ACS Conservation Committee Report

ACS Conservation Reports are selected summaries of current news articles on whales, dolphins, porpoises, and their environment. These reports are offered to you under the fair use provisions of U.S. copyright law.

  Victory for Cetaceans-Navy Must Limit Sonar....   In early October, The Natural Resources Defense Council, which sued the military on the issue, and the U.S. Navy reached a settlement in which the Navy agreed to limit its peacetime use of a new sonar system designed to detect enemy submarines but which also harms marine mammals and fish. The settlement requires that the Navy use the new system only in specific areas along the eastern seaboard of Asia, according to documents provided by the environmental group.

The agreement must be approved by a federal magistrate to become permanent, but if implemented the deal would greatly restrict the Navy's original plan for the sonar system, which once was slated to be tested in most of the world's oceans.

The Navy has not received final word of the agreement but would comply, said Lt. Cmdr. Cappy Surette. "Whatever the final decision is, the Navy will uphold the law," Surette said from the Pentagon.

Environmentalists say sonar systems endanger marine mammals and fish, especially whales. They point to a different system the Navy used in 2000, when at least 16 whales and two dolphins beached themselves on islands in the Bahamas. Eight whales died and scientists found hemorrhaging around their brains and ear bones, which could have been caused by exposure to loud noise.

"Oceans are an acoustic environment, and the species that live there have an acute acoustic sense," said Frederick O'Regan, president of the International Fund for Animal Welfare. "If we interfere with these critical behaviors, we may be affecting not just individual animals but entire populations."

Last year the Natural Resources Defense Council and other environmental groups sued the Navy over the new system, seeking to restrict its use.

U.S. Magistrate Elizabeth Laporte later issued a preliminary injunction restricting use of the system and in a separate ruling ordered the environmentalists and the Navy to negotiate a final settlement. The new deal, which is the result of those negotiations, largely mirrors the restrictions imposed by Laporte's injunction.

Since the injunction, the Navy has used the sonar system in restricted areas without harm to marine life, Surette said. It is designed to detect enemy diesel submarines at great distances.

Joel Reynolds, director of the Marine Mammal Protection Project at the Natural Resources Defense Council, welcomed the settlement.

"This agreement safeguards both marine life and national security," Reynolds said in a statement. "It will prevent the needless injury, harassment, and death of countless whales, porpoises, and fish and yet allow the Navy to do what is necessary to defend our country."

In addition to restricting the system to the eastern seaboard of Asia, the Navy also agreed to seasonal restrictions designed to protect whale migrations and to avoid using the system near the coast. None of the restrictions applies during time of war.

Meanwhile, the Natural Resources Defense Council, International Fund for Animal Welfare, and other environmental groups announced a new global campaign to stop the spread of high-intensity sonar systems in oceans. The defense forces of Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and other nations use such systems.     Associated Press

 Internal Damage in Cetaceans May Be Caused by the Bends ...   The latest volume of the journal "Nature" contains an article that accentuates concerns about intense noise pollution in the ocean.

The article describes the results of pathological studies of a number of stranded animals from the Canary Islands and around Britain over the last 11 years. The species considered includes common dolphins and a harbor porpoise, as well as other deep diving animals, including Risso's dolphins and several species of beaked whales.

Internal damage - holes in tissues - that can lead to death in cetaceans is reported by the study and appears to be caused by a condition known in humans as decompression sickness or 'the bends'. It is currently unclear whether this happens as a result of fright response as an individual attempts to swim away from intense sound and exceeds its physiological tolerances as it comes to the surface, or as a direct result of the physical impact of the sound. Whatever the mechanism of injury, the authors of the article show that the damage is caused to vital internal organs, in particular the liver of the animal, and in some cases this leads to death.

This is a small sample of animals showing these unique symptoms, but for each animal that washes ashore, it is not known how many animals do not strand, but die out at sea, never to be discovered. A number of animals stranded and died from a studied population of beaked whales in the Bahamas that were subjected to similar sonar. Since this occurred in 2000, none of the studied animals have been seen in the study area. Were the population forced to move on due to the invasion of sonar, or did they all suffer a similar fate?

Stranding events associated with military sonars have occurred in Greece, Bahamas and Madeira as well as the Canary Islands and the UK.

