Rare albino seal returned to the wild has good chance of survival

DutchNews, January 16, 2020 - By Hanneke Sanou 

The albino seal with transmitter. Photo: Ecomare

The albino seal that was returned to the wild on Wednesday stands a good chance of survival, seal sanctuary Ecomare has told Dutchnews.nl. 

The seal, the first albino ever treated at Ecomare, was brought into the centre on Texel in October. The animal was emaciated and was suffering from a lungworm infection. 

Mariette Smit, head of the animal care department at Ecomare said albinism in wild seals happens occasionally but that very little is known about it. 

‘We have no reason to doubt that he will not survive,’ Smit told Dutchnews.nl. ‘Seals are top predators, they have no natural enemies in the Wadden Sea, and we don’t expect any social problems in his relationship with other seals. They are solitary animals in general even though they cluster on the same sandbanks.’ 

The only problem the seal may have is with its eyes, which are very sensitive to light. ‘It will adapt by narrowing his eyes to keep out the brightness’, Smit said. 

The seal has been fitted with a transmitter so Ecomare can keep track of the seal’s journey through the Wadden Sea as well  as collect other data, for instance how long it rests and how deep it dives. Ecomare also wants to know how seals that have spent time at the centre interact with other seals.

Mass seal deaths in Russia's Lake Baikal

France24 – AFP, 31 October 2017

AFP/File | The Baikal seal is the smallest in the world

Around 130 dead seals have washed up on the shores of Russia's Lake Baikal, authorities said Tuesday, as they launched a probe into the latest problem to hit the world's deepest lake.

The Baikal seal is the smallest in the world, and exactly how and when the species colonised the ancient Siberian lake is still a mystery.

"There were about 130 animals found dead" over the past few days, said environmental ministry spokesman Nikolai Gudkov.

"We took water samples to understand whether we can talk of water pollution as the reason," he told AFP, though results have not yet been processed.

Scientists have also taken biopsies of the animals, he said.

The animal is not endangered and Gudkov said the species' population has actually increased in recent years, growing to around 130,000.

Preliminary theories about the die-off did not suggest pollution is the reason, he added.

Lake Baikal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site which has thousands of endemic species, has been suffering from a string of detrimental phenomena over recent years.

These include depletion of fish stocks, death of endemic sponges and explosion of growth of Spirogyra algae unnatural to the lake which scientists say is caused by pollution.

Around 130 dead seals wash up on shores of Russia's Lake Baikal, latest problem to hit the world's deepest lake https://t.co/Z4UnF4AYFH pic.twitter.com/NAv2W6C5pq

— AFP news agency (@AFP) October 31, 2017

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.

Related Article:

Dolphins 'carried body of drowned victim to shore' in July Fourth tragedy

Polar bears develop taste for dolphins as Arctic warms

Yahoo – AFP, June 11, 2015

A polar bear eats a white-beaked dolphin in the Smeerenburgfjorden fjord,

 in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, Norway, on July 4, 2014 (AFP

Photo/Samuel Blanc)

Oslo (AFP) - Norwegian scientists have seen polar bears eating dolphins in the Arctic for the first time ever and blame global warming for the bears expanding their diet.

Polar bears feed mainly on seals but Jon Aars at the Norwegian Polar Institute has photographed dolphins being devoured by a bear and published his findings in the latest edition of Polar Research this month.

"It is likely that new species are appearing in the diet of polar bears due to climate change because new species are finding their way north," he told AFP.

A polar bear eats a white-beaked dolphin

 in the Raudfjorden fjord, on the 

northwestern coast of the Norwegian 

archipelago of Svalbard, Norway, on

July 2, 2014 (AFP Photo/Samuel Blanc)

The first incident he documented was in April 2014 when his team came across a polar feeding on the carcasses of two white-beaked dolphins.

Although dolphins are regularly seen in the Norwegian Arctic in the summer months when the ice has melted, they have never been observed during winter or spring when the sea is usually still covered in sheets of ice.

