collected from the stomach of one whale and from the area 

 where the affected animals had been feeding revealed the 

 presence of the toxins which cause paralytic shellfish poison- 

 ing (PSP) . Subsequent tests confirmed the presence of PSP 

 toxins In liver and other tissues from the dead whales, pro- 

 viding conclusive evidence that the die-off was caused by a 

 "red tide" in the area. 



Humpback Whales in the Caribbean 



The North Atlantic population of humpback whales breeds 

 and calves during the winter months in the area of Silver, 

 Navidad, and Mouchoir Banks in the Caribbean. Of these whales, 

 about 85 percent winter in the vicinity of Silver Bank, which 

 is located primarily in waters of the Dominican Republic, 

 about 80 miles north of the island. 



In 1985, the Center for Environmental Education initiated 

 a public education program in the Dominican Republic to promote 

 efforts to protect the region's humpback whales. In addition, 

 the Center provided support to the Center for Marine Biological 

 Research at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo for a 

 biological inventory of marine resources in the Dominican 

 Republic. A major goal of these efforts, which focused on 

 the Silver Bank region, were to encourage the establishment 

 of a protected area in Dominican waters for humpback whales 

 and to help document the biological justification for doing 

 so. 



A report on the inventory was completed in October 1986 

 and, on 14 October 1986, the President of the Dominican Republic 

 designated Silver Bank as a humpback whale sanctuary. The 

 Presidential decree creating the sanctuary prohibits all 

 hunting, capturing, or injuring of any marine mammal within 

 the sanctuary boundaries. Also banned is the dumping of 

 "contaminated, explosive or electrical materials" and the 

 dredging, drilling, or alteration of the sea bottom. The 

 Silver Bank sanctuary should contribute significantly to the 

 protection and recovery of the northwest Atlantic humpback 

 whale population and could serve as a model for creating 

 sanctuaries elsewhere. 



Right Whale (Eubalaena glacialis) 



The right whale is the world's most endangered large 

 whale. Remnant populations remain in the North Atlantic, 

 North Pacific, South Atlantic, and South Pacific/Indian Oceans. 

 Although available information is insufficient to make reliable 

 estimates of pre-exploitation stock sizes, it is apparent 

 that commercial whaling in the 19th and early 20th centuries 

 resulted in the near-extinction of all right whale populations. 



53 



