ICCAT 2012: gains and losses with no help from Canada

ICCAT, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna, recently convened in Morocco for its annual evaluation of catch limits.  This is a group that for many years seemed to be turning a deaf ear to the calls of conservationists and even its own scientific advisers as to the diminishing bluefin tuna population (read prior posts here & here).  Year after year, catch limits were set way above any recommended number that could potentially provide sustainability.

This year, the ICCAT awoke slightly from its deep, dark slumber and established catch levels that were in line with limits prescribed by marine scientists: maintaining the current level of 13,500 tons annually, along with an improved management and control process.

It still leaves the Atlantic bluefin tuna on a razor's edge with extinction a distinct possibility.  A complete moratorium would be the most sensible environmental solution but the economic influence of the tuna fishing industry makes that a slim possibility - although it could occur if continued observation and management shows that tuna stocks are not improving.

That was the wake up call this time around: that after 30 years of setting catch levels that were considered sufficient, the ICCAT realized that was just not the case.  Now the big concern is whether this new effort will be sufficient to give the bluefin tuna a fighting chance.

The ICCAT also establishes quotas for its member nations with regard to sharks.  This year there was a proposal from the EU to limit catches of shortfin mako and a complete ban on the porbeagle shark.  The poor porbeagle.  This is a shark that has truly been hammered by the shark fishing industry.  Authorities do not question the fact that the population of porbeagle sharks has declined by 90% since the 1960s.  Where once there were ten, there is now only one - and it only took five decades to do it.

Unfortunately, the EU's proposals were tabled due to some political maneuvering by a few dissenting members.  To accommodate some of the dissenters, like Canada, there were rumored discussions about allowing Canada an exemption.  With that, other dissenting members demanded equal treatment which was sufficient to knock the wind out of the sails of the entire proposed platform.

Often when we think of the overfishing of tuna or sharks, many turn to Asian markets as the primary villains.  While it may be true that that is where most of the demand is coming from, we must also consider the nations that support that demand.  At the ICCAT meeting this year, Canada turned out to be a disappointing supporter; one of the pushers supplying the junkie's habit.

The Canadian contingent had actually requested an increase to 2,000 tons in the bluefin tuna catch limit, but they were soundly defeated by the majority.  However, they doubled their efforts when it came to resisting the shark limits, even though the Canadian government is considering listing the porbeagle shark as an endangered species under its Species at Risk Act.

“I think it is fair to say that there was a general feeling across the meeting that [Canada’s tuna proposal] was out of step, that there was very clear scientific advice that said maintain the quotas,” said Amanda Nickson, director of the U.S.-based Pew Environmental Group’s global tuna conservation program.

Basic supply and demand principles work fine for manufactured or grown products.  It can be a seesaw of price vs. demand and demand vs. production, but it works most of the time.  Where it does not work is when you have a finite resource like tuna or sharks.  Demanding consumers and the producers that blindly support that demand with product, both are responsible parties to what could be the collapse of an industry and, sadly, the extinction of important ocean species.  Scientists and conservationists must be relentless in their efforts to halt overfishing of the bluefin tuna, shortfin makos, porbeagle sharks, and many others.

Source: GozoNews.com
Source: The Globe and Mail                       

Puget Sound Orca Fatality: Canadian naval exercises may be a root cause

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is conducting an investigation into the death of an Orca, aka Killer Whale, that was found bruised and bleeding on a Washington state shoreline in early February. Test are being conducted to determine the exact cause of death but one likely candidate, according to several whale conservation groups, is Canadian naval war games - including the use of underwater sonar - that took place nearby just a few days prior to the orca washing ashore at Puget Sound.

As reported by the QMI Agency for Canada's IFPress.com, Brian Gorman of NOAA said, "We take really seriously any kind of injury, or certainly death, in the population, as there are so few animals. They don't interbreed to any great degree...so if you lose one or two animals, it's a serious threat to the overall health of the population."

The dead orca was a member of a pod of endangered orcas that ply the waters between Washington state and British Columbia. The pod consists of only 90 whales and are protected by the Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act - at least when they are in US waters.

According to the Center for Whale Research, the pod was spotted soon after the Canadian naval exercise began in waters much further south than normal for these whales. Something was driving them southward.