But Norwegian scientists have reported a strong retreat of ice and two nearly ice-free winters in recent years which they said could have attracted the dolphins further north, where they probably became trapped by the sudden arrival of dense ice blown into a fjord by strong northerly winds.

Aars said the bear he photographed had probably caught the two dolphins when they surfaced to breathe through a tiny hole in the ice.

"Even if they saw the bear, the dolphins did not necessarily have any other choice," he said.

Saved one for later

In the photos a visibly skinny old male bear devours one of the dolphins and appeared to have stored a second one under snow for later -- something which scientist had never seen before.

"We think that he tried to cover the dolphin in snow in the hope that other bears, foxes or birds would have less of a chance of finding it. Maybe to be able to eat it a day or two later, once he had digested the first one," said Aars.

A male polar bear with the carcass of a white-beaked dolphin it has partially

 covered with snow to keep for later having already eaten another one at Raudfjorden

on the Norwegian Arctic archipelago of Svalbard (AFP Photo/Jon Aars)

After the first incident in 2014, a further five cases of dolphins stranded or captured and then eaten by bears have been reported.

"I don't think that this signifies a great upheaval" in the diet of the carnivores, said Aars.

"It's just that the polar bear is coming into contact with species they have not been used to meeting until now."

Sitting at the top of the Arctic food chain, polar bears are opportunistic predators that are also known to feed on small whales if the opportunity arises.

Canada and Norway appeal WTO ruling backing EU seal ban

Google – AFP, 27 January 2014

Seal hunters drag a dead seal onto their boat after killing it in the Gulf of Saint

Lawrence on March 31, 2008 near Charlottetown (Getty/AFP/File, Joe Raedle)

Geneva — Norway and Canada have appealed a ruling by the WTO that backs a European Union ban on the import and sale of seal products, the Geneva-based body announced Monday.

In a statement, the World Trade Organization said Oslo and Ottawa filed their appeals on Friday. In general, WTO appeal rulings are issued within three months.

In November, the WTO disputes settlement body ruled that while there was merit in Norway and Canada's complaints over the 2010 EU ban, that was outweighed by the goal of addressing moral concerns about seal welfare.

Brussels argues that the EU public overwhelmingly favours the ban, and that scientific evidence back claims that slaughter methods, such as using a club with a metal spike on it to stun seals before killing them, are cruel.

Norway and Canada have deployed counter-arguments from scientists, insisting that their seal-hunting methods are humane and no worse than those used in commercial deer-hunting, widespread in the EU.

They both kill tens of thousands of seals per year, and say hunting is an age-old method allowing Atlantic fishing communities to earn an income, as well as to manage fish stocks and thereby the environment.

They also say the ban is trade discrimination because seal products from EU members Sweden and Finland enjoy unimpeded market access within the 28-nation bloc. The EU rejects that argument.

Inuit hunter Pitseolak Alainga (L) explains how the Inuit traditionally hunt seal

 to Canada's Finance Minister Jim Flaherty outside the Nunavut Legislature in

Iqaluit, Canada, February 6, 2010 (AFP/File, Geoff Robins)

Canada's indigenous Inuits, who have traditionally hunted seal for centuries, are exempt from the ban but say it has ruined the market for their seal products too.

In addition, the ban's adversaries warn that the moral grounds defence justifying it could be applied to a host of other products, thus upsetting trade flows.

The WTO polices global trade accords in an effort to offer its 159 member economies a level playing field.

Disputes at the WTO are often extremely technical and can last for several years amid appeals and assessments of compliance with its rulings.

The WTO's disputes settlement body, made up of independent trade and legal experts, has the power to authorise retaliatory trade measures against a country found at fault and which fails to fall into line.

WTO backs EU in seal ban battle with Canada and Norway

Google – AFP, 25 November 2013

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) activists stage a demonstration

 against the seal hunting in front of the World Trade Organization (WTO) headquaters

on February 18, 2013 in Geneva (AFP, Fabrice Coffrini)

Geneva — The WTO on Monday ruled in favour of the European Union in its bitter battle with Canada and Norway over its ban on the import and sale of seal products.

