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WHALE NEWS
We're always keeping an eye out for whales in the news. Below are a few recent news items we found interesting. To discuss the news items below, or any whale or marine environmental issues, be sure to check out our Whale Talk page, a free message board dedicated to all things whales.

06/28/09
Editorial: A Non-Ban on Whaling - New York Times

At this point in its troubled history, it appears that the main function of the International Whaling Commission, which met last week on the Portuguese island of Madeira, is to ensure its own survival — and with it, the survival of a 40-year-old loophole-ridden “ban” on commercial whaling that is not really a ban at all.

Only a few seagoing nations kill whales; Japan, Iceland and Norway are the most important. Japan exploits a loophole that allows killing whales for scientific research. Iceland and Norway simply ignore the ban, without penalty. Most other nations are opposed to whaling, yet the lobbying to grant more exceptions continues.

This year, Greenland, with heavy backing from Denmark, asked permission to kill 50 endangered humpback whales over the next five years. A decision was postponed until the next meeting. The commission and its members should use the time to think not only about Greenland’s request but about the treaty itself — and whether the time has come to ban all whaling for any purpose.

Greenland said it wanted the endangered humpbacks for aboriginal subsistence — to feed its indigenous population. Minor exceptions to the ban have in fact been granted for subsistence and cultural hunting. But in Denmark’s case, as conservation groups rightly noted, this was thinly disguised cover for commercial whaling.

Indeed, the monetary value of whales — as much as $100,000 for a single minke whale — almost guarantees that they will be sold commercially, whether they’re killed for “research” or subsistence. Meanwhile, the appetite to resume open, aboveboard commercial whaling grows stronger, especially as whale numbers — though they remain far below historic levels — recover.

The commission’s fear is that renegotiating or eliminating the exceptions will cause the original agreement to unravel, possibly leading to the destruction of the group and the full-scale resumption of commercial whaling. But the issue here is not the survival of a bureaucracy but the survival of the whales, which face a range of new threats, from habitat loss to climate change.

The commission’s nonwhaling members, the United States included, should press for a complete ban.
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06/26/09
Scientists warn of emerging form of unregulated whaling in Asia - Christian Science Monitor

It’s tough being a whale these days.

The International Whaling Commission has just wrapped up its annual meeting in Portugal with a whaling ban still intact, but with fissures deepening between the save-the-whales crowd and countries such as Japan, which wants to see commercial whaling reinstated, at least on a limited basis.

It’s enough to prompt the commission’s new chairman to suggest that the 53-year-old organization may need to rethink its purpose. Cristian Maquieira, the new chairman, told the Associated Press:

“We have to re-establish a consensus on what the IWC is and should do, and there are at least two contradictory perceptions to answer that question.”

And along comes a new study suggesting that Japan’s fishing operations are taking far more minke whales a year as by-catch than the Japanese government is officially reporting. Based on DNA samples taken from commercially sold whale meat, a team from Oregon State University and the University of California at Irvine estimate that by-catch takes in 150 whales a year on average — about the same number the Japanese government officially acknowledges taking in its own scientific whaling program.

Researchers suspect the high numbers of minke by-catch may be more than accidental. Japan and South Korea are the only two IWC members that allow whales snagged as by-catch to be sold commercially.

Adult minkes can fetch upwards of $100,000 apiece, according to Scott Baker, associate director of Oregon State’s Marine Mammal Institute, who led the study. With that kind of “green” as a lure, “you have to wonder how many of these whales are in fact killed intentionally.”

The study, which has been accepted for publication in the journal Animal Conservation, focuses on two species of minke whales — species that are virtually identical to the eye, but not to DNA analysis. The by-catch problem appears to center on a species that tends to hug the coast, and so gets caught in vast fishing nets set out there.

In theory, these populations are protected through international agreements.

Indeed, Japan is interested in beginning commercial whaling along its coast. Yet for all the “research” the country has conducted on whales, no reliable estimates exist for the size of the populations around the islands. So no one has a good baseline from which to try to manage the minke stocks, Dr. Baker said during a phone chat.

He and his colleagues note that any international monitoring for compliance is tough because Japan so far resists making its genetic data base for whales available. Currently, Baker says, DNA techniques can tell you what type of whale has ended up in a tin. But without access to the full DNA data base, which bears information on individual whales that have been harvested, enforcement is tough. Presumably if DNA analysis identifies whale meat whose genetic information is not in the data base, you’ve got evidence for unregulated or unreported whaling.

The team recommends that Japan make those data available, perhaps at a central repository at the IWC. And it recommends that thorough surveys begin — including gathering genetic information on the whales — to better understand what’s really out there.

“We think this stock is under considerable threat,” Baker says. “It would be pretty tragic to have a stock go essentially extinct or become locally extirpated while there’s presumably a moratorium on whaling. But that is what may well be occurring.”

Oh yes, and Baker and his colleague urge that when gathering the DNA from the whales, make sure it comes from tissue samples from living whales, and not from whales killed for this “scientific” purpose. more

06/24/09
Norway suspends whaling in mid-season - REUTERS

Norway has suspended whaling in the middle of its hunting season because industry demand has been satisfied.

Japan, Norway and Iceland do not recognise a global ban on whaling. Norwegian whalers kill the minke whale that is not threatened with extinction under a strict quota system.

Less than half of Norway's annual quota of 855 minke whales has been caught, down from the levels a year ago when the industry also failed to fill its allotted total. The summertime season normally runs until August.

"We have ordered the halt because we have enough whale meat on vessels compared to what the whaling industry needs," said Svein Ove Haugland, a spokesman for the Norwegian Fishermen's Sales Organisation, on Wednesday.

"If the processing industry finds out they need more whale then we might open up (for hunting) again," he told Reuters.

Whaling opponents say consumer demand for the meat is falling, a view disputed by Norwegian whalers.

"It's quite likely that it was not enough demand because very few people eat whale meat," said Truls Gulowsen from Greenpeace Norway. "The continuing trend in declining demand will hopefully close the industry, which retains political support even though it lost its economic significance long ago."

Whaling in Norway has powerful political backers who view the issue in terms of sovereign rights in territorial waters.

Bjoern Bendiksen, chairman of the Norwegian whalers' union, said temporary stops in whaling were "quite normal". Many processing plants were having problems due to the financial crisis and not because of any lack of demand, he said.

"Such stops happen very often. Unfortunately it is happening now when whale buyers have less money due to the financial crisis," he told Reuters by telephone.

Bendiksen said the stop in commercial whaling could last "from a week to two weeks, or maybe a bit longer because of the Norwegian holiday season" which continues through most of July.

Norway catches whales in the waters of the North, Norwegian and Barents seas as well as around its north Atlantic islands between Europe and Greenland.

The International Whaling Commission is holding an annual meeting on the Portuguese island of Madeira this week to review the future of whaling.
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06/21/09
Plans to hunt humpback whales - Agence France-Presse

PLANS to resume the hunting of humpback whales, protected by a moratorium introduced more than 40 years ago, came under fire from environmentalists today, ahead of a key meeting.

The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS) said Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory, intends to ask a summit on Tuesday to grant it permission to hunt a quota of 50 humpbacks over five years.

"Denmark is lobbying intensely, with the support of Sweden, to build a European consensus in favour of Greenland's proposal," WDCS spokesman Nicolas Entrup said in Lisbon.

"The WDCS urges member states and the Czech presidency (of the European Union) not to put at risk the EU's reputation for commitment to the conservation of the world's whales."

The humpback was a major target of hunters and its population fell dramatically before a moratorium was introduced in 1966.

Greenland will make its request at the annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), which kicks off on Tuesday on the Portuguese island of Madeira, the WDCS said.

There are 85 countries in the IWC, which has for some years been trying to come to a new compromise on whale hunting and conservation.

Iceland and Norway are the only two countries in the world that authorise commercial whaling.

Japan officially hunts whales for scientific purposes, which are contested by opponents, and the whale meat is sold for consumption.
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06/16/09
Giant blue whale killed in a tragic collision with a ship - DailyMail

, this is the unbelievable sight of
The body of the giant blue whale was found by researchers from Oregon State University in the Santa Barbara Channel off the coast of California floating belly up in the Pacific, the largest animal ever to have lived on Earth - killed by a passing ship.

They came across the carcass while out in their small research vessel, the Pacific Storm, operated by the university's Marine Mammal Institute.
blue whale

Researchers believe the whale may have been hit by a cargo ship in the busy shipping lanes coming out of the city of Los Angeles. Staff at the university have not yet been reached for comment.

This whale must be roughly 22 metres long.

The Oregon State University's Marine Mammal Institute is well-known for its research on blue whales, even participating in a documentary with National Geographic on the subject.

Blue whales are the largest animal ever to have lived - even larger than the dinosaurs.

They are a sub-species of baleen whale, feeding mainly on krill, that can grow to up to 30 metres long, and weigh 100-150 tonnes.

Their mouths could hold up to 100 people, and their hearts are the size of a small car.

They are long-lived, also, with an average lifespan of 110 years. The blue whale is also one of the largest animals in the sea, capable of making noises as loud as a jet engine - though at frequencies too low for a human being to hear.

The majestic creatures live in all oceans of the world, though they are predominantly found in the North Atlantic, the North Pacific, and just above Antarctica.

By the 1960s they were classified as being on the brink of extinction, and they are still on the endangered list - making the tragic loss of this one all the more poignant. more

06/12/09
Net injury 'disables' minke whale - BBC

An injured minke whale has provided a unique insight into the dangers posed to marine animals by fishing gear.

The minke whale was spotted off the coast of Quebec, Canada, with a huge scar around its throat thought to be caused by floating rope.

What's more, it fed in a way never before recorded for minke whales, probably in response to its injury.

The sighting is one of the first to detail the handicaps that can be caused to animals that become entangled.

Earth News reports the development as part of a series of articles highlighting the dangers fishing nets pose to marine animals.

Previously, we described how fishing nets are strangling dolphins to death in the Adriatic.

Now marine biologist Brian Kot of the University of California and colleagues working for the Mingan Island Cetacean Study non-profit research organisation have published details in Marine Mammal Science of a minke whale that has been badly scarred by fishing gear.

Spotted of the coast of Longue-Pointe-de-Mingan, Quebec, in the Gulf of St Lawrence, the minke whale had a deep laceration running the circumference of its feeding pouch, from near its throat up both sides of its head close to each eye.

The cut ran through the whale's skin and into its blubber, in parts exposing the muscle underneath.

"The width of the laceration was very similar to the ropes from crab pots that are set by fishermen in my study area," says Kot.
Injured minke whale seen off the coast of Quebec, Canada

Crab pots set on the seafloor are baited and held by a rope leading up to the surface, which is attached to a buoy. Often a series of cages are connected by floating ropes that are thought to entangle whales.

Kot and his team observed and videoed the injured minke feeding on schools of capelin for over 80 minutes.

An analysis of the video showed that the minke, which lunged into the fish schools 50 times, had no problem accelerating into each lunge.

But the whale often breached in a way never before recorded among minkes.

On 18 of the 50 lunges, the whale breached at an angle of 30 to 45 degrees to the surface, feeding on its right side only, as can be seen in the picture above.

It would then rotate in the air to land upright on its chin. The researchers never saw the whale breach from its left side, or spin in mid air to land on its left. The whale was also unable to distend its feeding pouch as far as other healthy whales.

"The injury seemed to affect the expansion of the ventral pouch and I noticed a unique lunge-feeding behaviour that has not been previously described in the scientific literature," says Kot.

Despite often seeing the same whales repeatedly in his study area in the Gulf of St Lawrence, Kot has not seen the injured minke whale again, so he doesn't know what long-term impact the wounds had.
Injured minke whale seen off the coast of Quebec, Canada

"We really don't know what happened to it. Perhaps the injured animal left the area and survived or perished some time in the future."

However, the sighting of the minke whale is valuable as it's "one of the first to show the effect of an entanglement-like injury in a live animal," says Kot.

By some estimates, fishing gear poses the greatest threat to whales.

Yet little is actually known about the impact fishing that gear has on the survival of these ocean giants.

In particular, almost nothing is known about the non-lethal impact caused by entanglement injuries.

"Cetacean entanglements involving various kinds of fishing gear have been a global concern for many years," says Kot.

"However, with the steadily increasing demand for food, fishing pressure in the world's oceans has increased the amount of gear that whales can potentially encounter."

And many coastal fisheries operate exactly where the smaller and more vulnerable species of whale and dolphin range.

"Some of the largest whales, such as blue or fin, can sometimes free themselves from entanglements due to their size and strength," Kot explains. "Smaller whales like minke likely don't have this ability."

And most small whales that do get trapped probably drown and sink, never to be found by anyone, including the fishermen who own the net, he says.
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06/09/09
Prehistoric Whale Discovered On The West Coast Of Sweden - Science Daily

The skeleton of a whale that died around 10,000 years ago has been found in connection with the extension of the E6 motorway in Strömstad. The whale bones are now being examined by researchers at the University of Gothenburg who, among other things, want to ascertain whether the find is the mystical "Swedenborg whale".

There are currently four species of right whale. What is particularly interesting is that the size and shape of the whale bones resemble those of a fifth species: the mystical "Swedenborg whale", first described by the scientist Emmanuel Swedenborg in the 18th century.

"Bones from what is believed to be Swedenborg's right whale have previously been found in western Sweden. However, determining the species of whale bones found in earth is complicated and there is no definitive conclusion on whether the whale actually existed, it could equally well be a myth," says zoologist Thomas Dahlgren and his colleague Leif Jonsson.

To determine the species of whale that has been found Thomas Dahlgren has conducted DNA tests that are to be analysed in conjunction with researchers at the Natural History Museum in London. The whale bones are interesting in several respects. The fragments of bone were collected in a clay deposit and remains of marine organisms that today are also endangered species were found around them.

"The hunt for the large whale species, which led to the extinction of the Atlantic grey whale and perhaps the Swedenborg whale, may also have caused the extinction of a large number of species that are dependent on whale carcasses for their survival," says Thomas Dahlgren.

The whale bones are thought to be around 10,000 years old and were found 75 metres above sea level, but in a site that at that time was located out on the coast. It is conjectured that the bones have been preserved for such a long time as they were surrounded by fine, oxygen-free clay. The largest whale bone, approximately 2.5 metres long, is part of a jawbone. Among the smaller bones is a vertebra. Discussions are underway on whether the bones can be put in order and potentially put on public display.

The whale species is believed to have existed in the North Sea from the period when the inland ice melted until about 8,000 years ago, and subsequently to have died out. Ten collections of bones from the species have been found in the west of Sweden. However, there is speculation that the bones have been mistaken for other species, and that the Swedenborg whale never existed. Source: Swedish National Encyclopedia more

06/05/09
Whale Wars - Eco-Terrorism as Reality TV - The Huffington Post

Tonight begins the second season of "Whale Wars" in which a scruffy band of eco-crusaders, the Sea Shepherds, go to war against the evil whaling ships, by any means necessary. The reviews for the first season were great. Neil Genzlinger of the New York Times writes: "Whale Wars splashes across the increasingly exhausted genre of people-at-work reality series like icy seawater, jolting you awake with a frothy, briny burst of -- well, you get the idea. This is one spunky show."

What's not to like? The show is action on the high seas; ocean combat to save the whales! Everyone likes whales. I like whales. Who doesn't like whales? What great television for those bored with shows about fishing off Alaska, Ice Road Truckers or the Real Housewives of Duluth!

So what is the problem with "Whale Wars"? The problem is that it is cheap exploitation in praise of what is nothing less than eco-terrorism. It is the glorification of vigilantism on the high seas. And oh, by the way, the Sea Shepherds do almost nothing to protect the whales where they really do need protection.

While "Whale Wars" presents a simplistic case of us against them, the noble environmentalists against the evil whalers, the reality, of course, is not so black and white. By international agreement with the International Whaling Commission, the Japanese were allowed to kill up to a nine hundred minke whales and fifty fin whales in 2007/2008 in the Antarctic ocean for "research purposes." Critics claim that this is thinly disguised commercial whaling. Whatever it may be, minke whales, in particular, are not considered to be particularly threatened. Estimates have placed the minke population in the Southern Hemisphere in the range of 200,000-416,700 whales.

Negotiating international agreements may not make for rousing "reality TV" but it has made a significant difference in actually "saving the whales."

The Sea Shepherds on "Whale Wars" are abolitionist animal rights activists. They believe that every whale is sacred and should be preserved. On this basis, they justify aggressively interfering with and attempting to disable whaling ships in international waters, including pelting the ships with bottles containing butyric acid, which recently injured four Japanese crew members. Their zealotry is strongly reminiscent of anti-abortion extremists. (Both groups share a fondness for butyric acid attacks.) The Sea Shepherds also attempt to maneuver Zodiac boats in between the whalers and their prey. More seriously, they have taken to ramming Japanese whalers with their ship, the Steve Irwin. (They deny this but several videos of the Irwin ramming a whaler are widely available.) Members of the Sea Shepherds have also boarded whalers at sea and in one case the Sea Shepherds interfered with the search and rescue of a Japanese sailor washed overboard. (The Sea Shepherds deny they interfered but that is not the opinion of those conducting the search and rescue.)

The Sea Shepherds fly the Jolly Roger flag of piracy. I think that they should be more accurately described as eco-terrorists.

''You don't beg criminals to stop doing what they're doing,'' Mr. Watson said in the first episode last season. ''You intervene, and you physically and aggressively shut them down.'' Of course the whalers, whatever you may think of their activities, are operating legally. It is Watson and the Sea Shepherds who are the criminals.

And where are these self-described pirates or eco-terrorists, call them what you will, based? In Friday Harbor, Washington. Given their arguably illegal and dangerous antics, I am surprised that the group, as well as the producers of the television show and the Animal Planet Network have not been swamped in lawsuits.

But do the Sea Shepherds make a difference? Not in any significant way. The WWF estimates that 90% of non-natural whale deaths are due to collisions with ships, followed by "by-catch," whales becoming caught in nets, and then lastly, by fishing. Only this week, an oil tanker bound for Valdez apparently collided with a humpback whale and dragged the carcass into the harbor on the bow of the ship. Special shipping lanes have been set up off Cape Cod to reduce collisions between ships and the extremely endangered northern right whales, which migrate through the area. It is hoped that these collisions will be reduced by an estimated 74% during the migratory season. Changes in shipping lanes around the world and the development of new technologies are making a real difference in reducing the number of whales who die needlessly, which also does not make for entertaining television.

In the end, "Whale Wars" is a highly dangerous sideshow, which may make for diverting "reality TV" for the couch-bound, but has nothing meaningful to do with "saving the whales."

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06/03/09
Belly of the whale - cape cod times

The strange story of Chatham gill netter Robert Eldridge and the humpback whale poses the letter of the law against the spirit of the law. When legal disposition comes, it will reveal a lot about how fishermen and fish-law enforcers work together.

Or don't.

Eldridge was 19 miles south of Chatham July 10 when the humpback got tangled in the gear off his vessel Unicorn. The crew spent 20 or 30 minutes getting the net or lines off the whale, and it swam away, apparently unhurt.

Charges were lodged against Eldridge in U.S. District Court in Boston in March. He pled not guilty April 1 to "knowingly and unlawfully" engaging in the "take" of a humpback. It's a misdemeanor, with up to a year of jail and probation, but a whopping $100,000 maximum fine.

Despite the apparent happy ending for the whale, both the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act prohibit the "taking" of marine mammals and effectively prohibit people from interacting with them in any way without a federal license. Under the MMPA, "take" means "to harass, hunt, capture, or kill or attempt to..."

The Commercial Fisheries News reported that the Eldridge complaint cites the ESA definition of "take" to mean "harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect or attempt to engage in such conduct."

That sounds bad, but very few details of the actual incident have come out in court papers or from the parties involved. Fellow fisherman John Our told the Times that Eldridge is "a great fisherman and a highly respected captain who doesn't deserve the slander that he is getting out of all of this. The whole thing is a joke."

The Commercial Fisheries News talked to Andy Cohen, special agent for the northeast region of the National Marine Fisheries Service Office for Law Enforcement. He said only that his office investigates all marine mammal incidents but sends only "cases involving intentional or reckless takings or takings that result from negligence" to the U.S. attorney.

So what did Eldridge allegedly do?

Early published reports said there was an "observer" on board. Sometimes fisheries agents or scientists go out to observe methods and assess bycatch. Was this person the source of the complaint? Was Eldridge warned about the law but did his own untangling anyway instead of calling in some licensed group like the Center for Coastal Studies? Did he express a contemptuous attitude toward the rules?

And another wrinkle: Eldridge can be charged under the negligence clause just for setting his gill nets in a place whales are feeding. Our, who was nearby, said there were many whales in the area that day.

