ACS Conservation Committee Report

ACS Conservation Reports are selected summaries of current news articles on whales, dolphins, porpoises, and their environment. These reports are offered to you under the fair use provisions of U.S. copyright law.

 Mercury Poisons Japanese Whale Meat, New Tests Confirm ...   Washington, DC, November 3, 2003 (ENS) - Packages of dolphin, porpoise and small whale meat and blubber purchased in Japanese supermarkets contain nearly five times more mercury than the Japanese government allows, according to chemical tests commissioned by environmental investigators. Their tests confirm what Japanese scientists have found - whale meat packages on the shelves contain illegal levels of mercury.

The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), an international campaigning group with offices in Washington and London, revealed today that mercury levels were much higher than permitted by regulation in 60 percent of the 72 products sampled.

Dolphin, porpoise and whale meat are widely available in Japan's retail outlets, and Japanese consumers face serious health risks when they eat these products, the organization warned.

From March 2001 to October 2003, people working with EIA purchased and chemically analyzed 72 cetacean products on sale in Japanese supermarkets and fish markets across 13 prefectures of Japan.

The average mercury level was 1.88 ppm (parts per million), close to five times the provisional mercury level set by the Japanese Ministry of Health, which is 0.4 ppm. The average concentration of methylmercury was 1.11 ppm, nearly four times the maximum allowable levels.

According to Japan's Food Sanitation Law (JAS), it is prohibited to sell products with mercury or methylmercury levels in excess of 0.4 and 0.3 ppm respectively.

Mercury is a potent neurotoxin, and scientists have found that even low concentrations can cause damage to nervous systems. Developing fetuses and children are especially at risk. Mercury enters the environment naturally and through industrial pollution.

In June 2003, The government of Japan released a health advisory warning pregnant and nursing women to limit their consumption of sperm whale, Baird's beaked whale, pilot whale an bottlenose dolphin due to contamination of mercury in these species, which can reach levels over 100 times higher than those commonly found in migratory fish such as tuna and swordfish.

The EIA views this health advisory as "a positive step," but says it "does not go far enough to protect the health of the Japanese public who consume these products."

Japanese scientists, too, have this year found dangerous levels of mercury in whale meat in Japanese markets.

The Japanese scientists bought samples from across the country, and found that every single slice of toothed whale red meat, Japan's most popular whale product, exceeded that country's provisional limit on mercury, with some samples containing almost 200 times the maximum allowable level.

The researchers also found that mercury levels were higher in whales caught off the coast of the southern part of the country. Nago, the southernmost of the six regions studied, had the highest average concentration, and levels decreased steadily moving northward.

"About 17,000 toothed whales are caught annually off the Japanese coast," says Tetsuya Endo, Ph.D., a professor at the Health Sciences University of Hokkaido, Japan, and lead author of the paper. "Despite extreme contamination with mercury, toothed whale products have been sold for human consumption without any regulation."

The findings of Endo and his team appeared in the June 15 edition of "Environmental Science & Technology," a peer-reviewed journal of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society.

"These particular meat samples were from packaged food products that someone would have eaten, if they had not been purchased for pollutant analysis," says Frank Cipriano, Ph.D., director of the Conservation Genetics Laboratory at San Francisco State University. "This is a clear signal that Japan has a major health problem that the government has not addressed."

Between 2000 and 2002, Endo and his colleagues purchased whale meat in towns across Japan - from tiny fishing villages to Tokyo. They measured total mercury levels in 137 samples and did a genetic analysis to verify the species of each whale.

The researchers found that every sample exceeded the provisional mercury level set by the Japanese Ministry of Health. Out of nine different whale species identified, the lowest average mercury level was 1.26 ppm and the highest was 46.9 ppm, with the majority of species ranging from five to 10 ppm.

The two highest mercury levels in individual samples were 81 ppm found in a false killer whale, and 63.4 ppm found in a striped dolphin.

Taiji fishermen killed 69 striped dolphins on October 6 in the first hunt of the Wakayama drive fishery season, which runs from October through April.

The levels of mercury measured by the Japanese scientists are similar to or higher than the levels in fish eaten by people in the Minamata Bay area of Japan, Endo says. In the 1950s and early 1960s, hundreds of children were born with birth defects caused by their mothers' repeated consumption of fish contaminated with mercury.

