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On Friday, the National Marine Fisheries Service declined to protect great white sharks off the coast of California under the Endangered Species Act.
Last August, Oceana, the Center for Biological Diversity, Shark Stewards, and WildEarth Guardians petitioned the federal government for federal endangered species protection for the apex predator’s genetically distinct Northeastern Pacific population, found off California and Guadalupe Island, Mexico.
At the same time, the groups also submitted a petition to the state of California for a parallel listing. In February, California wildlife officials placed great white sharks on the candidate list for state Endangered Species Act protection under California law. A final California Fish and Game Commission decision is expected next winter.
In its decision, the National Marine Fisheries Service discounted the first peer-reviewed scientifically published population estimate of West Coast great white sharks which unveiled what listing proponents said are alarmingly low numbers of breeding females — numbers drastically lower than those of most other endangered species.
Listing proponents said information referenced in the petition continues to be the best available science and meets the legal criteria for listing under the Endangered Species Act: All indications are that these ancient animals are seriously at risk of extinction, according to the petitioning group.
“The federal government simply made the wrong decision in the face of the best available science,” said Geoff Shester, California Program Director for Oceana. “However, our efforts have demonstrated the dire need for more research on West Coast white sharks, and we should all agree that steps need to be taken immediately to start managing the white shark bycatch problem in gillnet fisheries.”
“We’re really disappointed that the sharks won’t be protected under federal law. This means they’ll die painfully in fishing nets instead of getting the safety net of the Endangered Species Act,” said Catherine Kilduff, Staff Attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity.
The Friday decision followed a National Marine Fisheries Service finding last September that this white shark population meets the criteria to qualify as a distinct population segment under the ESA, which allows the species or sub-species to be considered for listing.
As part of the listing petitions filed last year, the groups submitted new scientific studies from 2011 and 2012 that produced the first population estimates of U.S. West Coast adult and sub-adult great white sharks, together totaling fewer than 350 sharks – far lower numbers than researchers expected.
They argued that the continued existence of white sharks also is hampered by their low reproductive output, slow growth rate, late maturity, and high mortality rates during the first year.
Great white sharks are a critical part of the ocean ecosystem, playing an important top-down role in structuring the ecosystem by keeping prey populations in check, like sea lions and elephant seals. The presence of great white sharks ultimately increases species stability and diversity of the overall ecosystem.
“While we appreciate the evaluation that NMFS has given this species petition, we hope that white sharks will receive additional information from scientists, and increased scrutiny from California fisheries on the nursery to ensure long-term protection for this population is given,” said David McGuire, Director of Shark Stewards.
“The threats to our oceans and the species that call them home are grave and increasing, yet of the 1,475 species protected under the Endangered Species Act, only 94 are marine species,” said Bethany Cotton, Wildlife Program Director at WildEarth Guardians. “NMFS’ refusal to protect the imperiled great white shark is part of a larger pattern of failure to address threats to marine species and ocean health.”
More than 10,000 asteroids and comets that can pass near Earth have now been discovered.
The 10,000th near-Earth object, asteroid 2013 MZ5, was first detected on the night of June 18, 2013, by the Pan-STARRS-1 telescope, located on the summit of the Haleakala crater on Maui. Managed by the University of Hawaii, the PanSTARRS survey receives NASA funding.
“Finding 10,000 near-Earth objects is a significant milestone,” said Lindley Johnson, program executive for NASA’s Near-Earth Object Observations (NEOO) Program at NASA Headquarters. “But there are at least 10 times that many more to be found before we can be assured we will have found any and all that could impact and do significant harm to the citizens of Earth.”
Near-Earth objects (NEOs) are asteroids and comets that can approach the Earth’s orbital distance to within about 28 million miles.
