GROUND ZERO, New York City, Jan. 9- Dolphins are being terrorized.   But lobsters are being pampered. In one case fishermen are the scourge of the sea, in the other, heroes of the deep.   
        As we focus our Terrorism sights on Iraq and North Korea, and other troubled spots above the sea where humanity bears ill will against itself, it is easy to forget that battles of both Terrorism and Vigilance are underway just below the surface of the sea.

           The sea is the womb of all existence.   From its depths came the spawn of life, reported by Nature magazine to be about 3.85 billion years ago.  Those first organisms hallmark the long evolutionary threads of human existence which started with Homo erectus about 1.5 million years ago and grew into Homo sapiens about 200,000-100,000 years ago.  It all started, however, when the first amphibian crawled out on earth, followed by the first real "air breather," the reptile whose cold blooded nature was a reminder it had come from the sea--from the womb of the earth.
           That's why when we study Terrorism, we can't overlook what's happening deep in the ocean, where all life is held in reserve in case we screw up terra firma with radioactivity or bio chemicals.  Hopefully, Nature will recycle life again if we blow it.
           TerrorHunters are keeping an eye on what we do to the sea.
           The first case is about dolphins.
           Non-U.S. fishermen are apparently "Terrorizing" dolphins.   Dolphin populations off the coasts of Mexico and Central America are struggling to regenerate.   American scientists blame the problem on using dolphins as bait to catch tuna.

          Tuna like to hang around dolphins because sharks are afraid of dolphins.   Dolphins use their long snouts to beat sharks up, and a whole herd of dolphins can beat a shark to death by attacking it relentlessly.   Tuna, aware of their Dolphins of Vigilance, swim with the dolphins in a symbiosis of safety.

       Fishermen are wise to the tuna shadowing their protectors, and drive dolphins with their fishing boats to nets designed to capture the tuna but not harm the dolphins.   The problem is, according to wildlife biologists Drs. Albert Myrick and Sarka Southern, evidence that the dolphins have been "Terrorized" is being suppressed by the U.S. government so Mexico and other foreign fishing boats can put "dolphin safe" labels on their tuna cans and compete with U.S. products.
          In 1997, Congress ordered the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to determine if purse net fishing was harmful. Stress tests were conducted on the skin of dolphins herded by fishermen and found to exhibit high degrees of tension.   Also, it was suggested that herding the dolphins separates the cows from the calves who can't swim as fast, reducing the population.
         I thought of the old days of the West when buffalo hunters stampeded herds into narrow canyons and shot them dead.   While the dolphins were able to escape the nets, their chemistry was disrupted, claims Dr. Southern..   They had become Judas goats.

         The flap today is that the two scientists are claiming the U.S. suppressed their research to allow Mexico to get approval for "dolphin-free" labels.    In other words, they are claiming the U.S. has given "dolphin Terrorists" visas to sell their "Terror products" in the U.S., despite evidence linking them with "acts of dolphin evil."
         The U.S. banned "dolphin herding" a number of years ago.  
         I found the story interesting because I look upon Drs. Myrick and Southern as Scientists of Vigilance.  While one may scoff at the idea of protecting dolphins while we are shoving our bellicose bellies against the Terrorism of North Korea and Iraq, the idea of keeping the sea safe and productive cannot be overlooked.
        Just in case human beings can't manage life above ground, it is wise to protect Nature's sea womb.   If we have to start all over and crawl once again out of the sea after the earth is destroyed by our homo sapien insanity, it will be good to keep the balance "below the sea" in good working order.

        But all the news under the sea isn't bad.

        One of the big positives noted in the Christian Science Monitor this morning was how lobsters are thriving despite homo sapiens efforts to "eat them out of extinction."
         For years wildlife biologists have been concerned fishermen will scrape the bottom of the ocean free of the rich, fabulous tasting delicacy that crawls about with its feelers twitching and uses its giant chelipeds to break open shells of other creatures to feast upon.
        Over the past three decades the federal fisheries managers sent warnings that lobsters were being over fished, but the lobsters have been found to be populating at exponential rates.   The lobster catch has exploded from 20 million pounds in the 70's and early 80's to around 50 million today.
        University of New Hampshire zoologist Win Watson has captured part of the reason on video tape.  He found that lobsters are much smarter than the homo sapiens trying to catch them.   They know how to get in and out of lobster traps at will.
The lobsters have gotten so smart, they wait for the lobster traps to descend and feast on the bait like it was "Meals On Wheels" sent to help them gorge.  

        But that's not the only reason.   Fishermen, aware of the need for maintaining a stock of lobsters, throw back egg-bearing female lobsters, and ones too small.   Prior to throwing back the "Mother Lobsters," they notch the pregnant lobster's tail with a "V."  
        Apparently, this concert between man and lobster has resulted in a proliferation of the creatures.  Add to that the ability of the lobster to crawl in and out of a lobster trap, and you have a perfect balance between demand and supply.
         Critics of the lobster fishermen's claim they are helping conserve the creatures say that the ocean currents are the cause of the lobster explosion. 

          So, there is some sanity in the madness of human beings and the ocean.  In one case we're being Vigilant to protect the lobster, in another lax in our management of "dolphin tension."
          I find it fascinating that in the middle of great moments of history, as the world teeters on the brink of war, and the roar of the Beast of Terror howls from the bowels of North Korea and Iraq, that we can still take time to laud the lobster fishermen and scold the fishermen who herd dolphins and cause them stress as well as separate mother and child

       Indeed, human beings have spent little time on this earth trying to figure out "how to get along."   In the great historic clock of existence, human beings have been on earth about .04% of the nearly 5 billion years the earth has been spinning.   That's not very long to figure out how to live in harmony with ourselves, let alone all the creatures above ground and those beneath the sea.

         But if we took a lesson from the lobster fishermen, and another from stressed dolphin whistle blowers who chide the U.S. for putting politics ahead of conservation, we just might have a chance at resolving the conflicts in North Korea and Iraq with Vigilance rather than Terrorism.

   
        Jan. 8 -- Iraqi Women Warriors Fight Terrorism