Continued from page 2Aquaculture and Aquaria
New Bedford Aquarium. On Aug. 26, 1997, MA acting Governor Paul Cellucci and southern MA officials announced a plan to build a $97 million aquarium on the New Bedford waterfront. [Assoc Press]
BC Salmon Aquaculture Report. On Aug. 26, 1997, British Columbia's Environmental Assessment Office released its 1,800-page Salmon Aquaculture Review, concluding after 12 months' study that salmon aquaculture presents a low overall risk to the environment and could proceed with caution. The report also concluded that much needs to be done before more salmon farms are permitted. A total of 49 report recommendations would streamline the regulatory environment to make the BC industry more competitive in the world market, and call for studies of how escaped netpen salmon interact with wild salmon, how to control disease, and the effects of netpen waste on water and the seafloor. The report also recommends more stringent guidelines for culling seals that take salmon from netpens. [BC Salmon Farmers Assoc press release, Assoc Press]
{{Thai Shrimp Devastation. On Aug. 22, 1997, heavy tropical storms began drenching 10 southern provinces of Thailand causing extensive flooding, and wiping out thousands of shrimp ponds.}} [Reuters]
Panama Mouthbreeder Project. On Aug. 11, 1997, an official of Taiwan's Council of Agriculture announced that Taiwan would invest $17 million in raising mouthbreeders in Panama for export to the U.S. market. [Taiwan Central News via Foreign Broadcast Information Service]
Salmon Pigment Lawsuit. {On Aug. 5, 1997,} Igene Biotechnology Inc. (Columbia, MD) filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. (ADM, Decatur, IL), alleging that ADM never paid for collaborative work and stole secrets, valued at $100 million, about a unique Igene process for producing astaxanthin, a natural pigment additive that gives farm-raised salmon pinker flesh. [Dow Jones News, Wall Street Journal, Reuters]
Freshwater Fisheries
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Hearing. The House Resources Subcommittee on Fisheries Conservation, Wildlife, and Oceans has tentatively scheduled a hearing on H.R. 2376, a bill to reauthorize and amend the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Establishment Act for Sept. 25, 1997. [personal communication]
Chippewa Treaty Fishing Rights. On Aug. 26, 1997, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court decision and ruled that 8 Chippewa bands retain the right to hunt and fish without state regulation in east-central Minnesota. MN Governor Arne Carlson announced that the state of MN would appeal the ruling. However, the Chippewa insist on fishing under the court decision rather than waiting for decision on a likely appeal by the state. {{On Sept. 4, 1997, the Mille Lacs Band formally asked the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to lift a hold on the exercise of its treaty fishing rights pending the outcome of a state appeal.}} [Assoc Press, Reuters]
Nebraska State Fish. On Aug. 26, 1997, NE Governor Ben Nelson announced that the channel catfish had been designated as the official NE state fish. [Assoc Press]
Great Lakes Tribal Fishery. On Aug. 8, 1997, the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians passed regulations allowing 90,000 pounds of salmon to be harvested from Grand Traverse Bay, MI. However, MI state and sport fishing interests contend that this is contrary to a 1985 court agreement as modified by a 1996 court ruling. The state is reported to be preparing to ask the U.S. District Court for an injunction to limit the fishery.
