The U.S. Office of Management and Budget is reviewing proposed rules designating Critical Habitat for the Hawaiian Insular False Killer Whale Distinct Population Segment. The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service developed these proposed rules. OMB is reviewing them under Executive Order 12866. Click here for OMB’s website for this review.
Society for Marine Mammalogy – 2017: A Marine Mammal Odyssey, eh!
Sunday, October 22, 2017 – Friday, October 27, 2017 CST
The 22nd Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals will be hosted in Halifax, Nova Scotia on October 22nd-27th 2017, with workshops to be held October 28th-29th. Registration and event signup are available here.
A new study claims that solar activity caused a mass sperm whale stranding in 2016 by disrupting earth’s magnetic field and disturbing whale navigation systems. Click here to read an article about this study.
The U.S. National Marine Fisheries has proposed an incidental harassment authorization to Venoco, LLC for authorization to take marine mammals incidental to fender pile replacement at Casitas Pier in Carpinteria, CA. Pursuant to the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act, NMFS requests comments on its proposal to issue this IHA. Comments and information must be received by NMFS no later than October 10, 2017. Click here for more details and relevant links.