"HMCS Ottawa [the frigate involved in the exercise] used its sonar system in critical habitat of the endangered southern resident killer whales," the Center for Whale Research said. "The unprecedented appearance of these whales in these waters...suggests that southern residents were present in the area — and may have been significantly affected by the exercise."

Canada has implemented tighter restrictions regarding proximity of whale watching boats and other vessels, limiting them to a distance of 200 meters from any sighted orcas. However, the new regulations do not apply to Canadian military vessels.

Although US naval activities are often a source of controversy, particularly with regards to powerful underwater sonar, Gorman noted that US navy vessels have an established protocol. "There are, however, arrangements we have with our navy about making sure that when they are conducting activities that could cause a problem with marine mammals that they post a lookout and not conduct these activities when marine mammals are present within a certain distance."

Source: ILPress.com

AAAS Conference: new developments in the science of ocean conservation presented

This Thursday marked the first day of the American Association for the Advancement of Science's (AAAS) conference in Vancouver, Canada. The annual meeting, which concludes this coming Monday, covers a wide range of scientific topics, but the ocean and the environment play a major role.

Mobile Marine Protected Areas
The opening day of the conference saw a presentation on developments in mobile marine protected areas. Marine protected areas have proven to be invaluable in protecting and nurturing marine ecosystems whether they are small - designed, say, to protect a particular reef ecosystem or animal - or expansive like the Phoenix Islands or Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine Sanctuaries which cover thousands of square miles. However, whether big or small, they all have boundaries - borders to which ocean inhabitants do not pay much attention.

Ocean science is now reaching a point where researchers can study the migration of animals and the factors that influence their movements so that protected areas can, in essence, move along with them.

Commenting on this new development, Stanford University marine biologist Larry Crowder said, “We’re getting to the point where we can design a habitat in three dimensions. I think there are new doors opening.”

Climate change is playing a role in all of this. As ocean temperatures continue to warm, they change currents and overall ocean conditions and so animals will migrate toward the most optimal conditions. Improvements in the miniaturization of electronic tagging devices are better enabling researchers to study animal movements, such as fish moving toward the poles seeking colder water as ocean temperatures rise. With this data, adjustments or shifts can be made to protected conservation areas making for more effective marine fishery conservation and management.

“We’re going to have to plan across national borders because of climate change. We can’t expect the ocean in the future to look the way it has in the past or even as it does now,” said Brad DeYoung, a professor of physical oceanography at Memorial University in Newfoundland, Canada. Technology that is now allowing scientists to better study water depth, circulation and winds will add to our understanding of and ability to predict the movement of marine species. “With this knowledge we can better define management measures . . . to preserve fish stocks and improve fisheries management,” he said.

Predicting the Ocean's Future
On Saturday, the AAAS conference will include a symposium on predicting the future of the oceans using what is called the Nereus model. It incorporates three key elements that are impacting the oceans of the world: climate change, human activity (including fisheries and river run-off) and food web dynamics (fish eating fish). The model currently details the status of the oceans from 1960 to 2060 and incorporates and analyses data from four linked global models – Earth System, Ocean Life, Biodiversity Envelope, and Fisheries Management and Governance – to generate 3D scenarios based on different fisheries management choices and policies.

Preliminary results show that, based on current management policies (or the lack of), the trend has been a strong decline in the biomass of larger fish while some small fish may actually be increasing. The Nereus model is able to predict various results from hypothetical fishery management choices, thereby taking it from just being a historical reference tool to a valuable "crystal ball", alerting scientists as to potentially critical changes in ocean biodiversity.

Initially formed by an international team of scientists and supported by the Nippon Foundation and the University of British Columbia, the Nereus model program will soon include participation from Duke University, Princeton University, University of Stockholm, Cambridge University, and the United Nations Environment Program's World Conservation Monitoring Center (UNEP/WCMC). With the addition of such heavyweight centers of scientific study, the ability to expand on the predictive capabilities of the Nereus model will provide critical information to decision makers.