The EIA is urging the Japanese government to immediately ban the sale of whale, dolphin and porpoise products that exceed mercury levels outlined in the Food Sanitation Law and the government mercury advisory.

Mercury poisoning can cause neurological damage, sometimes resulting in impaired vision, speech and hearing, loss of coordination, reproductive disorders, paralysis and cerebral palsy. Severe cases can result in coma or death.     Environmental News Service

 Japan to kill 400 whales for 'research', then sell to restaurants...   November 8, 2003 - A Japanese whaling fleet left port yesterday on an annual expedition to the Antarctic to hunt about 400 whales under a controversial government-backed research program.

The hunts, sanctioned by the International Whaling Commission, have been criticized as commercial whaling in disguise by environmental groups and anti-whaling nations, including the United States.

Five whaling ships led by the 7,638-ton Nisshin Maru left the southern port of Shimonoseki with a crew of 200 for the 17th Antarctic expedition since Japan started the program in 1987.

The fleet will catch up to 440 minke whales, a species that Japan argues has sufficient numbers to sustain limited commercial hunts.

Data from the hunt will be used in whale population and migration studies to build a case for "resuming use of this natural resource," said a statement from the Institute of Cetacean Research, the government-affiliated centre in charge of the program.

The expedition will return next April.

The IWC banned commercial whaling in 1986 to protect the endangered mammals, but approved restricted hauls for Japan's $US37 million ($A52.55 million) research program a year later.

Critics say there's no clear evidence whale stocks have recovered, and accuse Japan of engaging in covert commercial whaling. Most meat from research whales is eventually sold to restaurants to help cover the program's costs.

"The thrust of this so-called research is to pave the way to a return to profitable commercial whaling," said Junko Sakurai of Greenpeace Japan.

Japan is one of the world's largest consumers of whale meat, considered a delicacy here.

Its long-standing campaign to convince the IWC to lift its commercial whaling ban suffered a setback at the group's annual meeting in June.

During the four-day Berlin meeting, a majority of the 50-member commission blocked a Japanese request to hunt 150 minke whales and 150 Bryde's whales a year in the North Pacific, and voted to establish a panel to look at improving whale protection.

Frustrated officials in Tokyo threatened to withdraw from the IWC or hold back financial contributions.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi later said his country would work through the commission to achieve greater understanding of its position. His allies include Norway, which rejected the 1987 commercial whaling ban under IWC rules.     Associated Press Australia at: <http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/11/07/1068013395990.html>

 Senate passes Pentagon relief measures on species protections...   November 13, 2003 - The Senate yesterday overwhelmingly approved an FY '04 Defense authorization conference report that eases endangered species and marine mammal protection requirements on Defense Department lands, a long-sought victory for a Pentagon that claims the changes are necessary to ensure adequate military training.

The agreement would amend the Endangered Species Act by allowing the Interior secretary to exempt Defense sites from critical habitat designations if an adequate natural resources plan is in place at the sites. The deal says the Interior secretary "shall not designate as critical habitat any lands or other geographical areas owned or controlled by the Department of Defense ... that are subject to an integrated natural resources management plan prepared under section 101 of the Sikes Act, if the secretary determines in writing that such a plan provides a benefit to the species for which critical habitat is proposed for designation."

The compromise, adopted 95-3, also redefines activities considered harassment of sea life under the Marine Mammal Protection Act from those that may affect species to those that injure, disturb or are likely to disturb marine mammals. This new standard applies to Defense Department actions and research done by or for the federal government.

The House approved the same conference report, 362-40, the previous week.

Environmentalists have criticized the final deal as a nod to the provisions originally passed by the House, even though the relief is not as broad as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld wanted. The initial Pentagon proposal would have also limited DOD liability under the Superfund law, Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act.

In the end, what Defense officials received "were provisions short-circuiting protections for wildlife," said National Environmental Trust President Philip Clapp.

The Natural Resources Defense Council's acting legislative director, Karen Wayland, was equally harsh. "The Congress has served as a willing accomplice to the Bush administration's shameful exploitation of national security as an excuse to sacrifice our natural heritage," Wayland said.

Environmentalists' allies in the Senate rose to oppose the measure, led by Sen. James Jeffords (I-Vt.), the ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, who called the ESA and MMPA changes unnecessary because the Pentagon can already invoke a national security exemption from these and other environmental laws. "To date, no secretary of Defense has used this authority," Jeffords said.