The irony is that many commercial fishermen have taken the training — been there, got the T shirt — and are licensed by the NMFS to do mammal rescue. This makes perfect sense, since they are on the scene and know best how their gear behaves in water, under load, and where its weak point might be. Their gear is expensive — they don't want it destroyed.

For their part, NMFS regulators and enforcers are always battling to maintain authority over fishermen, a generally independent lot who chafe under any rules. Is the Eldridge case intended to send a message?

More details will come out when the case is heard. Then we can better judge whether the letter of the law or the spirit of the law should prevail. more

05/30/09
Earthrace may take on whalers - Taranaki Daily News

Japanese whaling ships could be the next target for New Zealand seafarer Pete Bethune and his world record-setting boat Earthrace.

Mr Bethune says he and the distinctive powerboat could become part of environmental organisation Sea Shepherd's fleet battling the whalers in the Southern Ocean after Earthrace finishes its world tour in Hamilton in three weeks.

"That's the most likely scenario but it's not 100 per cent yet," he told the Taranaki Daily News in New Plymouth yesterday. "To go down there would be pretty cool."

Sea Shepherd has become well known in recent years for its skirmishes with Japanese whaling ships.

Last year, its boat Steve Irwin chased the whaling fleet for more than 3000 kilometres, and the organisation claimed to have saved the lives of 305 whales.

For the past three years, Mr Bethune and Earthrace have been fighting a different environmental battle promoting the use of sustainable biofuel. Last year, the 100 per cent biofuel-powered trimaran smashed the round the world speed record, knocking almost two weeks off the old record with a time of 60 days, 23 hours and 49 minutes.

Since then a worldwide promotional tour has given more than 180,000 people the chance to look over the boat.

Back in New Zealand since February, Earthrace's odyssey finishes at Fieldays in Hamilton next month.

"I've lived the dream on this boat," Mr Bethune said.

"I've had the best times of my life on this boat and the worst times of my life.

"I've been treated like a king and treated like a pauper."

Mr Bethune and Earthrace hit the headlines when they were detained in Guatemala after an accident killed a local fisherman, but he said other standout memories included wakeboarding on Loch Ness, diving in the Pacific and Caribbean, surviving more than a dozen storms at sea and brushes with Colombian pirates.

"Would I do it again? I would," he said.

"To get to work on something you really believe in most of us go through life without any chance to do that."

But Mr Bethune said the world tour following the record-setting voyage became much bigger than he had expected and had come at the cost of time with his family.

Now he's looking forward to a break and says joining the Sea Shepherd fleet would not be as demanding on his time.

"It's hit and run 10 weeks and it's all over, not three years like this has been."

His other option is to sell the boat.

As the tour draws to a close, Mr Bethune gave the Government a serve over biofuel legislation.

A Labour law making it compulsory for oil companies to mix biofuels into petrol and diesel was passed last September.
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Mr Bethune said the legislation was a positive move, even though it came late in Labour's final term and wasn't revolutionary in its scope.

When National scrapped the law just three months later as one of its first acts in office, Mr Bethune was heartbroken.

"It kind of made me wonder if what you do even matters," he said.

"For biofuels to be viable they've got to be compulsory.

"Governments need to show a bit of backbone and spine and ours have been a bit backwards in that area.

"At the moment, New Zealand is the only country in the OECD that doesn't have biofuel available to consumers.

"Consumers are receptive but the oil companies hate it."

Earthrace, Mr Bethune and five other crew members are in New Plymouth until this evening.

The boat is open for public viewing today from 10am until 5pm and costs adults $5, children $2.50 and families $10. Money raised goes to the Taranaki Coastguard. more

05/26/09
Whale washes ashore in Provincetown - cape cod times

The swollen tongue looked like a giant balloon protruding from the mouth of the dead, juvenile finback whale that washed up at Herring Cove Beach Thursday afternoon.

The young finback, a federally listed endangered species, washed up at about 3:30 p.m. yesterday, said C.T. Harry, assistant stranding coordinator for the International Fund for Animal Welfare’s marine mammal rescue and research program.
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Due to the powerful winds and surf, animal researchers were not able to get close enough last night to get an idea of what may have killed the whale, or even how big it is.

As of Thursday night, researches estimated the carcass to be 40-feet long and weighing 10 tons. The dead animal’s tongue, swollen by the gas created in the decomposition process, is “pretty massive,” Harry added.

Early Friday morning, researchers plan to beat the 10 a.m. high tide to get a better look at the marine mammal’s remains. But lacking the proper equipment to haul it off the beach immediately, there are no plans to do a full necropsy. “You don’t want an open carcass on the beach on a busy weekend,” Harry said. more

05/24/09
Whale chief says Japan must compromise - France 24

The outgoing head of the International Whaling Commission voiced regret Wednesday that his controversial drive to reach a compromise had failed, and said Japan needed to cede more ground.

William Hogarth steps down as both US delegate and the head of the deeply divided world whaling body after a meeting next month in Portugal, where he doubted any major progress would be reached.

The biologist, appointed by former president George W. Bush, faced heated questions at a congressional hearing from members of President Barack Obama's Democratic Party who accuse him of surrendering too much to Japan.

Pressed by the panel, Hogarth said that Japan -- which kills whales under a loophole in a global moratorium that allows "lethal research" on the ocean giants -- had not put enough on the table.

"The US does not think that it's a reasonable proposal whatsoever," Hogarth said.

"I think that if Japan is not willing to discuss (further), then I do not see any future for any resolution to this issue."

Hogarth, who is also dean of the University of South Florida's College of Marine Science, spearheaded a series of closed-door negotiations with Japan and other nations.

Japan offered to reduce but not end its annual Antarctic hunts which infuriate whale-loving Australia and New Zealand, participants say. Japan has also pushed for the International Whaling Commission, or IWC, to accept whaling off its coasts.

"I am very disappointed that I'm leaving the chairmanship and the US commission with the IWC (while) still killing lots of whales, doing scientific whaling and that we just can't seem to resolve it," Hogarth said.

However, Hogarth said his efforts brought civility to the IWC, where annual meetings had long been showdowns between pro- and anti-whaling nations.

Under a compromise brokered by Hogarth, Japan agreed in 2007 to suspend plans to expand its hunt to include humpback whales -- beloved by Australian whale-watchers -- for the first time in decades.

Japan says that whaling is its tradition and accuses Western nations of cultural insensitivity.

Norway and Iceland are the only nations that hunt whales in open defiance of the 1986 IWC moratorium.
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05/22/09
Endangered right whales found where there were none - Economic Times

Scientists have documented the presence of endangered North Atlantic right whales with the help of underwater hydrophones that can
pick up sounds from hundreds of kilometres away.

The discovery is particularly important because it is in an area where these whales were thought to be extinct and one that may be opened to shipping if the melting of polar ice continues, as expected, said researchers.

Scientists from Oregon State University (OSU) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are unsure of exactly how many whales were in the region, which is off the southern tip of Greenland and site of an important 19th-century whaling area called Cape Farewell Ground.

But they recorded more than 2,000 right whale vocalisations in the region from July through December of 2007.

"The technology has enabled us to identify an important unstudied habitat for endangered right whales and raises the possibility that... a remnant of a central or eastern Atlantic stock of right whales still exists and might be viable," said David Mellinger, assistant professor at OSU Hatfield Marine Science Centre in Newport and chief project scientist.

"We don't know how many right whales there were in the area," Mellinger added. "They aren't individually distinctive in their vocalisations. But we did hear right whales at three widely spaced sites on the same day, so the absolute minimum is three. Even that number is significant because the entire population is estimated to be only 300 to 400 whales."

Only two right whales have been sighted in the last 50 years at Cape Farewell Ground, where they had been hunted to near extinction prior to the adoption of protective measures, said an OSU release.

The results were presented this week at the Acoustical Society of America in Portland, Oregon.
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05/20/09
Blue Whales Re-establishing Former Migration Patterns - Science

The planet’s largest animal may be returning to pre-whaling feeding grounds. Scientists have documented the first known migration of blue whales from the coast of California to areas off British Columbia and the Gulf of Alaska since the end of commercial whaling in 1965.

In the scientific journal Marine Mammal Science, researchers from Cascadia Research Collective in Washington state, NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center in California, and Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans identified 15 separate cases where blue whales were seen off British Columbia and the Gulf of Alaska. Four of the whales were identified as animals previously observed off the coast of California, suggesting a re-establishment of a historical migration pattern.

Researchers made this identification by comparing photographs of blue whales taken in the north Pacific Ocean since 1997 with a library of nearly two thousand photographs of blue whales off the West Coast. A positive match was determined based on pigmentation patterns in skin color and shape of the dorsal fin.

Blue whales were severely depleted during commercial whaling activities during the early 1900’s in the north Pacific and along the West Coast as far south as Baja California.

Formerly large populations of blue whales in the north Pacific never rebounded after commercial whaling ended while those animals off southern California have apparently fared much better.

Scientists are still not certain exactly why blue whales are now beginning to migrate from southern California to the north Pacific Ocean although changing ocean conditions may have shifted their primary food source of krill further north.

Blue whales are thought to be the largest animal ever to have existed on earth, reaching lengths of nearly 100 feet. They were nearly hunted to extinction throughout the world and are currently listed as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act and as endangered on the red list of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. There are an estimated 5,000 to 12,000 animals remaining today, with the largest population of approximately 2,000 off the U.S. West Coast. more

05/18/09
Inuit whalers want Ottawa to reopen the minke whale hunt - cnews

Inuit whalers in northern Quebec are pushing Ottawa to reopen the minke whale hunt, a subsistence harvest they say will make up for tightening quotas on their preferred catch - beluga.

The president of the hunters' association in Nunavik said the flesh of the swift-swimming minke was a key part of the local diet until the federal government abolished the hunt in 1972.

"We're trying to revive our traditional culture," Paulusie Novalinga said from his home in the Hudson Bay community of Puvirnituq.

"We're hunters, we live off the land - we're part of the land."

Nunavik's marine wildlife board will submit the request to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, said Stas Olpinski, a scientific adviser to Makivik Corp., the body that oversees political, social and economic development in the region.

"There's an interest, certainly, in the meat," Olpinski said.

"There's also an interest, vis-a-vis the hunt, because of reduced numbers of beluga whales that are available to Inuit in Nunavik."

For years, Nunavik whalers have disputed beluga quotas set by the federal Fisheries Department, which has indicated the white whale's numbers are in decline.

DFO reduced catch limits for northern Quebec from 360 beluga in 2001 to 165 in 2006. Last year's quota for Nunavik was 174.

But the Inuit say the icy waters off their shores are full of beluga, which provide oil as well as a rubbery, dinner-table delicacy for locals.

Because most of the Inuit diet comes from hunting, trapping and fishing, the hunts should not be limited, Novalinga said.

"We don't enjoy killing wildlife, but we need to," said Novalinga, whose organization represents 5,000 hunters. "That's our food."

He said minke flesh, which he once sampled during a trip to Greenland, is a delicious alternative.

"It's very good meat - rich, nutritious, full of iron," he said, adding that minkes are abundant in Nunavik waters.

The whales, which can grow to nine metres in length and weigh up to 14 tons, are among the world's smallest baleen whales.

A 2008 global stock assessment by the International Conservation Union's Red List of Endangered Species categorized the common minke whale as a species of "least concern."

Stefan Romberg, a resource management officer with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, said minkes are currently harvested in Norway, Iceland, Japan and Greenland.

In Canada, only subsistence hunts for narwhal, bowhead and beluga are permitted.

"If DFO receives a formal request, it will be reviewed and a decision will be made with respect to a licence," Romberg wrote in an email.

Still, some northern Quebecers remain skeptical of opening a harvest they're not familiar with.

Johnny Oovaut, mayor of the seaside village of Quaqtaq and an elected member of Nunavik's regional government, said minkes were never hunted in his community.

"We've always been wary of strange foods," said Oovaut, whose town is on the coast of the Hudson Strait.

Instead, he wants Ottawa to loosen restrictions on beluga and leave management of the mammal up to the Inuit - the way it was for thousands of years.

"Personally, I think they should mind their own business," Oovaut said of the federal Fisheries Department.

"We have our own set of rules." more

05/14/09
Blue Whales Re-establishing Former Migration Patterns - Science Daily

05/11/09
First Right Whale Sedation Enables Disentanglement Effort - Science Daily

For the first time ever, rescuers used a new sedation delivery system to help free an entangled North Atlantic right whale. The new system was developed at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in collaboration with NOAA and the Univ. of Florida and the Univ. of Wisconsin veterinary schools to make the animals more approachable by rescue boats.

On Friday, March 6, 2009, for the first time ever, a North Atlantic right whale that had been severely entangled in fishing gear, was administered a sedation mixture that made it possible for rescuers to remove 90 percent of the entanglement.

The rescue involved the efforts of a multi-institutional team including the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), NOAA Fisheries, which manages the Atlantic Large Whale Disentanglement Network based at the Provincetown (MA) Center for Coastal Studies, the University of Florida’s Aquatic Animal Health Program, Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR), and Coastwise Consulting Group.

Team members on four boats assisted by an aerial survey plane worked for two days to free the animal. Eventually they succeeded in injecting the 40-foot, 40,000-pound whale with a mixture of sedatives that allowed them to cut away the gear that wrapped around the animal’s head.

The new sedation delivery system built by Trevor Austin of Paxarms New Zealand, comprises a 12-inch needle and a syringe driven by compressed air, which injects the drug into the whale’s muscle.

“This tool enhances fishing gear removal from entangled whales and minimizes the added stress from repeated boat approaches to the animals,” said Michael Moore, a veterinarian and research biologist at WHOI. Moore has led the investigation into chemical and physical tools to facilitate and enhance the safety of large whale restraint during efforts to remove entangling fishing gear. “It’s gratifying to have successfully employed this new technique.”

North Atlantic right whales are frequently entangled in fixed fishing gear, especially from the trap and gillnet fisheries. Many of them eventually disentangle themselves, but some entanglements persist for months, at times resulting in a slow and presumably very painful death.

Whale avoidance of boats attempting disentanglement is a major limit to successful resolution of complex cases. Over the past 10 years WHOI, in collaboration with NOAA Fisheries and two veterinary schools at the University of Florida and the University of Wisconsin have developed a sedation system to slow the animals and make them more approachable by rescue boats.

“The typical success rate for freeing right whales from fishing gear is about 50 percent due largely in part to the difficulties in getting close enough to cut the entangling gear,” said Jamison Smith, NOAA’s East Coast project leader for whale disentanglement. “We hope this new technique can improve the overall safety of the operations as well improve the chances of the whales’s survival.”

The animal (New England Aquarium catalog No: 3311) was first sighted entangled east of Brunswick, Ga., on Jan. 14, 2009, by the Georgia Wildlife Trust aerial survey team, which noted multiple lengths of heavy line cutting in to the whale’s upper jaw and left lip and trailing behind the animal. It was tagged with a telemetry buoy by the Georgia DNR to allow it to be tracked.

A disentanglement attempt by FWC, GA-DNR, Coastwise Consulting, University of Florida, NOAA and WHOI was made on Jan. 22, east of Amelia Island, Fla., but the whale evaded all attempts to cut the lines. On Jan. 23 further disentanglement attempts were made, with the addition of a sedation dose, delivered by remote syringe and needle with no success.

The dose given appeared to make the animal feel less pain, but was not sedated enough to be more approachable. Further disentanglement attempts by GA-DNR and Coastwise Consulting failed on Feb. 1.

On March 5 the disentanglement team made another attempt, this time increasing the dosage used on Jan. 23. The sedative appeared to cause the whale to take shallower, more frequent breaths, but the animal continued to evade the boat’s attempts to approach it. On Friday, March 6, a further increase in the dose resulted in a marked switch from the expected evasiveness. An hour after injection of sedatives, the animal no longer evaded boat approaches, but instead tolerated repeated close approaches by a disentanglement boat to allow removal of 90 percent of the remaining rope. Veterinarians on the team calculated the dosage based on experience sedating animals in captivity, starting low through the clinical range until they found a safe and effective level.

“Our prior experience with using these drugs safely in dolphins, beluga whales, killer whales and other species gave us the initial levels of sedatives to start with,” said Mike Walsh a veterinarian and associate director of the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine’s Aquatic Animal Health program.

“Our first attempts with sedatives in a previous animal were not as promising as hoped so we moved on to another sedative combination that has helped clinicians to get access to animals that may be less cooperative,” Walsh said. “This technique may greatly expand the options for the disentanglement teams dealing with these severely compromised whales, and the whales themselves. It is very exciting to be able to see it have an effect in an animal so large.”

The animal remains in very poor condition and has a guarded prognosis, but the disentanglement will give it a better chance for survival.

The North Atlantic right whale is the most endangered great whale, with a population of less than 400. Human activity—particularly ship collisions and entanglement in commercial fishing gear—is the most common cause of North Atlantic right whale deaths.

“This use of sedatives in a large free-ranging whale is novel and an exciting new tool in the large whale disentanglement toolbox,” said Moore. “However, it does not address the underlying problem of how to enable fixed-gear fisheries to pursue a profitable business, without jeopardizing the survival of endangered species such as the North Atlantic right whale.” more

05/09/09
Dolphins Maintain Round-the-clock Visual Vigilance - Science Daily

Dolphins have a clever trick for overcoming sleep deprivation. Sam Ridgway from the US Navy Marine Mammal Program explains that they are able to send half of their brains to sleep while the other half remains conscious. What is more, the mammals seem to be able to remain continually vigilant for sounds for days on end. All of this made Ridgway and his colleagues from San Diego and Tel Aviv wonder whether the dolphins' unrelenting auditory vigilance tired them and took a toll on the animals' other senses?

Ridgway and his team set about testing two dolphins' acoustic and visual vigilance over a 5 day period to find out how well they functioned after days without a break.

First Ridgway and his colleagues, Mandy Keogh, Mark Todd and Tricia Kamolnick, trained two dolphins to respond to a 1.5 s beep sounded randomly against a background of 0.5 s beeps every 30 s. Ridgway explains that the sounds were low enough for the dolphins to barely notice them as they swam through their enclosure, but the animals sprung into action every time they heard the 1.5 s tone, even after listening to the sounds for 5 days without a break. Their auditory vigilance remained as sharp as it had been 5 days earlier.

Next Allen Goldblatt and Don Carder designed a visual stimulus to test the dolphins' vigilance while they continued listening to the repetitive beeps. Knowing that the dolphins' binocular vision is limited because their eyes are situated on opposite sides of their heads, Kamolnick trained one of the dolphins, SAY, to recognise two shapes (either three horizontal red bars or one vertical green bar) with her right eye before training her to recognise the same shapes with the left eye, reasoning that if half of her brain was asleep during testing, the dolphin would only see the shapes through the eye connected to the conscious half of the brain.

But the team were in for a surprise when they began training SAY's left eye. She already recognised the shapes, even though her left eye had not seen them previously. Ridgway explains that the information must be transferred between the two brain hemispheres and suspects that the dolphin's inter-hemispheric commissures, which connects the two halves, may transfer the visual information.

Having trained both dolphins to recognise the shapes, the hard part began: monitoring and rewarding the dolphins continually over a 5 day period while the team tested the animals' responses to both the sound and visual stimuli. Amazingly, even after 5 days of listening out for 1.5 s beeps amongst the 0.5 s beep background, the dolphins were still responding as accurately as they had done at the beginning of the experiment.

The team also enticed the dolphins into a bay at night where they could be shown the horizontal and vertical bar shapes, and found that the dolphins were as sharp at the end of the 120 hour experiment as they had been at the beginning. And when the team checked the dolphins' blood for physical signs of sleep deprivation, they couldn't find any. After 5 days of unbroken vigilance the dolphins were in much better shape than the scientists. more

05/03/09
Curious minke whales intrigued by mankind on Barrier Reef - couriermail.com.au

THE Great Barrier Reef has emerged as the global place of choice for swimming with whales as dwarf minke whales become more curious.

Latest research, to be released today, shows the minkes, on their annual courtship migration to the reef, appear to be as intrigued by mankind as we are by them.

The reef off far north Queensland is the only place where whales approach humans.

"There is nothing like this phenomena anywhere in the world," said Alastair Birtles, who has headed a 13-year study into dwarf minke whales.

"It is world-class and unique to only this region," said the James Cook University researcher, co-author of a study entitled Who's Watching Whom?.

"These are some of the biggest creatures in the sea that are very fast, very agile and can leap from the water like a dolphin.

"But when they swim up and look you in the eye, sometimes from just 10cm away, it can be a very moving and emotional experience.

"Some might call it spiritual, otherworldly or cosmic, but their fascination with humans is something to behold."

New findings into the relatively unknown dwarf minke whale, which grows to 8m and five tonnes, show that on average they swim within 7m of swimmers, interacting for nearly three hours at a time.

