Lagniappe (a little something extra)

Around the Gulf . . .

The Sustainable Seas Expeditions (SSE), the first systemwide exploration of the deep waters of the National Marine Sanctuary System, completes its 1999 Mission in the Gulf this fall. During a mission to the Florida Keys Marine Sanctuary in August, SSE focused on exploration and characterization of deep coral reef environments and in September, SSE visited the Flower Garden Banks Marine Sanctuary (TX) just in time for the coral equivalent of Mardi Gras, the release of billions of gametes in a mass coral spawning. See SSE's website at http://sustainableseas.noaa.gov/ .

In August, three environmental groups sued the state of Florida claiming the legislature restricted the ability of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Committee to protect sea turtles and manatees after limiting rulemaking authority over endangered or threatened species which must be approved by the governor or legislature.

On September 1, the Texas Coastal Erosion Planning and Response Act took effect, providing the mechanism for Texas to receive millions of federal dollars in funding and authorizing the General Land Office to implement a comprehensive coastal erosion response program that can include designing, funding, building, and maintaining erosion projects.

In the longest sentence meted out in a federal environmental crimes case, Gary Benkovitz was sentenced to 13 years in prison for illegally dumping hazardous waste into a storm sewer that empties into McKay Bay near Tampa.

Around the Nation and the World . . .

In May, the U.S. Supreme Court determined that a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officer and an assistant U.S. Attorney violated the Fourth Amendment rights of homeowners by allowing members of a CNN media crew to accompany them during the execution of a warrant in their home. (Hanlon v. Berger, 119 S.Ct. 1706 (1999).)

The Lands Council of Spokane, Wash., the Idaho Conservation League and Idaho Rivers United filed suit Monday against the EPA for violating the Endangered Species Act by allowing discharges of toxic wastewater by a pulp mill in Lewiston, Idaho without consulting with National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regarding the effects of the discharges on the threatened and endangered fish species such as migrating salmon, steelhead and bull trout.

In August, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea issued a temporary injunction against Japan requiring it to abide by catch limits on the threatened southern bluefin tuna, finding in favor of Australia and New Zealand which claimed increased fishing by Japan threatens irreversible damage to the population. The decision also requires that Japan subtract its experimental catch of up to 2,000 tons from its total annual quota for the tuna.

University of Mississippi