These laws have contributed greatly to "the diversity of our natural environment" and will be undermined by the Defense bill, Jeffords said. For example, the ESA provisions give "no assurance that they will provide a conservation benefit equal to a critical habitat designation."

Only Jeffords and Sens. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) and Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) voted against the bill.

Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) joined Jeffords in opposing the environmental provisions of the bill, though he voted for it in the end. The conference agreement harms "our environmental security in the name of national security." The legislation "goes too far," and Durbin said he hoped concerns about the environmental aspects of the bill "can be addressed in the future."

Akaka, the ranking member on the Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness, said the conference agreement defies the bipartisan tradition of requiring the Pentagon to "behave in an environmentally responsible manner." In particular, the deal would provide ESA relief "without establishing appropriate environmental safeguards" and "harm large numbers of marine mammals without DOD even having to consult with agencies" responsible for protecting them, Akaka said.     Environment and Energy Daily

 Luna Update...   From NOAA Fisheries:

I talked with Brent Norberg this morning about the status of Luna's relocation plans, and got this brief update:

The proposals submitted to DFO are not being considered, as they were not complete applications and did not have funding to carry out the project.

Now that both the US and Canada have offered funding to move Luna, DFO and NOAA Fisheries will be working together over the winter on a new, government plan to move Luna. The timing of the move will depend on how long it takes the governments to agree on a plan, and on when the US funding becomes available, as well as considering the timing for the greatest possibility of Luna hooking up with L pod. The US funding that has been promised for Luna is not yet available, and Brent expressed that often the appropriations process can take months, and that NOAA Fisheries is unable to do any contracting until the funding is approved and secured. He said the move could occur anytime, but it looks like Luna will have to spend another winter alone in Nootka Sound, because they fear they won't be able to get him down south before L pod leaves, and they don't want him to have to spend the winter in a sea pen.

Susan Berta
Orca Sighting Network    

 Members of the EU Parliament, Scientists and Environmentalists Meet with NATO about High Intensity Active Sonars...   Dr. Marsha Green (Ocean Mammal Institute) and and Sigi Lueber (ASMS: Swiss Marine Mammal Protection) organized a meeting with NATO at their Brussels headquarters on October 13, 2003 to present petitions and discuss the mitigation and regulation of high intensity active sonars. In addition to Dr. Green and Ms Lueber the delegation included Dr. Caroline Lucas and Eija Riitta Anneli Korhola, both members of the European Parliament; Dr. Linda Weilgart, a marine mammal scientist from Dalhousie University; Kjell Sevon, a lawyer from Parliament; Ernst Guelcher, an advisor to Parliament and Ed Lueber from ASMS.

The delegation met for over one hour with Dr. Jamie Shea, Deputy Secretary General for External Relations and Dr. Michael Carron, Senior Principal Scientist Anti-Submarine Warfare, in charge of Marine Mammal Risk Mitigation for NATO.

The delegation delivered two petitions. Sigi Lueber presented one petition on behalf of The European Coalition for Silent Oceans, which ASMS formed in 2002. This petition contained almost 100,000 signatures from European citizens calling for a moratorium on the deployment of Low Frequency Active Sonar (LFAS) until a transparent Global Environmental Impact Statement can be prepared and evaluated.

The second petition, presented by Dr. Marsha Green was signed by 68 environmental and conservation organizations in the US, Canada and Europe representing a total membership of 8.3 million people (NOTE: ACS was one of the signatories). This petition requests the Secretary General of NATO to urge member states to rapidly mitigate their use of high intensity active sonar, requests the North Atlantic Council to adopt a moratorium on the deployment of new low frequency systems by NATO and its member states until a global assessment of their cumulative environmental impacts can be prepared and evaluated, requests the North Atlantic Council through its Policy Coordination Group to consider limits on the transfer of quiet diesel-electric and nuclear submarines to nations outside the NATO Alliance (navies using high intensity sonar argue that newer, quieter submarines are the reason why such active sonars are now required), and requests that the North Atlantic Council commit itself to work with the EU and its member states to initiate the formation of a Multinational Task Force with the goal of developing international agreements regulating noise levels in the world's oceans.