They range in size from as small as a few feet to as large as 25 miles for the largest near-Earth asteroid, 1036 Ganymed. Ninety-eight percent of all known near-Earth objects were first detected by NASA-supported surveys: statistics
Asteroid 2013 MZ5 is approximately 1,000 feet (300 meters) across. Its orbit is well understood and will not approach close enough to Earth to be considered potentially hazardous.
“The first near-Earth object was discovered in 1898,” said Don Yeomans, long-time manager of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. “Over the next hundred years, only about 500 had been found. But then, with the advent of NASA’s NEO Observations program in 1998, we’ve been racking them up ever since. And with new, more capable systems coming on line, we are learning even more about where the NEOs are currently in our solar system, and where they will be in the future.”
Of the 10,000 discoveries, roughly 10 percent are larger than six-tenths of a mile (one kilometer) in size – roughly the size that could produce global consequences should one impact the Earth.
However, the NASA NEOO program has found that none of these larger NEOs currently pose an impact threat and probably only a few dozen more of these large NEOs remain undiscovered.
The vast majority of NEOs are smaller than one kilometer, with the number of objects of a particular size increasing as their sizes decrease.
For example, there are expected to be about 15,000 NEOs that are about one-and-half football fields in size (460 feet, or 140 meters), and more than a million that are about one-third a football field in size (100 feet, or 30 meters).
A NEO hitting Earth would need to be about 100 feet (30 meters) or larger to cause significant devastation in populated areas. Almost 30 percent of the 460-foot-sized NEOs have been found, but less than 1 percent of the 100-foot-sized NEOs have been detected.
When it originated, the NASA-instituted Near-Earth Object Observations Program provided support to search programs run by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory (LINEAR); the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NEAT); the University of Arizona (Spacewatch, and later Catalina Sky Survey) and the Lowell Observatory (LONEOS).
All these search teams report their observations to the Minor Planet Center, the central node where all observations from observatories worldwide are correlated with objects, and they are given unique designations and their orbits are calculated.
“When I began surveying for asteroids and comets in 1992, a near-Earth object discovery was a rare event,” said Tim Spahr, director of the Minor Planet Center. “These days we average three NEO discoveries a day, and each month the Minor Planet Center receives hundreds of thousands of observations on asteroids, including those in the main-belt. The work done by the NASA surveys, and the other international professional and amateur astronomers, to discover and track NEOs is really remarkable.”
Within a dozen years, the program achieved its goal of discovering 90 percent of near-Earth objects larger than 3,300 feet in size.
In December 2005, NASA was directed by Congress to extend the search to find and catalog 90 percent of the NEOs larger than 500 feet in size.
When this goal is achieved, the risk of an unwarned future Earth impact will be reduced to a level of only one percent when compared to pre-survey risk levels.
This reduces the risk to human populations, because once an NEO threat is known well in advance, the object could be deflected with current space technologies.
Currently, the major NEO discovery teams are the Catalina Sky Survey, the University of Hawaii’s Pan-STARRS survey and the LINEAR survey. The current discovery rate of NEOs is about 1,000 per year. .
Dr. Tony Phillips works for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A Kelseyville man charged with the January murder of a convenience store employee has a long history of violent crimes, including a previous bank robbery conviction.
Jonathan Antonio Mota, 31, is being charged for the Jan. 18 death of 33-year-old Forrest Seagrave, the US Attorney’s Office and the Lake County Sheriff's Office said Friday.
Mota is facing four counts, including use or possession of a firearm in a murder, use or possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, robbery affecting interstate commerce and felon in possession of a firearm, according to the federal indictment filed against him Thursday.
If convicted, Mota could face life imprisonment, federal officials reported.
Mota is alleged to have shot Seagrave during a late-night armed robbery at the Mount Konocti Gas and Mart in Kelseyville, where Seagrave had worked for several years. Seagrave died a short time later at Sutter Lakeside Hospital.
The suspect in the robbery and shooting was masked, and wearing a dark hoodie and dark clothing. After the shooting, the suspect fled the scene on foot, leading to a massive investigation.