Professor Jorge Sarmiento, director of Princeton's Program in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, observed, "We now have many of the world's best fisheries, climate, conservation, and social scientists working together, and it is only through this kind of interdisciplinary effort that we can begin to understand what humanity will need to do to save our oceans, the seafood we get from it, and the human communities that rely on it."

Source: The Province
Source: Physorg.com

Groundswell: Pacific Northwest surfer and Patagonia team up on conservation documentary

Surfers of the Pacific Northwest are a pretty hardy lot. Their passion for the sport takes them into sometimes freezing cold water, they trek through virgin forest, and both in the water and out they encounter many of nature's wildest animals. And so that makes them ideal ambassadors for the conservation and preservation of rugged stretches of nature that could be threatened by the environmental damage of oil pipelines and tanker spills.

The Vancouver Sun ran an article by Judith Lavoie of The Victoria Times Colonist reporting on the efforts of a Pacific Northwest surfer and environmental scientist, in cooperation with outdoor clothing manufacturer Patagonia, to bring to the screen a documentary that highlights the beauty of British Columbia's Great Bear Rainforest and the need to conserve and protect this ocean and forest wilderness. The film currently is titled Groundswell and a fall 2012 release is planned. But you can read about the film project and the support from Patagonia. You can also view a film trailer on Patagonia's website by clicking here.

Surfers' Documentary Speaks for Wildlife

When a couple of sea lions swam close to Chris Darimont as he was surfing, he realized that, with his wetsuit and surf board, he looked remarkably like a marine mammal.

That is when the idea came to Darimont, science director for the Raincoast Conservation Foundation, that there should be an opportunity for surfers to speak for the marine mammals of the Great Bear Rainforest and the threats they would face from oil tankers in northern B.C. waters if the Enbridge Gateway pipeline was approved.

"Why couldn't surfers, the closest approximation of marine mammals amongst us humans, bring voice to this issue on behalf of whales, dolphins, porpoises and other species at risk," he said.

Darimont approached Patagonia Inc., a company that has supported Raincoast, and the idea for a surfer documentary film was born.

In October, the Raincoast research vessel Achiever replaced some of its usual scientific gear with a surfboard rack. Darimont, three top California surfers sponsored by Patagonia — Chris Malloy, Dan Malloy and Trevor Gordon — and top Canadian surfer Peter Devries of Tofino set off on a 10-day mission to find big waves in the choppy water off the Great Bear Rainforest.

The resulting documentary will be released internationally this fall, but a trailer, showing the diversity of animals encountered by the surfers, was released this weekend.

"It turned out to be an amazing trip," Devries said. "It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to." Seeing a plethora of marine mammals and other animals, plus dealing with heavy seas, emphasized the need to keep oil tankers away from the area, he said.

"The likelihood of a spill would be very, very high, given how crazy the seas can be," Devries said.

"The ocean is a huge part of my life and a spill would directly affect pretty much everyone and everything on the coast."

Despite his grounding in science, Darimont believes there was magic at work during the surfing trip.

"We woke up one morning and we were surrounded by a pod of killer whales. They had come to us, so, instead of surfing that morning, we spent time with the whales that seemed to have sought us out."

A walk into the forest brought encounters with grizzly bears, even though they are usually elusive, Darimont said. "That day we couldn't walk 100 feet without bumping into a grizzly bear," he said.

The working title of the film is Groundswell, which, in the surfing lexicon, means a series of intense, powerful waves, he said. That is a good metaphor for the growing pipeline opposition, Darimont said.

Source: The Vancouver Sun
Source: Patagonia.com

Sharks: Kuwait and Canada are losing important predators

A couple of items on sharks:

Documenting the Lack of Sharks in the Arabian Gulf
Sharks have been suffering at the hands of large commercial operations to meet the demands for shark fins in the Asian markets. But they can also suffer due to ignorance and, in a sense, neglect. This is what is happening in the Arabian Sea.

An expedition, organized by the U.K.'s Shark Conservation Society in 2008, set out to document the range of shark biodiversity in the Arabian Gulf waters around Kuwait. With the discovery of oil, Kuwaiti culture has changed from fishing and pearl diving as key industries to one based entirely on the lucrative oil business. While fish are still in demand among the Kuwaiti people, there is a lack of concern or awareness as to the need for balancing marine biodiversity - in particular, maintaining healthy shark populations as a cornerstone to a healthy marine ecosystem.