Michael Jasny of the Natural Resources Defense Council was instrumental in drafting this petition and Mark Palmer of Earth Island Institute took charge of circulating it to environmental groups.   

 Japanese Gov't to strengthen relations with Caricom ...   Friday, October 17, 2003 - Tokyo, Japan -- The Japanese Government will be moving to strengthen relations with the Caribbean Community (Caricom) through a targeted programme of cultural and people exchanges, according to Torao Sato, director of the foreign ministry's Latin American and Caribbean Affairs Bureau.

"Japan is committed to co-operation and intends to continue for years to come," he told the Observer Monday, but noted that there were still several things to be done to improve the link between Caricom states and Japan.

Against this background, he said Japan intended to place "special emphasis" on "cultural and people exchanges to further enhance our existing friendly relations".

Japan is one of the world's major industrialized nations, and according to Sato, the Japanese Government sees Caricom as an important partner -- despite the regional grouping's geographical distance from the Far East.

Sato singled out Jamaica, noting that the country was a major partner in the Caribbean, with which his country had "more" historic ties. He stressed that Tokyo attached importance to the bilateral ties and would continue working closely with Kingston.

"We are working closer year after year," he said.

Jamaica and Japan established diplomatic relations in March 1964. However, it was not until 1995 that Japan appointed an ambassador to Jamaica, as up to then, the Japanese ambassador accredited to the country resided in the Dominican Republic.

The Japanese International Co-operation Agency (JICA) -- now headed by Ambassador Takashi Matsumoto, a former envoy to Kingston -- oversees the grant-aid and technical assistance programme to Jamaica.

The Caricom/Japan partnership is concentrated mainly in the areas of economic and technical co-operation; trade and tourism; and cultural exchange programmes.     Jamaican Observer

 Collapsing Populations of Marine Mammals-the North Pacific's Whaling Legacy?...   The rapid removal of at least half a million great whales from the North Pacific Ocean by intensive industrial whaling more than 50 years ago may have unleashed a complex ecological chain reaction that has since rippled resoundingly from ocean to coastal ecosystems, according to a team of eight scientists, including Jim Estes, a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) research ecologist and adjunct professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

The team's paper on this subject, which prompted articles in newspapers around the country, was published in October in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The scientists believe that when great whales became scarce, their foremost natural predators, killer whales, turned to other marine mammals as primary sources of food, causing sequential declines in southwest Alaska during the 1960s and 1970s of first the harbor seals, followed by northern fur seals, Steller sea lions, and finally, in the 1990s, sea otters, as killer whales "fished down" the food web.

"During three decades of research in the Bering Sea and North Pacific Ocean, I watched other scientists struggle to understand the precipitous population declines of northern fur seals, harbor seals, and Steller sea lions, never imagining that my area of research-sea otters and kelp forests-might be affected by these changes," said Estes.

It was the decades of sea-otter research by Estes and colleagues that ultimately shed light on the pinniped declines. In about 1990, the Aleutian sea-otter population Estes studied plummeted, from an estimated 55,000-100,000 individuals in the 1980s to 6,000 individuals in 2000.

"By the late 1990s, sea otters occurred at such a low density throughout the archipelago that sea urchins were overgrazing the kelp forest," said Estes.

The absence of dead otters, as well as realizing that neither malnutrition nor disease could explain the declines-the remaining animals were healthy-led the scientists to consider predation as the cause of the deaths.

Their conclusions in 1998 pointed to an oceanic problem that drove killer whales to switch from other prey to sea otters. They calculated that a killer whale on a steady diet of sea otters could consume as many as 1,825 otters in a year, and that as few as four whales on an exclusive sea-otter diet could have caused the documented sea-otter declines that occurred.

The sea-otter decline led Estes and other scientists in this new study to wonder whether increased killer-whale predation might also explain the precipitous declines of northern fur seals, harbor seals, and Steller sea lions, and so they searched the oceans for the ultimate cause.

When modern industrial whaling arrived in the North Pacific in the late 1940s, several species of great whales had already been depleted in the region 50 to 100 years earlier. The new whaling fleets, from Japan and the Soviet Union, equipped with maritime technology developed during World War II, intensively sought fin whales, sei whales, and sperm whales, species that had not been taken in large numbers until after the war. By the mid-1970s, all of the great whales of the North Pacific were severely depleted.

