxic soup of bacteria, parasites, viruses and sea lice on wild fish migration routes is the height of biological insanity.”
Biologist Alexandra Morton of the Pacific Coast Wild Salmon Society added:
“The Canadian inquiry into the collapse of Fraser River sockeye, the largest salmon-producing river in the world, suggests the primarily Norwegian-owned British Columbia salmon-farming industry exerts trade pressures that exceed Canada’s political will to protect wild salmon
“Releasing viruses into native ecosystems is an irrevocable threat to biodiversity, yet Canada seems to have no mechanism to prevent salmon-farm diseases from afflicting wild salmon throughout the entire North Pacific.”
The 53-page petition (PDF 1.8 mb) was submitted to the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, a group working under the North American Free Trade Agreement. The petition describes sea lice and four specific bacterial and viral diseases alleged to be related to salmon pens. It also describes problems related to toxic chemicals and concentrated waste.
Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans maintains that it is conducting research and acting on problems as they are identified. The agency proclaims on its website:
“Environmental effects of aquaculture operations can be controlled to meet rigorous domestic and international environmental standards.”
So-called “State-of-Knowledge” review papers summarize current thinking on aquaculture, according to the agency.
Young orca from Puget Sound pod found dead
Tribe adopts piping system to transfer coho
Amusing Monday: Unlikely friendship endures
An unusual friendship began in June, 2008, and has continued through the seasons — sun, snow and rain — all documented on video and still photos by Isobel Springett.
I’m talking about a friendship between a dog and a deer. The dog, a Great Dane named Kate, adopted a fawn that was just days old and wandering motherless on Isobel’s property in Comox Valley, British Columbia.
In Isobel’s words:
“We named the fawn Pippin and the two were inseparable. Kate cleaned her, tried to nurse her and slept with her. Of course being a photographer, I documented all this and over the next 3 years amassed a large library of Kate and Pippin pictures.”
The videos show Kate and Pippin playing in the fields and the woods at all times of year. (Check out the “Kate & Pippin” channel on YouTube.) Eventually, Pippin ventured back into the woods, but she returned frequently to visit Kate. Last summer, Pippin became a new mother, bringing twins into the world, and the two fawns have become part of the story.
Later this month, the adventures will be published in a new book titled, “Kate and Pippin, An Unlikely Love Story,” published by Henry Holt of New York and Penguin Candada. Isobel’s brother, Martin Springett, wrote the text for the book, as well as the music for many of the videos.
Sunday Night at the Rose Theater – Bag it!
Canadian sonar raises new safety concerns
The U.S. Navy has developed a policy against using active sonar during training exercises in Puget Sound, but the Canadian Navy has no such policy — as we learned this week when loud pings were heard around the San Juan Islands.
After Monday’s incident, whale advocates were in an uproar over concern for killer whales, dolphins and other marine mammals. Jeanne Hyde was the first to raise the alarm and later placed a sample of the sound on her blog, “Whale of a Porpose.”
Michael Jasny of the Natural Resources Defense Council railed against the Canadians’ use of sonar in his blog on “Switchboard”:
“The simple fact is that these waters should not be used for sonar training. Period. Even the U.S. Navy — which has thus far refused to protect marine mammal habitat anywhere else on the west coast — has effectively put the area off-limits to sonar use.
“NRDC will appeal to both the Canadian and U.S. governments to ensure that this patently dangerous activity does not happen in this place again.”
The U.S. Navy policy against sonar use during training was solidly confirmed in 2009, when the National Marine Fisheries Service issued a permit for the Navy to use sonar off Washington’s coast. The permit did not include inland waterways.
When I inquired about this, Navy officials confirmed that they never requested authorization for training in waters east of Cape Flattery. For details, check out the story I wrote for the Kitsap Sun, July 29, 2009.
Contrary to some beliefs, the Navy did not say it would never use sonar in inland waters under any circumstances. In fact, in April of 2009, the USS San Francisco, a fast-attack submarine, left Bremerton after a refit and conducted “required training dives,” including the use of sonar that was reported as unusually intense. See Kitsap Sun, April 10, 2009.
