Wednesday, March 2, 2016

MASS MARINE DEATHS 2016, FROM CHILE AND PERU TO ALASKA, GLOBALLY, ANOTHER BAD YEAR



PICTURED ABOVE, THE NEWBORN CALF "J55", NOW PRESUMED DEAD.
27 FEB. 2016

Washington state-based Center for Whale Research says the orca calf, named J55, was first spotted January 18th in Puget Sound.
The newborn was not spotted again during subsequent sightings of the pod on January 19th and February 25th.

Scientists say the loss of any calf is a blow to the struggling population, but it’s not entirely surprising since up to 50 per cent of newborn orcas don’t survive their first year.

No one is sure whether any new calf will even survive its first year. Many orca young perish during their first few months because the entirety of their diet is their mother's milk. And orca females' milk is laden with all kinds of toxins — heavy metals, PCBs, and other chemicals — that they absorb through their frequently polluted diets. This is acutely true of female orcas' firstborn calves, because the milk they receive is often laden with years of toxic buildup.

As a result, orca watchers will not even name a new calf beyond its numerical designation until its second year, when its chances for survival then rise dramatically. Indeed, the most recent birth among the Southern Residents, a calf born in the L Pod designated L120, lived only seven weeks after its birth in the summer of 2014.


FOR THE TEA ROOM AT LEAST, THE NEWS OF THE DEATHS OF THE YOUNG FEMALE ORCA CALLED RHAPSODY IN DECEMBER, 2015, A 'TRANSIENT' ORCA CALF FROM ONE OF ALASKA'S PODS THAT WASHED ASHORE NEAR UCLUELET, CANADA, AND YET ANOTHER NEWBORN ORCA CALF EARLIER THIS YEAR WAS DEEPLY TROUBLING.

RHAPSODY WAS ONE OF BUT A HANDFUL OF BREEDING-AGE ORCAS LEFT IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST'S ORCA POPULATION.
"With her passing, there are only about a dozen reproductively viable females remaining in this population, and "very little possible recruitment to this cohort within the next few years."

TOO MUCH DEATH

70% of our sea birds and 75% of the worlds fish are now depleted: No fish left in our oceans by the year 2048. NOAA: Carnage along the west coast exploding since 2011.

SINCE 2011, SINCE 2011...THAT PHRASE IS REPEATED IN THESE REPORTS AGAIN AND AGAIN....SINCE 2011... 5 TERRIBLE YEARS.

SINCE BEFORE EL NINO, SINCE BEFORE "RED TIDES", SINCE BEFORE"PARASITES WERE FOUND", OR "ALGAE BLOOMS"....


MANY SEALS AND SEA LIONS FACE ANOTHER YEAR OF MASS DEATHS
REPORTED 26 FEB. 2016 
CNN

Marine researchers have found more than 100 dead sea lions -- most of them newborns -- washed ashore along a relatively small peninsula in northern Chile over the past three months, part of a more widespread die-off being observed elsewhere on South America's Pacific coast.

"This is happening along the entire coast of northern Chile and we're getting reports that it's also happening in Peru, our neighbor to the north," researcher Carlos Guerra-Correa told CNN. "We could be talking about hundreds of sea lions washing up ashore dead in the entire region."

The South American sea lion (Otaria flavescens) is the species affected by the die-off observed in the area of the Mejillones Peninsula in Antofagasta province, where the researchers routinely conduct marine studies.

Guerra-Correa said he is concerned that the vast majority of the dead sea mammals are newborns -- though some juveniles and adults have been found.

Sea lions seem to be starving to death because the food chain has been disrupted.

"Starvation is primarily affecting female sea lions in the latter stages of pregnancy. That's why their babies are dying at birth or being miscarried," said Guerra-Correa, who is director of the Regional Center for Environmental Studies and Education at Antofagasta University.

SOMETHING, THEN, HAS "DISRUPTED THE FOOD CHAIN" FROM THE TIP OF CHILE ALL THE WAY UP TO ALASKA AND THE ARCTIC CIRCLE WHERE THOUSANDS OF SEALS AND SEA LIONS DIED IN EMACIATED CONDITION LAST YEAR...AND IT'S ALREADY LOOKING BAD FOR THEM AGAIN THIS YEAR.



"They [sea lion pups] have to be able to eat and fish on their own before they can be released back into the wild, and a lot of these pups haven't even been weaned," Justin Greenman, assistant stranding coordinator for NOAA on the West Coast, said.

