Sea of Cortez Mystery...
Did Skipper take a bath in the Sea of Cortez?Must have - something is killing off all the whales. Either that or he threw the contents of his porti potti overboard. ------ February 19, 2006 - New Y ork Times Mexico's Maritime Mystery: What's Killing All Those Whales? By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr. MEXICO CITY, Feb. 18 — Mexican authorities are investigating the
mysterious deaths of eight whales found washed ashore along the Sea of
Cortez last month, an unusually large number that suggests someone or
something is killing them off. The whales come from several plankton-eating species and apparently
died at sea in November and December, biologists said. But they do not
show any signs of having been caught in long-line fishing nets, which
sometimes suffocate the mammoth animals. Nor have biologists found any
signs of a toxic spill or outbreak of disease that would account for
their deaths. "Right now it's a mystery," said Luis Fueyo, an assistant federal
prosecutor for environmental crimes, who is overseeing the
investigation. "We have a puzzle." The first sign something was wrong came on Jan. 4, when the remains of
two humpback whales were spotted on the shore near the town of El
Dorado in Culiacan State. Scientists determined they had died in early November. Since then, six
more giant bodies have turned up, among them a third humpback, a minke
whale, a fin whale and a baby gray whale. Three bodies were discovered
on Jan. 18 during an aerial search of the Sinaloa coast. The discovery of the carcasses set in motion a frantic search for
forensic evidence worthy of an episode of "C.S.I." Biologists tracked
currents to determine if all the whales might have been in the same
place when they died, even though they ended up scattered over a
500-mile coastline. The investigators also looked for signs of disease or poisons, both
natural and synthetic. It was slow going. All of the bodies were badly
decomposed. Only the baby gray whale provided enough tissue to test
for diseases or poisons. On Friday, environmental officials announced that those tests had
found no evidence of a toxic algae bloom, other poisons or infections.
Nor have the investigations turned up signs of mistreatment by
fishermen. The deaths occurred just as about 2,000 gray whales began arriving in
the Sea of Cortez, where they spend winter every year as part of a
centuries-old migration. Mexican officials say they usually find about
10 dead whales a year; 9 in the space of two weeks have set off alarm
bells. Environmentalists say the Sea of Cortez, one of the world's richest
fisheries and most diverse marine habitats, is poorly policed and
substantially overfished, because the Mexican government has granted
more and more permits for trawlers to use long-line nets. The death of so many whales has prompted urgent calls from some
environmental groups for quick action to find the cause. Besides the whales, two dolphins and an olive ridley sea turtle have
also washed up dead in the same region. "I'm worried," said Homero Aridjis, a poet and naturalist who heads
the Group of One Hundred, an environmental organization. "We are just
starting the year and already we seem to see a dead whale every day.
Something is happening there and it needs to be investigated." Mr. Fueyo, however, said none of the bodies showed signs of wounds
from nets on their fins, nor signs of other trauma that might have
been caused by fishing boats. Biologists also did not find the usual tell-tale massacres of fish and
sea birds that would accompany a toxic bloom of algae or another
release of poisonous materials. "What's happening is totally irregular," he said. |