Sheriff’s officials said Mota was positively identified as the suspect after detectives reviewed hundreds of hours of surveillance videos, took numerous witness statements and served multiple search warrants and subpoenas which were written cooperatively between the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, United States Attorney’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Mota has an extensive and violent criminal history.
In January 2008, Mota was sentenced to six years in prison and ordered to pay restitution after pleading guilty to robbery, possession of a stolen vehicle and possession of a firearm for the Dec. 8, 2006, armed robbery at Bank of the West in Clearlake.
On Dec. 30, 2006, shortly after an arrest warrant was issued for him in connection to the bank robbery, Mota showed up with a gun at the Elem Colony in Clearlake Oaks where his sister lived – a tribal official said Mota was not himself a tribal member – and barricaded himself inside a home.
Later that night, Mota surrendered to a sheriff's SWAT team, as Lake County News has reported.
More recently, Mota was arrested on felony parole violations on June 21, 2012, and again on Aug. 24, 2012; on Sept. 6, 2012, for felony carrying a concealed dirk or dagger and a felony parole violation; on Oct. 27, 2012, for misdemeanor battery and a felony parole violation, according to county arrest records.
Putting the pieces together
The Seagrave murder case has taken months to piece together, with Mota in custody on separate charges since shortly after the murder.
Mota was arrested on Jan. 26 for a felony parole violation and a misdemeanor charge of use or being under the influence of a controlled substance, according to jail records.
Then, on Feb. 12, while still in custody, Mota was arrested again, this time on a federal felony detainer, as well as felony charges of possession of an assault weapon and a parole violation.
On Feb. 21, Mota was indicted on a federal charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, which carries with it a maximum prison term of 10 years, three years of supervised probation and up to $250,000 in fines.
The indictment revealed that at the time of his January arrest, Mota allegedly had in his possession a Zastava 7.62 millimeter assault rifle with a large capacity magazine and ammunition.
Mota remained in the Lake County Jail until April, when he was transferred to federal custody, the sheriff’s office reported.
Mota is being held in an Alameda County Sheriff's Office jail facility in Oakland, where he was booked on April 18, according to jail records.
Authorities also searched for a dark-colored full-sized pickup seen in downtown Kelseyville the night of the shooting.
On April 30, the pickup in question – a stolen 2008 Toyota Tacoma pickup – was found down an embankment off the Hopland Grade.
Officials have not yet said what part the pickup played in the murder case.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A federal grand jury in San Francisco has returned a superseding indictment against a Kelseyville man for the murder of a store clerk in January.
The Thursday indictment charges Jonathan Antonio Mota, 31, with murder caused by a firearm; for Hobbs Act robbery, a crime of violence; and for use and possession of a firearm in furtherance of that robbery, announced United States Attorney Melinda Haag.
According to the superseding indictment, Mota is alleged to have robbed the Mount Konocti Gas & Mart on January 18, 2013. During the course of that robbery, the defendant shot and killed Forrest Seagrave.
“We take our responsibility to the residents of Lake County, and the entire Northern District of California, seriously,” said U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag. “Therefore, when the Lake County district attorney and sheriff requested federal law enforcement coordination on this investigation, I am quite pleased that we were able to come together and focus the necessary resources on the investigation, and now prosecution, of this senseless violent crime.”
“ATF focuses its efforts on individuals who unlawfully possess or use firearms," said Special Agent in Charge Joseph M Riehl. “We appreciate the collaboration with Lake County Sheriff’s Department and District Attorney's Office, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office to perfect this investigation."
“I wish to compliment all of the Lake County investigators for their dogged, non-stop efforts to bring the investigation into the murder of Forrest Seagrave to a close,” said Lake County Sheriff Francisco Rivero. “I also wish to express my deepest gratitude to the United States Attorney’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for their uncompromising assistance and resources.”