The article's findings also relate to the recent federal district court decision in the U.S. that the operation of LFAS (low frequency active sonar) by the US Navy is impacting marine life and its use must be restricted. The Nature article states that investigation into the physical and behavioral effects of sonar is needed, and its relation to bubble growth, as well as considering the regulation and limitation of the adverse impact of sonars on cetaceans.

All active sonar systems used by militaries around the world inflict intense noise pollution on the world oceans and should be subjected to full independent environmental assessment. Mitigation measures should reflect the true extent of the potential impacts.

The article 'Gas-bubble lesions in stranded cetaceans - Was sonar responsible for a spate of whale deaths after an Atlantic military exercise?' can be found at the Nature website at: www.nature.com     WDCS/Nature

 Reintroduction Plan Finalized by Canada for Luna (L98) ...   The Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), announced in early October that the department is ready to move forward with the relocation of the young killer whale known as L98 or Luna. To protect public safety, the one-ton mammal will be moved from Nootka Sound to Juan de Fuca Strait on the west coast of Vancouver Island with the hope of giving this whale the opportunity to re-unite with its pod.

DFO will now accept scientific license applications from groups that can demonstrate the financial capacity and expertise to carry out a reintroduction program. A scientific license will be issued to the group that submits a proposal that can satisfy all of the requirements outlined by DFO, based on advice from the scientific panel. The role of the third party will include translocation, monitoring and stewardship, and implementation of the contingency plan if re-introduction fails.

A panel of Canadian and US scientific experts has assessed various options to deal with this situation. It has advised DFO that L98 may cease his interactions with boats and people if given the opportunity to reunite with his pod. The Panel has acknowledged that the probability of success is unknown. Contingency plans for the capture and captive placement, or other permanent means of dealing with L98, must be developed to protect the public if reunification fails and the whale becomes a threat to public safety in this new location.

Because of last year's successful reunification of Springer with her pod, DFO is optimistic that Luna will also reunite with his group, the Southern Resident L-pod. However, the department explained that L98's situation is quite different from that of Springer, and pointed out he may not reunite successfully.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada will monitor this operation to ensure the best possible care for Luna, and that the Southern Resident killer whale population and the public are not put at risk. DFO will provide support to this operation in terms of scientific expertise and enforcement where needed.

L98 is a solitary killer whale that has been frequenting the waters of Nootka Sound, at the mouth of the Gold River, since the spring of 2001. The four-year-old whale is a member of the southern resident L-pod, and its mother is known to be alive.

A DFO website has been established to provide the public with updates on L98 and the planning process for relocation. For more information please visit: www-comm.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/pages/MarineMammals/l98_e.htm.     Orca Sighting Network

 Young Orca Killed in Russian Capture...   On September 26th, a group of orcas were captured in Zhirovaya Bay, in the southeastern Kamchatka region of the remote Russian Far East. The animals, including a juvenile who died in the capture and a young calf were captured by the Utrish Aquarium using a mid-size fishing trawler equipped with seine nets. During the capture the young orca became entangled in the net and as a result was unable to surface to breathe. The animal suffocated and died. All the orcas, except for one female, were subsequently released.

The capture may have contravened Russian regulations that stipulate that groups containing yearling calves are not supposed to be targeted for captivity at all. It is also a requirement that all measures be taken to eliminate the possibility of death or injury to cetaceans.

Details of the health of the female orca are unknown and her fate still hangs in the balance. Following capture, she was taken to a floating pen in the area and transferred on October 5th by charter plane to Anapa on the Black Sea where the Utrish Aquarium has one of its facilities. According to official information released by the Utrish Aquarium, the female orca arrived safely and is being held in a pen near the actual aquarium. It is possible that she will be sold to an aquarium overseas, as there is substantial world demand for captive orcas. The expansion of the Port Nagoya Public Aquarium in Japan - with a big budget to buy new wild orcas - is thought to have fuelled and funded the past three years of capture activities during which a number of orca capture attempts have been made in the Russian Far East.

The long-term danger is that Russian waters will become a regular source of orcas for the captivity industry, with disastrous consequences for the individuals and populations targeted. The development of a Russian orca captures and display industry would be lucrative for those involved. Orcas have been estimated to fetch up to $1-million USD each.

At least 150 resident orcas have been identified in the area, and researchers have begun to work out family structures, social and vocal behavior, and have made presentations of their work at international conferences.