On Aug. 27, 1997, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Enslen ruled that the state's request for a ruling would be combined with a December 1997 trial on another fishing issue. {{On Sept. 4, 1997, Judge Enslen ruled that the Grand Traverse Band could take as much as 80,000 pounds of salmon from Grand Traverse Bay, denied a request by the MI Dept. of Natural Resources that would have required the Band to removed its fishing nets from the Bay, and ordered that nets be submerged 8 feet below the water surface for safety reasons.}} [Assoc Press]
Whirling Disease. MT's Fish, Wildlife, and Parks Commission anticipated receiving a detailed report from its Whirling Disease Task Force on Aug. 8, 1997, and was to consider Task Force recommendations. [Assoc Press]
BASS Inc. Lawsuit. On Aug. 5, 1997, U.S. District Judge Ira DeMent refused to dismiss a 1992 lawsuit, alleging that the Bass Angler Sportsman Society Inc. and its founder illegally profited from member payments after incorporating the entity in 1969. [Assoc Press]
Pfiesteria? On Aug. 1-3, 1997, about 70 scientists and government officials met at Salisbury State Univ., Salisbury, MD, to discuss how the State of MD was addressing concerns about fish lesions and possible human health implications from Pfiesteria toxins in the Pocomoke River area. On Aug. 6, 1997, between 2,000 and 10,000 fish (menhaden, spot, croaker, and rockfish) and blue crabs were observed to have been killed in the lower Pocomoke River, MD. In response, MD Gov. Paris Glendening issued an advisory warning individuals to avoid contact with water in a 3-mile stretch of the River until Aug. 8, 1997. Somerset County health officials reported that 10 people have reported health problems including lesions they believe came from contact with Pocomoke River water. On Aug. 7, 1997, Somerset County officials expanded the closed area to a 5-mile stretch of the lower River for an indefinite period, as the fish kill continued. On Aug. 8, 1997, researchers identified Pfiesteria in about half the samples collected from the Pocomoke River, MD. On Aug. 10, 1997, the fish kill on the lower Pocomoke River, MD, ended after killing an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 fish. On Aug. 10, 1997, both U.S. Senators from MD jointly asked the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health to investigate whether the fish kill was related to illness experienced by 8 Pocomoke fishermen. Runoff from chicken farms and other development in the Pocomoke River basin is being investigated for its potential in triggering the fish kill. On Aug. 13, 1997, the closed stretch of the Pocomoke River was to be reopened to public use. In mid-August 1997, VA watermen reported lesion-bearing fish on the VA side of the Pocomoke estuary. On Aug. 26, 1997, the MD House Committee on Environmental Matters was scheduled to hold a hearing on problems on the lower Pocomoke River. On Aug. 26, 1997, about 2,000 menhaden with lesions were found in VA waters of Pocomoke Sound. {On Aug. 29, 1997, MD and VA officials closed a 7-mile stretch of the lower Pocomoke River indefinitely to fishing, swimming, and recreational boating to limit human exposure to Pfiesteria toxin that medical researchers from Johns Hopkins Hospital and the Univ. of MD Medical Center believe has caused illness in at least 7 people. Five individuals were observed to have noticeable changes in brain tissue. On Sept. 2, 1997, a scientific advisory committee was scheduled to meet in Annapolis, MD to examine data from the Pocomoke River. On Sept. 2, 1997, the NC Dept. of Health and Human Services announced that it would establish a medical team from NC medical universities to evaluate NC residents who have been exposed to waters associated with fish kills in the Neuse River and other areas. In early September 1997, scientists from the FL Div. of Marine Resources announced that samples tested from the Pocomoke River contained a new species of Gymnodinium dinoflagellate rather than Pfiesteria. On Sept. 3, 1997, a third, small fish kill was detected on the lower Pocomoke River, within the already-closed area.} {{On Sept. 4, 1997, VA scientists netted small numbers of live menhaden with lesions in VA waters of Pocomoke Sound. On Sept. 5, 1997, officials of the MD Dept. of Natural Resources announced that the State plans to reimburse crabbers for losses sustained during the late August closure of the Pocomoke River.}} [Assoc Press]
Marine Mammals
{{Round Island Subsistence Walrus Hunt. On Sept. 20, 1997, the Qayssiq (Round Island) Walrus Commission will open a month-long subsistence walrus hunt on Round Island in Bristol Bay, AK, with approval from the AK Dept. of Fish and Game. The quota was doubled this year to 20 animals.}} [Assoc Press]