The social animals, in the same genus (balaenoptera) as the mightiest animals on the planet including the blue whale, are drawn to large groups of snorkellers, show recognition of some familiar divers, and even follow dive boats to the next site to continue the interaction.

One popular whale, named Pavlova after the famous Russian ballerina, likes to entertain by pirouetting on her tail in front of onlookers.

The whale breeding season peaks in June/July. Last year, 350 individual whales were spotted on the Ribbon Reef system, north of Port Douglas.

The findings, to be presented at a peak scientific conference in Townsville today, coincide with calls from tourist operators for more permits to exploit the phenomenon.

They say strict code-of-conduct rules and the latest research supports opening up the world-exclusive drawcard "in a time of economic hardship". more

04/29/09
Western Gray Whales Get a Break From Noisy Oil Development - ENS

An oil and gas consortium has agreed to suspend this summer's planned seismic testing off Sakhalin Island in the Russian Far East, the only feeding area for the critically endangered Western gray whale.

The decision by Sakhalin Energy, which is developing the Sakhalin II project, followed a recommendation today by an international scientific panel to halt further noisy seismic testing in the whales' feeding area near Piltun Bay on the western edge of the Sea of Okhotsk.

The agreement was reached during a meeting of the Western Gray Whale Advisory Panel today in Geneva.

Convened by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the 11-member panel of scientists met this week with representatives of Shell, Sakhalin Energy, Russian government officials, project lenders and environmental NGOs to review the most recent science on the whales.

The Western gray whale is one of the world’s most endangered whale populations. These whales feed only in the summer at the very time and place used by oil and gas companies to conduct their development activities before severe winter weather again closes in around the northeastern part of the oil-rich Sakhalin shelf.

While Sakhalin Energy has agreed to a moratorium on seismic exploration near Piltun Bay this summer, that does not mean that the feeding ground will be quiet enough for the whales to eat and for mothers to teach their calves to forage near the mouth of the bay.

Other energy companies that have not joined in the panel process are continuing with their noisy development activities.

Said Aleksey Knizhnikov from WWF-Russia, "Major international giants BP and Exxon have completely ignored pleas to join the panel, disregarded advice on how to mitigate the impacts of their activities, and refused to provide even basic information on what their activities are in the region."

ExxonMobil holds 30 interest in the nearby Sakhalin-1 Project with other investors from Russia, Japan and India.

BP holds an interest in nearby Sakhalin V.

In a report issued today based on a multi-year photo record of the whales, the advisory panel identified two main feeding areas in proximity to the Sakhalin-1 and Sakhalin II oil and gas development projects - a nearshore feeding area adjacent to Piltun Bay, and an offshore area, east of Niyskiy Bay. Gray whales utilize these feeding areas during the ice-free season. More recently, western gray whales have also been identified feeding on the southeast coast of the Kamchatka peninsula.

The western Pacific population of gray whale, Esrichtiius robustus, is one of only two surviving populations of this species. Both populations were brought near to extinction by commercial whaling, but the eastern Pacific population, which migrates annually between Mexico and Alaska, has recovered and now numbers about 20,000 animals.

By comparison, the western Pacific population, which is believed to migrate between eastern Russia and China, is estimated at about 130 individuals, with only 25-35 reproductive females.

New research presented by the Western Gray Whale Advisory Panel shows "a significant decline in sightings and behavior changes of the whales in their primary feeding area near Piltun Bay," the scientific panel said.

Oil and gas exploration activities in the area appear to have displaced the whales to deeper areas offshore, making it more difficult for whale calves to feed. Since the Western gray whale only feeds in the summertime, such displacement could be devastating to the struggling whale population.

"WWF lauds the responsible and forward looking approach taken by Sakhalin Energy in heeding this call from the panel," said Knizhnikov. "The results seen today demonstrate that collaborative science based initiatives like this panel process can succeed – even on issues as complex as oil and gas development."

Doug Norlen from Pacific Environment, an international NGO that has monitored Sakhalin oil and gas projects for over a decade, called on BP, Exxon and the Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft to "abandon their reckless plans that threaten the western gray whales with extinction."
Western gray whale in Piltun Bay (Photo courtesy Sakhalin-1)

"Exxon is conducting acoustically loud pile driving, thrusting huge columns into the ground to build their facility at the exact time and place that the whales should be feeding," Norlen told ENS. "If you scare the Western gray whales off that place, the frightening thing is that they can go a whole year without proper feeding habitat."

"While we got a good outcome for this year from Sakhalin Energy, Exxon, BP and Rosneft are derelict in their responsibility to engage with science and independent scientists," Norlen said. "If there were an international court for environmental crimes, the executives of these companies would be in prison."

ExxonMobil holds 30 interest in the Sakhalin-1 Project, which includes three offshore fields and is one of the largest single foreign direct investments in Russia.

Operated by Exxon Neftegas Limited, the investors in the project include affiliates of Rosneft, RN-Astra (8.5%) and Sakhalinmorneftegas-Shelf (11.5%); the Japanese consortium SODECO (30%); and the Indian state-owned oil company ONGC Videsh Ltd. (20%).

On its website, the Sakhalin-1 Consortium says its support of the gray whale population research program amounted to US$17 million between 1997 and 2007, expanded the knowledge base about the species, and involved prominent Russian and Western whale scientists.

Sakhalin I says the project is "committed to ongoing support of the gray whale research program and continues to work with Russian marine research institutes and the industry to study the population, behavior and habitat use by the whales, as well as characterize the natural environment including ambient sound."

BP is involved in the Sakhalin V project

Norlen called the scientific panel's recommendations "absolutely precedent setting."

"It is precedent setting because," he said, "it means that if other companies such as Exxon, BP and Rosneft do not begin to cooperate with this process and do not abide by the moratorium, they will be complict in driving the Western gray whale closer to extinction." more

04/27/09
Is The Hippopotamus The Closest Living Relative To The Whale? - Science Daily

Hippos spend lots of time in the water and now it turns out (or researchers argue), they are the closest living relative to whales. It also turns out, the two are swimming in a bit of controversy.

Jessica Theodor, an associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Calgary, and her colleague Jonathan Geisler, associate professor at Georgia Southern University are disputing a recent study that creates a different family tree for the hippo.

That research was published in Nature in December 2007 by J. G. M. Thewissen, a professor at Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, and his colleagues. Thewissen says that whales are more closely linked to an extinct pig-like animal, often known as India's pig or Indohyus, while hippos are closely related to living pigs.

But this isn't accurate according to Theodor.

"What Thewissen is saying is that Indohyus is the closest relative of whales - and we agree. Where we think he is wrong, is that he is saying that that hippos are more closely related to true pigs than they are to whales," says Theodor. "This contradicts most of the data from DNA from the last 12 or 13 years. Those data place hippos as the closest living relative to whales."

She says Thewissen did not use DNA evidence, instead used fossil evidence alone to create a family tree and reach the conclusion that hippos have more in common with pigs than whales.

"And the reason their tree is so different is simple: by excluding all the DNA information they left out all the data that shows a strong relationship between whales and hippos."

Theodor's rebuttal of Thewissen's work will appear in Nature on Thursday, March 19.

The controversy began after the new fossil of Indohyus, was discovered and written about by Thewissen and his group. This animal lived around 48 million years ago, lived in the water and fed on land.

When biologists study family trees, they traditionally rely on morphology, in other words, the shape of bones. More recently, the DNA revolution means that scientists can use DNA data as another tool to reconstruct family trees, but DNA data can't be used all the time because DNA is not available for most fossils.

"In order to get the best understanding, researchers combine the two sources of data in a single analysis. But what Thewissen and his group did, was leave one of the major ones out," says Theodor.

Before the widespread use of DNA data, hippos had been thought to be closely related to pigs, but DNA data show that whales are closely related to hippos. Geisler and Theodor argue that leaving out the DNA data not only ignores important information, it implies that the evolution of swimming evolved independently in hippos and whales, when it may have evolved only once in a common ancestor. more

04/24/09
WWF: Energy giants ignore pleas to help save whales - inthenews.co.uk

Two of the world's biggest energy companies are refusing to cooperate with a major consultation aimed at protecting some of the world's most endangered whales, the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) claims.

BP and Exxon have failed to reply to invitations from the Western Gray Whale Advisory Panel (WGWAP) to join the discussions over how to minimise the danger to gray whales off Sakhalin Island, in far-east Russia, an area with extensive oil and gas reserves.

BP, however, say they have little to contribute as their activities in the region are "very insignificant" compared with Shell and Exxon.
Experts estimate only 155 gray whales are thought to remain in the wild, just 25 of which are breeding females.

Observers are adamant the number of gray whales in Sakhalin area is declining. Sakhalin Energy (a subsidiary of Russian giant Gazprom) and Shell have entered into negotiations with the WGWAP about the need to protect the whales' feeding environment.

Heather Sohl, WWF species officer said: "The continuing refusal of BP, Exxon and (Russian company) Rosneft to even consider joining other parties on the gray whale advisory panel is hampering conservation efforts and the flow of information - with potentially disastrous consequences for the whales.

"On the one hand, we have Shell and Gazprom at least looking at their plans to see if impacts on whales can be reduced and on the other hand we have BP, Exxon and Rosneft not even telling scientists what their plans are."

BP's work in the region is carried out by Russian company Elvary Neftegaz. A BP spokesman said: "You cannot compare the work of Elvary Neftegaz with the ventures Shell and Exxon are involved in. These activities are very insignificant and we would not have any useful data to contribute to the advisory panel at this time."

A spokesman for Exxon said: "Exxon Neftegas Limited (ENL) has co-sponsored a successful western gray whale monitoring program since 1997. This program is conducted by prominent Russian and international whale scientists. Based on these multi-year cooperative efforts, ENL has not observed any evidence that Sakhalin-1 project activities are adversely impacting the western gray whale population or their habitat in any measurable way.

"WGWAP was specifically established to provide advisory services on a contractual basis to the Sakhalin II development of Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd. ENL and the Sakhalin-1 consortium are not a party to this agreement." more

04/17/09
DNA Used To Study Migration Of Threatened Whale Sharks - Science Daily

Whale sharks -- giants of the fish world that strike terror only among tiny creatures like the plankton and krill they eat -- are imperiled by over-fishing of the species in parts of its ocean range.

That threat is underscored in a new study from geneticists led by Jennifer Schmidt, University of Illinois at Chicago associate professor of biological sciences, reported online April 7 in the journal PLoS One.

Schmidt and her colleagues studied the DNA of 68 whale sharks from 11 locations across the Indian and Pacific Oceans and the Caribbean Sea -- an area that covers most of the shark's known range. Results showed little genetic variation between the populations, which indicates migration and interbreeding among far-flung populations of the big fish.

"Our data show that whale sharks found in different oceans are genetically quite similar, which means that animals move and interbreed between populations," said Schmidt. "From a conservation standpoint, it means that whale sharks in protected waters cannot be assumed to stay in those waters, but may move into areas where they may be in danger."

A tropical fish that can grow 50 feet or longer and weigh over 20 tons, a whale shark's range can span oceans. They do not breed until they are about 25 to 30 years old, so it will take a long time for the species to recover from recent population declines.

Whale sharks are listed as threatened, but not every country protects them. The large animals are especially prized by fishermen for meat and fins used in soup.

Little is known about the shark's biology, perhaps because they have been studied primarily near shore, while mature animals may breed and give birth out in the open ocean. Nor is much known about neonatal or juvenile sharks, including where they grow to maturity, or how and when they move between regions. That has made devising effective conservation efforts a problem.

"The only real threat to whale sharks is us," said Schmidt. "To design proper conservation plans, we need to understand the sharks' lifestyle. We can only protect their habitat if we know what habitat they use."

Schmidt credits some countries for closing whale shark fisheries and hopes that efforts such as ecotourism programs, which sometimes include swims with the gentle giants, may prove an attractive economic alternative to fishing.

With the money brought in by well-managed ecotourism programs, Schmidt said, "people in many countries have come to realize that whale sharks are more valuable alive than dead."

The research was funded by UIC and the Shark Research Institute in Princeton, N.J.

Other authors of the report include Marie Levine, executive director of the Shark Research Institute; Mary Ashley, professor of biological sciences at UIC; and Kevin Feldheim, director of the Pritzker Laboratory at the Field Museum in Chicago. more

04/15/09
In global dispute, one man is at center of the 'Whale Wars' - Taiwan News

It's not easy being the point man for the International Whaling Commission. Trying to mediate 84 nations embroiled in a political dispute takes time away from the real issue: the whales.

When William Hogarth was elected to chair the world's whaling regulatory body in 2006, relations between delegates had grown so rancorous that meetings would erupt into childish shouting matches. Factions accused one another of lying. Petty insults flew, coffee breaks were painfully quiet and few attended evening receptions.

"It's just very tense over whales," the soft-spoken University of South Florida dean said.

Decades after the height of the commercial whaling industry, negotiations between pro and anti-whaling countries are stalemated. Japan continues to kill whales for "scientific research" and is reluctant to reduce the number it takes from the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica. Anti-whaling nations want them stopped.

The battle plays out annually in the Arctic waters, where seafaring activists clash with Japanese ships. The two have become so combative that they are the subject of an Animal Planet reality show, aptly titled "Whale Wars."

Hogarth now finds himself at the center of the controversy. A biologist who has managed fisheries throughout his career, the 70-year-old is shaking things up, bringing in outside conflict resolution experts and working toward a compromise that has riled both sides and brought calls for his resignation.

"I did it in the best faith," Hogarth said. "I've done what I think is right. I would love to leave with my job in June as chair thinking that I made a difference in the IWC and made it better for the whale populations, made it better for future management and whale conservation."

The native Virginian started off studying wahoo and striped bass, large, steely fish that were popular among recreational fishermen in the South. He followed their life cycle in streams and in the oceans off North Carolina, where he became director of the state's Division of Marine Fisheries in 1986.

Hogarth describes himself as a conservationist at heart. Through the years, he's been at the helm of disputes involving countless species. Turtles. Red snappers. Shark. Few have escaped his watch, first as a state director and later as an administrator with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

"It's hard to manage fisheries because you're affecting people's livelihoods and then it just gets into the politics," he said over a recent lunch. "It's sort of like, 'Manage it, but not in my backyard.'"

In North Carolina, where commercial fishermen raked in millions from shrimp, flounder and weakfish, any discussion about fishing regulations generated heated debate. To address overfishing, Hogarth spearheaded a moratorium on all fishing licenses. The reaction?

"People were yelling and screaming," said Robert V. Lucas, who was chair at the state's Marine Fisheries Commission at the time. "There were people who said, 'It's about time, that this should be done, it's out of hand.'

"And there were other people saying, 'This is like communism,'" he recalled.

It was, perhaps, an early lesson in negotiating the political waters of fisheries management. In the end, the moratorium went through. But it didn't win Hogarth any political clout.

He resigned shortly thereafter. Within months, though, he was working as a biologist for the National Marine Fisheries Service.

"The irony is he actually wanted to solve some of these problems, and by trying to solve them it really cost him his job," said Bruce Freeman, who became division director several months after Hogarth resigned.

The International Whaling Commission was created in 1946 at a time when commercial whaling had driven many large baleen species to near extinction. To conserve and rebuild their numbers, delegates agreed to protections for individual species, and later a moratorium on commercial whaling.

From the start, the 1986 whaling ban created a rift between nations with a history of hunting and eating whales and those that had come to view them as an intelligent and sacred species. Some nations filed objections; aboriginal populations like the Alaskan Eskimos were still granted a limited catch, and Japan continued to kill the mammals under an exemption allowing nations to issue permits for scientific research.

Pro-whaling countries believe many species are plentiful enough to continue hunting them; minke whales - those largely hunted by Japan in the Antarctic - are estimated to number in the hundreds of thousands. Others, like the North Atlantic right whale, have barely recovered, numbering just a few hundred at most.

Those tensions surface every year at IWC meetings. Among diplomatic circles, the whaling commission has a reputation for being particularly contentious. The U.S. has been accused of having a double standard - allowing Alaskan Aborigines to hunt but refusing to support Japanese whaling. Japan, meanwhile, is accused of using the scientific whaling exemption as a guise for continued commercial whaling hunt, as the meat is sold for consumption.

The result has been years of heated meetings, filled with yelling and name calling. Sir Geoffrey Palmer of the New Zealand delegation described it as an "absolutely poisonous atmosphere."

Hogarth was reluctant to take the job. He was, after all, already chair of The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas and a NOAA administrator, two big jobs.

"I'd heard enough about the IWC to know it would be very difficult to change," he said. "That people were pretty headstrong about the way they felt. It's basically a one-issue commission. You believe in whaling or you don't."

But Hogarth came on board and took a laid-back approach that appears to have started the thaw of icy relations between delegates. First, he decided he needed help to address some of the perennial issues facing the commission, whaling by scientific permit among them.

Last year, he consulted an outside expert, who recommended Alvaro de Soto, a Peruvian diplomat who'd served at the United Nations for more than two decades, helping to broker peace in El Salvador in the early '90s and serving as the Middle East envoy before his retirement. Commission members had viewed Alvaro as being impartial.

Alvaro advised the commission to meet in a smaller working group: 84 nations were far too many to hold productive negotiations.

In February, Hogarth and Alvaro issued a report proposing that Japan be permitted to conduct limited coastal whaling off its shores in exchange for reductions in the Southern Ocean. The idea has generated considerable criticism.

"This is sort of like saying to bank robbers, 'We're going to allow you to rob the banks in the North but you really have to cut down on your robberies in the South,'" said activist Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

Hogarth hasn't endorsed it yet, and the Obama administration has signaled it will take a tough stance on whales.

"The United States continues to view the commercial whaling moratorium as a necessary conservation measure and believes that lethal scientific whaling is unnecessary in modern whale conservation management," White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley said a statement.

Greenpeace oceans campaigner Paul Kline has called for Hogarth's resignation.

"It doesn't reflect the sentiment of Americans and the position of our new administration," he said of the proposal.

Hogarth expects to resign in June after the commission's annual meeting.

Even if a settlement isn't reached, members say he's helped move them in the right direction. For the first time in many years, delegates are talking civilly. At a recent meeting in Florida, members actually attended an evening reception Hogarth arranged at a restaurant.

The days of yelling seem to be behind them - for now, anyway. more

04/10/09
Maine lobstermen chafe at rope ban to help whales - kentucky.com

Frank Thompson was among the scores of unhappy lobstermen who delivered millions of feet of rope to a warehouse in this fishing community.

He said the fishing rope piled high in his pickup truck and trailer was still good, except for one thing: Come Sunday, it will be illegal.

A new federal regulation, years in the works, outlaws the use of floating rope that connects millions of lobster traps on the ocean bottom and sometimes entangles endangered North Atlantic right whales.

Marine scientists and conservationists say using rope that sinks will make the whales less prone to getting snagged as they lumber through the Gulf of Maine each spring and summer.

Lobstermen such as Thompson, who lives on the island of Vinalhaven, say the rule will increase costs and do little, if anything, to help whales. They claim the regulation is overkill and could make lobstermen as endangered as the whales.

"They're slowly driving us out of the lobster business, aren't they?" a grim-faced Thompson said last week.

Whale advocates maintain the rule is a vital tool to protect right whales. Five cases have been documented in recent years of the whales getting tangled in gear set by Maine lobstermen, said Vicki Cornish, of the Washington, D.C.-based Ocean Conservancy group.

"They're always at risk because there are such low numbers," Cornish said.

The North Atlantic right whale was severely overharvested through the 19th century by aboriginal and commercial whalers who found them easy targets because they're slow swimmers and their high fat content makes them float after they die. There are now an estimated 300 to 400.

The whales, which are about 50 feet long and weigh up to 70 tons as adults, live along the Eastern Seaboard. They migrate each year between breeding grounds off Florida and Georgia to summer feeding grounds off New England and the Canadian Maritimes.

They've long been protected from commercial whaling, but they still face threats from ship collisions and fishing gear entanglements.

To protect them, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration set speed limits for ships 65 feet or longer in areas where they breed, feed and migrate.

Last fall, East Coast fishermen who use certain types of nets were required to use sinking rope to reduce entanglements. On Sunday, thousands of lobstermen and other trap fishermen from Maine to the Southeast have to do the same.

Nowhere will the impact be greater than in Maine, home to nearly 6,000 licensed lobstermen and an estimated 3 million traps.

Lobsters are caught in traps strung together on the ocean bottom and attached to buoys on each end. When floating lines are used to connect the traps, they form arcs of rope that can entangle whales. Sinking rope avoids that problem.

In preparation for the new rule, lobstermen have been getting rid of tens of millions of feet of floating rope and replacing it with sinking rope as they get ready to set their traps in the cold ocean waters in the coming weeks for the lobster season.

