Daily Summary
Dolphin Shot in Australian Sanctuary
There was a shotgun pellet in a young dolphin found dead in the outer harbor of the Adelaide’s Port River dolphin sanctuary. Three other dolphins have been found dead in the sanctuary in recent weeks, prompting many to call for more rangers to patrol the area. The maximum penalty for killing or injuring a protected marine mammal is $100,000 or two years in jail.
Fisheries Sector Launches Campaign to Protect Costa Rica Tuna Fishing
Purse-seine net nearly closed. Photo credit: SPC/NOAA.
The National Federation of the Fisheries Sector and the Costa Rican Fisheries Federation recently launched a campaign to collect signatures to back a new proposal to regulate purse-seine tuna fisheries in the nation’s waters. “Costa Rican Tuna for Costa Rican Fishers” requests the Office of the President of the Republic to establish a six-year moratorium on tuna fishing with purse-seine nets in the first 370 nautical miles of Costa Rica’s territorial waters. This would allow local fishers to sustainably fish for tuna without having to compete with huge purse-seine fleets.
Paradise lost: outdated biodiversity laws leave rare fish at risk
A new report from the University of Hong Kong states that laws protecting biodiversity in Hong Kong are outdated and need to be reviewed in order to save rare species in the wild. Many of the most high-risk species are fish which aren’t effectively protected by any other regulations. The Fisheries Protection Ordinance only regulates fishing methods and the Marine Parks Ordinance protects eight categories of animals, but no fish. The report says one of the biggest priorities is to compile a list of species at risk in Hong Kong.
Copyright © 2013 by Marine Science Today, a publication of Marine Science Today LLC.