Past beliefs regarding the abrupt collapses of seal and sea-lion populations in the 1960s and 1970s attributed the declines to limited or changing foods, stemming from climate change and competition with regional fisheries.

Looking back at these events, however, this team of scientists found that their whale hypothesis was consistent with information on the abundance, diet, and foraging behavior of both predators and prey, as well as with feasibility analyses they conducted based on demographic and energetic modeling.

The scientists found that very small changes-as little as 1 percent of the total caloric intake-in killer-whale foraging behavior could account for both sea-otter and sea-lion declines.

The stunning magnitude of the caloric void that would have been left in the food chain by this whaling period has also strengthened the scientists' conviction about the origins of the chain of ecological events.

When the great whales were abundant, their biomass may have been 60 times the combined biomass of all of the seals, sea lions, and sea otters. The great whales would have been able to sustain vastly more killer whales than could populations of pinnipeds and sea otters, Estes said.     USGS Soundwaves Monthly Newsletter (October 2003)

 Iceland worried about tourist boycott...   October 27, 2003 - OSLO - Iceland is worried that tourists may boycott the island in protest at its resumption of whaling after a 14-year break but the economy has not suffered so far, Prime Minister David Oddsson said on Sunday.

Icelandic whalers harpooned 36 minke whales in August and September for their first hunts since 1989 in what Iceland says is a three-year scientific study of whether whales are a threat to vital fish stocks.

"It has not had any economic effect after this summer," Oddsson told Reuters when asked if Iceland had felt any impact from a barrage of criticism, including United States threats of trade sanctions.

"I have to admit that some people in the tourism organizations in Iceland are worried about the future, the two years still to come," he said on the fringes of a meeting of Nordic and Baltic prime ministers in Oslo.

Iceland announced its decision to start the three-year catches in July -- too late, Oddsson said, for foreigners to change their 2003 summer holiday plans.

"This decision is a delicate question, I must admit," he said. "We have to be delicate about how we manage this the next two years." "It would be foolish not to say that it would affect in some way our tourism, but not on a big scale," he added.

Iceland stood by the decision to hunt whales, despite a moratorium on killing the sea mammals agreed by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) after many species were hunted almost to extinction.

"We had every right to do it," he said.

Reykjavik says 43,000 minke whales live in Icelandic waters, eating two million tonnes of fish and krill every year. Opinion polls in Iceland show that up to 75 percent of Icelanders support the hunts. Norway and Japan, the other main whaling nations alongside Iceland, also argue that stocks of minke whale have recovered. They have repeatedly urged the IWC in vain to approve the hunts.

Minke whale meat is sold in shops and restaurants in all three nations. The High North Alliance, a Norwegian-based pro-whaling lobby, says any US trade sanctions because of whaling would violate World Trade Organization rules.     Reuters

 Vaquita and Shrimp Trawling in Gulf of California...   In 1993 the Mexican gov't created the Upper Gulf of Calif Biosphere Reserve to protect the vaquita. They have since determined that this is not gong to be enough, and in 1997 created International Committee for the Recovery of the Vaquita (CIRVA). They have established stricter guidelines, and a recovery plan, which includes no trawling or gill netting in the Reserve. Population: According to the 2002 Ency of Marine Mammals, the latest survey found 567 animals (not as low as 60, as Don Julio stated below).

DON JULIO'S COMPLAINT
October 13, 2003 -- Of the many conservationists working to protect Mexico's sea life, none is more outspoken or more respected than Don Julio Bérdegué of Mazatlán.

Don Julio was born in Madrid on April 14, 1931, and his father was a physician in the Spanish Civil War. After his family moved to Mexico City, Don Julio began a fantastic career as a businessman, hotelier, and marine biologist that included working with Dr. Boyd W. Walker of UCLA to produce the first taxonomic study of the endangered totoaba in the early 1950s.

By 1962, Don Julio had built and sold Mexico's largest commercial shrimp fleet, and by 1994, he had built the marble-lined El Cid Mega Resort in Mazatlán, Mexico's largest independent resort, with its own marina, 1,200 rooms, four hotels, two golf courses, a sea turtle nursery, a 1,000-home housing development, and the Aries Fleet sportfishing operation. He is a true Renaissance Man, with a bitingly satirical sense of humor and an intellect broad enough to discuss the subtler points of Japanese etiquette, or to appreciate the writings of Gabriel García Márquez in English or Spanish. (In his spare time, he is now busying himself with building another resort complex in Cancún.)