Government grants that are available to buy back the old rope have cushioned the financial blow. But fishermen say they'll still have to spend thousands of dollars each on the new rope. And they say the timing couldn't be worse: When the economy melted down last fall, lobster prices fell to levels not seen in decades, putting lobstermen on shaky financial footing.

Fishermen say the sinking rope is more expensive than floating rope and won't last as long because it sits on the ocean bottom, where it scrapes and snags on rocks. And because the rope is prone to break, lobstermen say they'll lose traps.

Thompson said he was unimpressed with the sinking rope after experimenting with it over the winter while fishing 50 miles offshore.

He said he can't help being frustrated: He's never seen a right whale in his 43 years on the water, but he'll have to spend more than $40,000 on new rope for traps fished from his two boats.

"We have not endangered the whale," he said, "but we're paying the price."

Supporters of the new rule say there's no denying the statistics. Between 2002 and 2006, the National Marine Fisheries Service confirmed 25 gear entanglements and 15 ship collisions involving right whales along the Eastern Seaboard.

This past winter, marine officials said they found off the Georgia and Florida coasts five entangled right whales, one of which was caught in lobster gear from Canadian waters.

The Ocean Conservancy's Cornish said whales encounter a spider web of lines off Maine created by the traps. The rules already give Maine lobstermen a break by exempting large portions of the ocean close to shore, and if anything, they should be stronger, she said.

"I'm not jumping up and down with joy, because I think (the fisheries service) missed the ball on where the sinking-line requirements should apply," Cornish said. "The whales that got entangled in Maine state waters are still at risk from floating lines in those exact same areas."
more

04/05/09
Court rejects suit to better protect blue whales - http://www.sandiego6.com

An environmental group has lost a lawsuit that would have forced the U.S. Coast Guard to better protect blue whales after several were killed by ships in the Santa Barbara Channel off Southern California.

U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney rejected an argument by the Center for Biological Diversity that the Coast Guard should consider the Endangered Species Act when it regulates ship traffic. Chesney issued a summary judgment Monday in San Francisco.

The suit was filed after at least three of the endangered mammals were hit by ships in 2007.

The group argued that the Coast Guard should consult with National Marine Fisheries Service scientists to make sure the actions it takes to regulate ship traffic don't harm whales. more

04/02/09
Huge Population Of Rare Dolphins Discovered -

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has just announced the discovery of a huge population of rare dolphins in South Asia—but warns that the population is threatened by climate change and fishing nets.

Using rigorous scientific techniques, WCS researchers estimate that nearly 6,000 Irrawaddy dolphins, which are related to orcas or killer whales, were found living in freshwater regions of Bangladesh’s Sundarbans mangrove forest and adjacent waters of the Bay of Bengal—an area where little marine mammal research has taken place up to this point. Prior to this study, the largest known populations of Irrawaddy dolphins numbered in the low hundreds or less.

Each discovery of Irrawaddy dolphins is important because scientists do not know how many remain on the planet. In 2008, they were listed as vulnerable in the IUCN Red List based on population declines in known populations.

The results of the study were announced today at the First International Conference on Marine Mammal Protected Areas in Maui, Hawaii and published in the Winter issue of the Journal of Cetacean Research and Management. Authors of the study include Brian D. Smith, Rubaiyat Mansur Mowgli, and Samantha Strindberg of the Wildlife Conservation Society, along with Benazir Ahmed of Chittagong University in Bangladesh.

“With all the news about freshwater environments and state of the Oceans, WCS’s discovery that a thriving population of Irrawaddy dolphins exists in Bangladesh gives us hope for protecting this and other endangered species and their important habitats,” said Dr. Steven E. Sanderson, President and CEO of the Wildlife Conservation Society. “WCS is committed to conservation of these iconic marine species from dolphins, sea turtles, sharks to the largest whales.”

“This discovery gives us great hope that there is a future for Irrawaddy dolphins,” said Brian D. Smith, the study’s lead author. “Bangladesh clearly serves as an important sanctuary for Irrawaddy dolphins, and conservation in this region should be a top priority.”

Despite finding this extraordinarily large population, the study’s authors warn that the dolphins are becoming increasingly threatened by accidental entanglement in fishing nets. During the study, researchers encountered two dolphins that had become entangled and subsequently drowned in fishing nets—a common occurrence according to local fishermen.

In a second paper, published in the March/April issue of Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystem, Smith and his coauthors report the additional long-term threat to the dolphin population of declining freshwater supplies, caused by upstream water diversion in India, coupled with sea-level rise due to climate change. These circumstances also threaten Ganges River dolphins, an endangered species with a range that overlaps with that of the Irrawaddy dolphins’ in the Sundarbans mangrove forest. The recent likely extinction of the Yangtze River dolphin, or baiji, is a potent reminder of how vulnerable freshwater dolphins are to extinction via the impacts of humans.

The Irrawaddy dolphin grows to some 2 to 2.5 meters in length (6.5 to 8 feet) and frequents large rivers, estuaries, and freshwater lagoons in South and Southeast Asia. In Myanmar’s Ayeyarwady River, these dolphins are known for “cooperative fishing” with humans, where the animals voluntarily herd schools of fish toward fishing boats and awaiting nets. With the aid of dolphins, fishermen can increase the size of their catches up to threefold. The dolphins appear to benefit from this relationship by easily preying on the cornered fish and those that fall out of the net as the fishermen pull it from the water. In 2006, WCS helped establish a protected area along the Ayeyarwady River to conserve this critically endangered mammal population.

WCS is currently working closely with the Ministry of Environment and Forests in Bangladesh on plans for establishing a protected area network for both Irrawaddy and Ganges River dolphins in the Sundarbans mangrove forest. Funding is critical to sustaining these activities along with WCS’s long-term efforts to study the effects of climate change on this habitat, support sustainable fishing practices, and develop local ecotourism projects.

Support for this study has been provided in part by the Kerzner Marine Foundation and Ocean Park Conservation Foundation, Hong Kong (OPCFHK). This study was also funded in part by the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission. The Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) has also supported WCS efforts as part of a regional program for cetacean conservation in the Bay of Bengal.

The Wildlife Conservation Society saves wildlife and wild places worldwide. We do so through science, global conservation, education and the management of the world's largest system of urban wildlife parks, led by the flagship Bronx Zoo. more

03/31/09
Hundreds of killer whales seen in Gulf of Mexico - Star-Telegram.com

It was a fish story that even veteran boat captains found fascinating: As many as 200 killer whales feeding on tuna in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

"It was like being at Sea World because they'd come right up to the boat," said Eddie Hall, captain of the Shady Lady, the 60-foot charter boat that spotted the shiny black sea beasts with white eye patches and undersides. "It was pretty neat."

It was also hard for some skeptics to believe: Orcas, as killer whales are also known, typically are thought to live in cold water and eat seals.

But Hall's description of what he saw last Oct. 31 was no tall tale: A government biologist who saw video taken from Hall's boat confirmed the captain had spotted the creatures. And last week that same scientist, Keith Mullin, explained at a public meeting in Orange Beach, Ala., that yes, contrary to common perceptions, killer whales really do live in the Gulf, far from land.

Mullin, whose outfit has been working for years to get an accurate count of the Gulf's whale population, said it may be time to dramatically increase estimates on how many killer whales are lurking in the deep waters off the Gulf Coast. He's taking part in a research expedition this summer that could determine if his hunch is right.

Scientists believe the whales have been in the Gulf for years, Mullin said, and that their presence - though startling to some anglers - isn't a sign of climate change or other manmade condition. Their relatively small population and the speed at which pods move make them difficult to count, which could have led to lower estimates.

"I've got good records of them in the Caribbean. We see them almost exclusively in deep water, 600 feet and more," Mullin said. "I think they've always been there. It's just in the last 15 to 20 years that we've been trying to study them."

Hall told The Associated Press on Monday that the Shady Lady was 95 miles off the coast of Alabama when anglers and crew saw scores of the marine mammals feeding near an offshore rig in water more than a mile deep.

"There were four different pods. We estimated there were about 200 maximum. One pod had 75 in it," said Hall, who runs charters out of Zeke's Landing in Orange Beach, about 40 miles east of Mobile.

People on the boat took video and photos, including some with the offshore rig in the background to identify their location. But Hall said they got laughed off the dock when they returned.

"It was a joke because no one would believe us," he said.

Hall sent photos and video to Gary Finch, whose Fairhope-based Gary Finch Outdoors company produces a syndicated fishing and hunting television show. Finch then showed them to Mullin, who works at the Southeast Fisheries Science Center in Pascagoula, Miss., an arm of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that researches marine life.

Mullin didn't have to look twice: Hall was right about seeing killer whales, although he couldn't tell by the video how many were near Hall's boat, he said in an interview with AP.

The Shady Lady sighting "created a stir" over killer whales in the Gulf of Mexico, Mullin said; about 80 people attended the informational meeting he held in Orange Beach last week.

Gulf orcas are just like the ones that live in cold water, Mullin said, save for their diet of dolphin and tuna instead of seals. Male killer whales average 20 feet in length and weigh as much as 12,000 pounds, but females are smaller.

Fifteen groups of killer whales have been sighted in the Gulf since deep-water surveys began in 1992, he said. Past estimates have varied widely, from a low of 49 to a high of 277 living in the Gulf north of a line extending from Key West, Fla., to Brownsville, Texas.

The actual number of killer whales in the Gulf could be closer to 500, Mullin said, and a two-month expedition this summer could help nail down an answer. The trip was planned independently of the boat's sighting, he said.

Either way, Hall's glad Mullin's outfit is involved. He knew what he saw, but he was still happy to get confirmation that his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. more

03/30/09
Rescued whale later found dead in Australia - SFGate

One of four whales that survived a mass stranding in southwest Australia was found dead Thursday not far from where it had been released back to sea, the state government said.

The juvenile pilot whale was one of 11 trucked overland from the original beaching site and helped back to sea Tuesday morning. One returned to shore immediately and died. A day later, six whales ended up on a beach just miles (kilometers) away. Three died, and three were shot by veterinarians who said the animals were weak and deteriorating rapidly.

Officials hope the remaining three rescued whales are safe at sea.

"I'm hoping that the other whales, the three remaining whales that were released on Tuesday, are quite a bit stronger and will be able to survive," said John Carter, a spokesman for the Western Australia Department of Environment and Conservation.

He said a surveillance flight would look for the whales Friday morning.

The whales were part of a group of about 90 whales and five bottlenose dolphins that became stranded on a beach in Western Australia state early Monday. Most of the animals died there.

This week's mass beaching was the fifth in Australia in as many months; nearly 500 whales have died.

Scientists say the types of whales that beach themselves are extremely social groups that will follow pod members into danger. But they cannot explain what draws the deep-sea animals so close to shore.

There are a number of possible theories, including that the whales could be chasing prey, or that their navigational sonar could be hindered by undersea geomagnetic factors such as iron ore deposits or even submarine sonars.

Once stranded, a whale out of water is likely to die of overheating or when its organs are crushed by its own body weight after leaving the buoyancy of water.

The mass strandings occur most often in the island state of Tasmania, in Australia's southeast, and in Western Australia.
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03/27/09
Right whales flocking to Cape waters - cape cod times

Early spring has brought a record number of North Atlantic right whales to Cape Cod Bay.

An aerial survey done last week by the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies indicated there were 60 right whales swimming in the bay, chowing down on the buffet of zooplankton in the waters offshore.

That's six times the number of the endangered whales surveyors saw last year at this time.

The sightings have been well off-shore, according to Kate Longley of the center's aerial survey program.

"We have had the richest early season that we've ever had," said the center's right whale habitat specialist, Charles "Stormy" Mayo.

In the early season, right whales feed on a winter type of zooplankton. The tiny organisms form in waters far north of Cape Cod and float with the currents into the bay. And this year's crop of whale food has been especially plentiful, Mayo said.

But it's too early to tell whether the whales will remain until the late spring like they did last year.

Last April, 70 to 100 of the large marine mammals arrived in Cape waters, drawing visitors from near and far to watch the feast. The flurry prompted state officials to issue mariner warnings in an effort to avoid ship strikes and entanglements. Many of last year's hungry whales frolicked and fed near the shoreline.

The combination of two types of zooplankton — winter and spring versions — produced a potent stew last year. That may occur again this year.

"We're really the beneficiaries of a regional richness," Mayo added. "There are lots of subtleties and complexities that we don't full understand."

This early swell of right whales comes in the first year of a new federal law benefiting the mammal. The law sets seasonal limits on the speeds of large ships along the Atlantic Ocean coast to prevent whales from being hit.

In Cape Cod Bay, the law limits ships longer than 65 feet to 10 knots from Jan. 1 through May 15. The same limit is in effect off Race Point Light from March 1 through April 30.

The boon also coincides with a record of 39 right whale calf births this year, said Mason Weinrich of the Whale Center of New England. The calves were born in waters off the states of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

The number of confirmed right whale deaths has declined as well, to 2 last year, said Teri Frady of the National Marine Fisheries Science Center.

Experts estimate there are only about 300 to 400 North Atlantic right whales left in the world. more

03/25/09
Humpback whale spotted in Hong Kong waters - www.iol.co.za

Hong Kong - A large humpback whale has been spotted swimming close to Hong Kong's famous harbour in what's believed to be the first sighting of the species in the territory's waters.

Local television footage showed the whale surfacing in Hong Kong's East Lamma Channel leading into the city's Victoria Harbour, exhaling through its blowhole and raising its tail fin.

Hong Kong authorities say it's the first time a humpback whale has been spotted in Hong Kong waters.

"From observations it's healthy and we'll continue to monitor it," Jolly Choi, a spokesperson for the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, said on Wednesday.

The whale, estimated to be 10m long, has already drawn a number of whale-watching boat trips since it was first spotted on Monday.

Some experts have warned the bustling harbour's heavy maritime traffic could pose a risk to the seemingly lost mammal.

"I'm quite optimistic that it can swim back out to the open seas," said Samuel Hung, the director of the Hong Kong Cetacean Research Project. more

03/24/09
Stranded whales returned to sea off SW Australia - Australia

The whales that have been beaching themselves in Australia in recent months are from extremely social species, known to follow pod members into danger.

That may help explain why the animals accompany each other in what turns into a mass beaching, but as Australian officials work to rescue survivors from the latest group to strand itself, scientists still cannot explain what draws the deep-sea animals so close to shore in the first place.

"What makes them strand is still mysterious," said Mark Hindell, a whale researcher at University of Tasmania's School of Zoology.

"There are as many different reasons for strandings as there are strandings. There are so many factors, you need so many things to line up in order for a stranding to occur," he said.

Five large pods, totaling more than 500 animals, have beached themselves in Australia since November, with most of them dying.

The latest group — 87 long-finned pilot whales and five bottlenose dolphins — stranded on a beach in Western Australia state Monday. Before rescuers could respond, more than 70 whales and one dolphin had died.

By Tuesday evening, 14 whales and four dolphins had been helped back to sea — some of them after being trucked overland to a beach with deeper, calmer waters.

As usual, there was no explanation for why the whales ended up on that beach.

"In certain years the whales will be closer to land and more available to strand," Hindell said. "But the big question is, why they are coming so close?"

Scientists have offered some theories: The whales may be chased by predators such as killer whales, or they could be following prey themselves. The sonar they use to navigate the dark seas could be hindered by natural geomagnetic factors such as iron ore deposits. They may swim into an area where sandbars or peninsulas block their exit. Or they may follow one ill or injured pod member and refuse to leave it.

Human activity such as undersea exploration for petroleum or the sonar of submarines also can interfere with whale and dolphin navigation.

Whatever the reason, once one animal heads for the dangerous shallows, the rest are likely to follow.

"Certain species of whales are more prone to mass strandings because the social bonds between them are incredibly strong," said Mike Bossley of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society. "If one animal is in trouble, the others won't leave him."

Pilot whales and sperm whales, both particularly social species, have been stranding themselves on Australian coastlines since last November.

Out of about 520 beached whales, more than 470 have died. Some are battered by rocks and surf, while others die of dehydration and overheating, while still others have their organs crushed by their own body weight after leaving the weightlessness of water.

The mass strandings occur most often in the island state of Tasmania, in Australia's southeast, and in Western Australia.

Marine researcher Karen Evans said the timing is right for an increase in beachings. In 2004 she co-authored a study concluding that beachings peak in a 10-year cycle linked to climate changes in the oceans.

"We're in a peak period now," said Evans, of Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization. "What happens in that period is the climate factors increase the prey field near the shore, forcing whales closer to shore and thereby increasing the probability that they will strand."

She said the research did not provide a direct reason for strandings, but that it did show a cycle dating back to the 1920s that could help state governments prepare resources for peak periods of beachings. more

03/20/09
Some fear Navy sonar may harm Fla.'s right whales - Modesto Bee

FLAGLER BEACH, Fla. -- In the blue-green surf, 11 endangered North Atlantic right whales surface, jump and shoot mist high into the air through their blow holes.

Dozens of motorists pull over on A1A and grab their cameras and binoculars as the whales frolic in three groups near this north Florida town's pier.

"It's a good day," whale researcher Jim Hain said as he watched through binoculars from a restaurant's top deck.

But this picture postcard scene is at the center of the latest debate over how to balance the protection of marine mammals with the military's need to use sonar for training.

The right whale is among the world's most endangered mammals. Hain and other researchers believe there are only about 300 to 350 of them remaining and a loss of some breeding females could be devastating.

Until now, their biggest threat has been ship strikes and entanglement in fishing lines. But researchers worry a new threat may be lurking in the waters off northwest Florida and south Georgia where the whales come each year from the North Atlantic to give birth - two Navy sonar projects.

The National Marine Fisheries Service just approved the Navy's plan to do sonar training along the Eastern Seaboard - the right whales' habitat - but requires it to take precautions to protect the whales and other marine animals.

The Navy also wants to locate an anti-submarine warfare training range on 75 miles off the north Florida coast. Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base and Mayport Naval Station are nearby. The facility, the Navy says, would enable it to train in a shallow-water environment. The affect on marine mammals would be negligible, the Navy said.

But environmentalists argue that mid-frequency active sonar can disrupt whale feeding patterns, and in the most extreme cases can kill whales by causing them to beach themselves. Scientists don't fully know how it hurts whales.

"In proposing to locate the training range just outside of this federally designated right whale critical habitat, the Navy ignores or turns a willful blind eye to the various risks posed by its activities," said Catherine Wannamaker, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center in Atlanta.

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission are also concerned about the sonar. Florida has asked the Navy to cancel the project or at least close the range from mid-October to mid-April. That's the period the whales are in the area.

Environmental groups and the Navy have been at odds for years over sonar, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a Southern California case in November that military training was more important than protecting whales.

After that ruling, the Navy and the Natural Resources Defense Council settled over the use of sonar in Hawaii. It requires the Navy to continue research on how sonar affects whales and other marine animals, but does not require sailors to adopt additional measures when they use sonar.

A federal study determined Navy sonar tests likely caused the deaths of six beaked whales in the Bahamas in 2000. A necropsy determined the whales had bled heavily near their ears. The report said the wounds would not be fatal but could make the animals disoriented and beach themselves.

Armed with a constantly ringing cell phone, a walkie talkie, a clipboard with whale sightings and cameras with long lenses, Hain has made an annual pilgrimage each January for 19 years, for his study of the whales as they return. He works with a team of about 200 volunteers and the Marineland Right Whale Project who come to the shore to spot the elusive whales and their calves.

A quiet twin-engine, slow-flying aircraft is used to photograph the whales, which can be individually identified by the white markings or "callosities" on their heads and tracked.

"The thing we've learned, but we sort of knew ahead of time, is their variability," said Hain, a senior scientist with Associated Scientists at Woods Hole, Mass. "These whales have individual characteristics and preferences."

It has been a good season for the right whales. Researchers have spotted 39 calves and mothers, the highest number recorded in about two decades of watching, and about 100 juveniles and sub-adults of the 165 whales spotted. They received their name because they were considered the right whales for whalers to pursue. They range from 45 to 55 feet and can weigh up to 70 tons. As baleen whales, they have plates to filter small crustaceans from the water instead of teeth. They swim close to shore, are slow and float when dead.

The species takes about 10 years to reach sexual maturity and some females may be 20 before having their first calf. Hain estimates the whales have a 65-year or longer lifespan.

Volunteer Becky Bush sighted the group of right whales off Flagler Beach. Like many of the watchers, she spends hours scanning the waters. She is thrilled when one is spotted and was amazed to see 11 at once.

"It's so addictive. There are so few of them," she said.

For now, Hain is reluctant to jump into the fray over the Navy's proposed anti-sub training range, which will take several years of study before it's built.