{{Canadian Sealing. On Sept. 4, 1997, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) released the results of an Angus Reid Group poll on Canadian opinions on sealing and announced a nationwide Canadian campaign to mobilize public opinion against commercial seal hunting. The survey was reported to show that 85% of Canadians support full protection for young seals and that 75% (including 54% of those surveyed in Newfoundland) oppose federal subsidization of sealing. About 41% of all Canadians surveyed did not know that commercial seal hunting occurred in Canada.}} [IFAW press release]
{1997 Norwegian Seal Hunt. In early September 1997, the Norwegian company that buys seal skins reported that the total 1997 harvest was about 9,820 seals from the total quota of 27,100 seals -- almost 7,000 fewer seals than were harvested in 1996. Only two vessels hunted seals in the vicinity of Jan Mayen and in the White Sea, taking about 2,780 hooded seal pups, 1,950 weaned harp seal pup, about 90 adult hooded seals, and about 5,000 adult harp seals.} [High North Alliance Web News]
Greenpeace Challenges ARCO Drilling. In mid-August 1997, Greenpeace asked the U.S. District Court to prevent Atlantic Richfield Co. (ARCO) from setting up a new drill site at its Warthog prospect in the Beaufort Sea off Alaska, claiming the activity would disturb polar bears, seals, and whales. On Aug. 21, 1997, U.S. District Court Judge Paul Friedman ruled that ARCO did not need to have a marine mammal permit issued before setting up its new drill site since ARCO was assuming the risk of penalty if marine mammals were actually disturbed. ARCO applied for a marine mammal permit in May 1997, but NMFS has not yet issued the permit. [Reuters]
Harbor Porpoise Take Reduction Plan. On Aug. 15, 1997, NMFS announced that it was seeking comment on a proposed comprehensive take reduction plan to reduce harbor porpoise serious injury and mortality by the New England sink gillnet fishery. The proposed plan is estimated to reduce mortality and serious injury by 80%. Comments are to be received through Oct. 14, 1997. [NOAA press release]
Illegal Whalemeat? On Aug. 9, 1997, officials of the International Fund for Animal Welfare reported that a spring 1997 study by researchers from Auckland Univ, New Zealand, of whalemeat on sale in Japan used DNA analysis to identify meat from humpback, finback, and orca whales on the market. Killing of humpback and finback whales currently is not permitted by the International Whaling Commission; however, Japanese officials suggest that meat from these species probably came from frozen inventories of whalemeat taken before the IWC's moratorium on commercial whaling went into effect. [Dow Jones News, Assoc Press]
Porpoise Entanglement. In the Aug. 7, 1997 issue of Nature, U.S. scientists reported the successful results of 1994 tests of acoustic alarms on sink gillnets in the Gulf of Maine. While 2 porpoises became entangled in nets fitted with alarms, 25 porpoises were caught in nets carrying similar but silent devices. Cod and pollock catch was unaffected by the alarms, but herring appeared to avoid nets with the alarms. [Reuters]
Tuna-Dolphin Legislation. On July 30, 1997, the U.S. Senate voted 99-0 to pass H.R. 408, incorporating compromise amendments to the International Dolphin Conservation Program. This measure would end import sanctions on non-dolphin-safe tuna; it could allow tuna caught in purse seines where no dolphins are killed or seriously injured to be labeled "dolphin-safe" if research cannot prove by March 1999 that dolphins suffer long-term adverse effects from being chased, herded, and surrounded by purse seines. On July 31, 1997, the U.S. House unanimously agreed to accept the Senate-amended H.R. 408, and this measure was sent to the President. On Aug. 15, 1997, President Clinton signed this measure as Pub.L. 105-42. [Reuters, Congr. Record, Assoc Press, Dow Jones News, Center for Marine Conservation press release, Defenders of Wildlife press release]
Sea Otter Contaminants. An article by Univ. of CA Santa Cruz scientists in the July 1997 issue of the Marine Pollution Bulletin was reported to note that sea otters from Adak in Alaska's remote Aleutian Islands were discovered to have higher levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in their livers than did sea otters taken from the coast of California. PCB contamination may have arisen from leakage at former military sites. Additional research was scheduled to test halibut and Pacific cod. [Assoc Press]
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