In a statement, the Geneva-based World Trade Organization said its disputes panel recognised grounds for complaint because the EU did not grant seal product traders a level playing field.

But it said they were outweighed by the fact that the ban "fulfils the objective of addressing EU public moral concerns on seal welfare to a certain extent," and that no alternatives existed on that front.

The EU was hauled before the WTO's dispute settlement body by Ottawa and Oslo after imposing a ban in 2010 due to what it called inhumane hunting methods.

Brussels argued that the scientific evidence stacked up in favour of its claims that slaughter methods -- such as using a hakapik, a club with a metal spike on it, to stun seals before killing them -- were cruel.

It also underlined that the EU public was overwhelmingly in favour of the ban.

Canada and Norway insisted their seal-hunting methods were ethical, providing counter-arguments from scientists, and saying they are no worse than those used in commercial deer-hunting which is widespread in the EU.

They also called the ban trade discrimination because seal products from EU members Sweden and Finland enjoyed unimpeded market access within the bloc. The EU rejected that argument.

The WTO's 159 member economies set the rules for their mutual trade, and can bring disputes to Geneva in the hope that it will order rivals to fall into line.

Canada and Norway kill tens of thousands of seals per year, and say hunting is an age-old method allowing Atlantic fishing communities to earn an income, as well as to manage fish stocks and thereby the environment.

In its WTO complaint, Canada argued that it had introduced more humane hunting methods and taken steps to limited the number of seals that fishing boats can hunt per day.

Animal rights groups, however, say seal hunting is a barbaric ritual and have waged a robust campaign in recent years to stop it.

The Brigitte Bardot Foundation, set up by the French film star turned animal rights campaigner, hailed the ruling.

"The WTO has taken an historic decision by recognising that animal welfare is a moral public concern that can justify trade restrictions," it said in a statement.

Canada's indigenous Inuits, who have traditionally hunted seal for centuries, are exempt from the ban.

Canada and Norway have the right to appeal against the ruling.

Super-Trawler Cleared to Fish in Australian Waters

Jakarta Globe, September 04, 2012

This handout file photograph taken on August 30, 2012 and provided by Greenpeace
 shows activists on an inflatable boat (below) intercepting the world's second largest
 factory fishing trawler, the FV Margiris, blocking the monster ships attempt to enter
 Port Lincoln in South Australia on August 30, 2012. A huge Dutch super-trawler was
 on September 4, 2012 given the go-ahead to fish in Australian waters but with tough
conditions to minimize by-catch such as dolphins, seals and sea lions. (AFP Photo)

               

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A huge Dutch super-trawler was Tuesday given the go-ahead to fish in Australian waters but with tough conditions to minimize by-catch such as dolphins, seals and sea lions.

The 9,500-ton FV Margiris repelled Greenpeace protesters to dock at Port Lincoln in South Australia last Thursday for re-flagging as an Australian vessel before its proposed deployment to Tasmania for bait-fishing.

Environment Minister Tony Burke sought legal advice about whether he could intervene over concerns that dolphins and other marine life would inadvertently get swept up in its huge nets.

But he said he had been told he does not have the power to block it fishing in Australian waters.

“Under national environmental law I don’t have the power to block it altogether,” he told ABC television, but said the trawler’s operators would have to prove they were doing everything necessary to minimize by-catch.

“What I do have is the legal power to impose a number of restrictions on it based on the impact it can have, not on the fish that it’s targeting, but on the by-catch — the seals, the dolphins, the fish that are protected and listed and I have responsibility for,” Burke said.

“The big vessel will have to fish within the rules so that the impact it has on the environment is no more than if it was fishing on a small vessel,” he added.

Under conditions imposed by the government, fishing will have to be suspended if a dolphin dies in the ship’s nets or if three or more seals perish. It will also be banned from sea lion hunting grounds.

The trawler will also be required to have an observer on board and to record its activities on an underwater camera.