"We look at the science and we look at what the facts tell us and we submit our comments based on that," he said. "There is no point in commenting until we have some facts on the table."
more

03/17/09
Man and Whales: Changing Views Through Time at the museum - New Bedford Whaling Museum

Join us at the New Bedford Whaling Museum tomorrow night for:

Man and Whales: Changing Views Through Time
Lecture #4
Flensing / Rendering – Wednesday, March 18, 2009 6:30 p.m.
Presenters: Rob Ellis, Gare Reid and Michael Moore

Whaling voyages were well planned business operations. Quick, efficient flensing and rendering of the captured whales was a critical activity that followed an accepted, precise pattern of cutting and processing. Presently, when a dead whale is found on a beach or near shore, necropsy teams get to their tasks with a similar eye to procedure and quick action. The major difference, naturally, is that the focus is now maximum data collection rather than maximum collection of product.

Then: Rob Ellis, former Curator, and Gare Reid, former Deputy Director at the Kendall Whaling Museum have experience recovering samples from beached whales and subsequently ‘trying out’ whale blubber. They will share both direct and historical knowledge on this topic.

Now: Michael Moore, Senior Research Specialist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, has led or conducted dozens of whale necropsies; three of these involve whales whose skeletons hang in the Whaling Museum. He’ll explain how and why dead whales are critical sources of information about the individuals and their respective species.

Free to WM members, $5 for general public.

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03/15/09
First Right Whale Sedation Enables Disentanglement Effort - Science Daily

03/13/09
Baby Blue Whale Caught on Film Underwater - National Geographic News

A baby blue whale filmed off Costa Rica may be the first to have been photographed underwater and adds to evidence that a blue whale hot spot in the Pacific Ocean is a birthing ground for the endangered species.

During a January 2008 expedition to the "Dome"—a warm-water region that draws blue whales from hundreds of miles away—the researchers had begun to lose hope of finding a calf. Then two telltale spouts began erupting at the sea surface.

"Oh, tell me that one of them is a small blow, please," Bruce Mate, of the Marine Mammal Institute at Oregon State University, says in the documentary.

One of the spouts did turn out to be that of a calf, which approached the research boat—surprising the scientists, given blue whale mothers' protective reputations.

A photographer and videographer dived in and soon had the visual evidence needed to identify the whale as a baby blue.

Averaging 25 feet (7.6 meters) long at birth, blue whale babies nurse for about seven months until they double in size. Gaining about 200 pounds (90 kilograms) a day, they are the biggest babies ever known to have roamed the Earth.

Blue whales were heavily hunted until a worldwide ban in 1966. Today they are listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, meaning they face a very high risk of extinction in the wild.

Migration Mystery

By comparing new and old photos of blue whale spot patterns—which can be as distinct, in their way, as human fingerprints—expedition member John Calambokidis later identified the Dome mother as a summer resident of California's Channel Islands. The researchers speculate that mother and baby returned to the islands, rich with krill but fraught with danger from increasing shipping traffic.

The destinations of other whales at the Dome remain a mystery—unfortunately for conservationists looking to safeguard blue whale migration routes.

On a previous trip, researchers had found that more than 75 percent of the whales at the Dome were from the U.S. West Coast. But the recent expedition found only 25 percent.

"It caught us by surprise," Calambokidis told National Geographic News. A whale expert from the Cascadia Research Collective in Washington State, Calambokidis has received funding from National Geographic's Committee for Research and Exploration. (The National Geographic Society owns National Geographic News.)

The Dome's importance to the struggling species, though, is no mystery.

"We're quite confident now that this is one of the very, very important areas for blue whales in the entire world," Mate said. more

03/08/09
SISTER SANCTUARIES TO PROTECT ENDANGERED WHALES AT BOTH ENDS OF ANNUAL MIGRATION - NOAA

United States and Dominican Republic Partner in Historic Conservation Effort

NOAA established a "sister sanctuary" arrangement between the NOAA Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary off the coast of Massachusetts and the Marine Mammal Sanctuary of the Dominican Republic, two marine protected areas 1,500 miles apart that provide conservation programs for the same population of humpback whales.

The initiative is the world's first sister sanctuary linkage protecting an endangered migratory marine mammal species on both ends of its range. Both sanctuaries provide critical support for the same population of around 900 whales, which spend spring and summer in the rich feeding grounds of Stellwagen Bank before heading south to the warmer waters of the Dominican Republic in late fall to mate and give birth to their young. The sister sanctuary agreement was designed to enhance coordination in management efforts between the two sanctuaries and help improve humpback whale recovery in the north Atlantic.

NOAA image of humpback whale migration route between the NOAA Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary and the Marine Mammal Sanctuary of the Dominican Republic."Long-term research tells us that the same individuals that summer off New England spend their winters off the Dominican Republic," said NOAA Stellwagen Bank Sanctuary superintendent Craig MacDonald. "Coordinating management and research across these habitats moves us several steps closer to ensuring the health of this endangered species."

As sister sanctuaries, the two sites will explore new avenues for collaborative management efforts, including joint research, monitoring, education and capacity building programs. The NOAA National Marine Sanctuary Program anticipates that the relationship will be crucial to future protection of the north Atlantic humpback whale population, as well as to the development of further cooperative agreements.

"The sister sanctuary relationship will play a powerful role in protecting endangered humpback whales, and the opportunity for international cooperation in marine conservation is invaluable," said Daniel J. Basta, NOAA sanctuary program director. "This agreement has the potential to improve our scientific knowledge, enhance our management ability and increase the program's visibility—benefits that extend far beyond the sanctuaries involved."

NOAA image of humpback whale in the NOAA Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary with a bubble net, which are often employed to contain schools of small fish, like sand lance. The whale then comes up through the net to catch the fish.The official memorandum of understanding to create the sister sanctuary relationship was signed by Basta and Maximiliano Puig, minister for the environment and natural resources for the Dominican Republic. The sister sanctuary agreement goes into effect immediately and establishes the cooperation guidelines for the next five years.

"This conservation action is important as a model for the wider Caribbean region," said Puig. "Our sanctuary was the first marine mammal sanctuary established in the region, and it continues to lead by example. Our broadest mandate is to engender a new discussion in our society about the importance of marine mammals, the oceans in which they live and our responsibility as ocean stewards."

NOAA image of humpback whale in the NOAA Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, which can engulf massive amounts of water as it feeds in the sanctuary.The NOAA Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary encompasses 842 square miles of ocean, stretching between Cape Ann and Cape Cod offshore of Massachusetts. Renowned for its scenic beauty and remarkable productivity, the sanctuary supports a rich assortment of marine life, including marine mammals, more than 30 species of seabirds, more than 60 species of fishes, and hundreds of marine invertebrates and plants.

The NOAA National Marine Sanctuary Program seeks to increase the public awareness of America's marine resources and maritime heritage by conducting scientific research, monitoring, exploration and educational programs. Today, the sanctuary program manages 13 national marine sanctuaries and one marine national monument that together encompass more than 150,000 square miles of America's ocean and Great Lakes natural and cultural resources.

In October 1986, the "Silver Bank Humpback Whale Sanctuary" was established in the Dominican Republic to protect the mating, calving and nursery grounds of humpback whales. In 1996, the sanctuary was extended to include Navidad Bank and part of Samana Bay, covering the three main humpback breeding grounds in Dominican waters. At this time the sanctuary was renamed Santuaria de Mamiferos Marinos de la Republica Dominicana (Marine Mammal Sanctuary of the Dominican Republic), or SMMRD in Spanish. Today, the SMMRD protects all marine mammals within its 19,438-square-mile area. Within the sanctuary, Silver Bank, located approximately 50 miles northeast of the Dominican Republic coast in the Caribbean Sea, represents the densest concentration of humpbacks found in the north Atlantic.

Created in the year 2000 by the merger of more than ten institutions, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources is one of the young ministries of the Dominican Republic. Its mission is to protect and manage the country's environment and natural resources with the objective of reaching sustainable development. Every year, during the humpback whale observation period of January to March, the ministry establishes an agreement with local and governmental institutions to promote tourism, marine and business activities within the sanctuary that do not affect the habitat and reproductive cycle of the mammals. This initiative is the result of the ministry's policy for an open, democratic and participative management based on the cooperation and strategic alliances between the state, local communities, the private sector and non-governmental organizations.

NOAA, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, is celebrating 200 years of science and service to the nation. From the establishment of the Survey of the Coast in 1807 by Thomas Jefferson to the formation of the Weather Bureau and the Commission of Fish and Fisheries in the 1870s, much of America's scientific heritage is rooted in NOAA. NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental stewardship of the nation's coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 60 countries and the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects. more

03/03/09
Rescuers struggle to free stranded whales and dolphins in Tasmania - L A Times

Rescuers in Tasmania managed to save 48 pilot whales and bottlenose dolphins who'd become stranded on Naracoopa Beach.

194 whales and dolphins were beached; only 54 whales and seven dolphins were still alive when the rescue effort began. The Telegraph reports:

The whales were saved by trenches dug in the sand that allowed water to surround them, as volunteers doused the animals with water and draped them in wet fabric to keep cool.

Groups of volunteers used stretchers to lug dolphins into the shallows, and other officials used small boats and a jet ski to pull whales out to sea.

Rescuers were hopeful they would stay away from the shore.

"It's too early to say yet, but it's been a very, very positive day," Shelley Davison, a Parks and Wildlife spokeswoman, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Australian officials reported today that all but one of the rescued animals were now swimming in deep water.

"It has been a great result. We have stabilised the whale which came back to the beach and are waiting for a change in the weather this afternoon to see if the animal is strong enough and the conditions are right for another rescue effort to be made,'' Parks and Wildlife senior ranger Chris Arthur told the Mercury.

Whales and dolphins stranded in TasmaniaThe Mercury describes the rescue effort:

Among the volunteers was Jemma Blomhoff, who left her King Island home with four-month-old daughter Jordyn early yesterday, taking along friend Helen Morgan.

"When I heard, I grabbed some buckets. Jordyn was still in her pyjamas," said Ms Blomhoff, 22.

"I've never seen anything like it. It was awful, but it was good.

"They told us to find one [animal] and stick to it. Ours was a dolphin. We just tipped water over him continuously. When the water was on his face he would lift his face and open his blowhole as if he was really enjoying it.

"They took him to the water in the carrier and when they put him back, he went silly. They had to hold him so he could get some strength back. He was lifting his tail. It was excellent. So it had a happy ending."

Mass strandings of whales are not uncommon in Australia and New Zealand, for reasons not entirely clear to researchers. One theory is a disturbance to the whales' echo-location systems, perhaps caused by human activity. more

03/01/09
Fishermen, scientists try to develop gear that won't entangle whales - canadaeast.com

Canadian scientists and fishermen are trying to develop lobster gear that won't harm endangered whales at a time when entanglements are at record highs and U.S. environmentalists are exerting pressure to ban conventional fishing lines.

Fishermen in Nova Scotia have been experimenting with so-called sinking or weighted rope between their lobster traps in a bid to reduce the risk of ensnaring whales, particularly rare North Atlantic right whales, in their lines.

Hubert Saulnier, a lobster fisherman in the Bay of Fundy where many of the massive mammals go to feed in the summer, has been using the line for almost a year and monitoring it with underwater sensors.

He said it can still rise up in the bay's powerful currents and wrap around a whale, which may end up posing more of a danger to them because the line is so heavy it could make it more difficult for them to get free.

"That rope is probably not the right solution at this time," he said from Saulnierville on the province's southwest coast.

"We are being proactive now and if there are any solutions out there that work we would definitely act upon them."

The assessment comes after a controversial decision in the United States to phase in bans of the "floating" lines attached to lobster traps, which hook onto a line of traps on the ocean floor and rise straight up through the water column to the surface.

The lines are thought to be one of the greatest threats to the North Atlantic right whales, whose population has dwindled to only 400 since they were hunted to near extinction in the 1700s.

They can wrap around their mouths and prevent them from eating, keep them tied to the bottom so they drown or cause an infection that can eventually kill them.

Ship strikes are the other major source of mortality for the 17-metre creatures, which journey from their breeding grounds off Georgia and Florida to the Bay of Fundy in June.

The National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration in the States issued a bulletin last week stating there have been five entanglements in the last few months, a record that is more than double the average rate.

Gear on one of the whales has been proven to be Canadian, while officials haven't determined the source of the other lines that remain snared around two whales. The others have managed to wriggle free or were disentangled.

Moira Brown, a leading right whale researcher, said it's clear the animals are getting fetched up in Canadian gear, but she's not convinced mandating the elimination of the commonly used floating lines is the best way to go.

"It is complicated and there are no easy answers," she said from the New England Aquarium.

"In Canada I think it's very easy to suggest we follow suit with what's going on in U.S....but just blindly going ahead and banning groundlines is just reactive."

Following lengthy legal battles with environmental groups, the U.S. government implemented a ban on floating lines for gillnets and for lobster traps, with the latter ban taking effect this April.

Fishermen in Maine have decried the decision, saying the weighted lines are expensive, not as durable, contain environmental toxins and aren't entirely effective because they rise up in the water.

Canadian Fisheries officials say they're not considering a ban on the floating lines, but are looking instead at alternate gear types and simple avoidance of areas where the whales have been seen by fishermen or Fisheries spotter planes.

Gus van Helvoort, director of the fisheries and aquaculture branch, said the department has provided the weighted lines to some fishermen like Saulnier, but that they haven't determined whether it's effective.

"We're investigating the effectiveness of weighted gear because we know it's being introduced in the U.S., but we also hear there's a fair bit discussion that it doesn't quite work," he said, adding that the department is spending about $30,000 on gear research,

"There has been no discussion of a ban."

All said that more research should be done to determine where the line entangling whales originated. Saulnier is headed to the States next month to examine line pulled from whales and see if it's Canadian, based on markings.

"We have to start trying to identify where the most problematic areas are," said Saulnier, who once helped pull 58 traps, 8 anchors and many balloons off a humpback whale.
more

02/25/09
Volunteers, scientists guard endangered whales - CNN

Glenn Wood and several other retirees lean on a wood rail on the second story balcony of the Golden Lion Café -- a beachside pub and restaurant in northern Florida.
Glenn Wood, 68, has been searching for right whales for five years as a volunteer.

Glenn Wood, 68, has been searching for right whales for five years as a volunteer.

It's 8 a.m., so no one's here for French fries or beer-battered fish. As the group gazes out into the ocean sunrise, they're scanning for North Atlantic right whales.

Wearing whale earrings, a flipper necklace and a blue windbreaker that says "Whale Watch Survey Team" on the back, Wood says she's been coming to this spot -- the highest lookout point in the area -- to search for whales once a week for at least five years.

Each new calf the group spots gives her hope that the right whale -- a highly endangered and often-overlooked species -- will recover.

"Slowly, slowly they must be growing" in numbers, said Wood, 68. "I do feel like we're helping this. We're hopeful."

And for once, scientists say they share Wood's optimism.

At least 32 new right whale calves -- more than ever recorded -- have been observed this season off the coasts of Georgia and Florida, where the whales migrate to give birth between late November and March. Only about 400 members of the species exist, and the massive mammal is thought to be the most endangered of all the large whales.

Each birth is seen as a miracle of sorts -- a potential key to the survival of a species that has been through many tough years.

Right whales were named by their hunters who once said they were the "right whale" to kill. When they were harpooned, the chubby whales floated to the surface of the water. That made them both profitable and easy to hunt.

The whales -- which can grow to 70 tons, or the weight of more than a dozen elephants -- are difficult to spot in the water because of their jet-black appearance and lack of dorsal fins.

That has made them susceptible to humans in another way: They're often hit by ships.

Usually, one or two right whales are killed each year by collisions with ships. No deaths from ship collisions have been recorded so far this calving season.

The whale's followers say a new rule that requires large ships to slow down to 10 knots as they cruise through the whales' habitat seems to be helping. So does a large network of eyes -- like Wood's -- that scan for the school-bus size whales and alert ship captains, cruise lines, airplanes, Navy submarines and others to the whales' whereabouts.

Every morning during calving season, volunteers armed with binoculars and whale-related handouts troll up and down the Florida coast -- climbing to balconies and zipping up elevators to the top floors of high-rise condos and retirement communities -- to look for whales.

Above them and to the north, small planes filled with scientists mow neat grid lines over the Atlantic. When they spot a whale, they circle at 1,000 feet and hang out an open window to shoot photos with a long-range zoom lens.

Researchers in rubber boats use crossbows to dart the newborn whales and take tissue samples for clues about the species' genetic makeup and individual family trees. Meet the scientists and volunteers who protect the whales »

Since 1980, the New England Aquarium has used photos of the distinctive patterns on the whales' heads -- along with their scars from collisions with ships -- to identify the whales and assemble their family trees. Each whale is assigned a four-digit number in a catalogue, and many have names.

Drawings of all this season's new moms are tacked to an upstairs wall in the New England Aquarium's ocean-side research house in Fernandina Beach, Florida, up the coast from Jacksonville. Workers know the moms and their stories the same way FBI agents memorize the faces of their most-wanted suspects. Meet five of the scientists' favorite right whales »

Off the top of her head, assistant scientist Monica Zani can tell you that a whale named Baldy, her calf, No. 1503, and 1503's calf, Boomerang, all gave birth this season.

"Yeah ... they're busy," she said.

From a computer in front of the wall of whales, Zani collects sighting locations and sends out e-mails, text messages and pager alerts with the subject line "WHALE ALERT." The messages give out the exact coordinates of the whales so ships won't hit them.

Another threat is on the horizon, though.

Further north, some whales have become entangled in fishing ropes and lobster traps. Such entanglements are frequently fatal. The ropes restrict the whales' movements and dig into their skin, causing deep wounds and infections.

There have been efforts to change some fishing equipment to protect the whales, but researchers say they've already seen five entangled whales in the Southeast this year -- more than ever. Usually only one or two whales are found entangled each winter, they said.

The entanglements make some scientists temper their hopes for the future of the species.

"Four hundred animals is not a vibrant, thriving population -- it's one that's very close to the edge," said Amy Knowlton, a research scientist at the New England Aquarium. "And so I think we need to keep monitoring what's happening from year to year, understand how they die, and really stay focused on the fact that this is a population that's not out of the woods by any means."

Barb Zoodsma, a right whale biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said the high number of births this year can be "nothing but good news."

Still, she said, the entanglement trend is troubling.

"The fate of this species can turn on a dime, so we need to ride the wave of good news right now, but we also need to remain vigilant for threats that are on the horizon," Zoodsma said.

Katie Jackson, a marine mammal biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, is part of a team that tries to disentangle these whales before their wounds become fatal.

Riding in a small, inflatable boat, the scientists toss grappling hooks at the fishing ropes that ensnare the whales. Once they grab hold, they throw jackknives at the ropes to try to cut the whales loose.

It's dangerous work and the whales often swim away as fast as they can. Of the five entangled whales spotted this season, scientists have only been able to free three, Jackson said.

One of the failed attempts was directed at whale No. 3311, named Bridle because it has a rope stuck through its mouth like a bridled horse. If Bridle isn't disentangled, he likely will die, Jackson said.

But for the moment, right whale enthusiasts seem focused on the species' apparent rebound.

Wood, the whale watcher, said many Florida residents are unaware of the school-bus sized creatures just off the shore.

"In this area people are always amazed that Florida has whales at all, so we try to educate the populace," she said. "When people drive by and see people with binoculars looking at the ocean they do wonder what we're doing."

The more people know about the whales, the more they'll be inclined to protect them, she said.

She says the right whale is a bit of a hard sell because of its awkward appearance. Researchers say the right whale is overshadowed by more glamorous whales, like the humpback.

But Wood loves the whales and their stories even if, as she says, they're "not cute."
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She thrives on the excitement of helping an underdog species recover.

"Since I started working on this we went from 350 to now closer to 400 whales," she said more

02/21/09
Environmental study finds killer whales can suffer from loss of salmon off West Coast - Contra Costa Times

California's thirst is helping drive an endangered population of West Coast killer whales toward extinction, federal biologists have concluded.

The southern resident killer whale population, which numbers 83, spends much of its time in Puget Sound, but since 2000 many of them have been spotted off the California coast as far south as Monterey Bay.

In a draft scientific report, biologists conclude the damage that water operations are doing to California's salmon populations is enough to threaten the orcas' existence because the water mammals depend on salmon for food. Federal officials confirmed the conclusions of the report to MediaNews on Friday; the data have not been released.

"It does point to the interconnected nature (of problems in the Delta)," said Maria Rea, the Sacramento, Calif., area office supervisor for the National Marine Fisheries Service.

The findings, contained in a draft report by the agency's scientists, could elevate public support for environmental protection in the Delta, where the conflict between environmental advocates and water users has centered on Delta smelt, a nondescript fish that grows a couple of inches long and smells like cucumbers.