The Russian government and the regional fishing office, although it may have contravened regulations, legally sanctioned the orca capture. Ten orca permits were approved for the year 2003.     Environment Editor Independent.co.uk

 Norway to Hunt 670 Minke Whales...   Norwegian officials announced in late September that they would harvest a quota of 670 minke whales next year in the nation's controversial commercial hunt.

The target is lower than last year's quota of 711 whales. Norwegian whalers killed 647 minkes last year, falling under the quota due to bad weather in the North Sea, according to the Norwegian Fish Sales Association.

Norway, Japan and Iceland are the only countries to break the International Whaling Commission's moratorium on commercial whaling. Iceland and Japan harvest smaller numbers of whales in hunts that are used in part for scientific research (Greenwire, Aug. 18). But Norway, which resumed whale hunts 10 years ago, is the only country that explicitly undertakes commercially whaling for profit.

Environmentalists and some other government officials have protested the whale hunts. But Halvard Johansen of the Norwegian Fisheries Ministry said minke whale populations are plentiful, with 108,000 whales in the Central and North Atlantic, 107,000 of them in Norwegian hunting grounds.     Greenwire

 Japan Rejects Iceland's Whale Meat ...   Just weeks after the close of its first whale hunting season in 14 years, Iceland has suffered a serious blow to its expansive whaling plans from its whaling ally, Japan, who has said NO to imports of whale products from Iceland. This follows news that the meat from the 36 minke whales landed received a very tepid response from Icelandic consumers.

International confidential sources have confirmed that whaling and international trade officials in Japan have said NO to imports of meat and blubber from Iceland. This news will shatter Iceland's long-term plans to expand its North Atlantic whaling operation to more species. In the scientific whaling proposal it submitted to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) this year, Icelandic officials stated that they intended to hunt 500 whales over two years, including 200 fin whales, 100 sei whales and 200 minkes. Following criticism from the IWC's Scientific Committee, rebuke from the Commission itself, and a fierce international response, Iceland scaled back its whaling plans for this summer from 250 whales to 38 minkes, of which 36 were taken.

Since the whaling operation started in August, the Icelandic government has ignored diplomatic protests from 23 countries and even threats from the public overseas of boycotts of fish and other Icelandic exports. The government has also faced resounding domestic objections from Iceland's valuable tourism industry, which is built, in large part, on the popularity of whale watching in its waters - one of the best areas in the world for viewing whales and dolphins. A survey of whale watchers conducted in Iceland last year before the whaling commenced, revealed that a quarter of the tourists would not have come to Iceland if it had been whaling. With Iceland's economy so dependent on tourism, and its whale watching growing at one of the fastest rates in the world, Icelandic officials may deeply regret not heeding such a warning if visitors go elsewhere to see live whales.

The Icelandic authorities might be quite surprised by Japan's announcement, but it is not a surprise to anti-whaling conservation organizations that study global markets for whale meat. Like Iceland, Japan gets around the IWC's moratorium on commercial whaling by conducting two so-called Scientific Whaling programs. The Japanese government sets quotas for 590 minke whales a year, 50 Bryde's whales, 50 sei whales and 10 sperm whales, as well as tens of thousands of dolphins and porpoises.

Thousands of tons of meat and blubber from these Japanese hunts flood the domestic market each year. However, consumption levels and prices are both falling steadily in Japan due to changes in consumer preferences and growing concerns about high levels of contaminants, like mercury, in whale meat. Despite cutting prices, Japan is finding it hard to sell all the meat from its hunts and has even subsidized its sale to school lunch programs.

With no hope of selling its whale meat overseas, it will be interesting to see how the Icelandic government tells the Icelandic public about Japan's block on whale meat imports and decide whether a continuation of whaling next year is worth the financial and political costs.     Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society

(In addition, Japan told Norway that they (Japan) would not import Norwegian whale meat/blubber. Iceland whale meat & blubber haven't been tested for toxics (at least not publicly announced as yet) and Japan is still saying no to imports. Evidently, some within the NGO and government ranks think that Japan is saying no not because of toxic levels, but because they simply cannot sell their own minke whale meat in Japanese markets.     Anti-Whaling NGO list-serve)

 Japan Marketing Contaminated Sperm Whale Meat ...   Although sperm whale meat from JAPRN II (Japan's "scientific whaling" program) has not been previously marketed due to concerns about mercury contamination, Japan decided to market it this year. This decision appears to be based on their view that per-capita consumption would be low enough to ensure there's no health risk.