In the local fish markets, sharks can be found but there is not a great demand for them. Their appearance is more one of being bycatch due to the fishing techniques commonly used by the local fishermen. Gill nets are the predominant method, which basically catch anything from edible, commercial fish to sharks to turtles, and more.

Environmental filmmaker Zeina Aboul Hosn accompanied the researchers, both on the water and in the local markets, to document the decline of sharks in the Gulf. Finally, two years later, her film is currently available for viewing on Al Jazeera.



According to GreenProphet.com, Exxon has pledged support for an educational program to increase awareness, establish community-based programs, and provide cleanup activities, which could prove beneficial to local shark populations - if there's still time. Exxon's motives, I am sure, are a mix of environmental concern, politics, and public relations. Whatever their self-serving motives, if it provides a means to educate the local populace on the importance of maintaining a balanced marine ecosystem - for sharks and other species - then it could be a worthwhile trade-off.

Read more about the state of sharks in the Arabian Gulf at the GreenProphet.com.

Canada Considers Support for Great White Sharks
The Canadian government is considering placing the great white shark on its list of animals covered by Canada's Species at Risk Act. Great white sharks are known to travel as far north as Nova Scotia in the Atlantic but their numbers have been in steady decline, in line with what has been seen with many white shark populations worldwide.

Although hunting white sharks in Canada is currently illegal, by covering it under the Species at Risk Act the balance of responsibility changes slightly from something that was solely on the shoulders of the fishermen ("Do not hunt white sharks") to more involvement by the federal government ("What can we do to further protect these sharks?"). This would mean another partner in the international political arena - where worldwide policy is hammered out.

"It's really a matter of supporting other international efforts to reduce catches of great whites and somehow limit their by-catch in other fisheries," said Steven Campana of Nova Scotia's Bedford Institute of Oceanography.

Read more about Canada's great white sharks at CBC News.

Shark conservation is becoming more and more of a complex topic as we move beyond (but don't ignore) the barbarism and waste of shark finning and shark fin soup and focus more on the critical role these predators play in maintaining a healthy marine environment and the need for worldwide public awareness to stimulate action on local, national, and international levels.

Basking Shark: NOAA's "species of concern" designation is a warning flag

NOAA, the U.S. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, took a slightly unusual step by declaring the eastern North Pacific's basking shark a "species of concern." While it sounds a bit like a suspect in an unsolved homicide, what the designation actually does is recognize that the basking sharks that migrate along the coast from Canada to the central coast of California are not recovering in numbers as expected since the taking of basking sharks commercially was curtailed in the 1970s.

Basking sharks, which are listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List but not yet eligible for protection under the U.S.'s Endangered Species Act, are typically cold water, plankton-feeders and quite spectacular to see. Reaching lengths of up to 40 feet, they cruise near the surface with their cavernous mouth agape, filtering plankton and other small organisms. They pose no threat to humans but the reverse is certainly not the case.

Basking sharks have been hunted in the past - sometimes for meat, sometimes because they disrupt the salmon fisheries. Though now protected from deliberately being taken, they can still get caught in fishing nets or struck by vessels as they cruise the surface.

The importance of a government scientific agency taking a step like this is that it essentially greases the wheels for marine scientists to consider the basking shark as a study subject. With NOAA's acknowledged concern, the designation can assist scientists in seeking funding for research projects.

"But why should we fund your study of this shark? It's not exactly endangered is it?" "No, not yet. But NOAA feels sufficiently concerned enough to give it this designation as a warning that steps need to be taken to avoid endangering the animal further. And to know just what those steps should be, we need research. Funded research."

The basking shark - a shark that once schooled by the hundreds in decades past, now only seen a few at a time. If at all. NOAA is taking the commendable step of raising a flag. And they plan to do more. A website will be launched in December for scientists and the public alike to report sightings. In the meantime, you can report sightings by calling 858-334-2884 or send an email to Heidi.Dewar@noaa.gov.

Read more about NOAA's announcement in ScienceNews.
Read more about basking sharks at NOAA's website.

