Navy Sonar Kills Whales

The Navy said it couldn’t happen again, but now U.S. Navy sonar exercises in Crete have driven whales onto the beaches to die, once again.

This heartbreaking photo shows just two of the whales who were killed by U.S. Navy sonar exercises in April.

Now the autopsy results are in, showing hemorrhaging of internal organs, bleeding from the ears, and other signs of decompression sickness, and the cause of this crime is clear: Navy sonar. OUR Navy.

Enough is enough. The killing must stop. Right now!

As commander in chief, the president has direct command over the Army and the Navy. He is constitutionally charged with taking care that the laws are faithfully executed. The killing of innocent whales and dolphins—whether in domestic or foreign waters—is a flagrant violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act and other federal laws. The Navy is not above the law. These crimes violate every code of human decency and must be stopped.

With the single stroke of his pen, President Obama can order the Secretary of the Navy to cease sonar trainings in whale and dolphin habitats.

Please join me in demanding that the president sign an executive order halting sonar trainings in marine mammal habitats.

The president has direct authority over the National Marine Fisheries Service, the federal agency charged with enforcing our marine mammal protection laws. With one phone call, the president can order the head of Fisheries to require the Navy to conduct Environmental Impact Statements on all its training ranges, both domestic and international.

It’s too late to save the whales who died during the U.S. Navy war games in Crete. But if you and I cry out for justice, we can compel the president to act. Together, we have the power to end the U.S. Navy’s war on whales and dolphins.

Click here to add your name to the petition, and then pass it along to your friends who care about whales and our oceans.

With heartfelt thanks,

–Lyndia

This petition was created on MoveOn’s online petition site.

PHOTO CREDIT: L. Aggelopoulos /Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute 2014. Used with permission.

Stop Killing Whales Iceland

Sadly our planet’s whales face more threats today than ever before, including the cruelty of commercial whaling. There is no humane way to kill a whale and little market for whale meat. Despite this, the Icelandic government issued new quotas for hundreds of minke whales and endangered fin whales to be harpooned annually for the next five years.

I’m sure you agree that commercial whaling has no place in the 21st century. Responsible whale watching is a cruelty-free and profitable alternative to the cruelty of whaling.

Please send a message to the Icelandic Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture asking him to cancel these quotas immediately and call an end to whaling in Iceland once and for all.

Because we know that you care about future generations of whales, we have worked alongside Icelandic whale watch operators for many years to promote responsible whale watching. Iceland is one of Europe’s top destinations for whale watching and last year attracted 175,000 whale watchers.

By contrast, recent Gallup polling, that we commissioned, found just 3 percent of Icelanders have bought whale meat six times or more in the last 12 months. The survey also revealed 75 percent of Icelanders never buy the meat, with women and young adults even less likely to buy whale meat.

Whaling damages Iceland’s reputation, attracting criticism at home and abroad. In summer 2013, both ports and carriers in Europe publicly rejected the whale meat trade when containers opened at ports in Rotterdam and Hamburg were returned to Iceland and met with public protests at the killing of whales for products such as dog food.

Despite this, the latest whaling quotas allow 229 minke whales and 154 fin whales to be slaughtered every year for five years.

Please join me in calling on the Icelandic government to stop supporting the efforts of Iceland’s whaling crusader, businessman Kristjan Loftsson, and a few others, and instead halt this cruel, outdated and uneconomic practice.

Thank you for your support for whales.

Patrick Ramage
IFAW Program Director, Whales

Whales & Dolphins In Atlantic

Tell President Obama to protect the Atlantic

Thousands of whales and dolphins in the Atlantic could soon be subjected to loud seismic airgun blasts, shot over and over again for months on end. We’ll need YOUR HELP to stop it.

Right now, we are gathering signatures from members of Congress on a letter to the president asking him to stop these deadly plans. We want to make sure he hears the message, so we’re asking YOU to sign on as well to let him know how important it is that these plans are stopped.

Sign our People’s Sign-on Letter to President Obama to reject seismic airgun testing in the Atlantic »

Seismic airgun testing for oil may begin in just a few months in parts of the U.S. Atlantic coast. Animals close to the blasts could be killed or injured, and others will be forced to flee their habitats.

