Guest guest Posted July 27, 2000 Report Share Posted July 27, 2000 YOUNG BELUGA SHOT DEAD BABY FOUND BY HIKERS NEAR POINT CAMPBELL By Elizabeth Manning Daily News Reporter (Published July 26, 2000) Federal law enforcement agents Tuesday recovered the carcass of a baby beluga whale that appeared to have been shot twice in the left side. Hunting beluga whales has been illegal since May 1999, when U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens pushed a ban through Congress to protect dwindling numbers. The whale's body was found Sunday afternoon on Kincaid Beach near Point Campbell by a family on a hike. Agents learned about the dead whale Monday afternoon and retrieved it Tuesday by rolling it into a bright yellow body bag and carrying it up a dirt path. At the end of the path, they loaded the carcass into the bed of a pickup and drove slowly up the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail to Kincaid Chalet. Some bikers, hikers and joggers turned away when they passed the body bag. One biker who came up behind the truck turned and went back down the hill after catching a whiff of the stench. The necropsy was finished Tuesday night and confirmed the agents' suspicions: Two of the wounds appeared to be gunshot wounds and occurred before the animal died, said Todd Dubois, a special agent with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. X-rays will be done today to look for bullet fragments. " It would be an educated assumption that they contributed to the animal's death, or caused its death, " Dubois said. Anyone convicted of hunting Cook Inlet belugas can be fined up to $20,000 and imprisoned for up to a year. The Native village of Tyonek is the only group legally allowed to harvest the whales. The village can take one whale this summer through a co-management agreement with the National Marine Fisheries Service, but it has not yet gone hunting, agents said. During the necropsy, biologist Barb Mahoney with the National Marine Fisheries Service took a sample of the whale's skin for DNA testing to determine if this beluga is a member of the declining Cook Inlet population recently listed as depleted under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. She said the whale was too far gone, however, to sample tissue for contaminant studies, which might have helped biologists figure out why the whales have declined. The necropsy also determined that the whale was a male, probably born about a month or so ago and killed about a week ago, Mahoney said. It was 5 feet 7 inches long and weighed between 150 and 200 pounds. The whale was dark gray in color. Belugas start to lighten when they are about 2 and turn white when they are 5 or 6 years old, Mahoney said. Because the population of beluga whales in Cook Inlet has dropped in half to about 350 whales since 1994, NOAA and NMFS are patrolling the Inlet regularly this summer by boat and plane. Dubois said this is the second case this summer of a whale suspected to have been illegally shot. Over Memorial Day weekend, enforcement agents heard a report of someone shooting at a beluga whale near Beluga Point on Turnagain Arm but did not recover a body. Agents are still investigating the case, Dubois said. At least four other beluga whales have died this summer, Mahoney said, but none of those whales are thought to have killed by humans. Dave Cline, director of a bear conservation group, found the whale carcass while hiking on Kincaid beach with his sons and grandson to celebrate his grandson's ninth birthday. The idea was to take him on a hike to introduce him to nature, Cline said. They saw a raven and an eagle soaring overhead that day but also found three dead animals -- a beaver, a swallow and the whale. " I knew it was something that needed to be reported as soon as I saw it, " Cline said. He immediately called John Schoen, director of the Alaska Audubon Society, who then called NMFS. Audubon is offering a $500 reward for information leading to a conviction in this case, and NOAA agents are offering up to a $2,500 reward. Anyone with information should call NOAA's beluga hot line at 271-3021. " It's really sad that someone would do this, " Schoen said. 2000 The Anchorage Daily News ---------- ---- ENN News Toxins taint Norway's whale meat Wednesday, July 26, 2000 By Margot Higgins http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/2000/07/07262000/meat_15040.asp Norwegian whalers can legally hunt, sell and consume whale meat and blubber. But beware: In random samples, dangerous toxins were found. Norwegians may have good reason to watch what they eat. Whale meat and blubber regularly consumed in Norway may contain some of the world's most dangerous toxins, the Worldwide Fund for Nature warns. A recent WWF analysis of whale meat samples purchased in Norwegian markets in 1999 turned up more than 50 PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), including some chemicals that cause hormonal imbalance. " If people regularly consume quantities of contaminated whale meat or blubber, they could be putting themselves and their children at risk, " said Gordon Shepherd, WWF's director of international treaties. " What is more worrying is the long-term exposure to these chemicals and how they may cause an increase in cancer, affect the immune system and reduce sperm counts. " The findings were below the tolerable daily intake limit set by the Norwegian government, but conservationists say the results present another argument against the resumption of international trade in whale products. The results come only a few months after the Convention for International Trade of Endangered Species in Flora and Fauna rejected Norway's proposal to reopen international trade in whale products. According to WWF, Norway continues to hold blubber stockpiles in the hope that the ban on whale meat products will be lifted. There is no market at all for the blubber in Norway, " said Cassandra Phillips, WWF coordinator for whales. " It is frozen and stored, with the whalers hoping the restriction on international trade will be lifted so they can export it to Japan or Iceland where there is a market. In May 1999, the blubber stockpile was reported as being more than 600 tons. " According to Phillips, the average Norwegian consumes only seven ounces of whale meat per year. A 1998 study by the International Whaling Commission determined levels of contamination among some marine mammals are so high that the animals would be classified as hazardous waste sites if they were on land. Several reports circulated at the International Whaling Commission meeting in July about the level of contaminants of whale meat in Japan, Phillips added. " Building on previous studies scientists have just reported new contaminants data from Japan, she said. " They detected mercury some 1,600 times above the government permitted level as well as large amounts of organic mercury and cadmium in whale meat that is widely available. " WWF and the Ocean Alliance are conducting a three-year, around-the-world study of persistent toxins in the world's oceans. " We are destroying ocean fisheries by contaminating them with heavy metals and chemical pollutants, " said Ocean Alliance president Roger Payne. " In the next few years we could lose access to many ocean fisheries; several species are already well on the way to becoming too polluted to eat. I am amazed by how few people recognize the seriousness of this issue. " Conservation groups contend that contamination of whale meat not only represents a human health issue but also contributes to the fact that whales are under various environmental pressures. Those pressures include entanglement in fishing gear, collisions with ships, habitat degradation and climate change on the food supply of whales. Copyright 2000, Environmental News Network Gray whales with Winston http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Jungle/1953/index.html Save the Whales http://www.homestead.com/savethewhales/index.html --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.166 / Virus Database: 79 - Release 6/20/00 Talk to your friends online with Messenger. http://im. Fair Use Notice: This document may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owners. Copyright material may only be used for not-for-profit, educational use on the Web which constitutes a fair use of the material (ie. as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law). If you use copyright material for purposes that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the owner. 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