Latest news with #NMFS
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Skagit Delta tidegate repair awaits resolve of legal action
Land lies protected for farming by dikes and tidegates in Skagit County, as the islands of the San Juan Archipelago rise on the horizon. (Photo by Salish Current) This article was first published by the Salish Current. If the tidegates on No Name Slough — an estuary at the Skagit River delta — appear to be stained, crusted and a bit sagging with age, it could be because they are 60 years old. If they fail, 450 acres of prime farmland could be inundated with salt water spilling in from Padilla Bay, and lost to farming. The Skagit Delta tidegates have a simple purpose: to drain farmland when the tide goes out, then block incoming tides when they come lapping at the gate. The Skagit River delta produces about 90% of the agricultural value of all farms in Skagit County. Some of the highest value crops — spinach and cabbage seed, wheat and barley — grow on the soil protected by the diking districts. The gates have made the Skagit River delta one of the state's most productive farmland areas, acre for acre, for 140 years. Now, the future of farming on 60,000 acres of delta land protected by a network of dikes and 100 tidegates can no longer be assumed. The issue is now being fought in federal court. A lawsuit brought by Skagit Dike, Drainage and Irrigation Improvement District 12 seeks to overturn a biological opinion by National Marine Fisheries Service, or NMFS, that the district says imposed onerous impact fees for merely repairing existing infrastructure. The fate of the Skagit delta's highly fertile farmland is inextricably intertwined with that of the Chinook salmon, classified as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, or ESA. The district lost its request for summary judgement in the first round on April 28, when U.S. District Court Judge Brian A. Tsuchida ruled for NMFS on all key claims. The decision was based on review of documents filed by both sides. Tsuchida's decision mooted his earlier decision in 2024 that the district could proceed with repairs because NMFS had taken too long in its environmental review of the tidegate repair permit. At issue, notes the ruling, is 'NMFS' conclusion that the No Name Slough tidegate project would further reduce the quality and perpetuate poor conditions of nearshore and estuary habitat for Puget Sound Chinook for an additional 50 years' — thus necessitating habitat mitigation and restoration. In bringing suit, District 12 contends the project is 'a simple tidegate replacement which does not expand the footprint of existing structures, and provides benefits to fish.' Commissioners of the district voted on May 12 to file an appeal with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A hearing before a three-judge appeals panel is not yet scheduled. Jenna Friebel, executive director of the consortium that represents all 12 diking districts, said her organization 'disagrees with and is disappointed with the district court's decision.' A rule that NMFS adopted in November of 2020 imposes substantial mitigation fees for any nearshore infrastructure repairs, from tidegates to Port of Seattle piers. The No Name Slough tidegates are the first in the Skagit delta system to face the consequences of the rule. Before the change, the Skagit Tidegate Fish Initiative, or TFI, in 2010 established a system whereby tidegate improvements could be made without having to go to NMFS for permission for every individual project. The Diking District 12 tidegate replacement on No Name Slough has been pending for four years, since the district's original application for a permit approval from NMFS. The ruling expands the baseline for determining effects of a repair project from the immediate vicinity of the work to the entire Puget Sound range of Chinook salmon. The next step under ESA, unless conditions for Chinook recovery show improvement, would be to declare the species endangered, triggering more stringent rules to protect the fish. The rule also has been extended to include repairs to public infrastructure such as piers, waterfront bulkheads, ports and any other project that NMFS decides must involve mitigation fees. For District 12, that would add $2.5 million in mitigation fees on top of whatever it costs to replace the tidegate and repairs to a section of the dike around it. What NMFS wants to have mitigated is the subject of a lawsuit the district filed against the agency last December. Tsuchida sided with the federal fisheries agency on virtually every issue, citing at one point the 'deference' given to NMFS as the source of expertise and scientific knowledge on the ESA. Despite disagreement with the ruling, 'our member districts remain committed to working with state and federal resource agencies and local tribes to develop solutions to the complex at hand that are grounded in facts and science,' Friebel said. Senior Civil Prosecutor Will Honea, who deals with natural resource issues, said that Skagit County government has no direct stake in the District 12 lawsuit against NMFS. 'However,' he said, 'We are concerned that NMFS's single-minded focus on punitive regulatory measures is preventing productive progress in the Skagit, damaging the Skagit fisheries resource, hampering our ability to prepare for sea level rise and climate change and creating unnecessary conflict in our community.' NMFS officials have declined to comment on the ruling. The TFI was intended to make the process of obtaining permits for work on tidegates easier for applicants. The Army Corps of Engineers was empowered to issue permits directly for tidegate repairs under terms of the TFI approved by NMFS. It created an oversight board consisting of dike district representatives, the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community and Skagit County, state Fish and Wildlife and NMFS, with a staff member acting as coordinator. The program included a system by which districts could acquire 'credits' by doing work that made 'operational improvements' to their tidegate systems. Districts could do the work even if they did not have any credits stored. The Swinomish objected, complaining that the districts were using the operational improvements to do work that was more than the system should have allowed. The tribe gave 60 days notice of intent to sue NMFS. The tribe threatened to sue the Corps of Engineers for approving the District 12 work after its own finding that the project would have minimal effect on the threatened Chinook.
