1. Write a letter to Governor Abercrombie asking for more protection for the whales and their habitat. You can print and sign our letter (see below) or write your own, be sure to include your address. Mail your letter to:

The Honorable Neil Abercrombie
Governor, State of Hawai`i
Executive Chambers, State Capitol
Honolulu, Hawai`i  96813

2. Sign our petition aksing for protection for whales and their habitat: http://signon.org/sign/kohola-leo-whale-voice-1?source=c.em.cp&r_by=4740933

3. Pick up trash at the beach

4. Reduce, Reuse Recycle. Use canvas bags for all your shopping, bring re-fillable containers of your drinking water with you—don’t buy bottled water

5. Report nets to Net Patrol 808-635-2593

6. Don’t use herbicides, pesticides, or other toxic chemicals–everything ends up in the ocean

7. Don’t buy aquarium fish or shells

8. Consider not eating seafood – hundreds of thousands of marine mammals, birds and turtles are killed by commercial fisheries annually- see the excellent DVD ‘The End of the Line’ see more reasons below

9. Volunteer with us! Join us for our regular meetings.  We meet every 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month,. Second Thursday at Wilcox Hospital Cafeteria at 6:00pm, Fourth Thursday at Kappa Library at 5:00pm.

10. Don’t go on whale watch or swim-with dolphin tours that harass animals (chase animals, speeding, noisy boats) Don’t attend marine parks where cetaceans are held captive

11. Take the No Balloons pledge – balloons and their ribbons kill marine life

Be a voice for the whales!

Mahalo!

Example letter:

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To Honorable Governor Abercrombie,                                                      Date:

I am writing to voice my concern about several issues that are serious threats to Hawaii’s endangered Humpback whales and their habitat. The threats are all based on facts documented by scientific research. The threats are vessel strikes, pollution, sonar and acoustic impacts, over fishing, and net entanglement.

Vessel strikes are one of the main causes of death for Humpback whales. There is extensive scientific documentation that speed is the main factor. Speed regulations should be put in place with adequate monitoring and enforcement.

Chemicals & pollution create pathogen friendly environments in Hawaii’s waters and cause algae blooms, which smother the reefs and are toxic to marine mammals. The ocean has become a toxic soup. The state and the Sanctuary should fund water quality monitoring and strict laws to stop sewage dumping, pesticide and chemical runoff.

High intensity noise from sonar and other sources can deafen and kill whales and dolphins or cause them to strand.  Noise can cause whales to leave an area or change migration routes and can disrupt mating or nursing. The state and the Sanctuary should collaborate to limit all sonar activity during whale season and to comply with NOAA noise policies to prevent or mitigate acoustic impacts to whales.

Over fishing is wiping out fish stocks, destroying entire reef ecosystems, the huge numbers of incidental by catch of marine mammals, birds, turtles is staggering and abhorrent.  Marine Protected Conservation Areas are very effective in re-establishing healthy reefs and fish populations The State and the Sanctuary need to make laws to protect reef habitat and to establish “No Take” Marine Conservation Areas on Kauai. As well as take a strong stand to regulate commercial factory fisheries.

Net entanglement is a huge threat to all marine mammals. Strong laws need to be made to have all fishing nets identifiable and hold fishers’ liable for derelict nets, and a reward for boaters who collect stray nets.

I believe strong action needs to be taken immediately to address the critical state of our ocean and marine life. I urge you to take immediate and strong action to protect these magnificent animals and their habitat. Thank you very much for your attention to this very important matter.

Mahalo and Aloha,

(Name & address)

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“Animals are my friends – and I don’t eat my friends.”  ~ George Bernard Shaw.

TEN REASONS TO NOT EAT SEAFOOD

Fish and Cetaceans are Living, Feeling, Intelligent Beings
Oxford University scientist Dr. Theresa Burt de Perera recently discovered that fish learn even faster than dogs. Fish learn from each other, have long-term memories, and can recognize one another. They gather information by eavesdropping, and some species even use tools, which, until recently, was thought to be a uniquely human trait. Like the dogs and cats with whom we share our homes, they also like to play, investigate new things, and hang out with friends.

Dr. Theresa Burt de Perera, an Oxford University scientist, recently published research showing that fish learn faster than dogs. And University of Edinburgh biologist Culum Brown says, “In many areas, such as memory, their cognitive powers match or exceed those of ‘higher’ vertebrates, including non-human primates.”

No one would consider doing to a dog what some so casually do to fish-trick them into impaling themselves in the mouth and pulling them into an environment where they can’t breathe. But fact is fish feel pain just as all animals do. Fish suffer from being impaled, thrown, crushed, or mutilated while alive, and they are often left to die slowly and painfully of suffocation.

“The pain system in fish is virtually the same as in birds and mammals.”
—Dr. Donald Broom, professor of animal welfare, Cambridge University

How Fish are Caught

Tuna are chased until they move into a tight group, and then a net is lowered around them. They are dragged against rocks and debris, and some fish suffocate from the sheer weight of other fish pressing against them. Large tuna are impaled on longlines—which are miles of barbed hooks that are left in the ocean for days at a time.