How did that happen? The federal permit, according to the Navy, makes an exception for sonar related to “safety and navigation; testing; maintenance; and research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E).”
The San Francisco incident fell under “safety and navigation,” according to Navy spokeswoman Sheila Murray.
I’m not sure whether the Navy has ever answered the question of how it intends to address potential harm to marine mammals when sonar is used outside approved testing ranges, for which environmental reviews have been conducted. Meanwhile, a coalition of environmental groups has sued NMFS for failing to protect marine mammals within testing ranges along the West Coast. Check out the news release by NRDC.
And so we return to this week’s incident with the Canadian Navy, which has no restrictions on where sonar can be used in training exercises, although the Navy follows a written procedure designed to protect marine mammals, according to Lt. Diane Larose of the Royal Canadian Navy. Download the procedure here.
That policy was followed early Monday morning when the Canadian frigate HMCS Ottawa deployed sonar in Haro Strait on the Canadian side of the border, Larose told me. The protection measures, said to be consistent with those of other NATO navies, include watching (with night-vision equipment if necessary), listening with passive sonar and other gear, and searching with airplanes, helicopters or submarines, if available.
It would be interesting to conduct a test to determine if these precautions really work. Can sentries aboard a ship find and identify a few killer whales in the dark across miles of water where islands may impede visual sightings? If not, then someone needs to rethink these procedures, because these are the conditions that were present on Monday when the Ottawa was using its sonar.
Scott Veirs, who helps maintain the Salish Sea Hydrophone Network, pieced together information from Monday’s incident with the help of Jason Wood, research associate with The Whale Museum. Here’s a summary of the analysis on his blog Orca Sound:
“Below are the compressed (mp3) recordings and coarse spectrograms of the sounds that were auto-detected this morning. They begin with a series of low frequency sounds and echoes that may have been from an impulsive source, like a detonation or explosion. Then the series of high-frequency pings occurs between 4:42:50 and 5:08:17 at three network locations: Lime Kiln (13 pings), Port Townsend (1), and Orcasound (1).
“While we are not yet sure if pings were detected at Neah Bay or on the NEPTUNE Canada hydrophones located near the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, it appears that the sonar ensonified a good portion of the eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca and southern Haro Strait.” (Emphasis added by me.)
Before the end of that same day, killer whales could be heard on hydrophones in the area and were later identified as our local K and L pods, according to reports made to Orca Network. The proximity of the whales to the exercise was disconcerting.
“It would have been more comforting if we had not seen them for a couple of weeks,” Scott noted.
The question on everyone’s mind relates to potential injury to killer whales and other marine mammals from the intense sound of sonar pings. During the 2003 incident with the USS Shoup, killer whale researchers in the area reported J pod fleeing the sound in a confused pattern, though Navy biologists reviewing the video denied that the orcas were acting unusual.
Ken Balcomb of the Center for Whale Research reviews that incident on a video for Earthjustice. Equally revealing but with less commentary is the raw video of the incident.
Studies are ongoing to consider the effect of sonar on a variety of marine mammals, but Scott Veirs points out that Navy’s sonar is most powerful at a frequency of about 7 kilohertz, which is within the sensitive part of a killer whale’s hearing range — “not the most sensitive, but close to it,” he told me.
“Mid-frequency sonar is a bit of a red flag, because the frequency overlap is really quite complete,” he said.
I was wondering whether the sonar pings heard Monday in Puget Sound were of any concern to the Canadian Navy. I shouldn’t have expected any introspection. Lt. Larose pointed out that nobody has reported seeing any marine mammals in the area at the time.
Will the Canadian Navy reconsider its policy in light of the U.S. Navy’s policy against training with sonar in Puget Sound? I posed the question and got this response from Larose:
“The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) takes its role as environmental steward very seriously. The RCN’s Marine Mammal Mitigation Policy is reviewed annually to ensure that it reflects current scientific data, the capacities of Royal Canadian Navy equipment and environmental concerns. It is applicable to all Canadian military vessel wherever they may operate.
“Sonars found on board Canadian ships, submarines, and maritime aircraft, are different from that of our allies and therefore call for country specific mitigation policy.”