The 143-meter (469-foot) Margiris sparked protests among conservation groups and local fishermen when it was announced earlier this year that it would fish off Tasmania.

The Tasmanian businessman behind the Margiris venture said the restrictions were acceptable, and workable.

“I think what he’s suggesting sounds reasonable, and we’ll certainly study those conditions very closely,” Seafish Tasmania director Gerry Geen told the broadcaster.

“But on the face of it I think that they’re the sort of measures that will help us to reduce by-catch down to a very low level and we’ll be very pleased to go along with them.”

The Australian Fisheries Management Authority has dismissed concerns about over-fishing, saying the trawler would be allowed to catch just 10 percent of available fish and would have little if any impact on the broader eco-system.

Agence France-Presse

Lost northern fur seal shows up on Hawaii beach

Associated Press, by Audrey McAvoy, Aug. 1, 2012

In this July 31, 2012 handout photo provided by the National Oceanic
 and Atmospheric Administration, a northern fur seal is seen in a cage in
Haleiwa, Hawaii. Northern fur seals live in waters around the Aleutian Islands
 and California, but NOAA officials found an emaciated, underweight and
 weak member of the species thousands of miles away on Oahu's North Shore.
 (AP Photo/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

HONOLULU (AP) — A seal that would normally live in waters around the Aleutian Islands and California has shown up thousands of miles away on a beach in Hawaii, officials said Wednesday.

People found the northern fur seal resting on the sand near Sunset Beach on Oahu's North Shore. It was emaciated, underweight and weak.

It's the first time on record that a wild fur seal has come to Hawaii, said David Schofield, a marine mammal response coordinator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Hawaii's only native seal is the endangered Hawaiian monk seal. Elephant seals have made their way over from California in the past, but only very rarely, Schofield said.

"We were all pretty surprised," he said.

It's not clear how the female visitor, a young adult, got so far south.

Some theorize it may have hitched a ride on a cargo ship or even rode over on some debris from Japan's 2011 tsunami, but Schofield said both were unlikely. The seal may have wandered off and gotten caught in a strange current that brought her to the islands.

"The bottom line is we'll never know," he said.

NOAA officials took her to the Honolulu Zoo to be cared for and to prevent her from spreading any diseases to Hawaiian monk seals.

Northern fur seals are known to carry the measles-like virus morbillivirus, which could devastate the already shrinking Hawaiian monk seal population. Hawaiian monk seals haven't been exposed to diseases like this and don't have any resistance because they've been living in isolation from other seals for so long.

NOAA officials hope to send the northern fur seal to the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, Calif., which has extensive experience nursing sick and injured seals back to health.

"We'll do our very best to provide it with the best care that we can," said Jeffrey Boehm, the center's executive director. The center hopes to return the seal to the wild, he said.

Canada's seal slaughter must go the same way as its whaling industry

The annual bloodbath is outdated and unwanted, the seal fur market having collapsed – but still the government presses on

guardian.co.uk, Mimi Bekhechi, Thursday 12 April 2012

'The majority of Canadians are opposed to the annual seal slaughter.'
Photograph: Stewart Cook / Rex Features

This Thursday marks the official start of Newfoundland's and Labrador's spring seal-slaughtering season. More than two thousand seals have been killed so far this year. Many more will be clubbed or shot before sealers hook them in the eye, cheek or mouth and drag them across the ice floes off Canada's east coast. Some will be skinned while they are still alive. Each one of them is a victim of the Canadian government's desperate efforts to keep the failing sealing industry afloat. Many had hoped that the seal slaughter would not happen this year. The Canadian government's decision to go ahead with this annual bloodbath – despite the fact that there is no longer any market for seal fur – makes no economic sense.

What should have been the final nail in the coffin of the seal slaughter came last December when Russia – which had been buying 95% of Canadian seal pelts – joined the EU, Mexico and the US in banning seal-fur imports. Russian president Vladimir Putin has called seal hunting a "bloody business that should have been banned long ago" and later ended seal imports after Pamela Anderson led an international appeal on behalf. In September, the EU rejected an obviously orchestrated attempt by the Canadian government, in its challenge of the EU ban on seal products, to play the "native Canadian Inuit" card. But the Inuit live far from "the front" – the area where the mass commercial slaughter takes place – and are responsible for only about 3% of Canada's annual seal kill. The EU already exempts Inuit seal products from the ban.