Think “swimming with the fishes” in reverse. After they are pulled onto the boat,”hit men” dump smaller tuna onto ice, where they slowly freeze to death or are crushed when thousands of their schoolmates are piled on top of them. Tuna caught on longlines are beaten until they become unconscious before they are thrown into the freezer—and that’s if they haven’t already bled to death while struggling to free themselves!

Fish Flesh is Loaded with Heavy Metals
Fish have extremely high levels of chemicals such as arsenic, mercury, PCBs, DDT, dioxins, and lead in their flesh and fat. You may even get industrial-strength fire retardant with that catch of the day. The chemical residue found in salmon flesh can be as much as 9 million times that of the water in which they live.

Tuna accumulate toxic mercury in their flesh as a result of industrial pollution, and the side effects of mercury poisoning include finger curling, cognitive impairment, and coordination problems. A California boy, who was the subject of a front-page Wall Street Journal article, went from being a star athlete and honor student to being unable to concentrate or catch a football because he ate canned tuna. Even if he had eaten only half a can of albacore tuna a week, he still would have consumed 60 percent more mercury than is considered “safe” by the U.S. government.

Eating fish is not healthy for your heart! Heavy metals are concentrated in tuna because of the contaminated fish they eat. Tuna flesh is loaded with heavy metals that attack the heart muscle, so the toxicity outweighs any possible health benefits of omega-3 fatty acids. According to a recent study published in the American Heart Association’s journal, men with the highest levels of mercury increased their risk for heart disease by 60 percent and their risk of dying of a heart attack by 70 percent. Do your heart a favor—put down the fish fork and pick up a safer source of omega-3s, such as walnuts and flaxseeds.

Fish Suffer in Factory Farms
Four-fifths of the United States’ most popular fish flesh, salmon, consumed in the U.S. is farm-raised. These fish, who are raised by the millions in cages made of nets in coastal waters, are killing off wild fish populations as well, since it takes 5 pounds of commercially caught fish (species not eaten by humans) to produce 1 pound of farmed fish.

Small tuna are captured and dumped into netted pens. They are fattened on pellets of concentrated fish flesh and killed when they get big enough—if they don’t die first from the parasites and diseases that thrive in extremely crowded conditions.

Many factory-raised salmon suffer from chronic sea lice, a parasite that eats down to the bones on a fish’s face. Salmon also routinely go insane and sustain sores and other injuries from intense crowding, as they are made to live their entire lives with as many as 27 fish in a space the size of a bathtub.

How Salmon Die
Fish farmers often use bats to beat large salmon to death. All methods used to slaughter fish are grotesque and cruel. Fish have their gills slit while they are still alive, and smaller salmon are often packed in ice and left to slowly suffocate or freeze to death.

The Suffering of Dolphins

Fishing for tuna is devastating to dolphins and tuna. Even if dolphins aren’t “accidentally” trapped in tuna nets, they are still killed intentionally by Japanese tuna anglers because they prey on tuna. Entire pods of whales and dolphins are rounded up and driven into shallow water where all but the youngest (who are captured and sold to aquariums) are slaughtered

What Fish are Swimming in – Open Waters Are Open Sewers
Everybody loves the Big Apple, but would you eat something fished out of the city’s sewer system? According to the Norwegian government, the salmon and trout farms in Norway alone produce roughly the same amount of sewage as New York City. The massive amount of raw sewage, dead fish corpses, and antibiotic-laden fish food sludge settling below farmed salmon cages can actually cause the ocean floor to rot, destroying vital habitat for the already strained marine ecosystem and turning coastal waters into open sewers.

Dangers for the Unborn
Usually when Moms pass things on to their children, it’s a good thing—but when pregnant or nursing moms eat fish, they pass the toxins they consume on to their babies. Studies have also shown that children born to mothers who eat fish are slower to talk, walk, and develop fine motor skills and have weaker memories and shorter attention spans. Scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health have found that fish consumption can cause irreversible impairment to brain function in children, both in the womb and as they grow.

Heavy Metals Part II: PCBs
Do you sometimes feel forgetful? Scientists have shown that people who eat only two servings of fish a month have difficulty recalling information that they learned just 30 minutes earlier. The culprit is high levels of mercury, lead, and PCBs in their blood. PCBs, synthetic chemicals polluting water and concentrated in fish flesh, act like hormones, wreaking havoc on the nervous system and contributing to a variety of illnesses beyond forgetfulness and vertigo, including cancer, infertility, and other sexual problems.

The Connection Between Cancer, Heart Disease, and a Seafood Diet

The Environmental Working Group estimates that 800,000 people in the U.S. face an excess lifetime cancer risk from eating farmed salmon. Plus, salmon flesh contains high amounts of artery-clogging cholesterol and fat.

Sustainable seafood is a fantasy

http://timzimmermann.com/2013/08/28/sustainable-seafood-is-a-fantasy/