For years, more than a few marine mammal experts have been calling on the U.S. Navy to use its network of hydrophones to track endangered killer whales and other vulnerable species. It’s not enough, they say, for the Navy to post a lookout during training exercises when the Navy’s listening buoys have the potential of knowing with some precision where the whales are.
Fred Felleman, Northwest consultant for Friends of the Earth, says the Navy spends plenty of money filtering out biological sounds to detect the sounds of enemy ships. Similar algorithms could inform us when marine mammals pass within hearing range of Navy hydrophones.
“We’ve met with at least three admirals through the years to present them with explicit proposals,” Fred said. “They never said ‘no,’ but they never gave us an answer.
“Now that they are asking for permits from NOAA, they should be willing to make an obligation to help advance our understanding of the whales. The Navy knows this domain better than anybody. They are the best listeners on the planet.”
The Navy has been requesting and receiving “take” permits from NMFS with not much more mitigation that putting someone up on deck to look for marine mammals, Fred said, expressing his ongoing frustration.
He added, “It’s about time that the Navy stop asking for ‘takes’ and start finding ways of giving.”
Orcas don’t qualify for constitutional protections
Killer whales are not people, so they cannot benefit from full protections provided to humans under the U.S. Constitution.
That was essence of a ruling handed down yesterday by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Miller. The case was brought in the name of five captive orcas by a group that includes People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
I had not planned to write about this case, because the outcome seemed rather obvious. But I must take note of how seriously Miller handled this constitutional claim. In a seven-page ruling, he reviewed the history of the 13th Amendment, which outlawed slavery, and found that it applies only to humans. The following is the conclusion of the decision, the full text of which can be downloaded by clicking here:
“Even though Plaintiffs lack standing to bring a Thirteenth Amendment claim, that is not to say that animals have no legal rights; as there are many state and federal statutes affording redress to Plaintiffs, including, in some instances, criminal statutes that ‘punish those who violate statutory duties that protect animals.’ … While the goal of Next Friends in seeking to protect the welfare of orcas is laudable, the Thirteenth Amendment affords no relief to Plaintiffs.”
SeaWorld, which holds the five orcas, issued a statement noting that the judge took little time to issue his ruling, which “provides reassurance of the sanctity of the 13th Amendment and the absurdity of PETA’s baseless lawsuit,” according to the statement quoted by Huffington Post reporter Joanna Zelman.
A statement issued today by PETA shows no disappointment in the outcome of the case:
“There is no question that SeaWorld enslaves animals, even though the judge in this case didn’t see the 13th Amendment as the remedy to that. Women, children, and racial and ethnic minorities were once denied fundamental constitutional rights that are now self-evident, and that day will certainly come for the orcas and all the other animals enslaved for human amusement.
“This historic first case for the orcas’ right to be free under the 13th Amendment is one more step toward the inevitable day when all animals will be free from enslavement for human entertainment. Judge Miller’s opinion does not change the fact that the orcas who once lived naturally, wild and free, are today kept as slaves by SeaWorld. PETA will continue to pursue every available avenue to fight for these animals.”
“Magic Mud” found to be important to shorebirds
Kimberly Kindy of the Washington Post
Amusing Monday: Nature’s defining moments
Making the rounds in e-mail, blogs and funny websites is an unusual collection of wildlife photographs bearing the introductory caption, “Don’t sit around the house. Get out and enjoy nature!”
Enjoy nature, indeed!
I don’t know how this collection got started, but it has morphed slightly over time as different people add their own touches. One of the easiest to scan is the set of photos on the Imgur photo-sharing website.
CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT THE
PHOTO GALLERY.
While this certainly qualifies for this “Amusing Monday” feature, I have no idea who should get the credit. From the inscriptions on some of the pictures, they come from a variety of sources. I’m just glad someone with a camera was nearby when these things took place.
By the way, while most start out with the suggestion to “Get out and enjoy nature!” a few end with the comment, “Never mind; go back inside.”
More on Tsunami debris coming our way
KOMO TV features local Filmmaker John Gussman’s Elwha work
Chet Gausta dies at 95, but his fishing record lives on
We should take a moment to recall another man of legendary proportion, a man who will be forever linked to the fishing history of this region. Chet Gausta, 95, of Poulsbo died Jan. 16, with a continuing record of catching the largest salmon ever reeled in and officially weighed out in Washington state.