These tests consist of sending airgun blasts, louder than a jet engine, straight into the ocean floor, every ten seconds for weeks on end. Not only will the blasts kill or injure beloved animals like the endangered North Atlantic right whale, but it also could drive away the fish that East Coast fishermen depend on. About 222,000 jobs in the coastal fishing and seafood industries could be disrupted, affecting communities that are already struggling from the effects of Hurricane Sandy and the recession.

Furthermore, seismic testing is the first step to offshore oil drilling. Once offshore drilling starts on the East Coast, it’s only a matter of time until there is an oil spill like the one we saw in the Gulf three years ago.

Protect dolphins and whales from deadly airgun blasts. Sign the letter to President Obama today »

Your voice can make a difference in this important fight. Thank you for standing with us.

Thank you,
Rachael Prokop
Oceana

Airgun Blast Kills Whales

Dear Gabriel,

A whale’s ears can be more important than its eyes. And one loud airgun blast may deafen a whale forever. A deaf whale is a dead whale. Without a way to communicate, hear danger, or sound out the waters, whales and dolphins deafened by seismic airgun blasts may find themselves lost, hungry, or killed by a predator they couldn’t detect.

These blasts are used to find oil and gas under the seafloor, and they may soon be used in Atlantic waters off the U.S. coast. Oceana is fighting to block these plans and protect our Atlantic shores. Become a 2013 member today to join the fight to save the Atlantic and all the animals who are threatened by these deadly blasts »

The waters slated for seismic airgun testing include territory used by endangered North Atlantic right whales. With less than 500 of these whales left, we can’t afford to let a single one be harmed by seismic airguns. These airguns create blasts as loud as dynamite and go off every 10 seconds for weeks at a time.

We’ve gathered thousands of signatures against seismic airgun testing from activists like you, including 40,000 on the official White House petition site. Our organizers on the ground are bringing together coastal communities and rallying against these dangerous plans. We’ve managed to get seismic testing in the Atlantic delayed—but we’re not going to stop fighting. Can we count on your help?

After seismic testing in Madagascar, dozens of melon-headed whales beached themselves and died. The Department of the Interior estimates that 138,500 dolphins and whales will be injured by the proposed testing in the Atlantic.

Harmful seismic testing is also the first step to oil drilling off the Atlantic coast, bringing the threat of deadly oil spills to new waters. Your 2013 Oceana membership will help us ramp up our efforts to protect dolphins, whales and their habitats in the Atlantic and all over the world »

For the oceans,
Rachael Prokop
Oceana

These Whales Need Help

Dear Gabriel,

Sperm whales are family creatures. The endangered whales travel in pods with their relatives and spend years raising their young. But the time they spend carefully raising each child means that it will take a very long time for these creatures to replenish their numbers and rise out of endangered status.

And while we wait for their numbers to grow, healthy sperm whales are having their lives cut short by drift gillnets off the coast of California. Drift gillnets are mile-long walls of nets that are left out in ocean waters overnight to catch swordfish and thresher sharks. But these nets also catch these endangered whales. We need your help to save them.

You can help stop the unnecessary killing of sperm whales. Donate today to help meet the $50,000 goal by May 15»

Southern California’s deep waters are home to an abundance of squid—a sperm whale’s favorite snack. And while pods of whales are swimming in these squid-rich waters, they may find themselves facing a wall of nets.

In 2010, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) estimated that 16 sperm whales became entangled in drift gillnets off of Southern California. For Pacific sperm whales, which take so long to give birth and which have such a small population, those 16 whales were irreplaceable. If we continue to allow drift gillnets to kill these whales, their future is at risk.

Sperm whales can grow to over 50 feet long and weigh 40 tons. You would think these massive creatures would not have much to fear, but a mile-long net wrapped around their fins or tail can keep them from swimming, cause lethal injury, and even trap them underwater. A sperm whale can hold its breath for a long time, but if it’s held underwater overnight in a drift gillnet, it will drown.

It’s time to stop this practice. Oceana is working to convince NMFS and the state of California to phase out this deadly gear type and replace it with cleaner gears, but we need help to keep up the fight.

Give by May 15 to help us protect endangered whales and the world’s oceans»

Your support will help us fund our work to protect ocean ecosystems off the California coast and across the globe. Our work has resulted in great victories in these waters—from establishing a protected area for leatherback sea turtles to stopping an expansion of these deadly drift gillnets—and now it’s time for us to continue the fight and end drift gillnetting in California altogether.

Thanks for all that you do.

For the oceans,
Rachael Prokop
Oceana

Take Down The Nets!