National Geographic
22-05-2025
- Science
- National Geographic
When humpbacks get stuck in fishing gear, their friends stick around to help
Are whales altruistic? A new scientific paper and a video present a compelling case the answer is 'yes.' A humpback whale stays by the side of a whale entangled in fishing gear. He spent more than five hours by her side, swimming below her and raising her to the surface to breathe. Photograph By Dan Cesre, Taken during research activities conducted under NOAA NMFS permit # 22750. Approaching two whales a few years ago, Rachel Cartwright and her research team noticed something strange. As the younger whale was caught in a fishing line, the adult of the pair started whipping his tail fluke against the water repeatedly. Eventually, the smaller whale caught on and started thrashing her tail too. It was as if the adult was showing the juvenile what to do. And gradually the fishing line that she had become entangled in started to come away. 'The research assistants named her Taylor, because she was trying to 'shake it off,'' says Cartwright, a behavioral ecologist at California State University Channel Islands in Camarillo. In a new study, Cartwright and a team of strandings specialists documented how a 'companion whale' tries to help when an individual humpback whale gets entangled in fishing gear. In a separate instance, Cartwright was studying humpback reproduction when her team came across a trapped two-year-old whale. An adult whale swam slowly next to her, putting his pectoral fin gently on top of hers or laying with her, snout to snout, at the surface. At one point, he appeared to try to protect her from tiger sharks. 'He was swimming behind, flapping them off with his fluke," she says. The second whale swam underneath, lifting the young female to the surface. 'It was quite clear that he wasn't attempting to mate with her,' says Cartwright, as males position themselves on top during mating. "To me, what's really interesting about this situation is that it's unrelated whales," she adds. On the suggestion of NOAA entanglement expert and co-author Ed Lyman, the team contacted Hawaiian and Alaskan strandings networks to find out how often this happens. When they looked over the data, 'we realized that this behavior is more common than we thought,' says Cartwright. Out of 414 accounts of entanglement from 2001 through 2023—54 in Hawaii and 260 in Alaska—'companion' whales responded in a helpful way 62 times. Olaf Meynecke, a research fellow at Griffith University in Australia, who wasn't involved in the study, has also seen this in the South Pacific Ocean. His team was trying to disentangle a young whale with a float wrapped around its fins. Two other whales stayed close by. One was beside the whale in trouble and another underneath. Meynecke felt like they were saying 'if you're not able to maintain buoyancy, and you start sinking, I will try and lift you up.' Meynecke has seen adults trying to help entangled calves, even if the mother is present. 'It can be four, five, six other adult whales who are clearly there because they want to support that distressed animal,' he says. But, in the study, more than half of the 62 incidents were between adults, so it's not just about looking after the young. Why do whales protect other whales? Looking through historical records, the researchers realized this behavior had been seen before—particularly during whaling, which was banned in most countries in 1986. When a victim was captured, 'other whales would come in and sit right beside them and stay with them while the capture happened,' says Cartwright. This put the responding whales at risk, so the behavior likely became less common. 'If you're the kind of whale that helps other whales, you're going to get taken,' she says, 'so this trait would have become quite rare.' 'The behavior may be a form of affective empathy,' says Anna Moscrop, head of science policy at Whale and Dolphin Conservation. 'An individual recognizes an emotional state such as distress, without experiencing the stimuli themselves.' Cartwright thinks this might also be an example of behavioral plasticity—the whales are adapting to a changing world where entanglement is now a regular part of life. Meynecke wonders whether the reason we're seeing this more is not only because 'we've got more distressed whales in the ocean' but also because technology like drones makes it easier to find and document these behaviors. Keeping whales safe from gear Entanglement—in mooring lines, nets, crab pots, and other discarded fishing gear—is an ever-growing threat. "Over 80 percent of whales will be entangled at some point in their lives, and up to 25 percent might be entangled every year but self-release," says Cartwright. Seeing whales desperately trying to help each other is 'absolutely horrible,' Meynecke says. 