[guide.chat] argentina shoots seagulls

  • From: vanessa <qwerty1234567a@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "GUIDE CHAT" <guide.chat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2012 01:06:51 +0100

Argentine province plans to shoot seagulls eating the flesh of surfacing 
southern right whales

Daniel Feldman/Associated Press -  In this Aug. 19, 2012 photo, a seagull pecks 
at a whale in the southern Atlantic Ocean near Puerto Piramides, Argentina. As 
seagulls have become a hazard for whales in one of their prime birthing 
grounds, provincial authorities are planning to have police shoot the gulls. 
Environmentalists are crying foul, saying officials should instead close a 
nearby garbage dump and stop fishermen from dumping scraps to reduce the gulls? 
numbers.
By Associated Press, Published: August 28

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina ? What began as bizarre bird behavior has turned into 
something out of a horror film for threatened whales in Argentina, where 
seagulls have learned that pecking at the whales? backs can get them a regular 
seafood dinner.

Seagull attacks on southern right whales have become so common now that 
authorities are planning to shoot the gulls in hopes of reducing their 
population.

Environmentalists say the plan is misguided and that humans are the real 
problem, creating so much garbage that the gull population has exploded.

Both sides agree that the gull attacks in one of the whales? prime birthing 
grounds is not only threatening the marine mammals, but the region?s tourism 
industry as well, by turning whale-watching from a magical experience into 
something sad and gruesome.

Seagulls around the city of Puerto Madryn discovered about a decade ago that by 
pecking at the whales as they come up for air, they can create open wounds. 
Then, each time the whales surface, it?s dinner time: Gulls swoop down and dig 
in, cutting away skin and blubber with their beaks and claws.

The problem has only grown more severe since then as more gulls caught on and 
the bird population exploded due to easy access to human detritus ? not only 
open-air garbage heaps but fish parts as well, dumped directly into the water 
by fishermen and a seafood packing plant.

?It?s not just that the gulls are attacking the whales, but that they?re 
feeding from them, and this way of feeding is a habit that is growing and 
becoming more frequent,? said Marcelo Bertellotti, who works for the National 
Patagonia Center, a government-sponsored conservation agency. ?It really 
worries us because the damage they?re doing to the whales is multiplying, 
especially to infant whales that are born in these waters.?

Whales also are changing their behavior in response: Instead of breaching the 
water and dramatically displaying their tails, they rise just barely enough to 
breathe through their blow-holes before descending to safety, Bertellotti said.

Bertellotti?s answer: Shoot the gulls that display this behavior with air 
rifles and hunting guns, and recover each downed bird before they are eaten 
along with the ammunition, causing still more damage to marine life. His 
?100-day Whale-Gull Action Plan? was approved by the government of Chubut, and 
provincial officials came out Tuesday in defense of it.

?We are preparing a pilot plan that seeks to stop the damage from the gulls 
that pick at the flesh of the whales, because this is putting at risk the 
resource. It will be a minimal intervention to protect the life of the southern 
right whale and thus provide a response to the complaints of the sightseeing 
businesses that operate in the place,? Gov. Martin Buzzi posted on his Facebook 
page.

Whale-watching is big business for Chubut. Southern right whales have recovered 
to about 8 percent of their original population since becoming a protected 
species worldwide, and hundreds come to the relatively calm and warm waters of 
the gulf formed by the Valdez Peninsula to give birth and raise their newborns 
each July to December.

Seeing them surface from nearby boats can be a magical experience, and gull 
attacks were rare until about eight years ago, said Milko Schvartzman, who 
coordinates the oceans campaign for Greenpeace in Latin America.

But more gulls have caught on, and their population has boomed to the point 
where whales are attacked at least every fourth time they surface, he said.

Now the tourists are suffering along with the whales. ?It?s not so pleasant 
anymore,? Schvartzman said.

Environmentalists say the only way to effectively reduce the seagull population 
is to deny the birds food by closing open-air garbage dumps around the gulf and 
stopping people from dumping fish parts. Activists have been lobbying Chubut 
for many years to develop plans to reduce, recycle and properly contain garbage 
and strictly regulate fishing, but politicians have resisted, Schvartzman said.

Chubut?s environmental minister, Eduardo Maza, blamed the problem on previous 
governments, and said the province is now working on permanent solutions. 
Shooting the gulls ?is surely not the most pleasant measure, but it?s necessary 
to do something to control a situation that has been growing after many years 
of inaction,? Maza said.

?At year?s end, we?re going to inaugurate garbage-separation plants,? Maza 
said. ?All the garbage in the protected Peninsula Valdes area that isn?t 
recyclable will be properly disposed of, which will enable us to mitigate the 
open-air garbage dumps.?

Schvartzman said that if humans don?t solve the problem quickly, the whales 
will simply stop coming.


from
Vanessa The Google Girl.
my skype name is rainbowstar123

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