According to a 2002 report from ICR, sperm whale meat from JARPN II contained 1.47 ppm of mercury, much higher than Japan's guideline for total mercury of 0.4 ppm. As a result, 16 tons of whale meat produced from five sperm whales taken in 2000 has been kept in cold storage. Added to the takes from 2001 and 2002, there is now 40 tons of accumulated contaminated meat in storage.

However, they now seem to have changed their views on the levels of contamination, presumably because they're desperate to get this onto the market. They claim that whale products produced in Japan in 2001 were estimated at 3,500-4,100 tons, but the annual per capita consumption of whale meat was as little as 28 - 30 grams, and even in traditional whale eating areas, was less than consumption of other meats. So they argue that it's inappropriate to use the standards for commonly eaten foods to judge whether "rare food" such as whale meat is safe to eat.

Based on this new approach, the ICR announced that they will market the 2003 JARPN II products beginning in November: a total of 1,300 tons of whale meat from 100 minke, 50 Brydes, 50 sei, and 10 sperm whales, with an additional 40 tons of stored sperm whale meat to hit the market at some unidentified date.

Apparently the meat from the 440 minkes taken during the 2002/2003 Antarctic whaling season has already been marketed (a total of 1841 tons) at a wholesale price of 2600 Yen/kilo, or about $23 US.     Anti-Whaling NGO list-serve

 Japan Threatens to Set Up Rival to IWC ...   Still angry that the International Whaling Commission (IWC) established a committee to address conservation issues, rather than advance whaling, at its last meeting, Japan has recently revived an idea it had four years ago: To establish a rival to the IWC consisting only of whaling nations, or their allies.

Back in 2000, Japan entered talks with Korea, China and Russia about a whale management body in the southern hemisphere. At this time, the plan was a response to a compromise proposal under discussion at the IWC, which, if adopted would have forbidden whaling on the high seas. The proposed organization, to have been called the 'North West Pacific Cetacean Management Committee', was to co-operate on the promotion of whaling and resumption of international trade in whale products. However, after just four informal planning meetings, the coalition fizzled out.

This time, reports of a proposal for an organization to rival the IWC make no mention of Russia, Korea or China. Instead they suggest that Japan might join another existing rival organization --the North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission (NAMMCO), which includes Norway, Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands -- and extend its mandate from managing seal and small cetacean hunts, to controlling whaling worldwide.

Fisheries official, Mr. Nakamae made the announcement at a fisheries meeting in New Zealand and stated that Japan would decide which option to pursue before the next IWC meeting, in July 2004 in Italy.

There are various reasons why NAMMCO has no legitimacy in international law:

According to Article 65 of UNCLoS (the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea), the conservation and management of whales is to be accorded special status. The IWC is recognized as the only international organization that can fulfill this role.

This is supported by UNCED's Agenda 21, which agreed that the IWC is the responsible organization for the conservation of whales and the management of whaling. While Agenda 21 refers to "sustainable utilization of living resources" throughout, it makes a specific exemption for cetaceans by reaffirming that their exploitation may be regulated more strictly than that of other "living resources", including by a total prohibition on catching.

NAMMCO fails to even qualify under UNCLOS rules as a legitimate regional management organization. Under NAMMCO's founding statute, coastal states to the North Atlantic do not have an automatic right to join the organization. Under its Articles of Association, they may only join with the consent of existing signatories.

Faroes and Greenland are semi-autonomous territories within the Danish Kingdom. If either enters an international agreement that, through its statutes or through decisions taken under its auspices, violates the Danish Kingdom's international commitments under another international agreement (e.g. the IWC), the agreement signed by Faroes and/or Greenland would have no legal standing.     WDCS and Atuna.com

 New Zealand IWC Commissioner Speaks Out...   Geoffrey Palmer, the New Zealand Commissioner to the International Whaling Commission recently replied to an Icelandic government claim about Iceland's Scientific Whaling.

"Your recent statement that Iceland's stance on its 'scientific whaling' program is no more dishonest than that of the opponents of industrial whaling, such as the UK and US, demonstrated a woeful lack of understanding.

Contrary to the myth that is peddled by whaling countries, whale populations are not exploding around the world. With a few notable exceptions, most populations of large whales remain at less than 20 per cent of their initial abundance, particularly in the southern hemisphere.

