Environmental Conservation

Since Eco-Photo Explorers was formed to help promote public interest in protecting the underwater environment through knowledge and awareness, this section will be used to provide information on special environmental conservation efforts that you should know about.

This web page contains links to other Internet sites and should not be considered endorsements of any products or services. No information in these sites have been endorsed or approved by Eco-Photo Explorers.

Environmental Telephone Hotlines
For the Vicinity of Suffolk County and Long Island, New York

• In The News
• Call To Action - Sign Petitions
• International Coastal Cleanup
• Save the Dolphin Campaign
• Sea Turtle Conservation Program
• Save the Albatross Campaign
• World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSAP)
• Choose Seafood Wisely
• Related Links

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In the News

• Environmental - RSS Feeds from NewsIsFree. This web site is designed to let you access thousands of news sources with a powerful and flexible portal for browsing, indexing and publishing news headlines.
• Ecology News and Headlines from news sources around the world.
• CNN: Nature and the Environment | Wildlife Topics | Planet in Peril

Call To Action

HELP PROTECT SHARKS
Sharks need your help and the clock is ticking!!

Sign Petitions!

Sharks are under attack. Even international protection is not enough to prevent illegal slaughter. These magnificent predators are sentenced to a slow and cruel death by a barbaric fishery called finning. Sharks (and countless other non-target species) are first hooked on long lines and then dragged on board. Then all their fins are hacked off, the still living and helpless animal bodies are dumped overboard into the sea to die a slow and painful death. The killing is unsustainable and unacceptable. The following are just a few organizations that are seeking to safeguard sharks and other wildlife by educating and empowering people throughout the world using the power of media.

Shark Savers | Imaging Foundation | Shark Research Institute | Sharkwater
The Shark Alliance | Monterey Bay Aquarium | Save our Seas Foundation

Environment & Wildlife Petitions

Sign Petitions!
Take action with hundreds of online petitions about the environment, wildlife, endangered species, environmental health, global warming, climate change, national parks and forests, the Arctic, oceans, oil drilling, air pollution, water pollution, the rainforest and more.

Imaging Foundation Uses Video to Combat Cocos Island Shark Poaching!
An Imaging Foundation (IF) expedition uncovered and documented poaching activity at Cocos Island. The core team and Imaging Foundation volunteers pursued poaching vessels and then found grizzly proof of the poaching underwater, just several hundred feet from the island. Team members removed portions of long line and documented the entire trip.

Imaging Foundation materials were produced in Spanish as well as English and were presented to Costa Rican journalists at a press conference. Materials also found their way to the desk of the President of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias. Imaging Foundation returned to Cocos in December on an unexpected trip to see if the poaching had been curbed. The results were encouraging. The number of vessels had decreased, and the poaching was only found at night. Imaging Foundation teams are eager to return and continue their investigation.

View the Imaging Foundation Video that Brought Attention to Cocos Island Illegal Poaching!



Imaging Foundation is looking for a few committed individuals to return to Cocos and Malpelo for one of two trips they will be spearheading in April and May. Join them and help make a difference!

• April 16-29, 2008 Cocos/Malpelo
• May 2-12 2008 Cocos Island

Protecting Cocos Island is the mission behind the Imaging Foundation's latest project. Unless Costa Rican citizens are aware of the value that the island holds, it is unlikely that more "shark safe" legislation will be passed, much less enforced in a consistent way. To help convince the citizens of San Jose, Costa Rica that this island is worth the fight, Imaging Foundation plans to bring the island to them by creating a permanent, high quality exhibit.

Imaging Foundation is making Giant Strides!
Please call or email them with any comments or suggestions.

The Imaging Foundation
23852 PCH, Unit 110
Malibu, CA 90265

Phone: 310.458.0210
Fax: 508.464.6514
Email: info@imagingfoundation.org

Petition to Help Protect Snapper Ledge
Please take a moment to log on and sign Stephen Frink's Petition to protect Snapper Ledge, a beautiful reef loaded with marine life here in the Florida Keys. As far as the quantity of marine life that is found among Florida reefs, Snapper Ledge is one of the most magnificent reefs in the Key's. Recently, Nurse sharks have been speared along the reef and left to die on the bottom. Your signature will help achieve (SPA) Sanctuary Protected Area status for Snapper Ledge. Click here to sign the petition

Fight Global Warming
We are all contributors to global warming and we all need to be part of the solution. Most emissions from homes are from the fossil fuels burned to generate electricity and heat. By using energy more efficiently at home, you can reduce your emissions and lower your energy bills by more than 30%.

• How to Help Stop Global Warming | Take Action
• Join the Global Warming March at stopglobalwarming.org
• An Inconvenient Truth | How to Help

International Coastal Cleanup

International Coastal Cleanup needs volunteers to help our oceans...