MORE DEAD WHALES IN CHILE

Teams with Chile's National Fishing Service are investigating what the Chilean government
calls "massive deaths of cetaceans." Investigators have found dead whales in Penas Gulf in the Aysen Region located in southern Chile. 

The National Fishing Service reports the finding of 70 skeletons. They also found the bodies of two other animals, possibly whales, which died recently. Officials also blame these deaths in a disruption in the food chain.

ALSO, IN CHILE, AS ON OUR WEST COAST, MASS SALMON DEATHS WERE REPORTED AGAIN THIS YEAR.

 01 MARCH 2016 
 AS MANY AS 5 MILLION SALMON HAVE DIED IN TWO REGION OF CHILE, Chiloe and Aysen regions.
 


DEAD SEA TURTLES BY THE HUNDREDS, EVEN ALONG FLORIDA COAST
15 February 2016.
- Around 445 dead sea turtles were found on beaches in Guerrero, Mexico in recent weeks, so the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa) and the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP) will investigate the causes of mortality.
  
 19 February 2016 
The 'experts' there say it was likely a parasite.

22 February 2016 
The Clearwater Marine Aquarium has picked up more than 129 dead and 93 living sea turtles since Feb. 3, more than the total number of dead specimens collected during all of 2015.
"We've already done a year's worth of work," said Adrienne Cardwell, the aquarium's manager of sea turtles and aquatic biology programs.

Crews have been responding to calls about the stranded young turtles and patrolling Pinellas County's northern beaches for the past two weeks, searching for the aquatic reptiles as water temperatures dropped — leaving many turtles with already compromised immune systems in trouble.


What will be blamed for the deaths of the 40+ very endangered Olive Ridley turtles found dead on a beach in India, Feb. 25, 2016?

"Carcasses of the endangered turtles were spotted along the coast near Digabareni Khunti (Weather Pole) here yesterday.
Multiple injuries were found on the bodies of the turtles which points towards possibility of them being hit by fishing trawlers in the sea.

WHAT ABOUT THE THOUSAND-PLUS OTHER DEAD TURTLES FOUND THERE SINCE THE BEGINNING OF 2016?
Earlier on February 17, over 150 dead turtles and a bottlenose dolphin were found near Mangala Nadi and Shri Vihar area.
Besides, over 1000 dead turtles were spotted along the coast near Paradip under Gahirmatha marine sanctuary in Kendrapara district.

THE MONTH BEFORE, IN JANUARY, HUNDREDS OF OLIVE RIDLEYS WERE ALSO FOUND DEAD, AS WELL AS HUNDREDS OF DOLPHINS AND SMALL-FINNED WHALES.

“We have never seen so many dead turtles on the Puri beach in the recent past. Everyone, including the authorities should do something about it”, said famous sand artist Sudarsan Patnaik.

Recently, hundreds of whales and dolphins had beached ashore on the Tuticorin beaches in Tamil Nadu, around 45 of the small finned whales had died.
TURTLES ARE DYING GLOBALLY, AS ARE NUMEROUS SPECIES OF FISH, WHALES, DOLPHINS, OYSTERS, CRABS, URCHINS, SEA STARS, SEABIRDS, SEALS, SEA LIONS, SQUID, SHRIMP, SEA OTTERS, AND JELLYFISH, JUST TO NAME A FEW REPORTED 2016 DEATHS I DISCOVERED ON MY WEEKLY WEB SEARCH.

I HAD SO HOPED THIS YEAR WOULD BE A BETTER YEAR FOR THE MARINE LIFE.

04 FEB. 2016 
A Post review of statistics on the Agricultural, Fisheries and Conservation Department’s Red Tide Database from last November to the end of January indicate that most red tide reports were concentrated around Tolo Harbour and Long Harbour in the eastern New Territories.
The red tides have been linked to a massive fish kill in the area. Since late December, more than 36 tonnes of fish have died off mariculture zones in Kau Lau Wan, Yim Tin Tsai, Sham Wan, Yung Shue Au, Lo Fu Wat and Tap Mun.



Tai Po district councillor Wong Yung-kan, a former lawmaker for the fisheries sector, said the mass deaths began a few weeks after a massive bluish-green discharge was found in the Shing Mun River in Sha Tin in December. He believed there was a link between the two events. He believed there was a link between the two events.
"In 1998, red tides killed fish everywhere, but this time it's all happening in the Tolo Harbour area," he said. "Something is not right."

