The MOON: Shirika lako, TerraMar Research, hivi majuzi limezindua mpango mpya unaoitwa POD , kwa ajili ya Protect Our Pomboo, ukirejelea pomboo wa chupa karibu na pwani ya Santa Barbara. Tovuti yako inashauri:
Pomboo hawa sasa wanakabiliwa na maelfu ya changamoto za kimazingira ambazo hazijawahi kushuhudiwa, nyingi kati ya hizo tunashiriki nao katika jumuiya yetu ya pwani. Wakiwa na idadi ndogo sana ya watu (labda wachache kama watu 350 kwenye pwani nzima ya California), kupungua kwa ukubwa wa ganda (ishara ya dhiki na changamoto za kuishi), vidonda kwenye ngozi zao vinavyohusiana na vichafuzi, viwango vya juu sana vya uchafu katika miili yao, na hatari kubwa ya kipekee kutokana na matishio ya ziada ya mazingira ya pwani, wanyama hawa wote wanastahili na wanahitaji usaidizi wetu.
Ni nini kimebadilika katika miaka ya hivi karibuni hadi kusisitiza sana idadi ya pomboo sasa? Je, ni matishio gani makubwa ya pomboo—na cetaceans wengine—wanakabiliana nayo ulimwenguni pote?
Frohoff: Wanasayansi wanakubali kwamba pomboo wa chupa katika sehemu nyingi za dunia wanaonyesha dalili za mkazo wa kimazingira na dhiki kuanzia vidonda vya ngozi hadi kifo. Vitisho muhimu zaidi hutofautiana kulingana na eneo. Nyangumi wa Beluga katika njia ya maji ya St. Lawrence, kwa mfano, labda wanatishiwa zaidi na sumu katika maji. Huko Taiji, Japani, tisho kubwa zaidi ni uchinjaji wa kila mwaka wa pomboo—ambapo pomboo huuawa kwa ajili ya mbolea, ikiwa unaweza kuamini unyama wa jambo hilo. Ulimwenguni pote, pomboo wanatishiwa na uvuvi—na kuna baadhi ya watafiti, kwa mfano, Dk. Sylvia Earl wa National Geographic, wanaopendekeza tuache kabisa kula samaki kwa sababu mbinu za uvuvi zimekuwa hatari sana kwa samaki wanaovuliwa bila kukusudia, sembuse wale wanaolengwa. "Tonfin-salama ya tuna" ni wazo zuri, lakini tembelea tovuti ya Taasisi ya Earth Island ili kuona jinsi wanavyofanya kazi kwa bidii ili kuhakikisha kuwa kuna ukweli kwenye lebo hiyo. Earth Island inaonya kwamba lebo ya Idara ya Biashara ya Marekani yenye usalama wa pomboo ni, kwa kweli, “cheti cha kifo cha pomboo.” Wanawasihi watumiaji wasinunue tuna kwa lebo hii.
Ulimwenguni pote, vitisho vingine kwa pomboo—na aina nyingi za viumbe vya baharini—ni pamoja na mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa duniani, takataka za plastiki, uharibifu wa miamba ya matumbawe, kumwagika kwa mafuta, na uchafu mwingine wa sumu kama vile maji machafu yenye mionzi.
Kwa sababu tunashiriki jumuiya zetu za pwani na pomboo, madhara yoyote kwa mazingira yetu ya pwani yanadhuru pomboo wa ndani. Katika jumuiya kama vile pwani ya kati ya California, chochote tunachoweka kwenye nyasi au bustani zetu, au kumwaga mifereji yetu, au kumwaga kutoka kwa vituo vyetu vya kutibu maji machafu, huathiri moja kwa moja afya ya bahari. Ingawa tuna kundi la sheria zinazolenga kulinda mazingira yetu, hazitekelezwi ipasavyo. Tunajua hili kutokana na madhara kwa afya ya binadamu, pia. Wachezaji wanaoteleza baharini wanapopatwa na maambukizi ya mara kwa mara ya macho, sikio, au koo baada ya saa moja au mbili tu ndani ya maji, fikiria jinsi pomboo wanavyoishi majini kila mara na ambao wana ngozi nyeti sana. Hilo lilikubalika lini—kwamba kukaribia bahari kunaweza kuwa hatari kwa afya yako?
Kama inavyosema kwenye wavuti ya POD, kwa "kuwalinda pomboo, tunajisaidia wenyewe na jamii yetu ya pamoja ya makazi ya pwani kwa faida ya vizazi vya pomboo na watoto wa binadamu vijavyo." Huu ni uthibitisho zaidi wa hali ya hatari ya mazingira ya kimataifa—ambapo hatima ya viumbe vyote hutegemea matendo ya spishi moja— homo sapiens . Ingawa habari mbaya ni kubwa, habari njema ni kwamba maboresho tunayofanya yana matokeo makubwa pia. Inasisitiza haja ya ufahamu wa kuunganishwa kwa viumbe vyote.
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by calling your project as The Dolphin Personhood Project it seems you are ascribi g human characteristics to another species and by doing so are acknowledging humans' dominion. Is this the very behaviour you say your work is trying to counterract?
I feel a resurgent inspiration by this article to support marine biology, and the ocean, in general. With human population on the planet growing exponentially, which in turn casts off all its by-products into the oceans' environs, we are quickly usurping that very limited blue frontier. Efforts to learn from our aquatic cousins in the wild need to be more widespread, as time is drawing nigh. One day the great plastic blob we have created will slow the ocean current; the aquatic creatures will float on the surface; and rescuers will no longer be able to scrub their toxic-filled bodies back to life. Many of us will be living on, and destroying, another planet by then. And all the money that was made by countries and corporations oblivious to our responsibility to take care of the oceans and the Earth, will long be useless.
Orcas and dolphins have indeed exhibited protective behaviors of their pod members when aggressive, rogue dolphins showed up and in fact escorted them out of the area, firmly. After working with Lilly's project myself I learned that we humans are not one of many higher minds, we are in fact one of the lesser minds. All animals have a great deal of intelligence and "higher mind". We simply don't have ways to measure that other than against our way of thinking in our own environment. We are the only animals that are continually aggressive toward all species, especially our own, will destroy ourselves in order to bring down another, attack and kill for the pleasure of it and soil our own "beds" (i.e.: the Earth) continually-virtually destroying our selves with so much self hatred that we aim to take everyone on this planet with us. We do indeed have a great deal to learn from whales, dolphins and in fact all species around the planet.
I loved ALL of this article. All animals are the human's evolutionary KIN. We must learn to show true hospitality to the other cousins of our species. I wish all killing and capturing or breeding of every cetaceans species would be at least put on a temporary hold until we learn how to communicate with them and can ask them about their stories and their community-based ethics. Then it is my belief, hunting, killing, and capturing aand breeding all animals shoul come to an end. Who do we think we are?