Lizard skins, swordfish horns and two tonnes of coral recovered in police raid

DutchNews, August 29, 2016

Picture: Dutch police. 

Police and customs officers have seized a record haul of illegal animal products, including swordfish horns, mounted crocodiles and coral. 

Altogether two tonnes of coral, as well as snake and lizard skins and ivory from protected species, were recovered from five storage units in North Brabant, together with €500,000 in cash and gold. 

A spokesman for Rotterdam police said researchers spent three days categorising the collection, which was characterised by a ‘bizarre range and diversity’. 

The trail to the illegal depot began after a routine check at Rotterdam harbour uncovered 345 kilos of coral contained in 15 packing cases on a container ship from China. 

The owner of the company where the items were stored, a 53-year-old man, is under investigation but police said no arrests have been made.

Obama establishes world's largest marine reserve in Hawaii

Yahoo – AFP, Kerry Sheridan, August 26, 2016

Obama's announcement more than quadrupled the size of the existing protected
 area, known as the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument (AFP Photo/
Brendan Smialowski)

Miami (AFP) - President Barack Obama on Friday burnished his environmental legacy by establishing the world's largest marine reserve, home to thousands of rare sea creatures in the northwestern Hawaiian islands.

Obama's announcement more than quadrupled the size of the existing protected area, known as the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, which is now 582,578 square miles (1.5 million square kilometers) -- about four times the size of California.

The waters are home to pristine coral reefs and hundreds of animals found nowhere else on Earth, including a new species of ghost octopus discovered only this year and the world's oldest living organism, black coral, which is estimated to be 4,265 years old.

Some 14 million seabirds soar over the area and make their nests on the islands, including a 65-year-old albatross named Wisdom. The area is also home to threatened green turtles and endangered Hawaiian monk seals.

The marine monument was established in 2006 by then president George W. Bush and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2010.

"By expanding the monument, President Obama has increased protections for one of the most biologically and culturally significant places on the planet," said Joshua Reichert, an executive vice president at the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Greenpeace also hailed what it called a "bold decision" that will ban commercial fishing and mineral extraction in the region.

US Senator Brian Schatz, a Democrat from Hawaii, said in a statement that the expansion will create "a safe zone that will replenish stocks of tuna, promote biodiversity and fight climate change."

Obama "has given Native Hawaiians a greater voice in managing this precious resource," Schatz said.

But some expressed disappointment over the move to expand the zone to 200 miles from shore, saying that it imperils fishermen's ability to make a living.

"Closing 60 percent of Hawaii's waters to commercial fishing, when science is telling us that it will not lead to more productive local fisheries, makes no sense," said Edwin Ebiusi Jr., chair of the Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council.

"Today is a sad day in the history of Hawaii's fisheries and a negative blow to our local food security."

Matt Rand, director of the Global Ocean Legacy project at the Pew Charitable Trusts, took a different view, saying that the change should have "a minimal economic impact" on fishing in the area.

The archipelago and its surrounding waters are considered a sacred area by native Hawaiians.

The White House said permits will also be available for noncommercial fishing -- including recreational fishing and the removal of fish and other resources for Native Hawaiian cultural practices -- in the area.

World congress

Obama's announcement came just days before the kickoff of a major global conservation meeting including thousands of heads of state, scientists and policy makers, which the US president is expected to address in Hawaii on September 1.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature's world congress is held every four years at a different location around the globe. This year it runs from September 1-10.

Obama will also travel to Midway Atoll, inside the protected area, to underscore the decision.

There he will make the case that climate change "makes protecting our public lands and waters more important than ever," according to the White House.

The timing of Obama's announcement is important because it "will inspire probably the people that are most interested and most engaged in conservation globally," said Rand.

Obama has made conservation and climate change a central pillar of his presidency -- in the face of Republican opposition in Congress -- forging international climate accords and promoting national parks.

"All together, President Obama has protected more public lands and waters than any other president," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.

"And these sites often help tell the story of significant people or extraordinary events in American history."

Obama establishes world's largest marine reserve in Hawaii https://t.co/iiHtWPZ7gj by @kerrsheridan pic.twitter.com/sO3e45v90i

— AFP news agency (@AFP) August 28, 2016

Related Article:

Barack Obama to create world's largest ocean reserve in the Pacific

The existing boundaries of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument

 are outlined in light blue. The other Monuments, outlined in purple and green, are

not being changed. Photograph: Noaa

Couple rescued after searchers spot SOS on remote island

Yahoo - AFP, August 28, 2016

A US Navy photo shows two people signalling for help by writing "SOS" in the
sand on August 25, 2016 on uninhabited EasT Fayu Isalnd, Micronesia (AFP Photo)

Wellington (AFP) - Two people stranded for a week on a remote Pacific island have been rescued after a search aircraft spotted their SOS message in the sand, the US Coast Guard said Sunday.