Marine Mammal Protection In Canada's Lancaster Sound: Inuits work to prevent seismic surveys

In Canada's Arctic region, within the territory ceded to the Inuit Indians in 1999, lies Lancaster Sound. This remote site has become the center of a controversy between the Inuits and the Canadian federal government over proposed seismic testing surveys. Over the weekend, a judge in the northern Arctic territory known as Nunavut handed down a temporary injunction to halt all seismic testing because of its potential threat to narwhals, beluga and bowhead whales and other marine mammals within Lancaster Sound.

In commenting on her decision, Judge Susan Cooper said “There is evidence before the court that the proposed testing areas are both calving areas and migration routes for marine mammals.”

The Inuits, who are granted the right to three whale hunts per year as a recognition of their nomadic heritage, are major supporters for the protection of Lancaster Sound. The Qikiqtani Inuit Association (QIA) was the original petitioner to the courts and, in addition to expressing concern for the fate of marine mammals, brought up the contradictory actions of the federal government regarding whether the area should be designated a marine reserve or potential oil and gas drilling site.

According to Liberal Party Leader Michael Ignatieff, the Conservative Party-lead government is “rushing ahead with oil exploration” in Lancaster Sound while touting plans to create a marine wildlife sanctuary in the same place. There are those critics of the government-in-power that claim that the government is trying to ascertain oil and gas deposits before potential boundaries for a marine reserve are drawn.

Chris Debicki, a member of Canada's Oceans North environmental group, says, “We look forward to focusing our energy on the creation of a national marine conservation area in Lancaster Sound — something both the government and QIA are in agreement about — so that conflicts like this don’t arise again.”

Read article in the Montreal Gazette.

New Finds in Newfoundland: discoveries in cold Canadian depths

One often thinks of near-Arctic waters as not a likely environment for corals and sponges - or for much else for that matter. And if it's deep, when we think of life, we think of thermal vents and the temperatures and nutrients that spawn unusual species.

And yet, scientists and researchers from the Canadian Fisheries Department, Canadian and Spanish universities have discovered new coral and sponge species off the coast of Newfoundland - species whose coloration and beauty would befit a tropical reef.

Using a robotic submersible (ROV), the researchers plumbed the depths as deep as 9,800 feet (3 km) in an area protected by the North Atlantic Fisheries Organization. At these deep depths, species of coral, like gorgonian sea fans, grow extremely large (over 3 feet in height) and provide shelter for sealife and even protection from currents - much like trees.

As reported in the Montreal Gazette, according to Fisheries Department scientist Ellen Kenchington, “It’s a similar function a tree would serve in the forest, cutting down wind, providing branches for birds. We have the same type of communities that take shelter down there.”

As the researchers continue their work for the next few weeks, they will be assessing the condition of this protected area to determine whether additional sanctions are needed in other areas to better insure that populations of commercial fish remain at sustainable levels.

Click here to view a slide presentation of fascinating deep sea creatures.

Read article in Montreal Gazette. Photos by HANDOUT, Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Humpback Whales: the ladies hang out together year after year

Humpback whales - those beautiful songbirds of the cetacean world - may have another behavioral trait that sets them apart from the other baleen whales: the ladies apparently form lasting friendships among themselves - kind of an oceanic "Sex in the City."

According to research being conducted by the Mingan Island Cetacean Study of Canada, along with researchers from Germany and Sweden, when humpback whales return to the Gulf of St. Lawrence following extended periods of migration and breeding, the females congregate in groups to feed - not just any group, but the same group of females year after year. They develop friendships.

While toothed whales, like orcas and sperm whales, have shown similar types of social behavior, baleen whales are much less social. The study, reported in the journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, reports that no such behavior was seen between blue and fin whales. Only the humpback whale exhibited this bonding between females, bonding that resumed with the return of the whales year after year.

"I was expecting stable associations within one season, not beyond. I was particularly surprised by the fact that only females form these bonds, especially females of similar age," said Dr. Christian Ramp, one of the Canadian leaders of the study. "Staying together for a prolonged period of time requires a constant effort. That means that they feed together, but likely also rest together. So an individual is adapting its behaviour to another one."