Whaling nations are prone to using selective extracts from the IWC Scientific Committee reports to bolster their case. In fact, there is far more doubt about the populations of minke whales in both northern and southern hemispheres than your article suggests.

For example, over 20 years' worth of data has been collected during minke whale sighting cruises in the Southern Ocean, at a cost in excess of $60 million, and yet there is still no agreed population estimate. Those countries that argue a case for sustainable hunting and killing of whales are surely obliged to first demonstrate a reliable and repeatable method to estimate abundance.

The arguments against killing whales are scientific, moral and ethical. Even if whale populations were ever to recover to their previous abundance, New Zealand would still be opposed to commercial hunting, which is an activity whose time is now past.

None of the established whaling countries need whale meat as a source of food, and the economic benefits of whale watching far outweigh those of whaling, which has been heavily subsidized for years."

Geoffrey Palmer
New Zealand Commissioner to the International Whaling Commission
Wellington, New Zealand

    op/ed letter written by Palmer to the magazine, New Scientist, September 2003

 Iceland is Killing The Whale-Watching Business ...   Whaling boats have been killing minke whales in whale-watching areas, says Ásbjörn Björgvinsson, the head of the Icelandic Whale-Watching Association.

In early September, while the whale-watching boat MB Gestur was out in an area in Faxaflói bay, its crew saw the whaling boat Nordur in the distance. MB Gestur sailed up to Nordur and saw its crew dragging a dead minke whale up on to the boat.

Björgvinsson, who last summer was named a European Hero of the Year by Time Magazine for his environmental work, said that the area that Nordur was hunting in was reserved for whale watching.

"The whalers are breaking all their promises. We asked for certain areas to be respected, where minke whales could be in peace," he said. "This proves that both industries can't co-exist."

The captain of Nordur has denied hunting in a whale-watching area.     Morgunbladid

 Western Pacific Gray Whales in Russian in Trouble...   A small number of marine researchers are looking for Western Pacific gray whales, among the world's rarest and most endangered. Only about 100 are alive, and they come to the waters along the northern coast of Sakhalin, a Russian island east of Siberia and north of Japan, to feed every summer.

Oil companies such as Texas-based ExxonMobil and Shell are also in these waters, drilling for oil. The result has been a heated debate over whether the whales and the oil development can coexist or, as many environmentalists fear, the giant marine mammals are doomed.

Thousands of Western Pacific gray whales once roamed the ocean. The whales are similar to the more plentiful Eastern Pacific gray whales found along the California coast. After populations of whales worldwide were decimated by decades of whaling, some scientists 30 years ago had declared the Western Pacific gray whale extinct. But Russian scientists identified several on their summer feeding off Sakhalin in the early 1980s, and American researchers have been coming to learn more about the species.

There is worry again for the fate of the whales because oil-related activity in the whales' main feeding area near Piltun Bay will cause the tiny whale population to remain small or die out altogether, some experts predict.

The high-profile oil exploration and drilling project -- the biggest source of foreign investment in Russia -- includes ExxonMobil, which owns 30 percent of one project called Sakhalin-1, and Royal Dutch/Shell, which owns 55 percent of a second project called Sakhalin-2, and is known as Sakhalin Energy. (ACS wrote to Sakhalin Energy in January 2002 advocating renewed protection of this endangered population.)

At Sakhalin Environmental Watch, a local environmental organization, Natalya Barannikova says the organization has proposed a number of changes to the projects, such as moving proposed pipelines out of the whales' feeding area. But Barannikova says the oil companies have balked at the changes because they would be too expensive.

The oil companies tell a different story. They say they've tailored activities to be as sensitive as possible and say so far, it's working. "There's been no discernible impact on the whales. They keep coming back year after year," said Rachele Sheard of Sakhalin Energy.     Cox News Service

 Sea Shepherd Crew Held for Photographing Dolphin Kill ...   In the small seaside town of Taiji, Japan, three members of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society were arrested in early October and held by police for documenting the annual dolphin slaughter in the area with video and still cameras.

Fishermen in Taiji herded 40 dolphins into the bay and began to stab them with knives. The three Sea Shepherd crewmembers emerged from hiding and began shooting with their weapons - cameras. Two had been camped out on the cliffs overlooking the bay for five days and one was posing as a tourist in the town, the organization said in a statement.

In a previous incident the fishermen had assaulted documentary filmmaker Hardy Jones. They had been given a warning then by the Osaka police to refrain from ever again attacking journalists or foreigners who film the hunt, the Sea Shepherd Society said.