"People have a hard time looking at the Delta smelt for its own sake," said Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations. "If it's Shamu, that's a different thing."

Biologists last month reported tentatively that pumping water out of the Delta threatens to drive spring-run chinook salmon and winter-run chinook salmon to extinction.

The orca study found the loss of those fish could leave whales at times with patches of ocean that lack food, Rea said.

In addition, the reliance on hatchery-raised salmon in other salmon runs makes that food source vulnerable to disruption, she said. Hatchery fish lose the natural genetic diversity that is helpful in recovering from attacks of disease or changes in environmental conditions.

As a result, the regulatory hammer of the Endangered Species Act could be used much more aggressively to fix problems plaguing the state's most valuable salmon run, according to Grader.

The Sacramento River fall-run chinook salmon, the backbone of the commercial salmon fishery, collapsed last year. Although the run is not endangered, its collapse led to the unprecedented closure of the fishing season. Grader said regulators could use the tough law to protect fall-run salmon, not because it merits the law's protection by itself but because it provides food for the endangered orcas.

"We are still evaluating fall-run and how they fit into the picture," Rea said.

Orcas are the most widely distributed whale in the world and live in all kinds of ocean habitat. Some populations roam the oceans but resident populations, like the southern resident whales in Puget Sound, tend to stay closer to home.

The southern resident orcas' diet is almost entirely salmon and about 80 percent is chinook salmon, said Ken Balcomb, executive director of the Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbor, Wash.

The 83 Puget Sound orcas eat about 500,000 salmon a year, he said.

"In these U.S. waters, those Sacramento River salmon would be critical," Balcomb said.

In winter, the whales move out into the ocean and swim up and down the coast in search of food, a search that in the last seven years has brought two of the three pods as far south as Monterey. Balcomb said that in recent years California's salmon have been an important food source for the whales for six to eight weeks a year.
more

02/18/09
Fishermen - not whales as claimed by Japan - are the cause of fisheries depletion - mongabay.com

New analysis looks at the question: Do whales and humans compete for fish?

Fishermen calling for a resumption of whaling to restore commercial fish stocks are taking the wrong approach, argue researchers writing in the journal Science.

Analyzing data on fish catch and whale abundance off the coast of northwestern Africa and the Caribbean, Leah R. Gerber and colleagues show that fishermen remove far more fish than whales consume, undermining the agreement by whaling nations that whales are driving depletion of fisheries.

"Today, the majority of fish stocks and many whale populations are seriously depleted, but most available evidence points toward human overexploitation as the root of the problem," write the authors. "When developing tropical countries are encouraged to focus on the notion that 'whales eat fish,' they risk being diverted from addressing the real problems that their own fisheries face, primarily, overexploitation of their marine resources by distant-water fleets."

The authors recommend applying ecosystem management concepts to managing whale populations and argue that science, rather than politics, should be an integral component of these discussions.

"Couched in terms of 'ecosystem management,' whaling countries, including Japan, advocate the culling of whales as a solution to recover overexploited fish stocks and to increase fishery yield. Some developing countries, which may benefit economically and politically by supporting pro-whaling nations at the International Whaling Commission, have also supported the 'whales-eat-fish' assertion."

"An effort must be made to actively engage scientists and managers from countries that support Japan’s claims to help them investigate this issue within an ecosystem context in their own regions. In many cases, fisheries officers in tropical areas, such as the Caribbean, do not necessarily believe the whales-eat-fish arguments. Rather, the arguments are endorsed for reasons related to their aid relationship with Japan, especially in the fisheries sector."

more

02/15/09
Mother Whales Teach Babies Where To Eat: Can Southern Right Whales Adapt If Food Becomes Scarce? - Science Daily

University of Utah biologists discovered that young "right whales" learn from their mothers where to eat, raising concern about their ability to find new places to feed if Earth's changing climate disrupts their traditional dining areas.

"A primary concern is, what are whales going to do with global warming, which may change the location and abundance of their prey?" asks Vicky Rowntree, research associate professor of biology and a coauthor of the new study. "Can they adapt if they learn from their mother where to feed – or will they die?"

Previous research by Rowntree and colleagues showed that when climate oscillations increase sea temperatures, southern right whales give birth to fewer calves because the warm water reduces the abundance of krill, which are small, shrimp-like crustaceans eaten by the whales.

The new study – scheduled for publication in the Feb. 15 issue of the journal Molecular Ecology – used genetic and chemical isotope evidence to show that mothers teach their calves where to go for food.

"Southern right whales consume enormous amounts of food and have to travel vast distances to find adequate amounts of small prey," says study coauthor Jon Seger, professor of biology at the University of Utah. "This study shows that mothers teach their babies in the first year of life where to go to feed in the immensity of the ocean."

The study tracked how whales are related by analyzing maternal DNA, and then compared that with dietary information obtained by characterizing different forms or isotopes of chemical elements in their skin. The two techniques – which the researchers say they used together for the first time – allowed the scientists to determine that whale mothers, their offspring and other extended family members eat in the same place.

"North Atlantic right whales feed in similar patterns and scientists have access to their feeding areas, but we don't know where South Atlantic whales are feeding, so we had to use a combination of techniques to track this down," says Luciano Valenzuela, a postdoctoral researcher in biology who led the study as part of his doctoral thesis at Utah.

The study's other coauthor was Mariano Sironi, scientific director of the Instituto de Conservación de Ballenas (Institute for the Conservation of Whales) in Argentina.

Related Whales 'Chow Down' Together

For 38 years, Rowntree and colleagues have followed a group of southern right whales that migrate for three months each year to their calving area at Argentina's Península Valdés, "which is as far south of the equator as we are north of the equator here in Salt Lake City," says Rowntree, who also directs the right whale program at the Ocean Alliance's Whale Conservation Institute.

Adult southern right whales are up to 50 feet long, and their calves are about 20 feet long and weigh a ton at birth.

The whales migrate to their calving grounds in winter, when they fast, and give birth in early spring. Three months later, they travel long distances in the South Atlantic to feed for the remainder of the year on krill and on other crustaceans named copepods. Rowntree calls it "a huge chow down."

Whaling records from the 1800s and 1900s suggested southern right whales had six main feeding areas in the South Atlantic. However, scientists do not know where most of the whales feed now.

Rather than searching for right whale feeding grounds visually – an enormous if not impossible task given the lack of ship traffic in the vast South Atlantic – the scientists took a novel approach. During September and October of 2003 through 2006, Valenzuela collected small skin samples using a punch device that doesn't harm the animals.

"The skin sample is a little bigger than the size of a pencil eraser," Rowntree says.

From the skin samples, Valenzuela analyzed mitochondrial DNA, which is inherited only from the mother. The DNA revealed family relationships among whales. The researchers were able to distinguish individual whales by the patterns of whitish, callous-like material on their heads.

The skin samples also were analyzed for different forms or isotopes of carbon and nitrogen. The isotopes, which are present in food, are deposited in different tissues of the body after consumption. Food from any given location has a unique isotope "signature." That made it possible to determine which whales fed in the same place without actually knowing where the feeding areas were.

Together, the DNA and isotope data revealed which whales were related and where each animal fed.

"The main result is that individuals from particular families have very specific isotope pattern showing that animals from specific lineages feed in the same area," Valenzuela says.

Because the DNA was mitochondrial, which is passed only from mothers to offspring, the findings indicate mother whales teach their calves where to feed.

The study was funded by Ocean Alliance's Whale Conservation Institute and the Canadian Whale Institute. more

02/11/09
Whale shark sightings on rise in Gulf of Mexico - SunHerald.com

NEW ORLEANS -- It was such an unusual sight that the commercial fishing crew in the northern Gulf of Mexico took an hour out of their work day to count the whale sharks swimming around and even rubbing their sandpaper-like backs against the boat.

The crew stopped at 44 to avoid double-counting the dark-bodied fish, some up to 50 feet long, opening and closing their wide mouths as they vacuumed in plankton, fish eggs or small fish southwest of Morgan City, La.

It was the largest sighting in a record year for a study of the world's largest fish that began in 2002 at the University of Southern Mississippi's Gulf Coast Research Laboratory in Ocean Springs, Miss.

"As far as your eye could see in every direction, you just saw fish after fish after fish after fish," said David Wesley Underwood of Pensacola, Fla., a deckhand on his uncle's boat, the Norman B.

That pod, seen in June and reported Jan. 29 to USM scientists, was among 70 sightings of at least one whale shark during 2008 - by far the largest number for the project.

"We're getting the word out," said lead researcher Eric Hoffmayer. He depends on non-scientist spotters because the sharks are seen most frequently where the water turns sharply from shallow to deep, and trips out there are expensive.

About two-thirds of the sightings have been within 100 miles of the Mississippi River's mouth.

Hoffmayer believes the sharks are attracted by plankton blooms fed by fertilizer and other nutrients in the river water - the same phenomenon that creates an oxygen-depleted dead zone closer inshore every summer.

Hoffmayer worries, however, that the sharks may be swallowing poison along with the plankton. "What about all the other chemicals that are being washed out with all this runoff?" he said.

Researchers plan to look into that. First, they need a handle on how many sharks are swimming around the northern Gulf, where they come from, and where they're going.

The one whale shark tagged last year in the northern Gulf was 260 miles south, in Mexican water, and more than a mile underwater, at 6,000 feet - probably the lowest the species has been recorded - when the electronic tag popped off, Hoffmayer said.

Little is known about whale sharks, including where they go after they leave gathering places near Australia and Yucatan, or where they give birth to their pups.

Although they were added last year to the World Conservation Union's "red list" of threatened species, the Australian research indicates that - unlike most sharks, which are declining sharply - whale sharks appear to be increasing off Western Australia, said Jason Holmberg of Portland, Ore., information architect of the Ecocean Whale Shark Photo-identification Library.

They are a warm-water fish and all sightings in the Gulf of Mexico have been between April and November, with most from June through October - roughly corresponding to the seasonal heating of Gulf waters that feeds hurricanes.

It's possible the increased numbers around the river's mouth are just a fluke, because that's where most of the spotters are.

Hoffmayer doesn't think that is the case. To find out, researchers are recruiting watchers along the Gulf from Texas to Florida.

"They may have found a new and important aggregation point," said Holmberg, who is an adjunct research associate with Murdoch University in Western Australia. He is not a biologist, but analyzes population statistics for the Australian project.

Even before the Norman B's Capt. Russell Underwood called, Hoffmayer had received 68 sightings for 2008, more than in all six previous years combined. On Jan. 30, an offshore oil worker reported the 70th, from November.

"He saw one of our posters in a safety room at whatever rig he was at," Hoffmayer said.

The posters are one way he spreads the word about his search for data. He also goes to an annual safety meeting for helicopter pilots who fly over the Gulf and is trying to establish better ties with offshore oil rig workers.

Besides Hoffmayer's project, in 2003, the Georgia Aquarium and the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Fla., began working with Mexico's National Commission on Protected Natural Areas to tag whale sharks off Yucatan, where an estimated 1,500 feed each summer.

It's the largest known gathering, with estimates of 500 to 3,000, said Bob Hueter, director of Mote's Center for Shark Research.

"We really think 500 is low," he said. "We've had images of as many as 75 whale sharks in one photo."

In the northern Gulf, they're more spread out. Two-thirds of those seen last year were single sharks, with 21 sightings of two or more. A few groups of 100 or more have been reported over the years.

The worldwide population may be as high as 500,000, "which sounds like a big number, but when you're talking about fish, it's not a big number at all," Hueter said.

A Coast Guard report of a whale shark in Mississippi Sound was one of the nearest inshore last year, and fits the idea the fish come for plankton nourished by riverborne nitrates and phosphates.

It showed up after the Army Corps of Engineers opened a spillway northwest of New Orleans, pouring river water into Lake Pontchartrain to avert the chance that high water might batter the river levees and endanger New Orleans.

The release created an algae bloom intense enough to create a "dead zone" of oxygen-depleted water like the much larger one that forms every year off Louisiana, and the shark was "right up where the plankton blooms would have been," Hoffmayer said.

Skipper Russell Underwood has offered his boat for a week-long study trip of the sharks in June, to see if the same large group shows up in the same area as he spotted last year. The Gulf has given him a good living, he said.

"Maybe I can give something back."
more

02/09/09
Sea Shepherd’s pursuit of whalers enters fifth day - thewest.com.au

Conservation group Sea Shepherd has entered day five of its pursuit of Japanese whaling ships in the Ross Sea.

The group’s ship, the Steve Irwin, is currently sailing through the Ross Sea with good visibility and minimal wind, Captain Paul Watson reports.

“The fleet we can see includes the factory ship Nisshin Maru and the three harpoon vessels Yushin Maru No.1, Yushin Maru No.2 and Yushin Maru No.3,” Capt. Watson said in his latest update.

Today, the crew will launch two small boats and a helicopter to once again harass the fleet and to warn them once more to leave the area of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, Mr Watson said.

“This will be the fifth day without any whales being killed,” he said.

“We have informed the Japanese whaling fleet that we will not tolerate a single whale being killed and we will respond very aggressively to any attempted murder of a cetacean,” he said.

Mr Watson also reports that the ship’s fuel and water reserves were at 75 per cent allowing the crew “plenty more days” to continue their pursuit.

Tension between Sea Shepherd and the whalers appears to have escalated in recent days, with the conservation society accusing crew onboard the whaling ships of throwing solid lead and brass balls at its crew.

Sea Shepherd has also accused the whalers of firing a military grad long range acoustical device, which can cause permanent hearing damage. more

02/07/09
Japan digs in heels on whaling proposal - theage.com.au

JAPAN will reject any proposal by the International Whaling Commission that halts research whaling in the Antarctic, making it unlikely that a compromise plan to open limited coastal whaling would work.

Under the proposal, which the Rudd Government has tentatively supported, Japan's minke whale hunt under scientific permit would be reduced by 20 per cent each year for five years, and hunting of humpback and fin whales would stop.

The phase-out is a key component of a package drawn from talks with a small group of IWC countries, including Australia, in the hope of breaking the deadlock between pro and anti-whaling countries.

But Japan said it wasn't good enough. Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Shigeru Ishiba said: "We cannot accept a proposal that discontinues our research hunting."

Greenpeace said yesterday that although there should be an immediate end, the proposed phase-out in the Antarctic could be a big step in whale conservation.

Asked whether Australia might agree to a phase-out, Environment Minister Peter Garrett's spokesman said the Government was not aware of any formal proposal by Japan to reduce the number of whales it targeted in the Southern Ocean.

But he said Mr Garrett's view was that any reduction in the number of whales targeted by Japan would be a welcome step towards ending all commercial whaling, including so-called "scientific" whaling.

Greenpeace International said in a statement from Amsterdam that whaling should cease in the IWC's Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. "But if a phase-out was implemented directly after the IWC meeting in Madeira this coming June and was properly enforced and monitored, then it would be a big step towards whale conservation, as well as the protection of pristine Antarctic waters," the statement said.

The IWC package, released publicly for the first time yesterday, confirms reports in The Age of the phase-out option, as well as a second option to continue "scientific" whaling inside yet-to-be-determined limits.

It also confirms that Japan would gain permission for a new kill off its coast, but scraps a planned straight exchange between reduced Antarctic whaling and increases in the North Pacific hunt.

However, it also waters down plans for a new South Atlantic Sanctuary for whales, to give the protection only a five-year life.

Released by the IWC before a negotiating session on the future of the organisation in March, the package was developed at the request of its US chairman, Bill Hogarth, a Bush administration appointee.

It has sparked increased pressure by environmentalists on the Obama Administration to step in and reject appeasement of Japan.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare said the package was a one-way compromise that would let Japan effectively lift the global moratorium on commercial whaling.

"The Australian Government was in the room when this plan was drafted," IFAW campaigns manager Darren Kindleysides said. "The Australian Government must now be clear on exactly what action will be taken to ensure this deeply flawed proposal proceeds no further than the recycling bin."

Humane Society International said if the Rudd Government was sticking to its long-held anti-whaling policy it should immediately reject the compromises outlined in the package.

Meanwhile, in the Antarctic, Sea Shepherd was pursuing the whaling factory ship, Nisshin Maru, which was heading south, into the Ross Sea.

"The seas are rough, the weather cold and we still are hitting patches of ice," said Sea Shepherd's leader, Paul Watson.

"The destination of the Nisshin Maru is unknown. They may just be trying to run us out of fuel."
more

02/05/09
IWC mulls whaling trade-off / May permit Japan to hold coastal hunts if certain conditions met - DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE

The International Whaling Commission announced a draft proposal Monday that would allow Japan to resume limited small-scale whaling in its coastal waters.

The IWC will discuss the proposal to allow Japan to resume the practice of hunting for minke whales at a meeting in Rome from March 9 to 11. Japan ceased hunting of minke and other small whales in 1988.

The proposal, however, comes with strict conditions. These include a requirement that meat from whales caught in the coastal water hunts must be consumed domestically, and Japan must report to the IWC annually on matters such as the number of whales it has caught and whaling conditions.

It is anticipated, however, that Australia and other antiwhaling nations will oppose the proposal, making it unclear whether it will pass.

The proposal was put together by IWC Chairman William Hogarth, an American, and an IWC working committee as a springboard for future discussion.

The IWC has been rendered dysfunctional because it has split into two camps of pro- and antiwhaling member nations. The two sides have not had effective discussions.

The proposal is believed to be aimed at breaking this deadlock.

According to the proposal, coastal hunting of mink whales, which Japan had demanded be allowed to resume, would be permitted using small whaling ships of up to 48 tons over the next five years from four specified whaling bases--Taijicho in Wakayama Prefecture; Abashiri in Hokkaido; the Ayukawa district in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture; and the Wada district in Minami-Boso, Chiba Prefecture.

Japan has a quota of 1,300 whales for its research expeditions in large 700-ton class whaling ships in the Antarctic Ocean and other waters.

The ships catch minke, finback, humpback and other whales.

Two suggestions have been set down in the proposal. The first is to gradually phase out research whaling over the next five years. The second is to continue research whaling under fixed quotas over the next five years.

At the IWC meeting in Rome, the focus likely will be on scaling back research whaling as a condition for Japan for resuming whale hunting in its coastal waters.

Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Shigeru Ishiba stressed Tuesday that any conditions imposed for the resumption of coastal whaling must permit Japan to continue research whaling.

"We won't be surprised if [the proposal] is a demand to stop research whaling," Ishiba told reporters at a press conference following a Cabinet meeting. more

02/01/09
New Breeding Ground For Endangered Whales? High Numbers Of Right Whales Seen In Gulf Of Maine - Science Daily

ScienceDaily: Your source for the

A large number of North Atlantic right whales have been seen in the Gulf of Maine in recent days, leading right whale researchers at NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center to believe they have identified a wintering ground and potentially a breeding ground for this endangered species.

The NEFSC’s aerial survey team saw 44 individual right whales on Dec. 3 in the Jordan Basin area, located about 70 miles south of Bar Harbor, Maine. Weather permitting, the team regularly surveys the waters from Maine to Long Island and offshore 150 miles to the Hague Line (the U.S.-Canadian border), an area about 25,000 square nautical miles.

“We’re excited because seeing 44 right whales together in the Gulf of Maine is a record for the winter months, when daily observations of three to five animals are much more common,” said Tim Cole, who heads the team. “Right whales are baleen whales, and in the winter spend a lot of time diving for food deep in the water column. Seeing so many of them at the surface when we are flying over an area is a bit of luck.”

Just a few days later, on Dec. 6, the team observed only three right whales on Cashes Ledge, about 80 miles east of Gloucester, Mass. Cole says the whales are known to be in the region, but actually seeing them on any given aerial survey is unpredictable. On Dec. 14, the team saw 41 right whales just west of Jordan Basin.

An estimated 100 female North Atlantic right whales head south in winter to give birth in the waters off Florida and Georgia, but little is known about where other individual right whales in the population go in winter, largely due to difficult surveying conditions.

Given the large geographical area over which North Atlantic right whales can occur, Cole and NEFSC colleagues developed an aerial grid system a few years ago for the Gulf of Maine and waters around Cape Cod to ensure complete coverage of the region. The grid resulted in consistent surveys of areas infrequently surveyed in the past, like Jordan Basin and the Great South Channel, and have shown that whales congregate in certain areas at certain times.

With a population estimated to be about 325 whales, knowing where the whales are at any time is critical to protect them. Finding an aggregation of whales can trigger a management action affording protection, such as slowing ship speeds in the vicinity of the whales. On Dec. 9, new federal speed rules for large ships went into effect to reduce ship strikes, to which North Atlantic right whales are particularly vulnerable.