The couple, who had "limited supplies and no emergency equipment", were found on uninhabited East Fayu island in Micronesia by a US Navy air crew, who discovered them on the beach near the makeshift sign, according to the coast guard statement.

The search team was responding to reports that someone on the island was using a flashlight to attract attention when they saw the survivors, the statement said.

"The search and rescue operation for Linus and Sabina Jack has been successfully completed," the US Embassy in Kolonia, Micronesia, posted on its Facebook page.

"Since the island was potentially uninhabited and knowing (they) had a flashlight in their boat, we directed our search aircraft to overfly the island."

A couple, who had "limited supplies and no emergency equipment", have been 

found stranded on uninhabited East Fayu island in Micronesia by a US Navy 

air crew (AFP Photo)

The couple had set out from Weno Island in Micronesia in a five-metre (16.4-foot) boat on August 17, but the alarm was raised when they did not arrive at Tamatam Island the following day as expected.

During the week-long search, the Coast Guard said it used 15 vessels and two aircraft to cover an area of nearly 16,600 square miles (43,000 square kilometres) of ocean.

The couple were picked up by a patrol boat and taken to Nomwin atoll.

Humpback whales around the globe are mysteriously rescuing animals from orcas

Scientists are baffled at this seemingly altruistic behavior, which seems to be a concerted global effort to foil killer whale hunts.

Mother Nature Network, Bryan Nelson, July 30, 2016

Humpback whale to the rescue? (Photo: Wiki Commons)

Humans might not be the only creatures that care about the welfare of other animals. Scientists are beginning to recognize a pattern in humpback whale behavior around the world, a seemingly intentional effort to rescue animals that are being hunted by killer whales.

Marine ecologist Robert Pitman observed a particularly dramatic example of this behavior back in 2009, while observing a pod of killer whales hunting a Weddell seal trapped on an ice floe off Antarctica. The orcas were able to successfully knock the seal off the ice, and just as they were closing in for the kill, a magnificent humpback whale suddenly rose up out of the water beneath the seal.

This was no mere accident. In order to better protect the seal, the whale placed it safely on its upturned belly to keep it out of the water. As the seal slipped down the whale's side, the humpback appeared to use its flippers to carefully help the seal back aboard. Finally, when the coast was clear, the seal was able to safely swim off to another, more secure ice floe.

Another event, involving a pair of humpback whales attempting to save a gray whale calf from a hunting pod of orcas after it had become separated from its mother, was captured by BBC filmmakers. You can watch the dramatic footage here:

Perhaps the most stunning aspect of this behavior is that it's not just a few isolated incidents. Humpback whale rescue teams have been witnessed foiling killer whale hunts from Antarctica to the North Pacific. It's as if humpback whales everywhere are saying to killer whales: pick on someone your own size! It seems to be a global effort; an inherent feature of humpback whale behavior.

After witnessing one of these events himself back in 2009, Pitman was compelled to investigate further. He began collecting accounts of humpback whales interacting with orcas, and found nothing short of 115 documented interactions, reported by 54 different observers between 1951 and 2012. The details of this surprising survey can be found in the journal Marine Mammal Science.

In 89 percent of the recorded incidents, the humpbacks seemed to intervene only as the killer whales began their hunt, or when they were already engaged in a hunt. It seems clear from the data that the humpback whales are choosing to interact with the orcas specifically to interrupt their hunts. Among the animals that have been observed being rescued by humpback whales were California sea lions, ocean sunfish, harbor seals, and gray whales.

So the question is: Why are humpback whales doing this? Since the humpbacks seem to be risking their own well being to save animals of completely different species, it's hard to deny that this behavior seems altruistic.

There is also some reason to believe that the behavior isn't entirely selfless. Mature humpback whales are too large and too formidable to be hunted by orcas themselves, but their calves are vulnerable. Orcas have been witnessed hunting humpback whale calves in much the same way that they hunt gray whale calves. So, by proactively foiling orca hunts, perhaps the humpbacks are hoping to make them think twice about messing with their own calves.

Then again, maybe it's just as simple as revenge. Even if it has more to do with revenge than altruism, though, the behavior would represent evidence of an intense and complicated emotional life among humpbacks that is unprecedented in the animal world, outside of primates.

One common feature among many humpback whale rescue efforts is that the humpbacks often work in pairs. Scientists will need to do more research into this behavior, though, to truly understand the significance of it.

Until then, these beautiful animals, which are perhaps best known for their majestic songs, have certainly earned some additional respect. They might just be the ocean's most ferocious and selfless first-responders.

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