Angry fishermen forgot the warning, and began to climb the cliffs to get at the photographers. The fishermen demanded their film and threatened to kill the two women.

The local police arrested the three Sea Shepherd activists, held them for several hours, questioned, fingerprinted and photographed them, and then released without being charged. They were warned to not film the dolphin slaughter. While it is not illegal in Japan to document a dolphin roundup, video of the slaughter is very graphic and is effective in raising awareness of the issue worldwide, the organization said.

The Sea Shepherd is releasing the film footage to the media, and the society is sending more crew and cameras to Taiji to document any further dolphin massacres.

The society said that the three activists will file charges against the fishermen with the Osaka police. They intend to submit a complaint against the Taiji police for failing to respond to their request for help.

The embassies of Great Britain, Canada and the United States have been informed that their citizens have been attacked and continue to be threatened by violence from the Taiji fishermen.

Sea Shepherd was instrumental in stopping dolphin slaughter on Iki Island, Japan, in the early 1980s when the local fishermen signed an agreement with Watson to permanently end the practice.

In defense of dolphin and whale killing, the Japan Small-Type Whaling Association said earlier this year, "Recently some coastal fishermen who harvest fish have been reporting that the numbers of whales are growing too large, that the whales are eating a lot of fish, and that thus the volume of fish the fishermen are able to catch is decreasing. Therefore, they argue, it is essential to cull the whale population to restore ecosystem balance."

Similar slaughters are frequent and increasing in other coastal fishing villages such as Futo, the Sea Shepherd Society says. Although dolphin meat is contaminated with industrial pollutants, it can be passed as prized whale meat in markets. Pet food and fertilizer are also made from the dolphin meat.     Environmental News Service

 More Killing in Taiji, Japan ...   In mid-October the fishermen of Taiji located a pod of pilot whales. They chased the whales into the harbor and killed 30 of them in an extremely brutal manner. About one hour ago, 13 fishing boats left the port, searching for dolphins. Using long poles emitting loud sounds they cause the dolphins to panic and then round them up. Sea Sheppard is still the harbor day and night in order to document the slaughter when it happens.     Dolphin Project

 More Dolphin Deaths in Mexico ...   In mid-October, Mexican authorities ordered three bottlenose dolphins transferred to another facility after four died at a Baja California aquatic park. A combination of stress, lowered immune response and polluted water caused an infection that killed a male dolphin named Capuchino, and those factors played a role in the deaths of three other dolphins at the same park since Sept. 23.

A federal environmental agency said the deaths were also part of "an emergency situation" caused by Hurricane Marty, which hit the peninsula Sept. 22, presumably contributing to water-quality problems.

The three surviving dolphins were being held at the Dolphin Learning Center in the resort of La Paz, near the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula. The deaths came while the animals after federal authorities took control of all seven of the park's dolphins in October 2002 following complaints by activists that pens at the park were too shallow. The animals remained confined at the same park pending a plan to release them. But the deaths, and a recommendation by experts against releasing the animals in their current weakened condition, convinced authorities to move the remaining dolphins.

They will be transferred shortly to an aquatic park in the Pacific coast resort of Puerto Vallarta, which is better equipped to house them.

La Paz is planning to build a multimillion-dollar aquarium to house such species, but that won't be ready for some time. The dolphins will be held in cleaner water in Puerto Vallarta, will be given treatment for their infections and will eventually be donated to the local family-welfare agency to use in environmental awareness programs, the government announced. Experts concluded that their release would in no way be justified, given that it wouldn't contribute to the survival of the species and might place the surviving dolphins at much greater risk.

The announcement that poor water conditions played a role in the dolphins' deaths appeared to contradict a Sept. 29 statement, in which the same government agency said the first two dolphins died of a throat blockage and a liver infection. At that time, the environmental prosecutor's office said one apparently died after swallowing an object that blocked his esophagus.

In August, authorities concluded that the deaths of two dolphins at another Mexican park, Parque Nizuc on the Caribbean coast, were due to similar liver and intestinal problems, not to any infection passed on by animals recently imported from the Pacific Ocean's Solomon Islands.

The capture of the dolphins in the Solomon Islands and their flight to Mexico drew international protests from environmentalists, who argued the sale of the animals to Parque Nizuc was illegal and should have been stopped by the Mexican government.     Associated Press