Because of his heavy-duty, insider knowledge of biology, commercial fishing, and large scale tourism, Julio Berdegué is one conservationist who cannot be swept under the carpet, and because of his very strong personal character, he is willing to speak forcefully when others falter. Recently, Don Julio published a personal statement of disgust with Mexico's marine conservational policies that was startlingly frank, even for him.

This statement by one of the most respected men in Mexico is notable for its honestly, it's direct and patent criticism of the government's policies, and most of all the courage of Don Julio Berdegué to speak out while many others are more concerned with covering their backsides. Here is Don Julio's complaint, unedited and in its entirety:

* * *

"We have begun to see the results of the firing by President Fox two weeks ago of Mr. Lichtinger, Secretary of SEMARNAT, as well as Under Secretary Raul Arriaga Becerra and Director of PROFEPA, Lic. Jose I. Campillo. "The fight between Lichtinger, who tried hard to protect the whales and the forests, the reefs, the reserved zones of the Biosphere in Mexico, etc., against the Secretary of Agriculture, Forest and Fisheries Javier Usabiaga, resulted in an absolute knock out for Mr. Lichtinger.

"We knew Lichtinger was bound for disaster. Usabiaga is probably the closest friend in the Cabinet of Mr. Fox. Now, tell me ¡What is new in Mexico! and I can tell you: Absolutely nothing. Friends and Contributors of the Politicians regardless of their ineptitude, are still preferred to a well known Scientist trying to do a good job."

"Today, the Fishery Commission opened the shrimp season allowing the capture of shrimp with trawlers in the open seas. They included the area in the Alto Golfo of the Mar de Cortes, that was closed to fishing last year in an effort to protect the 60 remaining vaquitas."

"Big win for the Armadores of the Camara Pesquera, especially those of Sonora, Peñasco, Guaymas and San Felipe, and Baja California. A very sad day for all of us who have tried so hard to prevent fishing in this and other protected areas."

"Now, they can again fish until extinction the vaquita, the totoaba, and several other endemic species. Soon, they will be followed by the Revillagigedo Archipelago and all the others."

"Shame on Mr. Usabiaga. He probably will now go to the FAO, International Tuna Commissions, and other Scientific bodies claiming the tremendous efforts of Mexico to protect our whales, billfishes, and pelagic migratory species, and other similar lies." --Julio Berdegue.     Diane Alps and Western Outdoor News

 Environmentalists, Navy OK Deal on Sonar ...   Oct. 13, 2003 - Santa Monica, Calif. - The Navy has agreed to limit its peacetime use of a new sonar system designed to detect enemy submarines, but which may also harm marine mammals and fish, an environmentalist group said.

The Natural Resources Defense Council, which sued the military on the issue, and the Navy reached a settlement last week in which the Navy agreed to use the new system only in specific areas along the eastern seaboard of Asia, according to documents provided by the environmental group.

The agreement must be approved by a federal magistrate to become permanent, but if implemented the deal would greatly restrict the Navy's original plan for the sonar system, which once was slated to be tested in most of the world's oceans.

The Navy has not received final word of the agreement, but would comply, said Lt. Cmdr. Cappy Surrette.

"Whatever the final decision is, the Navy will uphold the law," Surrette said from the Pentagon.

Environmentalists say sonar systems endanger marine mammals and fish, especially whales. They point to a different system the Navy used in 2000, when at least 16 whales and two dolphins beached themselves on islands in the Bahamas. Eight whales died and scientists found hemorrhaging around their brains and ear bones, which could have been caused by exposure to loud noise.

"Oceans are an acoustic environment, and the species that live there have an acute acoustic sense," Frederick O'Regan, president of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, said in a conference call Monday. "If we interfere with these critical behaviors, we may be affecting not just individual animals, but entire populations."

Last year the Natural Resources Defense Council and other environmental groups sued the Navy over the new system, seeking to restrict its use.

U.S. Magistrate Elizabeth Laporte later issued a preliminary injunction restricting use of the system, and in a separate ruling ordered the environmentalists and the Navy to negotiate a final settlement.

