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Sacrificing Sea
Lions for Salmon
by Roddy Scheer, emagazine
In what seems a cruel twist of fate
for wildlife just out for a bite to eat, the National Marine
Fisheries Service last week gave permission to game managers in
Washington and Oregon to start killing sea lions that feed on
dwindling populations of migrating salmon near the Bonneville Dam on
the Columbia River. Bonneville is one of several dams on the
Columbia at least partly responsible for the great decline of wild
salmon populations. The fish have trouble getting past the dams on
their way back upstream to spawn after spending their adolescence at
sea. In response to this problem, Bonneville and some of the other
Columbia dams have installed fish ladders so spawning salmon can
swim past the man-made obstructions. The National Marine Fisheries
Services has decided that the sea lions are eating more than their
share of endangered salmon by staking out the entrance to the fish
ladders to catch unsuspecting schooling fish.
The move comes as a last-ditch effort to solve the problem after
other more humane attempts to deter the sea lions failed to work.
The states are allowed to kill up to 85 sea lions a year in the area
until the feeding frenzy abates. Before problem sea lions are
killed, they must be trapped and held for 48 hours while fisheries
managers try to find a zoo or aquarium willing to take them.
Oregon’s Department of Fish and Wildlife will spearhead the sea lion
eradication campaign beginning in April. Not surprisingly, animal
rights groups are angered by the decision, contending that innocent
sea lions shouldn’t have to pay such a high price for taking
advantage of a man-made situation...
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here
for the rest of the story.
Gray Wolf Repopulation
So Successful It’s Time To Kill Them
Environmental Graffiti
The decision was made Friday to lift
the Federal Endangered Species Act protections offered to Gray
Wolves in Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana, deferring control of the
1,500 animals to the states.
The wolves are, I imagine, pretty thrilled to have enough of their
population to not need the protection–I can imagine how cranky I
would be if there were only 750 women in the world–but would have
more than a few reservations if they knew that hunting permits were
about to be auctioned off...
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here
for the rest of the story.
No More Free Ride:
Global Warming Pollution from Ships Must be Regulated
Oceana
Despite their impact on the global
climate, greenhouse gases and other global warming pollution from
ships remain unregulated by the U.S. Government. These emissions
also have not been limited by the Kyoto Protocol or any other
international treaty. However, ships are a major source of global
warming pollutants, including carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and
black carbon. Consider the following facts:
* Only six countries in the world release more carbon dioxide than
the global fleet of marine vessels.
* This fleet releases between 600 and 900 million metric tons of
carbon dioxide each year, an amount equivalent to emissions from at
least 130 million cars -- about the number of cars operated in the
United States.
* A single container ship emits more global warming pollution than
2,000 diesel trucks.
* By 2020, these emissions could double 2002 levels, and they could
be triple those levels by 2030...
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here
for the rest of the story.
Great Lakes Danger
Zones
by Sheila Kaplan, Environmental Health
News
For more than seven months, the
nation’s top public health agency has blocked the publication of an
exhaustive federal study of environmental hazards in the eight Great
Lakes states, reportedly because it contains such potentially
“alarming information” as evidence of elevated infant mortality and
cancer rates.
The 400-plus-page study, Public Health Implications of Hazardous
Substances in the Twenty-Six U.S. Great Lakes Areas of Concern, was
undertaken by a division of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention at the request of the International Joint Commission, an
independent bilateral organization that advises the U.S. and
Canadian governments on the use and quality of boundary waters
between the two countries. The study was originally scheduled for
release in July 2007 by the IJC and the CDC’s Agency for Toxic
Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR).
The Center for Public Integrity has obtained the study, which warns
that more than nine million people who live in the more than two
dozen “areas of concern”—including such major metropolitan areas as
Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee—may face elevated health
risks from being exposed to dioxin, PCBs, pesticides, lead, mercury,
or six other hazardous pollutants...
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here
for the rest of the story.
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