NOAA understands and predicts changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and conserves and manages our coastal and marine resources. more

01/29/09
Whale protectors off to war - the mercury.com.au

ANTI-WHALING activists left Hobart yesterday with one thought in mind: "Every day we are away, whales die."

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship the Steve Irwin returned to Hobart to refuel on Saturday after spending more than a month chasing the whaling fleet in brutal Antarctic conditions.

They left yesterday to resume their campaign of "harassment and disruption" against Japanese whalers in the Southern Ocean.

"We shut them down for three solid weeks and when we return we intend to add another four weeks to their downtime," Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson said. Captain Watson admitted the crew's actions in the Southern Ocean were dangerous, but said they would continue until Australia or New Zealand took legal action against the Japanese whaling industry.

He said the society was open to alternative tactics and would even "back off" for a season to allow the governments to take legal action.

Sea Shepherd tactics included throwing rotten butter bombs and smoke bombs and trying to seal holes that drain water and blood from the whaling ships.

In last year's campaign two activists boarded a Japanese vessel and were held for two days.

"If the Government believes our actions are overly aggressive, it can counter our aggressiveness with a viable legal option," Capt Watson challenged.

Launceston cameraman Ashley Dunn captured last year's drama from on board the Steve Irwin and said the result was a "no punches pulled" documentary.

"The boarding episode looks like something out of a James Bond film ... it's just non-stop action," Mr Dunn said.

Hobart activist Andrew Perry was one of the drivers of the rigid inflatable boats used to chase the harpoon vessels.

After battling ferocious seas and blizzards last month, Mr Perry was hoping for favourable weather.

"I think we used up all our bad luck with the weather on the last leg," Mr Perry said.
more

01/27/09
Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society Lectures - WDCS

The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society invites you to explore historical
and contemporary aspects of human interactions with whales with leading
maritime historians, marine biologists, research scientists and whaling
historians. This five-part series includes a “Then and Now” format,
encouraging us to travel from the days of whaling under sail to the current
practice of watching from motorized vessels.

* February 4 - April 1, 2009
* New Bedford Whaling Museum Theater at 6:30 p.m.
* Light refreshments
* Registration is not required
* Museum members – free
* $5 for non-members
* Visit www.whalingmuseum.org for more
information

Man and Whales: Changing Views Through Time is sponsored by Education
through Cultural and Historical Organizations (ECHO) - a program of the U.S.
Department of Education, the New Bedford Whaling Museum and the Whale and
Dolphin Conservation Society.

Whaling to Watching - Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Mike Dyer, NBWM Maritime Curator, presents “Cross-cultural perspectives:
1690-1935” and whaling around the world.
Regina Asmutis-Silvia, Senior Biologist of the Whale and Dolphin
Conservation Society, reviews whale management initiatives, conservation
policies and the whale-watching industry.

Who They Are – Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Whaling Historian Judy Lund highlights a group of whaling captains, their
lives and families and how whaling impacted their lives.
Philip Hamilton, a Research Scientist with the New England Aquarium’s
Edgerton Research Lab, connects us to the remaining North Atlantic right
whales and the stories of this enigmatic and highly endangered species.

Whale-Hunter and Whale Songs – Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Stuart Frank, Senior Curator at the New Bedford Whaling Museum, and Mary
Malloy, Professor of Maritime Studies at the Sea Education Association in
Woods Hole and member of Museum Studies faculty at Harvard University,
discuss and perform authentic shipboard songs of the 19th century.
Leila Hatch, Regional Marine Bioacoustic Coordinator at the Stellwagen Bank
National Marine Sanctuary shares the sounds that most cetaceans (whales,
dolphins and porpoises) make and discuss what functions they might have
evolved to serve in these animals' lives.

Flensing / Rendering – Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Rob Ellis, former Curator, and Gare Reid, former Deputy Director at the
Kendall Whaling Museum, share their direct and historical knowledge of
recovering samples from beached whales and ‘trying out’ whale blubber.
Michael Moore, Senior Research Specialist at Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution, explains how and why dead whales are critical sources of
information.

Right Whales – Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Mike Dyer, NBWM Maritime Curator, focuses on historical references to
hunting the North Atlantic Right Whale, listed as the most endangered of all
the great whales.
Scott Kraus, Director of the Edgerton Research Laboratory at the New England
Aquarium, and co-editor of “The Urban Whale: North Atlantic Right Whales at
the Crossroads,” highlights the challenges faced by a whale species that has
continual interactions with the human species.

more

01/26/09
Japan in talks on whaling compromise: official - AFP

TOKYO (AFP) — Members of the international whale body are negotiating a compromise to let Japan hunt whales near its shores in exchange for cutting back its Antarctic hunts, an official said Monday.

William Hogarth, the chairman of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and US delegate to the body, told Sunday's Washington Post that he had made the proposal in closed-door weekend talks in Hawaii.

Japan would be allowed to hunt whales near its shores in return for scaling back its Antarctic expeditions in the name of research which have infuriated Australia and New Zealand, the newspaper said.

"It is true that we have had many proposals with members of IWC," Shigeki Takaya, an official in the whaling division of Japan's Fisheries Agency, told AFP. He said the report refers to "one of the proposals being negotiated."

"We need to make a very important decision this year, as it may be the last chance to normalise the IWC," he said.

Japan argues that the IWC should be "normalised" by managing the hunting of whales.

The body imposed a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986 but Japan continues to kill whales using a loophole that allows "lethal research" on the ocean giants. Norway and Iceland defy the moratorium altogether.

"We are trying to come up with something substantial at the interim meeting in March," Takaya said, referring to talks to be held in Rome.

The annual IWC gathering for this year is due to be held on the Portuguese island of Madeira from June 22 to 26.

IWC meetings have for years been passionate showdowns pitting Japan, which says whaling is part of its culture, against Australia and other Western nations.

Hogarth, who steps down after the Madeira meeting, persuaded Japan to stay with the IWC and to freeze its plans to expand its slaughter to humpback whales, which are a popular tourist attraction in Australia.

Last week Japan's top whaling negotiator Joji Morishita praised Hogarth's role and warned that the IWC could collapse if the Madeira meeting fails to reach an agreement.
more

01/23/09
Rangers battle to save whales beached in Tasmania - nzHerald

HOBART, Australia - Rescuers trying to keep seven stranded sperm whales alive in Australia said they hoped to move the animals out to sea at the next high tide, despite difficulty navigating numerous sandbars.

A team of six wildlife rangers yesterday continued to pour water on the parched skin of the whales, the only ones left alive from a pod of 45 whales that beached the day before on a remote sand bank off Australia's southern coast.

Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service spokeswoman Liz Wren said the many sandbars off the beach had hindered efforts to move the whales back to sea.

She said rescuers would attempt to save the remaining whales at high tide on Saturday morning, depending on weather conditions.

"This will be one of the most challenging rescues ever attempted. They are packed pretty tightly together. This will be as difficult as they get," Wren said.

The whales beached about 150 metres off Perkins Island on the northwest of Tasmania state, and all but seven had died by the time they were spotted, wildlife officials said.

The rangers reached the whales yesterday and spent the day trying to keep their skin wet.

The team had determined that the stranded pod numbered 45, and Wren said there were young whales among the seven survivors.

The reasons for the beaching were unclear, but Wren said they may have been partly caused by rough sea conditions and the narrow channel that the pod had been navigating between the island and the mainland.

Strandings happen periodically in Tasmania, which whales pass on their migration to and from Antarctic waters. It is not known why the creatures get stranded.

Last November, 150 long-finned pilot whales died after beaching on a rocky coastline in Tasmania despite frantic efforts to save them.

A week earlier, rescuers saved 11 pilot whales among a pod of 60 that had beached on the island state. more

01/20/09
The Whale War of Words - http://www.seashepherd.org/

Commentary by Captain Paul Watson on board the Steve Irwin

Sea Shepherd is fighting two battles at the same time to defend the whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. The first battle is the on-going confrontations on the high seas and the second battle is in the court of international public opinion, the daily skirmishes of words fought in headlines and broadcasts around the world.

The Japanese whaling fleet is not doing very well on either front. In the field this season, they were shut down for three weeks as Sea Shepherd pursued them for over 2,000 nautical miles and they have lost one of their three harpoon vessels to ice damage.

In desperation, their public relations mouthpiece in New Zealand, a man by the name of Glenn Inwood has been shooting rhetoric from the hip without thinking. In fact he is making so many mistakes that it is we who should be paying him instead of his Japanese bosses. He has thrown the accusation of "terrorist" at us so many times that the word has lost all meaning. It's an easy label to rebuff. If we are terrorists than we should be arrested. Otherwise the name calling is becoming increasing more juvenile.

But then Inwood has not got much to rely on in his bag of devious dirty P.R. tricks. After all, his client the whalers are a cruel and despicable lot involved in numerous violations of international conservation law. Inwood would have an easier time defending the Mafia. But then come to think of it, in defending the whalers, he is in fact defending the Japanese organized crime syndicate called the Yakusa.

The Union that supplies the crew for the whaling ships is a Yakusa controlled Union. I've been making that charge for years without a single denial from the Union, the whalers or anyone else. The only defense for that charge is to ignore it with the hope it goes away or to assassinate the person making the charge which is exactly what they tried to do last season when someone on the Nisshin Maru shot me.

What is amusing is that Inwood and his clients are actually believing their own rhetoric to the point that they have abandoned any strategic thinking at all. The demand to bar the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin from Australian and New Zealand ports was very poorly thought out. Just as a lawyer should not ask a question in court that he or she does not know the answer to, nations should never make diplomatic demands publicly unless they know that the demand will be honoured.

Since Sea Shepherd has given no just cause to Australia or New Zealand to justify such a move, it was not going to happen. As a result, Japan, the whalers and Inwood lost face with the humiliating announcement by the Australian government that the Steve Irwin could continue to use Australian ports.

Japanese whalers however cannot. As a result the Japanese harpooner Yushin Maru #2 limped northward for 16 days to Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia for repairs where it is being met with demonstrations and negative publicity. So guilty are they that they unloaded their harpoon before entering Indonesian waters (most likely to another whaling vessel) and informed the Indonesian authorities that they were not harpooning whales but were instead simply doing non-lethal research.

Of course we have photos of the same ship with the harpoon mounted on December 20th, 2009, but the Japanese believe they can bully and bluff their way with the Indonesians where they failed with the Australians and the New Zealanders.

Our TV series Whale Wars has made millions of people aware of the illegal activities of the Japanese whalers and last year for the first time the issue made headlines in Japan. Japan is rapidly becoming more and more of a pariah in the world for its stubborn insistence in continuing to cruelly kill whales in arrogant defiance of the sentiments and the concerns of most of the world.

Sea Shepherd's strategy has been one of steady persistence in opposing the whalers in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary. We do so without inflicting injury or damaging their ships and without committing any crime. Japanese accusations of the "violence" of Sea Shepherd ring hollow and like the boy who called "wolf" too many times, few except for the most ardent anti-environmentalists are paying any heed.

One tactic of the whalers is to try and hit the Steve Irwin so they can blame Sea Shepherd for "ramming" their ships. The fact is that Sea Shepherd has not rammed a single Japanese whaling vessel in the many years we have been confronting the whalers. The whalers deliberately collide with both Sea Shepherd and Greenpeace ships so they can have the opportunity to plead the victim.

No matter how hard Inwood and his ilk try, he is defending the indefensible. Japanese whalers are targeting endangered Fin and threatened Minke whales in an established international whale sanctuary in violation of a global moratorium on commercial whaling and in contempt of an Australian Federal Court ruling prohibiting their whaling operations in Australian waters. They are in violation of the Antarctic Treaty and the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna.

The only difference between the criminal activities of the Japanese whaling and elephant and rhino poachers is that the whalers have hired a few public relations firms and they are far more wealthy than Somali poachers. I am confident that we are once again going to cost the Japanese whaling fleet a great deal of money this season, just as we did for the two previous years. I am confident that they will not achieve their kill quota and I am also confident that if we persist without retreat, we will end this crime against nature and humanity and we will ensure that the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary becomes a sanctuary in practise and not just name.

Let's hope that the Japanese whalers do not fire Glen Inwood. We like him exactly where he is with his shoot a media release from the hip without thinking approach. We have been greatly entertained by his comical outbursts of indignation against compassionate people wanting to defend life from barbaric slaughter. It was also entertaining to see him skulk around the hotel where the International Whaling Commission met in Santiago, Chile last June when he ordered a surveillance on 15 year old Skye Bortoli of Australian Teens Against Whaling because she was a suspected terrorist. He also tried to have Chilean authorities ban me from entry to the country, another failure to stick in his portfolio of failures.

more

01/17/09
Marine Mammal Internship with the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society - WDCS

Marine Mammal Internship with the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society

WDCS North America (NA), headquartered in Plymouth, Massachusetts, is accepting applications for internships. WDCS, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, is the leading international charity dedicated solely to the worldwide conservation and welfare of all whales, dolphins, and porpoises.

WDCS (NA) offers a volunteer / intern program to qualified applicants throughout the year in a uniquely designed rolling internship program, allowing each participant / student to customize their learning experience based on their interest. Although all accepted interns would be expected to fulfill basic training in research, education and conservation of marine mammals; WDCS will also provide more detailed training and provide oversight for specific projects of interests. WDCS is willing to help qualified students obtain credits for the program through their college or university. The program typically requires minimum commitment of 3 months, with the possibility of extended the term.

All interns are trained in photo-identification, data-collection and management, identification catalog maintenance, public speaking, and marine mammal policy. Based on time of year (due to field season constraints and the varying conservation / management duties), and the motivational level of successful applicants; the intern program may include all or some portion of the following:

Education and Outreach

• Whale Watch Naturalist Training.

• Outreach to local schools and the general public.

• Assisting with and learning about the importance of ecotourism and best practices.

• Writing up a synopsis of the work you conduct while interning with WDCS

• Helping to plan and execute fundraising events.

· Attendance at conferences and meetings.

Research

• Cataloging individually identifiable humpback whales.

• Collection of distributional data of marine mammals in, and around, the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary.

• Researching and submitting grant applications.

• Preparing a report of the previous season's whale sightings with historical analysis, risk issues and the impact of cumulative developmental threats.

• Attendance and participation in stranding training and events.

Conservation

• Supporting WDCS personnel at key conservation meetings.

• Literature research for written and oral comments submitted to federal agencies.

This type of diversity will provide interns with breadth of experience of working for an international organization in the conservation arena. It may also open doors to other opportunities within WDCS as it continues its development and growth.

There is no compensation for these internship positions and each volunteer is responsible for providing their own food as well as $500 per month housing fee. Interns share a house in Plymouth, each intern having their own room. WDCS does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin. No prior experience is necessary, training will be provided. However, preference will be given to individuals involved in marine mammal science courses or related institutions and/or with prior volunteer marine mammal field experience.

Candidate Requirements

• Fluency in English.

• Must be 18 years or older, preference given to students matriculated in appropriate graduate or under graduate degree programs.

• Must be able to show proof of valid health insurance.

• Ability to work on sea going vessels for long hours that may require physical labor.

• Ability to work effectively as a member of a close-knit team. Open to work long days (sometimes 12 hours or more) in the field or lab.

• Good computer skills – familiarity with operating PC's and MAC's.

• Good verbal and written communications skills.

• Familiar with literature research protocols, and research methods and design

• Ability to work well under pressure.

How to Apply

• Email a covering letter, the completed Volunteer application form, two letters of reference, along with a resume of no more than 3 pages along with a supporting document of no more than 500 words on one of the following subjects –

• Do whales die through human's knowledge or ignorance?

• Preservation or conservation. Which offers the best route to a sustainable population of an endangered species and why?

• How do you convert apathy into interest and then into action?

Please submit your application by email only to sue.rocca@wdcs.org making sure you clearly indicate your availability.

--
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01/14/09
Whale hunts by Japan: Is the tide finally turning against them? - L A Times

While walking into a Whole Foods market recently, I was greeted by two Greenpeace recruiters, and we talked about Japanese whaling in the Antarctic and clashes between whalers and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

I asked why Greenpeace did not send a boat to the region this season and was told it's because Australia and New Zealand, which do not approve of disruptive tactics by the two groups, had announced it would not respond to any emergency arising from the clashes.

In an e-mail, John Hocevar, campaign manager for Greenpeace USA, did not confirm this. He replied: "We are focusing our pressure where it can have the most impact, on the decision makers in Tokyo."

Hocevar noted that two Japanese-based Greenpeace activists were jailed and facing prison sentences of up to 10 years for their roles "in blowing the whistle on illegal whale meat smuggling."

In May, Greenpeace posted its version of the story on its website:

"Greenpeace Japan used undercover investigators and the testimony of informers to expose that large amounts of prime cut whale meat were being smuggled from the whaling ship Nisshin Maru disguised as personal baggage, labeled "cardboard" or "salted stuff" and addressed to the private homes of crewmembers.

"Greenpeace activists Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki intercepted one box out of four sent to one address, discovered it contained whale meat valued at up to $3,000, and took it to the Tokyo public prosecutor."

The two were subsequently arrested and charged with stealing whale meat. Greenpeace considers them political prisoners.

A Greenpeace activist is arrested during a protest at St. Kitts, the site of a 2006 International Whaling Commission conference.

Said a hopeful Hocevar: "There are several indications that the tide is turning. The scandal over the whale meat smuggling and the success of the campaign in Japan made it necessary for the whalers to hire non-Japanese crew for the first time this season.

"Kyodo Senpaku, the entity set up by the Fisheries Agency of Japan to run their whaling operation, announced that they will be closing their flagship whale meat restaurant for economic reasons.

"The Oriental Bluebird, which the whaling fleet has long used to refuel and offload whale meat in the Southern Ocean, was stripped of its Panamanian flag and fined. And fewer and fewer Japanese are eating whale meat, or in favor of whaling in the Southern Ocean. Commercial whaling is a dying industry, and we are doing all we can to speed along its demise."

Despite all this, Greenpeace was sharply criticized by the Sea Shepherd for not sending a ship to help harass the whalers. On Tuesday, the Sea Shepherd's flagship vessel, Steve Irwin, was engaged in a search for a whaler who fell overboard and was presumed lost at sea.

more

01/11/09
Study: Hawaii's pygmy killer whales stay close - Seattle Times

A new study of pygmy killer whales - one of the least understood marine mammal species - shows that those living off Hawaii tend to stay close to the islands and don't swim out to the open ocean.

A new study of pygmy killer whales - one of the least understood marine mammal species - shows that those living off Hawaii tend to stay close to the islands and don't swim out to the open ocean.

There are very few of the whales, probably less than 200 individuals, in this distinct pygmy killer whale population off the islands.

The population's limited number make it more vulnerable than other whale populations to potentially harmful human behavior, including fishing and Navy sonar, said the paper published Tuesday in the journal Marine Mammal Science.

"It's just much more likely that human activities could impact the population, hurt the population," said Robin Baird, a marine biologist with the Olympia, Wash.-based Cascadia Research Collective and one of the study's authors.

The study was based on an ongoing photo identification project launched in the mid-1980s by Daniel McSweeney of the Wild Whale Research Foundation in Holualoa on the Big Island.

The study's authors examined 3,431 photos of pygmy killer whales taken over 22 years. Most of the whales were spotted off the Big Island, though a few were found off Oahu, Lanai and Niihau.

The authors used the photos to distinguish the whales by their body scars, dorsal fin shapes and other distinctive characteristics.

The study showed researchers repeatedly came across the same whales, including one individual who was spotted over a 21-year period.

The analysis also showed pygmy killer whales appear to be social animals, with many staying close to other individuals for at least 15 years.

Their stable, long-term relationships resemble the social behaviors of killer whales and pilot whales, the paper said.

Pygmy killer whales are found in tropical and subtropical waters around the world. Yet they are among the least understood toothed whales, in part because they generally live in the open ocean and so are harder for scientists to study.

Baird said Hawaii's group was the only known case of a pygmy killer whale population that remained isolated in one area and didn't venture out to the open ocean.

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On average, the researchers spotted pygmy killer whales about 3.7 miles from Hawaii shores. The furthest offshore sighting was at 9.3 miles.

Baird said Hawaii's pygmy killer whales, like Cuvier's beaked whales and almost 10 other whale and dolphin species living in island waters, don't venture far because there isn't much food for them just outside Hawaiian waters.

The islands are their most reliable source of food, so they stay nearby.

Hawaii's pygmy killer whales are so rare, however, that they accounted for only 11, or 1.2 percent, of 889 whale and dolphin sightings the researchers made off Hawaii between 2000 and 2007.

The pygmy killer whale's small numbers stand in contrast to the humpback whale. It is an endangered species yet as many as 10,000 individuals migrate to Hawaii's waters from Alaska to breed and calve each winter.