What has yet to be determined is how they find each other every year - perhaps by their distinctive songs or some other low frequency sounds which can travel great distances underwater. Another question to be studied is what implications does commercial whaling have on this behavior. Did this bonding in female groups make them easier targets for whalers in the past? If countries that are proposing a resumption of large scale whaling were to have their way, would these friendships among female humpbacks once again make them easy targets? What are the socio-biological implications of disrupting this behavior; how is the overall family structure - hunting, breeding, calving - impacted?

This is another fascinating component in the complex world of marine mammal behavior. Just like a group of women getting together to have lunch and catch up on maybe some juicy gossip. (I'm not being sexist - men do they same thing; they just do it around the tube with a six-pack and a bag of Cheetos!)

Read more about this in BBC Earth News.

Canadian Geese Migration: animal intelligence without need of a GPS

I was watching a charming movie on cable today, one I had seen when it first came out in the theaters some years back: Fly Away Home. It's a father-daughter drama that incorporates some of the interesting studies that have been done in training orphaned Canadian Geese to learn their migratory routes. Ultralight airplanes have been used to teach the geese to follow the plane and memorize the long route from Canada to the Carolina wetlands in the U.S.

What's particularly interesting is the intelligence these birds are able to display, actually learning the visual landmarks over a 2000 mile route so that they can return again and again. Do you think you could memorize aerial landmarks in one pass over a 2000 mile stretch? And yet this is a bird with a brain the size of a small grape! (See movie trailer.)



Just another example of amazing animal intelligence and the importance for man to understand animal smarts on its own terms - not to judge or compare it to human intelligence. Animals have evolved intelligence supported by senses that relate to feeding, breeding, and basic survival. From that some social interactions and relationships develop but, again, we must be careful not to ascribe human characteristics to it. It's a different animal, literally.

I have seen this misplaced humanizing with other "wild animals." Take sharks, for instance. These are animals with a wide aware of astounding sensory capabilities but with a relatively small brain (a rather fragmented or un-centralized brain actually, when compared to other land animals). In the presence of humans (ie: divers), sharks can demonstrate behaviors that we might regard as human-like interactions or relationships. That can be a mistake.

It is important that we appreciate animals for what they are and how they evolved; different from us, the end result of their successful evolution within their environment, and often superior to us in many ways within that environment.

Canadian Seal Hunt: economic pressure through boycotts and bans

The Canadian baby fur seal hunt has, unfortunately, been taking place in the winter and early spring for many years. Even after extreme efforts over the years from Greenpeace and other hard core conservation groups, the Canadian government has continued to support the fishermen who participate in this hunt during their fishing off-season. For many people, it becomes one of those sad conservation issues whose persistence eventually makes it a lower priority; nothing has changed so we'd rather not think about it. But maybe that's now turning around.

Following on the heels of the European Union's recent decision to ban the commercial trade in seal fur (the U.S. initiated such a ban in the early 70's), The Humane Society International is continuing the strategy of economic pressure by promoting an ongoing ban, extending it to Europe, of Canadian seafood products - products that generate much greater income for Canada and the fishermen involved in the hunt than do seal fur.

The images of big-eyed baby harp seals and hunters wielding clubs or picks has always added to the message that the hunt was cruel in it's execution. Seals could be shot, but bullet holes reduce the value of the seal skin, so clubbing remains the preferred method. Often, the seals are skinned while out on the ice, so in the end it's a pretty grizzly scene (although, I think if we spent a day at a slaughter house or chicken farm, we'd probably all be vegetarians). In the end, the question is whether the seal fur market is worth sustaining, given a shrinking customer base (Canada exports most of its seal product), ecological and conservation implications (Grey seals were nearly wiped out due to over-hunting in the Gulf of St. Lawrence), and the anticipated bad PR and loss of revenue from an extended seafood boycott.

Several commercial food markets and restaurants have joined the Canadian seafood boycott, including Whole Foods Markets, Trader Joe's Food Emporiums, and Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville Cafes.

According to The Humane Society International:

"With more than 1 million baby seals killed in the past five years alone, Canada's commercial seal kill is the largest slaughter of marine mammals on Earth. The annual slaughter is an off-season activity conducted by commercial fishermen from Canada's East Coast who earn, on average, just a small fraction of their annual income from killing seals.