The grand jury has indicted the defendant for his possession of a separate firearm, an assault weapon, during the timeframe of the robbery. He was prohibited from possessing that weapon by virtue of his prior felony conviction for armed robbery.
That felon-in-possession case is pending before U.S. District Court Judge Jon Tigar (case No. 13-cr-93). Motions are scheduled to be heard in that case on September 13, 2013 at 9:30 am.
The maximum statutory penalty for use/possession of a firearm in furtherance of the Hobbs Act robbery, a crime of violence, in violation of Title 18 U.S.C. Section 924(c), is life imprisonment and a fine of $250,000.
The maximum statutory penalty for the use of the firearm resulting in murder, in violation of Title 18 U.S.C. Section 924(j), is life imprisonment and a fine of $250,000 unless the Attorney General directs the U.S. Attorney to seek the death penalty, in which case the maximum statutory penalty for the murder is death.
The maximum statutory penalty for Hobbs Act robbery, in violation of Title 18 U.S.C. Section 1951(a), is 20 years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000.
The maximum statutory penalty for being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of Title 18 U.S.C. Section 922(g), is 10 years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000.
However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.
Kathryn Haun is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the case with the assistance of the Lake County District Attorney’s Office and with the assistance of Daniel Charlier-Smith and Kurt Kosek of the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The prosecution is the result of a joint investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
An indictment contains only allegations against an individual and, as with all defendants, Mota must be presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
LOWER LAKE, Calif. – St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake will open a rural health clinic in the Konocti Wellness Center this summer.
The Konocti Wellness Center, located at Lower Lake High School, 9430 Lake St., is a collaborative effort between St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake and the Konocti Unified School District.
A grand opening for students and parents of the Konocti Unified School District was held June 26.
“Through this partnership with the Konocti Unified School District, St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake continues to demonstrate our commitment to the health of our community members,” said David Santos, vice president of operations at St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake.
“The health and well-being of our children contribute to their ability to think and learn. We are grateful for the hospital’s role in our Konocti Wellness Center,” said District Superintendent Donna Becnel.
The center includes the newest addition to St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake's integrated network of rural health clinics, providing access to medical care across Lake County, and is designed to provide students of the Konocti Unified School District a direct link to better health.
The wellness center will include several programs that incorporate medical services, nutrition counseling, fitness programs and educational activities. These services are to keep youth healthy today, and set the stage for a lifetime of good health practices and outcomes.
Dr. David Lounsberry, family practice physician, will act as the medical director of the rural health clinic. Eunice Mentges, FNP, and Caren Greco, FNP, will staff the medical center two days per week.
Lisa Mirassou, school psychologist with the Konocti Unified School District, and Linda Gude, Psy.D., Safe Schools with Lake County Office of Education, will provide services.
In addition, Healthy Start will be based at the center. The center will feature Fitness on Demand and a variety of health and wellness classes including CPR, First Aid and Smoking Cessation.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Lake County Live! returns to the Soper-Reese Community Theatre at 6 p.m. Sunday, June 30, with special guests Andy Rossoff, accompanied by Jim Leonardis.
Also on the program is Half Irish, featuring Sue Condit, Eleanor Cook, Jack Elizares, Bill Vanderwall and Eric Schlange.
The performance will include the return of “Ladies of the Lake,” the show's regular cast of players including Richard Smith, Kris Andre, Pamela Bradley and Vicky Parish Smith, together with show creator and host Doug Rhoades.
Tickets for the show are available at www.soperreesetheatre.com and at the Travel Center in Lakeport at 1265 S. Main St.
Tickets also are available at the theater before the show on Sunday.
Please join them for the live performance, which also is broadcast live on KPFZ, Lake County Community Radio at 88.1 FM, and streamed live on the Internet at www.kpfz.org .
Lake County Live! celebrates this program as the 18th show in a series of local musicians, comedy and commentary, all with a local flavor.
The Soper-Reese Community Theatre is located at 275 S. Main St., Lakeport.