Clean oceans and waterways are vital to our health and safety. The International Coastal Cleanup is the world's largest one-day volunteer effort on behalf of the marine environment. Help us restore health to our oceans and waterways by volunteering in this year's International Coastal Cleanup. Events take place in more than 90 countries and in all 55 U.S. states and territories.

What: The International Coastal Cleanup; The world's largest one-day volunteer effort to remove marine debris.

When: view website at www.coastalcleanup.org for current dates...

Where: At a local beach or waterway near you.

Background: The International Coastal Cleanup is the world's largest one-day volunteer effort on behalf of the marine environment. In 2003 more then 450,000 people from all 55 U.S. states and territories and over 90 countries around the world participated in the cleanup collecting over 7.55 million pounds of marine debris. Volunteers also found 237 entangled animals last year, emphasizing the dangers that marine debris plays in the coastal environment.

From community groups to families and concerned citizens, many of your readers are participating in a local cleanup. Help tell their story and the story of how marine debris is not only an eyesore, but also poses a serious risk to health and human safety and harms wildlife.

To find a Cleanup site near you call
1-800-262-BEACH or log onto www.coastalcleanup.org.

Save the Dolphin Campaign

CNN Exposes Dolphin Slaughter Cruelty
Follow along as CNN goes with Ric O'Barry, of Save Japan Dolphins, to the annual dolphin slaughter in Taiji Japan. This video contains brutal fooatge of the suffering dolphins, brutally slaughtered for an outdated custom that must stop.

• Save Japan Dolphins
  This campaign to end the Japanese drive fishery slaughter of dolphins in Taiji is being jointly conducted by these international organizations with long and successful histories of dolphin conservation.
  
  
• The Ocean Project | ACT for Dolphins
  End Dolphin Slaughter in Japan- Please sign this petition and help us put an end to the slaughter of dolphins and small whales in drive hunts.
  
  
• Earth Island Institute | International Marine Mammal Project
• Elsa Nature Conservancy (petition)
• Say 'NO' to Dolphin Captivity | Dolphin Facts
• Dolphin Protection Campaign Toolkit (pdf)

Sea Turtle Conservation Program

Sea Turtles are seriously threatened, many are nearing extinction. Below are a few links to organizations that are making an effort to help save these amazing creatures. Find out how you can become a volunteer by contacting your location environmental group in your area. more...

Save the Albatross Campaign

The problem - Most albatrosses and several other seabird species are heading for extinction. They are being unintentionally drowned in large numbers by "longline" fishing boats. Longlines are the single greatest threat to the world's seabirds. Much of it is carried out by "pirate" fishing boats.

Save the Albatross | Albatross Conservation

World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSAP)

WSPA works to raise the standards of animal welfare throughout the globe and their vision is a world in which the welfare of animals is understood and respected by everyone, and protected by effective legislation.

Through their collaborative projects, WSPA is Campaigning Against Cruelty by exposing animal abuse and enforcing stronger laws; their Animal Rescue teams are working to save abandoned or neglected animals or those stricken by disasters; and by Changing Hearts and Minds amongst people living and working with animals, WSPA is forging a safer future for all animals.

• How can I Help
• Say 'NO' to Dolphin Captivity | Dolphin Facts
• Dolphin Protection Campaign Toolkit (pdf)
• Norway Set to Kill More Whales

Choose Seafood Wisely

If you’re having trouble keeping track of which species of seafood and shellfish are safe to buy from an ecological perspective, then check out the latest Seafood MiniGuides from the websites listed below. Your seafood choices can really help protect the health of our oceans for future generations. Since many of your favorite kinds of seafood are disappearing from the world's oceans because of over-fishing, habitat destruction and the unintentional catch of other species, being educated about the right seafood to buy at the store or order in restaurants, will make sure our favorite seafood and shellfish will be around for years to come.

In addition to making a difference with your seafood choices, you can take part in local conservation projects as well like beach and river cleanups.

• National Audubon Society's Living Oceans Program
• Environmental Defense "Which Fish is Best?" - Best & Worst Picks
• Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Program - National Chart
• Marine Stewardship Council
• National Audubon Society Right Bite card in PDF format:
  Black and White | Color
  
  

Links

Atlantis Marine World
Blue Ocean Institute  - Seafood Miniguide (pdf)
Endangered Species Act of 1973, US Fish & Wildlife Service (pdf version)
Endangered Species Program, US Fish & Wildlife Service
List of Endangered & Threatened Wildlife Species of New York State
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
National Marine Sanctuary Program
Oceana - campaigns to protect and restore the world’s oceans
OceanNEnvironment
PaleMale: Red-tailed hawk who manages to thrive in New York City ( Links: 1 2 3 )
Peregrine Falcons: Webcam at 55 water street in New York City
SaveTheEnvironment.com
Sea Turtle Conservation Program
The Ocean Conservancy
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
World Wildlife Fund
Zoos and Aquariums of AZA

Any questions not addressed in the above pages or in this website, should be
forwarded by email to Technical Support.