'These poor animals know exactly what's going on, and they just cannot do anything. It goes beyond just an individual. It's a highly stressful situation for a number of whales within the area who are communicating and trying to assist.' What's more, entanglement—a major cause of whale mortality—is preventable. 'The best way to protect marine mammals from fishing entanglements is to reduce the risk of contact between them and the gear,' Moscrop adds. One way of doing this is using fishing gear that minimizes the lines left in the water, which 'drastically reduces the chances of entanglement and saves whales.' This is something we can all play a part in. 'There are choices we make as consumers,' says Cartwright. 'There are lots of options to choose sustainably caught fish.' Incredible Animal Journeys is now streaming on Disney+.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Gutting Endangered Species Act would harm Tacoma
At Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium and Northwest Trek Wildlife Park, part of Parks Tacoma, wildlife conservation is the core of everything we do. Every day, we see firsthand how the survival of endangered species depends on the protection of their habitats. That's why we are deeply concerned about a proposed federal rule from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) that would weaken the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by removing habitat modification from the definition of 'harm.' For decades, the ESA's traditional interpretation of 'harm' has been a cornerstone of conservation, allowing agencies to protect not just animals themselves but also the environments they need to feed, breed, shelter and migrate. This approach has been instrumental in preventing countless extinctions since the law's enactment in 1973. It has enabled the recovery of iconic species like the grizzly bear and the bald eagle by ensuring that their habitats and food sources remain intact and viable for future generations. Parks Tacoma's zoological teams have decades of experience working to recover imperiled species, from restoring native amphibian populations in the Northwest to leading the national recovery effort for the critically endangered American Red Wolf. These successes have only been possible because of strong protections for the wild places these animals and plants need to survive and recover. If finalized, this rule would allow activities that degrade or fragment habitat — such as logging, development or pollution — to proceed without ESA oversight, as long as they don't directly kill or injure individual animals or plants. This narrow interpretation ignores decades of scientific evidence and practical conservation experience demonstrating that habitat loss is often the primary threat to imperiled species. This is not just a technical change. It is in direct conflict with the original stated purpose of the ESA: that 'ecosystems upon which endangered species and threatened species depend may be conserved.' Habitat destruction is the leading cause of species endangerment and extinction, both in the U.S. and globally. Without the ability to protect the ecosystems that species depend on, the hard-won gains of decades of conservation work could be quickly undone. The ESA is one of America's most effective conservation laws, with a 99% success rate in preventing the extinction of 1,700 species. Weakening its protections now would be a massive step backward, risking the future of countless animals, plants, and ecosystems. Now is the time to speak up for wildlife. The USFWS and NMFS are accepting public comments on this proposed rule until May 19. If you care about the future of endangered species and the wild places they call home, please add your voice. Visit and search for Docket No. FWS–HQ–ES–2025–0034 to submit your comment in support of strong, science-based habitat protections. Let's stand together to ensure the Endangered Species Act continues to protect not just animals, but the places we all depend on. Your voice matters. Alan Varsik has served as zoological director for Parks Tacoma since 2017. He has over 30 years of experience in the zoological field, including working to protect California condors, American red wolves and the Channel Island fox. Marc Heinzman is the conservation manager for both zoos. He has worked for over 15 years on conservation initiatives targeting species in Washington state, the broader United States, and internationally in Asia, South America, and Africa.