The seal slaughter most definitely doesn't continue because of support in Canada. Polls have consistently shown that the majority of Canadians are opposed to the slaughter. Millions in taxpayer money are being wasted to prop up this dying industry. The federal government pours up to CAN$7m (£4.4m) a year into maintaining an industry that nets only about $1m. While seal pelts used to earn sealers more than $100 each, the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans reported that in 2010, pelts were sold for only about $20 to $25. At this rate, sealers can hardly cover their operating costs.

Very few sealers took part in the 2011 slaughter, and they killed less than 10% of the 400,000-seal quota. One of the largest seal-processing companies, NuTan Furs, has just announced that it will not buy any seal pelts this year. The Canadian government has been trying to peddle seal products in China, but groups like PETA Asia have been working hard to ensure that doesn't happen. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and the provincial government of Newfoundland and Labrador even just announced it would provide $3.6m in financing for a fur processor.

So why does the Canadian government still allow thousands of seals to be slaughtered in such barbaric ways, squandering millions in tax dollars and staining the country's international reputation in the process? It likely won't surprise you to learn that the answer is politics. Both the liberal and conservative parties are desperate to control the swing seats in Newfoundland. But now even Canadian politicians are openly questioning the slaughter. Ryan Cleary, a member of the Canadian parliament who represents one of the regions in which the seal slaughter takes place, summed up the general feeling when he acknowledged: "Part of our history is also whaling, for example, and the day came when the whaling industry stopped. Now, is that day coming with the seal hunt? It just may be".

That day has come, in fact it's long overdue. It's more important now than ever for people to speak out against this cruelt

Canadian seal cull 'unnecessary due to climate change'

Study says rapidly thinning sea ice in north Atlantic has ravaged seal numbers, making annual commercial seal hunt superfluous

guardian.co.uk, Suzanne Goldenberg, Follow @suzyji, Thursday 5 January 2012

A pup harp seal off the coast of the Magdalen Islands, Quebec, Canada.
Photograph: David Boily/AFP/Getty Images

Canada faced fresh calls to shut down its commercial seal hunt on Thursday, following new evidence that death rates among seal pups had dramatically increased due to thinning winter sea ice.

The study, by scientists from Duke University and the International Fund for Animal Welfare, was the first to track declining sea ice cover in all four harp seal breeding grounds in the North Atlantic – with devastating effect.

David Johnston, research scientist at the Duke University Marine Lab, said: "The kind of mortality we're seeing in eastern Canada is dramatic. Entire year classes may be disappearing from the population in low ice years. Essentially all of the pups die."

Satellite records of ice conditions since 1979 showed that ice cover had fallen by as much as 6% every decade. The research is published in the journal PLoS ONE.

The loss of sea ice – and its threat to the future of seal populations – has been confirmed by Canadian government scientists, the International Fund for Animal Welfare said.

Up to 80% of the seal pups born in 2011 were thought to have died because of lack of ice, according to the department of fisheries and oceans. The study adds additional weight to the long campaign by animal protection groups against the seal hunt.

IFAW said on Thursday that Canada should work towards ending the commercial seal hunt for good, compensating the hunters and retraining them for other jobs.

"It is time for the Canadian government to face the reality that the commercial sealing is neither viable nor necessary," the organisation said.

Russia recently banned the import of harp seal pelts. The European Union allows only Inuit seal products.

Female harp seals depend on stable winter sea ice as a safe place to give birth and nurse their young, until the pups are grown enough to hunt on their own. The seals typically seek out the thickest, oldest patches of sea ice each February and March.

The seals are able to adapt to short-term changes in ice conditions, Johnston said. But it was unclear the animals would be able to make a long-term move to new breeding grounds with more stable ice, such as those off east Greenland.