The new deal, which is the result of those negotiations, largely mirrors the restrictions imposed by Laporte's injunction.

Since the injunction, the Navy has used the sonar system in restricted areas without harm to marine life, Surrette said. It is designed to detect enemy diesel submarines at great distances.

Joel Reynolds, director of the Marine Mammal Protection Project at the Natural Resources Defense Council, welcomed the settlement.

"This agreement safeguards both marine life and national security," Reynolds said in a statement. "It will prevent the needless injury, harassment, and death of countless whales, porpoises and fish, and yet allow the Navy to do what is necessary to defend our country."

In addition to restricting the system to the eastern seaboard of Asia, the Navy also agreed to seasonal restrictions designed to protect whale migrations, and to avoid using the system near the coast.

None of the restrictions applies during time of war.

Meanwhile, the Natural Resources Defense Council, International Fund for Animal Welfare and other environmental groups announced a new global campaign Monday to stop the spread of high-intensity sonar systems in oceans. Such systems are used by the defense forces of Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and other nations.     Associated Press

 Okinawa environmentalists upset over sonar plans...   October 17, 2003 - Chatan, Okinawa Shock ran though the quiet community of Zamami this week in the wake of news reports that the U.S. Navy will use controversial low frequency sonar in waters off Japan's coast.

This tiny island, part of the Kerama Island group some 25 miles west of Okinawa, is a Mecca for whale watchers who flock to the East China Sea each winter in hope of sighting humpback whales migrating from the Aleutian Islands to breed.

The U.S. Navy last week agreed to limit its peacetime use of a new sonar system to specific areas off the coasts of North and South Korea, China, Japan and the Philippines. The agreement was part of a settlement in a suit brought by the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group that claimed the high-intensity sonar harms marine mammals, such as whales and dolphins.

"What a shame, was my first thought when I learned of the news," said Akira Oshiro of Zamami Village. He was among officials responsible for promoting Zamami for whale watching tours a decade ago.

"The waters in this area are some of the greatest places to watch whales," he said Thursday. "I've heard about this sonar system that could threaten their lives."

He said he was upset at both the Navy, which targeted Okinawan waters, and the environmental group, which accepted the settlement.

"I want to know on what ground they agreed on the use of the sonar in this area," Oshiro said. "I wonder if they knew that the western Pacific Ocean is rich in marine mammals?"

The Zamami Whale Watching Association was set up in 1991. Oshiro said the island draws about 5,000 tourists between January and March, when the whales come to Okinawa to breed.

"But the number of tourists and their economic impact are actually of secondary importance," he said. "What we treasure is the ocean where the whales live. We take pride in the sea where we can encounter whales."

Oshiro said whales usually depart in early May.

"This is their breeding ground. After raising their offspring here, they migrate to waters off the coast of Alaska and Aleutian Islands to feed themselves," he said - adding that because the area is a breeding ground, it also is where whales are most sensitive to external events.

Such events, he said, include using the latest sonar technology to hunt for submarines.

The Navy's latest advance in sonar technology uses low frequency waves that can travel great distances underwater without losing strength. The technology is perfect for detecting quiet diesel submarines at great distances, weapons experts have said.

Environmentalists argue the sonar signals are incredibly loud and frighten sharp-eared whales, porpoises and other sea mammals.

They claim the sound panics the animals, causing them to surface rapidly, placing them in danger from the same decompression hazards that often plague divers.

Some of the animals become so disoriented and confused that they beach themselves and die, environmentalists claim.

"That is why it is sensible to limit the use of the sonar in areas that could adversely affect sea animals," said Shinichi Hanawa of the World Wildlife Fund for Nature Japan.

"The waters off the coasts of the Ogasawara Islands and Okinawa are crucially important for whales," he said. "Also, the water around Okinawa is where the endangered dugongs are."

"The use of the sonar in these areas is a serious problem," he said.

Dugongs are saltwater manatees more commonly found off Australia and Indonesia. A small number have been sighted in Okinawan waters, causing local environmental groups to protest the planned construction of a sea-based Marine Corps air station.

The site is off Okinawa's northeast coast near Camp Schwab, in an area of seaweed beds thought to be dugong feeding grounds.

However, WWF Japan had no immediate plan to challenge the settlement reached in San Francisco last week.     Stars and Stripes, Pacific edition