Q1_Winter_2017_AlertDiver

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I optimistically thought PCBs might be less of a
problem today, especially since they were outlawed
in the United States nearly 40 years ago. Nature’s
The Dolphin Defender suggests this is still a
significant and present danger:
More than 200 kinds of PCBs have been used
as flame retardants and electrical insulators in
products ranging from cereal boxes to plastics.
Although they were banned in the United States
and many other nations in the late 1970s, PCBs
continue to leak into the oceans from river sediments
and other sources. The chemicals enter into the food
chain and ultimately into fish, which dolphins eat.
Researchers with the National Institute of Standards
and Technology in Charleston, South Carolina, say
that dolphin blubber carries some of the highest PCB
concentrations found in any wild animal.…
[F]emale dolphins with high levels of PCBs
appear to have lower pregnancy rates than less-
contaminated females…. Another finding of concern
is that heavily contaminated female dolphins that
do get pregnant often lose their first calves. That
may be because the mother dolphin “burns” blubber
to make milk. The PCBs and other compounds
stored in the blubber become part of the milk and
are transferred to the calf. The chemicals may harm
the baby dolphin’s immune system, making it less
able to fight off infections from viruses and bacteria.
Scientists have also found that PCB-contaminated
male dolphins don’t develop sexually. Even more
alarming, research shows PCBs similarly affect other
members of the dolphin family, such as orcas. …
[T]he orca population in Puget Sound, off Seattle,
Washington, has dwindled in the past 20 years. The
high mortality rate and undeveloped reproduction
systems were attributed to the high PCB levels in the
orcas’ tissues.
Every picture tells a story, or so goes the cliché. I
thought the story was the sheer beauty of an orca
in the wild — and gratefully, that is part of the
story. But if the photograph can lead to a better
understanding of the issues affecting marine life
and our relationship to it, that’s all the better.
Enlightened communication is a lot to ask from
a single click of a shutter and is thus all the more
significant when it occurs. AD
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WHAT’S NEW ON
ALL THIS AND MUCH MORE AWAIT
AT
VIBRANT
VANCOUVER
ISLAND
Learn about the wonders
of Vancouver Island
on Page 72, then
view Brandon Cole’s
spectacular online bonus
photo gallery.
THE SCENIC
SISTERS
Discover the diving
diversity offered by the
Caymans’ Sister Islands
on Page 80, then continue
the odyssey through
Stephen Frink’s online
bonus photo gallery.
CONSERVATION
IN THE COLD
Let John Weller’s story
on Page 90 about
conservation in the cold
waters of the Ross Sea
warm your heart, then
watch his video about the
world’s largest marine
protected area.
INCREDIBLE INK
Read the DAN Member
Profile about artist
Deano Cook on Page 30,
and then go online to see
a bonus photo gallery of
his tattoo work. DEANO COOK
STEPHEN FRINK
BRANDON COLE
JOHN WELLER