Take down the nets!

Sperm whales are truly astonishing creatures; a deep-diving family-focused creature with a lifespan that rivals humans and the largest brain in the animal kingdom.

You wouldn’t think that an animal as big as a sperm whale would have much to fear, but they do. These endangered mammals face a deadly threat off the California coast: mile-long drift gillnets that can entangle their fins and tails, holding them underwater until they drown.

Help us reach our $50,000 goal to fight for endangered whales and other threatened wildlife»

Drift gillnets are set off California’s southern coast, left out overnight to catch swordfish and thresher sharks. These large nets create mile-long “walls of death” that will tangle up many sharks, turtles, marine mammals and fish that encounter them. Held underwater, air-breathing animals like whales and turtles will drown if they can’t get free.

Sperm whales are already endangered. Like humans, they tend to go several years or longer in between births and raising their young; which means that it will be a long time still before their population can recover from centuries of whaling. In 2010, the National Marine Fisheries Service estimated that 16 sperm whales were entangled in drift gillnets—a number that their small population just can’t handle.

Oceana is campaigning to remove these destructive nets once and for all off the U.S. West Coast and have them replaced with cleaner fishing gear. We can’t risk losing more whales to deadly nets.

Give by May 15 to help us fight for sperm whales and all the world’s oceans»

Thanks to supporters like you, this year Oceana stopped a proposed expansion of this fishery into a protected area for endangered leatherback sea turtles; but we can’t stop this fight until we can guarantee that all ocean waters off California are safe from these deadly nets.

For the oceans,
Rachael Prokop
Oceana

Speak Up For Those Who Can’t

Gabriel,

Millions of whales and dolphins are about to be killed, permanently injured, or harmed, just so the U.S. Navy can run training exercises.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is responsible for the protection of these marine mammals, but instead of tossing out the Navy’s reckless training plan, it is about to give the Navy the green light.

We can get NMFS to block the Navy’s dangerous proposal, but we have to work fast. NMFS is gathering public comments on the Navy’s plan, and it won’t say no to the Navy unless they feel public outrage.

We have just 4 days left in the public comment period to flood NMFS with messages speaking up for the millions of whales and dolphins that cannot speak for themselves.

Act now and tell the NMFS to reject the Navy’s deadly proposal before it is too late.

Along the entire East Coast and in Hawaii, Southern California, and the Gulf of Mexico, the Navy will be testing sonar and explosive devices so deafening, they cause whales to abandon their normal feeding grounds and migration patterns. The Navy’s own report states that over 40 marine mammal species will be impacted, including the endangered humpback whale and the blue whale.

For marine mammals caught closer to the training exercises, the pain they would suffer would be immense. The powerful sonar blasts will destroy their hearing and even cause their brains to hemorrhage. Naval sonar has already led to mass whale strandings, as disoriented whales attempt to escape the noise.

We cannot allow this proposed training program to permanently disrupt the oceans these mammals call home. We must act now and demand that NMFS does its job and protect marine mammals, not aid in their extinction.

Tell NMFS that when it comes to marine mammals, there are no exceptions. We only have 4 more days to secure the safety of millions of marine mammals, so send in your comment now.

Together, we’ve won some amazing victories for whales in just the last few years. From stopping a plan for seismic testing off the coast of California to blocking South Korea’s attempts to restart its whaling program, our work is making a serious difference. With your support, we will continue the fight to protect the millions of whales and dolphins that are in danger.

For the whales,

Phil Kline
Greenpeace Senior Oceans Campaigner

Adopt A Penguin

Dear Gabriel,

Adopt a penguin!

The holiday season is upon us, and what better gift to give the ocean lover in your life than a cuddly penguin? Adopt a penguin or other animal from our adoption center and recieve a soft plush or a unique cookie cutter gift in return! All proceeds go towards our work protecting the world’s oceans. We’re currently offering free shipping with no minimum, and if you use the coupon code EARLYBIRD by December 1 you’ll get 10% off your order!

Click here to adopt a penguin today>>>

Oceana

When A Puffin Is Hungry

Dear Gabriel,

When a puffin is hungry, it dives into the water for a fishy snack, but puffins aren’t the only creatures hunting for little fish.

These small “forage fish” such as herring or market squid are a popular food source for everything from puffins to whales. But some of these fish are also being fished by humans, and new fisheries could develop at any time, posing a danger to forage fish and everything that eats them.