'Expanding the boycott of Canadian seafood to Europe is a logical next step in our campaign to end Canada's commercial seal slaughter,' said Mark Glover, director of HSI/UK. 'The European Union took the historic step of banning its trade in products of commercial seal hunts. Now, by not purchasing Canadian seafood products, European citizens are showing their support for putting an end to the bloody slaughter of baby seals.'

HSI's American partner, The Humane Society of the United States, launched the Canadian seafood boycott in the U.S. in 2005. To date, the ProtectSeals boycott has gained the support of more than 5,500 establishments and 650,000 individuals. With the help of European establishments, HSI hopes to increase these numbers—as the European Union is the third largest market for Canadian seafood—and bring an end to the inhumane slaughter of innocent seals."

Once again, it would seem that economic power speaks louder than humane actions when it comes to motivating commerce. If you would like to learn more about the hunt, click here. To add your name to the boycott list, click here.

Filmmaker's Journal: stalking the arctic muskox

Last summer I had the opportunity to travel with InMER on its Summer Reconnaissance Expedition to the Northwest Passage, documenting the effects of climate change. There was a wide range of filming to do, from important interviews with Inuit tribal elders to government officials, capturing the stark but majestic arctic tundra - and then there's the "fun stuff" like stalking a herd of muskox.

Looking like prehistoric buffalo, the muskox is actually more closely related to goats. With a heavy coat of fur and a pair of curved horns, they are an odd sight - looking like something from one of those 1950's caveman movies where they throw a worn rug over an elephant and call it a mammoth!

Telling the expedition leader, Ed Cassano, CEO of InMER, that I needed close-up footage of a herd of muskox (well, "need" is a bit strong; more like "wanted" to be honest), we set out to scan the horizon from atop Mt. Pelly, a low, local mountain near Cambridge Bay, Nanuvut, in search of muskox. It didn't take long for us to spot a small herd moving across the tundra below. With that we traveled back down the mountain and tried to position ourselves out of sight and scent of our quarry.

Ever tried to sneak up on a 600+ pound muskox on the open tundra? Let me tell you, it's not easy. Tundra is made up of spongy mosses and lichens and stubby grasses, with the occasional basketball-size boulder. I felt like an ol' Saturday morning cartoon character as I slowly zigzagged from a rock to an indentation in the ground (making like a pancake!) to another rock, and so on - hoping all the while that I was moving unseen.

Well, not likely, oh great hunter with a camera. While the rest of the expedition team was safely over the next ridge, I initially found myself upwind of these hairy beasts. They knew I was there and would occasionally take off in a brief stampede. My team mates would hear this and imagine me being trampled like a rag doll. So for several hours I crawled on my belly as the herd would move about until I finally found myself down wind. Now I could close in, I thought.

As I slowly approached, some of the herd paid no attention and grazed peacefully or sat down on the tundra to rest. But others would sense something from time to time and slowly form a group with their rear ends together, forming the horned spokes of a wheel - a very common defensive action against wolves and bears.



So there I was, within 50 to 75 yards, filming these amazing animals found only well above the Arctic Circle. But before I became too full of myself, I spied a lone male standing on a nearby ridge. This was the herd's "alpha male" or dominant bull and from his perch he knew exactly what was going on. "You think I don't see you, you little pipsqueak?" he was probably thinking.

He simply watched, probably confident that if he felt the herd was truly threatened by my presence, he could stomp my sorry little rear end into the ground. So, when he would finally get bored with me, he would nonchalantly saunter over the back side of the ridge and wait for the eventual result. "Ohmygosh, Harriet! Bruno's gone! Come along everyone, chop chop! The boss is on the move!" And the subsequent stampede would follow until they were in eyesight of their fearless leader.

This went on for several hours: stalk, shoot, stalk, shoot. And there's only one word that can describe the experience - it was fun! This is one of the joys of nature filming: depending on patience, stealth, and luck - lots of luck.

The attached video is just a little collage of footage taken from that day. I wonder what Bruno thought of me in the end? Probably, "Geez, what a tourist!"