 Previous tests have found no toxic algae or "suspicious sources" in the watercourse.
Adjunct scientist and marine expert Dr. Sangeeta Mangubhai said there were a few reasons that could cause fish to wash ashore.
"If you have fish killed it could either be because of pollution or because there is not enough oxygen in the water. It can be anything like air pollution or other animals in there that are sucking up the air in there."
With Fiji's current temperature experienced at a maximum 33 degrees C, Dr. Mangubhai said not all fish could be killed because of this
"When the coral bleaches and dies, it does not necessarily mean that the fish dies. It depends on how much coral die, and if a lot of coral die, the fish that eat the coral die because of less food.

The Fisheries Department is currently conducting tests on fish that washed ashore along the Coral Coast to determine the cause of death.

SPERM WHALES
"Another sperm whale has become stranded on the east coast of England, the sixth to wash up on British shores in recent weeks.The huge mammal washed up at Hunstanton beach in Norfolk and died on Thursday evening, according to British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR)."

Another sperm whale has become stranded on the east coast of England, the sixth to wash up on British shores in recent weeks.
The huge mammal washed up at Hunstanton beach in Norfolk and died on Thursday evening, according to British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR).

Stephen Marsh, operations manager for BDMLR, said there was nothing the volunteers could do due to the size and weight of the animal.

29 LOST IN PAST 2 WEEKS
“It’s a sperm whale, another male. It’s the 29th stranding we’ve had in Europe in the last couple of weeks,” he said.

More sperm whales wash up dead just a couple of hundred miles away from the Dutch coast where last week 13 sperm whales died.

The 13 dead sperm whales off the Dutch and German coast this week were perfectly healthy and not starving as first reported...250 years since so many whales died off the Dutch coast.


WHILE DEATHS IN OUR OCEANS ARE INCREASING, SO ARE MARINE DEATHS IN OUR MAJOR RIVERS AND LAKES WORLDWIDE.
I DISCOVERED RECENT, 2016, REPORTS FROM SO MANY NATIONS: CHINA, AUSTRALIA, AMERICA, BRAZIL, ECUADOR, URUGUAY, VIETNAM, SCOTLAND, ZIMBABWE, TO NAME A FEW....AND THESE:


11 February 2016 - Thousands of fish continue to die along the Nile Delta in Egypt.

10 February 2016 - Hundreds of dead eels found in a creek in Marlborough, New Zealand

22nd February 2016 - 20 TONS of fish die in Lake Maninjau, Indonesia


THE DEATHS LISTED HERE BARELY REPRESENT THE THOUSANDS OF REPORTS ALREADY THIS YEAR.

IT'S DISHEARTENING, ALARMING, AND WE CAN TELL OURSELVES IT'S NOT WITHIN OUR POWER TO STOP IT, BUT IS THAT CORRECT?

IF WE ARE IN ANY WAY AT ALL RESPONSIBLE, USING "WE" TO MEAN THE HUMAN SPECIES, THEN OF COURSE WE CAN CHANGE THAT, CORRECT IT, AND WE MUST.
WHATEVER IT TAKES, WE MUST HELP CREATURES WITH NO PLACE ELSE TO GO, NO ESCAPE FROM THE WATERY WORLD THEY MUST LIVE IN.
SURELY, IF WE WANT TO, WE CAN FIND WHAT'S WRONG, AND FIX IT.

SINCE THESE ANIMALS CANNOT SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES, MUSN'T WE BE THEIR VOICE?

SO FAR, ALL WE'VE DONE IS WHISPER....








________________

FOR ANYONE INTERESTED:
THERE IS A WEBSITE WITH A LARGE INTERACTIVE MAP OF GLOBAL ANIMAL DIE-OFFS FOR 2016 AND A SCROLLING LIST OF THE 50 MOST RECENT EVENTS:
http://www.globalincidentmap.com/beta/mystery-wildlife-incidents

BUT IT ALSO GIVES ANIMAL DEATHS BY DISEASES AND WEATHER, ETC.
ONE MAY ALSO SEARCH AND SEE A MAP OF SPECIFIC ANIMALS AND SPECIFIC CAUSES.

I WAS DELIGHTED TO FIND SUCH A GOOD RESOURCE, BUT SADDENED BY HOW MANY HAVE RECENTLY PERISHED..




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