There it is, in sunbathed living color. Exhibit A.

Monterey Bay marine biologist Nancy Black hangs over the side of her inflatable research dinghy with one hand gripping a rope strung precariously through a piece of gray whale blubber.

It is a photograph that has Black, owner of Monterey Bay Whale Watch, in a lot of hot water. Black, a prominent yet controversial figure, contends she was securing a piece of a whale that had been killed by orcas so she could film them for research purposes.

Federal prosecutors say she was chumming for killer whales and a great piece of video, or "money shot."

The Monterey resident made her first appearance in U.S. District Court in San Jose on Thursday, pleading not guilty to two counts of violating the Marine Mammal Protection Act by feeding or attempting to feed the killer whales. She was also arraigned on two counts alleging she altered a video of a 2005 encounter with a humpback whale and lied about it to an investigator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

While the feeding charges have received more attention, the latter two are much more serious felonies that carry combined maximum sentences of 25 years in prison and $500,000 in fines. Federal prosecutors are also seeking the forfeiture of her rigid-hulled inflatable research vessel.

The charges date back to 2004 and 2005. The U.S. Attorney General's Office and NOAA declined comment on the indictment and the reasons for its delay.

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