Yomiuri Shimbun
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Scientists Once Thought Only Humans Could Bob to Music. Ronan the Sea Lion Helped Prove Them Wrong
Carson Hood/UC Santa Cruz via AP This photo provided by researchers shows California sea lion Ronan in Santa Cruz, Calif., in 2023, under an NMFS 23554 permit. Ronan the sea lion can still keep a beat after all these years. She can groove to rock and electronica. But the 15-year-old California sea lion's talent shines most in bobbing to disco hits like 'Boogie Wonderland.' 'She just nails that one,' swaying her head in time to the tempo changes, said Peter Cook, a behavioral neuroscientist at New College of Florida who has spent a decade studying Ronan's rhythmic abilities. Not many animals show a clear ability to identify and move to a beat aside from humans, parrots and some primates. But then there's Ronan, a bright-eyed sea lion that has scientists rethinking the meaning of music. A former rescue sea lion, she burst to fame around a decade ago after scientists reported her musical skills. From age 3, she has been a resident at the University of California, Santa Cruz's Long Marine Laboratory, where researchers including Cook have tested and honed her ability to recognize rhythms. Ronan joined a select group of animal movers and shakers — which also includes Snowball the famed dancing cockatoo — that together upended the long-held idea that the ability to respond to music and recognize a beat was distinctly human. What is particularly notable about Ronan is that she can learn to dance to a beat without learning to sing or talk musically. 'Scientists once believed that only animals who were vocal learners — like humans and parrots — could learn to find a beat,' said Hugo Merchant, a researcher at Mexico's Institute of Neurobiology, who was not involved in the Ronan research. But in the years since since Ronan came into the spotlight, questions emerged about whether she still had it. Was her past dancing a fluke? Was Ronan better than people at keeping a beat? To answer the challenge, Cook and colleagues devised a new study, published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports. The result: Ronan still has it. She's back and she's better than ever. This time the researchers focused not on studio music but on percussion beats in a laboratory. They filmed Ronan bobbing her head as the drummer played three different tempos — 112, 120, and 128 beats per minute. Two of those beats Ronan had never been exposed to, allowing scientists to test her flexibility in recognizing new rhythms. And the researchers asked 10 college students to do the same, waving their forearm to changing beats. Ronan was the top diva. 'No human was better than Ronan at all the different ways we test quality of beat-keeping,' said Cook, adding that 'she's much better than when she was a kid,' indicating lifetime learning. The new study confirms Ronan's place as one of the 'top ambassadors' of animal musicality, said University of Amsterdam music cognition researcher Henkjan Honing, who was not involved in the study. Researchers plan to train and test other sea lions. Cook suspects other sea lions can also bob to a beat — but that Ronan will still stand out as a star performer.
Toronto Sun
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Toronto Sun
Scientists once thought only humans could bob to music. Ronan the sea lion helped prove them wrong
Published May 01, 2025 • 2 minute read This photo provided by researchers shows California sea lion Ronan in Santa Cruz, Calif., in 2023, under an NMFS 23554 permit. Photo by Carson Hood / AP Ronan the sea lion can still keep a beat after all these years. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account She can groove to rock and electronica. But the 15-year-old California sea lion's talent shines most in bobbing to disco hits like 'Boogie Wonderland.' 'She just nails that one,' swaying her head in time to the tempo changes, said Peter Cook, a behavioral neuroscientist at New College of Florida who has spent a decade studying Ronan's rhythmic abilities. Not many animals show a clear ability to identify and move to a beat aside from humans, parrots and some primates. But then there's Ronan, a bright-eyed sea lion that has scientists rethinking the meaning of music. A former rescue sea lion, she burst to fame around a decade ago after scientists reported her musical skills. From age 3, she has been a resident at the University of California, Santa Cruz's Long Marine Laboratory, where researchers including Cook have tested and honed her ability to recognize rhythms. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Ronan joined a select group of animal movers and shakers — which also includes Snowball the famed dancing cockatoo — that together upended the long-held idea that the ability to respond to music and recognize a beat was distinctly human. What is particularly notable about Ronan is that she can learn to dance to a beat without learning to sing or talk musically. 'Scientists once believed that only animals who were vocal learners — like humans and parrots — could learn to find a beat,' said Hugo Merchant, a researcher at Mexico's Institute of Neurobiology, who was not involved in the Ronan research. But in the years since since Ronan came into the spotlight, questions emerged about whether she still had it. Was her past dancing a fluke? Was Ronan better than people at keeping a beat? To answer the challenge, Cook and colleagues devised a new study, published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The result: Ronan still has it. She's back and she's better than ever. This time the researchers focused not on studio music but on percussion beats in a laboratory. They filmed Ronan bobbing her head as the drummer played three different tempos — 112, 120, and 128 beats per minute. Two of those beats Ronan had never been exposed to, allowing scientists to test her flexibility in recognizing new rhythms. And the researchers asked 10 college students to do the same, waving their forearm to changing beats. Ronan was the top diva. 'No human was better than Ronan at all the different ways we test quality of beat-keeping,' said Cook, adding that 'she's much better than when she was a kid,' indicating lifetime learning. The new study confirms Ronan's place as one of the 'top ambassadors' of animal musicality, said University of Amsterdam music cognition researcher Henkjan Honing, who was not involved in the study. Researchers plan to train and test other sea lions. Cook suspects other sea lions can also bob to a beat — but that Ronan will still stand out as a star performer. Travel USA Editorial Cartoons Celebrity Money News Sunshine Girls