With the help of activists like you, Oceana has been fighting hard to make sure these small fish are protected and managed in a way that ensures that the animals dependent on them will have plenty to eat. And with a new forage fish policy being considered by the California Fish and Game Commission, we are now close to a victory!

Help us reach a victory for little fish and keep California’s seabirds fed. Sign today»

A healthy forage fish population doesn’t just help puffins and whales. Important commercial and recreational fish such as Chinook salmon also thrive on these little fish. It’s important for everyone that forage fish remain abundant. But if we overfish just one of these critical species, the effects could be far-reaching. Removing too many forage fish from California waters could affect everything from the birds and whales offshore to the fishermen in our communities.

That’s why having a comprehensive forage fish policy is so important. The policy being considered for adoption would set a new course for fishery management to ensure a healthy population of forage fish in the ocean and prevent new fisheries from starting without sound science. But we need your help to make sure it passes.

Act now and tell the California Fish and Game Commission that forage fish management is necessary for our waters»

Even better, if you can be in Los Angeles on November 7, we want to hear from you. The California Fish and Game Commission will be voting on the policy at a public meeting, and we want as many supporters in the room as we can get! They’ll be taking comments from the public, and your voice could make a difference. If you’re available to attend, email Ashley Blacow at ablacow@oceana.org for more information.

Help make sure puffins and other California marine life have plenty to eat.

For the oceans,
Emily Fisher
Oceana

Hurricanes & Global Warming

We Are Not Powerless to Confront Climate Change
by Amy Goodman
From Nation of Change
1 November 2012

Millions of victims of Superstorm Sandy remain without power, but they are not powerless to do something about climate change. The media consistently fail to make the link between extreme weather and global warming. Through this catastrophe, people are increasingly realizing that our climate has changed, and the consequences are dire.

One meteorologist who defies the norm is Dr. Jeff Masters, who founded the weather blog Weather Underground. As Sandy bore down on the East Coast, I asked Masters what impact climate change was having on hurricanes. He said: “Whenever you add more heat to the oceans, you’ve got more energy for destruction. Hurricanes … pull heat out of the ocean, convert it to the kinetic energy of their winds.”

Masters’ blog became so popular, it was purchased by The Weather Channel. As Sandy moved up the coast, Masters continued with our interview: “When you do heat the oceans up more, you extend the length of hurricane season. And there’s been ample evidence over the last decade or so that hurricane season is getting longer—starts earlier, ends later. You’re more likely to have this sort of situation where a late-October storm meets up with a regular winter low-pressure system and gives us this ridiculous combination of a nor’easter and a hurricane that comes ashore, bringing all kinds of destructive effects.”

Mitt Romney must rue that line in his Republican National Convention speech, days after Hurricane Isaac narrowly missed hitting Tampa, Fla., and the convention, when he quipped: “President Obama promised to slow the rise of the oceans and to heal the planet. My promise is to help you and your family.” Romney drew a big laugh from those gathered to nominate him. No one is laughing now. Sandy’s U.S. death toll has reached 50, with 8 million without power. Initial estimates put the cost of the damage at tens of billions of dollars.

Romney’s latest position on climate change is no surprise, since it conforms with his consistent pivot to the right, away from his previously held views. As recently as 2007, he told CNBC’s “Kudlow and Company,” “But no question about one thing—it’s getting warmer, and [there are] a lot of good reasons for us to use less energy, to use it more efficiently and to develop sources here in this country that could allow us to be more independent of foreign sources.”

We also should not let President Barack Obama off the hook. Recall the presidential debates, where he continually boasted of his fossil-fuel credentials. “Oil production is up, natural gas production is up,” he said at Hofstra, during the second debate. “I’m all for pipelines. I’m all for oil production.” In none of the three presidential debates was climate change mentioned, even once, not by the major-party presidential candidates and not by the moderators.

Masters partially attributes the lack of discussion to the power of the fossil-fuel lobby: “You’re talking about the oil and gas industry … about the entire basis of the industrialized economy. With these sorts of storms, people are going to wise up at some point and say: ‘Hey, what’s going on? Maybe we shouldn’t mess with the very forces that enable us to live on the planet Earth.’ … We’ve got to get self-preservation in our minds pretty soon, or this is just the start of things, Here we are in the year 2012; what’s going to be happening in 2030 if we’re already seeing storms like this?”

Read entire Op-Ed at Nation of Change