THUNDER CAPTAIN SENTENCED TO THREE YEARS IN PRISON AND FINED 15 MILLION EUROS.

The captain and two engineer on the Norwegian-built pirate trawler "Thunder" were today sentenced by the Sao Tome and Principe Court. 

On April 6th this year the outlaw toothfish poacher THUNDER was scuttled by her Chilean captain in the waters of the small island state of Sao Tome and Principe in West Africa. It put an end to the career of the world's most notorious toothfish poacher. The scuttling followed a 110-day pursuit by the Sea Shepherd ships BOB BARKER and SAM SIMON. It was the longest pursuit of a poaching vessel in Maritime history, from the coast of Antarctic south of India, to the equator off West Africa.

After the scuttling, the SAM SIMON rescued 42 officers and crew and turned them over to the Sao Tome Coast Guard. The crew, mainly Indonesians and suspected to be virtual slaves were returned home and the three officers were held pending their trial earlier this month. They were held on charges of pollution and forgery.

https://www.facebook.com/captpaulwatson/posts/10153549044720932

SeaWorld banned from breeding orcas

The California Coastal Commission on Thursday approved a $100 million expansion of the tanks SeaWorld uses to hold killer whales in San Diego - but it banned breeding of the captive orcas that would live in them.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11527193

Franz Josef Glacier delivers major finding

A mathematical model has shown for the first time how climate change will increase glacial erosion by speeding up movement of the icy giants.

Using New Zealand's Franz Josef Glacier as a model, a team of international scientists confirmed a theoretical model first proposed in the 1970s by demonstrating that the rate of glacial erosion was proportional to the square of the glacier's speed.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11526587

How Modern Technology is Destroying This Centuries-Old Human-Dolphin Partnership

The unique relationship between dolphins and fishermen is being upset by selfish profit only electrofishing. Give your support and sign the petition.

 

http://www.care2.com/causes/how-modern-technology-is-destroying-this-centuries-old-human-dolphin-partnership.html

We Can Watch Africa’s Epic Wildlife Migration Live Via An App

Every year hundreds of thousands of animals in Africa embark on a migration so vast it’s considered one of the greatest wonders of the natural world.

The migration, which is the largest migration of land animals on earth, includes thousands of wildebeests, gazelles and zebras as they follow the rainy season across the plains, traveling in a circular path of more than 1,000 miles from the Maasai Mara Reserve in Kenya to the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania before starting the cycle over again. They face numerous obstacles along the way from heavy concentrations of lions to making it across the Mara River unscathed by crocodiles.

http://www.care2.com/causes/now-we-can-watch-africas-epic-wildlife-migration-live-from-anywhere.html#ixzz3nfFBYeBM

Positive focus can improve climate action

Climate change is predicted to bring us higher sea levels, more extreme weather and a world of other catastrophic consequences - but when it comes making people act, the answer may lie in accentuating the positive rather than the negative.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/climate-change/news/article.cfm?c_id=26&objectid=11520315

Marine reserved planned for Kermadec Islands

Fishing and mining ban for 620,000sq km around Kermadecs to be in force by late 2016.

The waters around the Kermadec Islands to the north of New Zealand will become one of the largest ocean sanctuaries in the world.

The Kermadec Islands have had a marine reserve around them since 1990 but this decision will extend it from 12 nautical miles to the 200 nautical miles of New Zealand's exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
 

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11520435