Chet Gausta
Kitsap Sun reporter Josh Farley interviewed Gausta in 2005 when Josh worked at the North Kitsap Herald. Click here for his story, which recounts the excitement of Gausta’s hooking and landing the 70.5-pound chinook in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. His younger brother Lloyd and his uncle Carl Knutson were on board his boat at the time.
During the battle, the big fish broke the surface of the water for an instant, and Gausta recalled his brother shouting, “You don’t have a salmon; you have a porpoise.”
Here’s Josh’s recollection:
“Interviewing Chester “Chet” Gausta is an experience I will never forget. I was working at the North Kitsap Herald in 2005 and he invited me to his home near Scandia, where the salmon that made him famous hung mounted on his family room wall.
“That 70-pound whopper loomed over the entire room and Gausta’s smile about it — even 41 years after he’d caught it — never faded during our entire interview.
“It was so easy to imagine Chet, with his brother and uncle, exhausted, as they rumbled back to Seiku from the Straight of Juan de Fuca on that September day in 1964.”
Gausta’s name is still firmly embedded in the record books, where a variety of fish are listed. See the Land Big Fish website for details.
Chet Gausta, middle, shows off the
big fish he caught off Sekiu in 1964. Chet's younger brother Lloyd,
left, and his uncle Carl Knutson were with him on the
boat.
Photo courtesy of Poulsbo Historical
Society/Nesby
Chad Gillespie, a Kitsap Sun hunting and fishing columnist, visited with Chet Gausta about a year after Josh did. He wrote about him for the Sun on Sept. 12, 2006.
As a young man, Chet also was an all-around athlete who was offered a baseball/basketball scholarship to Washington State College. Instead, he played shortstop for the Poulsbo Town Team until joining the Armed Forces going into World World II. He later played on the Poulsbo VFW basketball team and participated in the 1948 national tournament. He was inducted into the Kitsap Oldtimers Hall of Fame in 1995.
His family submitted an obituary, which appeared in the Kitsap Sun yesterday.
While searching the Sun’s archives, I also found a letter-to-the-editor that Chet had written back in 1993. I was especially interested, because of the reporting I have done regarding Poulsbo’s Johnson Creek in 2008.
Here’s the letter:
Editor:
Several rivers and streams are on the brink of losing fish runs to the point where many could be going in the direction of the Spotted Owl. While this is discouraging, there is some good news being played out at a small creek about a mile west of the Poulsbo Junction. This meandering stream goes through sections of property belonging to Earl Hanson and Ralph Brown, then winds its way through dense foliage and trees, eventually emptying into the west side of Liberty Bay, near Scandia.
I had the opportunity to speak with Earl and Ralph recently. Both were as excited as two youngsters anticipating the arrival of Santa Claus. Both, in unison, said, ‘Chet, you’ve got to check out the North Fork of Johnson Creek. It has the best run of spawning silvers ever!’
So, the Mrs. and I trudged a few hundred yards through the woods to Johnson Creek. What a thrilling sight met our eyes! Although a few coho had made a journey up this stretch of water in past years, this season’s run more than surpassed any previous returns in my memory.
I can recall as a young child (65 years ago) enormous runs of dog salmon (chum) returning to the creek at the head of Liberty Bay to spawn. But Johnson Creek was not noted for any large runs of spawning salmon.
It was really gratifying to hear this scenario related to me when I encountered Mr. Hanson a short while later at his home. He and his granddaughter, Janae, were surveying the scene at the creek, when Janae shouted, ‘Grandpa! Did you see that salmon jump over the falls?’ Earl answered with a gleam and spark in his eyes, ‘I sure did, granddaughter, and I’m just as excited.’
Let’s hope that this event will be a part of not only
Janae’s future but also
for many other generations to come.
Chet Gausta
Poulsbo
Chet shows off his big fish in front
of Ralph's Shop-Rite in Poulsbo, as a young boy looks on in wonder.
Poulsbo Historical Society has tried without success to identify
the boy.
Photo courtesy of Poulsbo Historical
Society/Nesby
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