Thousands of seals still return each year to their traditional breeding grounds in the Gulf of St Lawrence or off Newfoundland – despite the declining ice.

"There's only so much ice out there, and declines in the quantity and quality of it across the region, coupled with the earlier arrival of spring ice breakup, is literally leaving these populations on thin ice," Johnston said. "It may take years of good ice and steady population gains to make up for the heavy losses sustained during the recent string of bad ice years in eastern Canada."

Navy training linked to at least 3 dolphin deaths

AP, Mar. 26, 2011

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A Naval training exercise that included an underwater blast off San Diego's coast has been linked to at least three dolphin deaths earlier this month, prompting a probe into whether the military violated the federal law that protects marine mammals.

Navy officials, who reported the deaths of the long-beaked common dolphins following the March 4 detonation off the coast, say they were following proper procedures and will continue with the training.

The National Marine Fisheries Service plans to take another look at the Navy's pending request to disturb marine mammals between Imperial Beach and Coronado, where it conducts amphibious and special warfare training, agency leaders told the San Diego Union-Tribune on Friday.

The Navy's application, which has been in the works for years, says it does not anticipate any dolphin deaths due to training. But following the March 4 incident, the fisheries service opened an enforcement case to determine whether the Navy violated the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, which is designed to safeguard dolphins, whales and similar creatures.

Along with the three deaths reported to the fisheries service, two other dead dolphins were found later, but it's not clear if they were injured by the Navy exercises.

Environmentalists have called on the Navy to suspend activities involved in the deaths and conduct a transparent investigation.

But Navy officials said the program it calls "mission-critical" would continue. They said they were following proper procedures on the day of the blast and are conducting their own investigation to see if changes are necessary.

"We have an excellent track record in our training and have exacting standards that we apply to try to prevent these types of incidents," Cmdr. Greg Hicks, a spokesman for the Navy's Third Fleet, told the Union-Tribune. "We do our best to protect marine life while conducting essential training."

Hicks said there were no dolphins in view when the training countdown began, and when they could be seen it was too late to stop safely.

He could not say how many underwater blasts the Navy has performed at the site in recent years. Documents show the Navy's permit request for underwater explosives involve up to 415 "small" detonations during 311 training events a year.

Underwater explosives are important for clearing obstacles out of harbors so ships can enter. When the Navy practices with them offshore, Hicks said observers look for dolphins, seals, whales and similar creatures that might swim into the danger zone.

Michael Jasny of the Natural Resources Defense Council, which years ago sued the Navy to minimize damage to whales by sonar, said the Navy doesn't have the best environmental record when it comes to ocean life.

"There is training and there is training safely with full safeguards for the protection of the environment," Jasny said. "They haven't always done that."

Information from: The San Diego Union-Tribune, http://www.signonsandiego.com

Related Article:

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Dutch seal shelter to open in Canada

RNW, 26 March 2011

A Dutch seal shelter is to open a second a second facility in Canada hoping to sway public opinion to ban seal hunts completely.

The shelter, based in the northern province of Groningen, will open the facility in Nova Scotia. It set up its first facility in Canada three years ago. A Canadian volunteer is currently being trained in the Netherlands.

The news comes on the same day that the Canadian authorities set the quota of seals to be killed this year at nearly 500,000, a 20 percent increase over last year. Since 2007, annual quotas have risen every year.

Hunted for their fur and meat, most seals are clubbed to death. Worldwide, some 900,000 seals are killed every year, more than half of them in Canada.

Earlier this month, Lenie 't Hart, who founded the Groningen seal shelter 40 years ago, announced she was retiring.

Related Article:

Canada increases seal hunt quota

Seal hunters kill a seal

EU seal pelts import ban dispute goes to WTO court

Canada's seal ban appeal goes to WTO panel

Canada, which has argued that its annual seal hunt
is conducted humanely, is challenging the European
Union's ban on the import of seal products. A WTO
dispute panel will be assembled to hear the case.
((Andrew Vaughan/Canadian Press))