Oil rig disaster for endangered species

The recent devastation caused by a fire on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig could prove catastrophic for a number of endangered species living in the Gulf of Mexico.

An explosion occurred Tuesday night and the rig has since collapsed and sunk as a result of a massive fire that engulfed the rig for more than 30 hours. Fear are growing for the 11 workers are still missing.

This has also resulted in thousands of gallons of oil being pumped out into the sea and now poses an enormous threat to the many species living in the surrounding sea area and on the coast.

The Gulf of Mexico is home to some of the world's most endangered marine mammals including six endangered species of whale. There are also several species of shark considered to be "of concern" due to declining populations and also one of the world's largest populations of bottlenose dolphins, with an estimated 45,000 in it's waters.

Along it's 3,500 miles of coastline is the only known nesting place to the worlds most endangered sea turtle. There are also populations of protected Hawksbill, Loggerhead and Leatherback turtle (pictured right) who are due to begin nesting there soon and could be particularly vulnerable to oil washed up on the beach.

The Gulf region also contains around five million acres of wetlands, which are an essential habitat to three quarters of migrating waterfowl that cross the US.

A significant oil spill could be incredibly dangerous as the pollution would likely stay trapped in the encircled land.

Commercial whaling may go ahead after 25 year ban

The International Whaling Commission (IWC) have announced a proposal to allow the killing of whales in their most precious feeding grounds.

If adopted, the proposal will allow legitimate commercial whaling in the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary, despite a ban being imposed there since 1994. The Southern Ocean is home to many species of whales including blue whales, humpback whales and fin whales (pictured).

A moratorium on commercial whaling has been held by the IWC since 1986 but countries such as Norway and Iceland have legal objections to the ban. Japan has continued to conduct commercial whaling by using a loophole saying that is legal to kill whales for "scientific purposes".

The proposal has been announced in an effort to bring whaling under the IWC's control and will give these countries official commercial whaling quotas for the next 10 years.

Wendy Elliott, Species Program manager at WWF-International, said "the proposed quotas are not set sing the IWC's own scientific methods, but are a result of political bargaining which has little if anything to do with the whales' themselves. Setting quotas for commercial whaling based on politics not science would be a step backwards for IWC."

Elliott adds "if there is one place on earth where whales should have full protection, it is the Southern Ocean. Allowing commercial whaling in an area where whales are so vulnerable goes against logic."

The Chair of the IWC has also proposed commercial whaling quotas for whale species listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as endangered. Fin whales and sei whales are both endangered species but if the proposal went ahead it would contribute to the deaths of 65 fin whales and 500 sei whales over a 10 year period.

Before the last ban, commercial whaling cause numbers of the sei whale in the Pacific Ocean to drop from 42,000 to just 8,600. 725,000 fin whales were also killed in the Southern Ocean as a result of commercial whaling and a most recent estimate brings their numbers to just 15,178 suggesting that whales have not yet recovered from the last time commercial whaling was legal.

Members of the IWC will decide at their next meeting in Morocco whether or not to adopt the proposal.

Mammal stamps

A new series of stamps have been launched to highlight the decline of UK mammals.

The Royal Mail have created a range of stamps showing animals that are under threat in the UK. Animals include water voles, hedgehogs, whales, dormice, bats, otters and polecats.

According to the Mammal Society, Britain is home to over 60 species of mammals and whilst some have thrived in recent years, others have seen their populations decline. A loss of habitat caused by factors such as pollution, a growth in house and road building and more intensively managed farmland are said to be the main contributors.

The series of stamps have been released to coincide with the International Year of Biodiversity (IYB), a United Nations conservation initiative.

Dr Robert Bloomfield, UK co-ordinator of the IYB, said "these stamps illustrate that even some of the most loved UK species, which we consider common or familiar, are under threat."