Baird said the small number of pygmy killer whales made it difficult to monitor for harmful effects of human activity.

"They're encountered so infrequently that any particular population of the species could be dramatically declining and we would never know it," Baird said. "That's one of the problems with very rare species."

The study said there has been no documented case of a pygmy killer whale being hurt by sonar. But it also said there's low probability anyone would be able to document such harm given the whales are so rare and because they generally spend their time miles offshore.

Environmentalists argue the Navy's mid-frequency active sonar can disrupt whale feeding patterns, and in the most extreme cases can kill whales by causing them to beach themselves.

The Navy acknowledges its sonar, used to hunt enemy submarines, may harm some marine mammals. But it says it takes steps to protect whales, including having ships power down their sonar when whales are nearby and posting marine mammal lookouts on deck.

Fishing is the another potential human source of harm to pygmy killer whales.

The study said there has been no report of a pygmy killer whale dying as a result of Hawaii's long-line tuna and swordfish fishery. But the mouth of a pygmy killer whale that stranded on Oahu in 2006 had hook and line marks, indicating fishing lines affect the animals.

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01/10/09
Scientists Attempt Disentanglement Of Right Whale Off Florida - Science Daily

NOAA’s Fisheries Service and its rescue team partners recently attempted a disentanglement of a critically endangered North Atlantic right whale.

“The disentanglement team removed hundreds of feet of rope yesterday, and was able to cut through more rope today,” said Jamison Smith, NOAA’s Fisheries Service’s large whale disentanglement coordinator. “Although we did not remove all of the entangling rope, we feel confident the rest of the rope will slough off as the whale swims through the water.”

A team from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) first sighted the entangled on December 26, 2008, during routine aerial surveys designed to spot right whales in their only known calving (birthing) grounds off northeast Florida and Georgia. These aerial survey teams provide ships early warnings of right whales in their paths, and look for sick, injured and entangled whales.

NOAA scientist Smith says the whale is a young whale born in 2007. It was last sighted on September 25, 2008 in the Bay of Fundy, Canada, where it was not entangled at the time.

“This is good news for North Atlantic right whales and truly a team effort,” said Smith. “These rescue efforts are not possible without support from all of our disentanglement network partners.”

The disentanglement team consisted of land, sea, and air support from NOAA, FWC, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, New England Aquarium and Wildlife Trust.

With only 300-400 in existence, North Atlantic right whales are among the most endangered whales in the world. They are protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act of 1973 and the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972. Vessel strikes and entanglement in fixed fishing gear are the two greatest threats to their recovery.

NOAA’s Fisheries Service encourages people to report sightings of dead, injured, or entangled whales to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission at 1-888-404-FWCC(3922). All live right whale sightings should be reported to 1-877-97-WHALE or 1-877-979-4253. more

01/05/09
East Timor a global whale 'hot spot' - Globe and Mail

CANBERRA — One of the world's highest concentrations of dolphins and whales – many of them protected species – has been discovered off the coast of East Timor, local and Australian researchers said on Wednesday.

A “hot spot” of marine cetaceans migrating through deep channels off the Timor coast, including blue and beaked whales, short-finned pilot whales, melon headed whales and six dolphin species was uncovered in a study for the Timorese government.

“We were all amazed to see such an abundance, diversity and density of cetaceans. Most of them are actually protected,” principal scientist Karen Edyvane told Reuters.

“It's among the world's hot spots for cetaceans.”

The survey was done by East Timorese researchers and experts from the Australian Institute of Marine Science, working from a traditional 20-metre wooden Indonesian vessel.

Deep ocean channels of the Wetar and Ombai straits, which reach a depth greater than 3,000 metres, were a major migratory route for marine wildlife moving between the Pacific and Indian oceans, including large sharks and turtles, the study found.

The channels are also used by U.S. nuclear and Australian navy submarines travelling through the Indonesian islands.

The research highlighted the threat posed by unregulated fishing in the region as cash-strapped East Timor looks to develop its fishing industry while searching out potentially lucrative eco-tourism opportunities like whale-watching.

“We are committed to ensuring that this marine biodiversity is protected,” said Celestino Barreto de Cunha, director of fisheries management for East Timor's government.

In just one day, more than 1,000 individuals and possibly as many as 2,000 whales in eight separate pods – each one containing up to 400 mammals – were spotted over a 50-kilometre stretch of coast, Dr. Edyvane said.

Concentrations were similar to those near Antarctica, where Japan's whaling fleet is currently carrying out its yearly five-month hunt, chased by anti-whaling activists who argue that it is not necessary for scientific research.

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01/04/09
Navy, whale advocates settle suit over sonar - L A Times

The Navy and several environmental groups settled a lawsuit that challenged the Navy's use of sonar around the globe as dangerous to whales and other marine mammals, the two sides said Saturday.

Both portrayed the settlement as a victory. The case is separate from one the U.S. Supreme Court decided last month, in which the majority said the Navy could not be unduly required to protect whales.

The Navy said the settlement, reached Friday but not announced for 24 hours, does not require any additional protective measures for whales beyond those it had agreed to in 2005. Nor does it require that additional funds be spent on marine mammal research beyond the $14.75 million the Navy has already earmarked for the next three years, the Navy said.

"The settlement protects the public interest in national security by preserving the Navy's ability to conduct realistic anti-submarine warfare training," said Navy spokesman Cmdr. Cappy Surette.

But a lawyer for one of the plaintiffs, the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the settlement should be viewed as a victory for whales because it sets up a schedule for the Navy to implement mitigation measures and opens up the training process and scientific research to civilian review.

"This does not resolve all of our disputes with the Navy, but it sets in place a process to deal with future disagreements," said Joel Reynolds, a senior attorney and marine mammal protection specialist with the NRDC.

The litigation deals with what is called midfrequency sonar. If the plaintiffs had been successful, the Navy said, that could have led to restrictions in some 370 training and testing activities around the world.

Under the settlement, the Navy agrees to:

-- Use shipboard software to scan training areas for marine mammals and to plot a course meant to avoid sensitive areas when possible.

-- Look for whales through passive sonar, lookouts and aircraft during training so the animals can be avoided.

-- Reduce or shut down sonar when whales or dolphins are spotted close to ships.

The settlement comes after the Supreme Court sided with the Navy in the similar lawsuit, which was aimed at restricting the use of sonar during exercises off Southern California and the Hawaiian Islands.

But Reynolds said the plaintiffs in the suit settled Friday had already begun negotiating with the Navy about a settlement before the Supreme Court's decision.

Environmentalists contend that the Navy's use of active sonar is hurting or maybe even killing whales. They say studies show the piercing underwater sounds cause whales to flee in panic or to dive too deeply.

The Navy disputes this and says sonar training is essential for sailors to be prepared to detect super-quiet diesel submarines that are being purchased or built by rogue nations, including Iran and North Korea.

In the settlement, filed Friday before U.S. District Court Judge Florence-Marie Cooper in Los Angeles, the Navy agreed to pay $1.1 million in attorney fees for the case that was decided by the Supreme Court. The cases largely involve the same plaintiffs.

In addition to the NRDC, plaintiffs were the International Fund for Animal Welfare, the Cetacean Society International, the Ocean Futures Society, the League for Coastal Protection and Jean-Michel Cousteau. more

01/02/09
New Breeding Ground For Endangered Whales? High Numbers Of Right Whales Seen In Gulf Of Maine - Science Daily

A large number of North Atlantic right whales have been seen in the Gulf of Maine in recent days, leading right whale researchers at NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center to believe they have identified a wintering ground and potentially a breeding ground for this endangered species.

The NEFSC’s aerial survey team saw 44 individual right whales on Dec. 3 in the Jordan Basin area, located about 70 miles south of Bar Harbor, Maine. Weather permitting, the team regularly surveys the waters from Maine to Long Island and offshore 150 miles to the Hague Line (the U.S.-Canadian border), an area about 25,000 square nautical miles.

“We’re excited because seeing 44 right whales together in the Gulf of Maine is a record for the winter months, when daily observations of three to five animals are much more common,” said Tim Cole, who heads the team. “Right whales are baleen whales, and in the winter spend a lot of time diving for food deep in the water column. Seeing so many of them at the surface when we are flying over an area is a bit of luck.”

Just a few days later, on Dec. 6, the team observed only three right whales on Cashes Ledge, about 80 miles east of Gloucester, Mass. Cole says the whales are known to be in the region, but actually seeing them on any given aerial survey is unpredictable. On Dec. 14, the team saw 41 right whales just west of Jordan Basin.

An estimated 100 female North Atlantic right whales head south in winter to give birth in the waters off Florida and Georgia, but little is known about where other individual right whales in the population go in winter, largely due to difficult surveying conditions.

Given the large geographical area over which North Atlantic right whales can occur, Cole and NEFSC colleagues developed an aerial grid system a few years ago for the Gulf of Maine and waters around Cape Cod to ensure complete coverage of the region. The grid resulted in consistent surveys of areas infrequently surveyed in the past, like Jordan Basin and the Great South Channel, and have shown that whales congregate in certain areas at certain times.

With a population estimated to be about 325 whales, knowing where the whales are at any time is critical to protect them. Finding an aggregation of whales can trigger a management action affording protection, such as slowing ship speeds in the vicinity of the whales. On Dec. 9, new federal speed rules for large ships went into effect to reduce ship strikes, to which North Atlantic right whales are particularly vulnerable.

NOAA understands and predicts changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and conserves and manages our coastal and marine resources. more

12/30/08
Whale Wars Wins Ratings Battle; Series Maiden Voyage Is Animal Planet's Most Watched Series Ever - Animal Planet

Animal Planet's WHALE WARS stormed audiences on its second voyage delivering more than 1.1 million viewers (1.153M P2+), the network's best performing Friday primetime telecast in five years. The momentum for the series grew in its second week garnering a 0.9 household ratings (812,000 homes), an 80% increase compared to the Planet's year-ago November prime average (0.9 vs. 0.5), and +13% increase from the series November 7th debut (0.8 HH).

On its second outing, WHALE WARS captured a 0.6 AA% among Persons 25-54, Men 25-54 and Women 25-54 scoring record 200% increases over the network's prime average last November. The series also saw double-digit ratings growth among those demos compared to the previous week's series premiere: +50% P25-54 (0.6 vs. 0.4), +50% W25-54 (0.6 vs. 0.4), and +20% M25-54 (0.6 vs. 0.5). In addition, WHALE WARS helped deliver Animal Planet's best overall Friday night among P25-54 viewers (427,000) since June 2003.

Moreover, WHALE WARS helped Animal Planet tie for 8th place among all ad-supported cable networks at 9 pm with a 0.6 rating W25-54, and tie for 9th with a 0.6 rating among P25-54.

"WHALE WARS is the latest example of Animal Planets new brand positioning which is bringing the network a new and larger audience," noted Marjorie Kaplan, president and general manager of Animal Planet Media.

WHALE WARS is a new environmental adventure series following the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, an organization founded by former Greenpeace member Paul Watson, who uses unconventional and radical methods to eradicate alleged illegal whaling operations. Spotlighting the controversial whaling trade and the tactics that Sea Shepherd and its staff and volunteers use to cripple it, the series documents the group's 2007-2008 three-month sojourn across the icy Antarctic waters at the far end of the globe. WHALE WARS draws attention to this global conservation issue that has caused friction between several nations over the practice of whaling in oceanic territories.

WHALES WARS is a production of RIVR Media for Animal Planet. Rob Lundgren, Lori Stryer and Liz Bronstein are the executive producers for RIVR Media, and Jason Carey is the executive producer at Animal Planet. Charlie Foley is the development executive for Animal Planet.
more

12/27/08
Sea Shepherd clashes with Japanese whalers - Australia

Anti-whaling protesters and a Japanese whaling ship have clashed in waters off Antarctica.

The crew of the Sea Shepherd boat the Steve Irwin say they threw bottles of rotten butter and non-toxic dye at the whaling ship when the two vessels met in dense fog on Boxing Day.

The Steve Irwin's captain Paul Watson says the aim is to drive the Japanese vessel out of Australian waters, where he says it is in breach of a Federal Court order.

He says the two ships collided, but there was no serious damage to either.

A spokesman for the Institute of Cetacean Research in Tokyo says Japan has a legal right to conduct whale research and the Sea Shepherd is a terrorist vigilante group.

The spokesman accused the Sea Shepherd crew of throwing acid and said the Steve Irwin rammed the Kaiko Maru, and then repeatedly overtook and menaced the Japanese vessel for three hours at dangerously close quarters. more

12/23/08
'Gray's Paradox' Solved: Researchers Discover Secret Of Speedy Dolphins - Science Daily

There was something peculiar about dolphins that stumped prolific British zoologist Sir James Gray in 1936.

He had observed the sea mammals swimming at a swift rate of more than 20 miles per hour, but his studies had concluded that the muscles of dolphins simply weren’t strong enough to support those kinds of speeds. The conundrum came to be known as “Gray’s Paradox.”

For decades the puzzle prompted much attention, speculation, and conjecture in the scientific community. But now, armed with cutting-edge flow measurement technology, researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have tackled the problem and conclusively solved Gray’s Paradox.

“Sir Gray was certainly on to something, and it took nearly 75 years for technology to bring us to the point where we could get at the heart of his paradox,” said Timothy Wei, professor and acting dean of Rensselaer’s School of Engineering, who led the project. “But now, for the first time, I think we can safely say the puzzle is solved. The short answer is that dolphins are simply much stronger than Gray or many other people ever imagined.”

Wei is presenting his findings today at the 61st Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society (APS) Division of Fluid Dynamics in San Antonio, Texas. Collaborators on the research include Frank Fish, a biologist at West Chester University in Pennsylvania; Terrie Williams, a marine biologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz; Rensselaer undergraduate student Yae Eun Moon; and Rensselaer graduate student Erica Sherman.

After studying dolphins, Gray said in 1936 that they are not capable of producing enough thrust, or power-induced acceleration, to overcome the drag created as the mammal sped forward through the water. This drag should prevent dolphins from attaining significant speed, but simple observation proved otherwise — a paradox. In the absence of a sound explanation, Gray theorized that dolphin skin must have special drag-reducing properties.

More than 70 years later, Wei has developed a tool that conclusively measures the force a dolphin generates with its tail.

Wei created this new state-of-the-art water flow diagnostic technology by modifying and combining force measurement tools developed for aerospace research with a video-based flow measurement technique known as Digital Particle Image Velocimetry, which can capture up to 1,000 video frames per second.

Wei videotaped two bottlenose dolphins, Primo and Puka, as they swam through a section of water populated with hundreds of thousands of tiny air bubbles. He then used sophisticated computer software to track the movement of the bubbles. The color-coded results show the speed and in what direction the water is flowing around and behind the dolphin, which allowed researchers to calculate precisely how mush force the dolphin was producing.

Wei also used this technique to film dolphins as they were doing tail-stands, a trick where the dolphins “walk” on water by holding most of their bodies vertical above the water while supporting themselves with short, powerful thrusts of their tails.

The results show that dolphins produce on average about 200 pounds of force when flapping their tail — about 10 times more force than Gray originally hypothesized.

“It turns out that the answer to Gray’s Paradox had nothing to do with the dolphins’ skin,” Wei said. “Dolphins can certainly produce enough force to overcome drag. The scientific community has known this for a while, but this is the first time anyone has been able to actually quantitatively measure the force and say, for certain, the paradox is solved.”

At peak performance, the dolphins produced between 300 and 400 pounds of force. Human Olympic swimmers, by comparison, peak at about 60 to 70 pounds of force, Wei said. He knows this for a fact because he has been working with U.S.A. Swimming over the past few years to use these same bubble-tracking DPIV and force-measuring techniques to better understand how elite swimmers interact with the water, and improve lap times.

“It was actually a natural extension to go from swimmers to dolphins,” said Wei, whose research ranges from aeronautical and hydrodynamic flow of vehicles to more biological topics dealing with the flow of cells and fluid in the human body.

The dolphins Wei filmed, Primo and Puka, are retired U.S. Navy dolphins who now live at the Long Marine Laboratory at UC Santa Cruz.

Wei said the research team will likely continue to investigate the flow dynamics and force generation of other marine animals, which could yield new insight into how different species have evolved as a result of their swimming proficiency.

“Maybe sea otters,” he said. more

12/21/08
First Portable System Enabling In Situ Detection Of Cetacean Hearing Loss Developed - Science Daily

A research project led by Michel André, director of the Laboratory of Applied Bioacoustics at the UPC (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya) has developed the world’s first portable system for measuring cetacean hearing sensitivity.

This audiogram measurement system facilitates in situ diagnosis of cetacean hearing loss, allowing assessments to be run on the survival chances of stranded animals without having to transport them to a laboratory. Researchers in Spain, the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands and the United States have taken part in this BBVA Foundation project.

Cetaceans rank among the world’s most imperiled species, due, among other reasons, to the noise produced by artificial sound sources. A number of problems have recently come to light which bear a direct relation to sound sources of human origin; among them, the growing number of cetacean deaths in collisions with boats, or the mass beaching of whales after military maneuvers. Oil and gas extraction too have added their share of noise pollution to the marine environment.

To date, the only way to measure cetaceans’ hearing sensitivity was to remove them to a laboratory. However this complex process entailed serious risks for their survival, given their large size and the delicate state of health of stranded individuals.

Among the innovative features of the new portable system developed by Michel André’s team with the aid of the BBVA Foundation are its electrical autonomy, measurement speed – just a few minutes suffice to detect any auditory lesions – and its ability to generate stimuli from 10 Hz up to 200 kHz, encompassing the entire human hearing range (20 Hz- 20 kHz) and, naturally, that of cetaceans.

This novel system can ascertain how the animals’ brains react to sound signals, as well as measuring cetaceans’ hearing sensitivity to certain frequencies by analyzing the evoked potentials registered through the top of the skull. When an animal hears a sound, its brain registers this vibration through an electrical impulse that can be detected with simple suction cup electrodes. These electrical pulses are called auditory evoked potentials or auditory brainstem responses (ABR), and incorporate a short latency time and duration. In the case of a rehabilitating stranded cetacean, this hearing analysis is vital in order to determine whether it can correctly use its biosonar system and thus evaluate its survival chances on release.

Elucidating Sperm Whale Sonar And Its Detection Powers

Cetacean hearing systems are characterized by a series of unique morphological adaptations allowing them to pick up frequencies that their auditory channels translate into accurate acoustic images. At the same time, by measuring the ear’s sensitivity to certain frequencies we can gauge the physical and pathological state of an individual’s auditory system and thereby its acoustic ability to negotiate its habitat.

The diversity of sound signals - there are around eighty cetacean species, every one with a rich acoustic repertoire - complicates the task of extracting the key components that determine the survival of an individual or a population, and is a constraint on our ability to estimate the effects of contaminating sound sources.

The BBVA Foundation project coordinated by Michel André has developed analysis models for the sound signal sequences that sperm whales emit while foraging in the ocean deeps, which conclude that this marine mammal is capable of detecting a 25 cm squid at a distance of more than two kilometers by means of the repeat emission of sonar clicks. But the presence of intrusive, man-made sound sources can impair this capacity, potentially disrupting the species in its feeding activities – occupying 80% of its time since its ingestion needs are a ton per day – and destabilizing the entire food chain.

Each of the species making up the cetacean order has its own acoustic repertoire directly related to the habitat where it has evolved over the course of millions of years. In order to detect their prey, coastal species must be able to accurately trace the outline and details of short-range features, while the absence of such features in the high seas means the cetaceans that inhabit them (pelagic species) have more need of medium- and long-range data on the presence of fish schools. However, all odontocetes or toothed cetaceans share the same method of sound production, which includes the passage of air though their nasal conducts and its expulsion by specialized tissues known as phonic lips located in the upper part of the head. While the mammal is immersed, this air is recycled and allows them to vocalize for the purpose of social communication or echolocation, depending on the need at hand.

The absence of vocal chords is accompanied by another trait unique among the mammals: that of not using an external auditory conduct for the purposes of hearing.

Instead, they pick up sound waves through their jaws which transmit the information directly to the middle or inner ear where it is processed then relayed to the brain.

The work of the BBVA Foundation project team will help develop bioindicators of the damage caused by human-produced noise in the marine environment, as a first step to combating this pollution source and establishing a balance between the conduct of human activities and the conservation of marine mammals.

This research was supported by the BBVA Foundation. more

12/17/08
Norway sets lower quota for 2009 minke whaling season - Earth Times

Oslo - The Norwegian whaling quota for next year was set at 885 minke whales, the Fisheries Ministry said Thursday. That compares with a quota of 1,052 whales for 2008. Published reports suggested that 532 whales were caught during the 2008 whaling season that opened in April and ended in early September.

The ministry said 750 whales would be allowed to be caught in coastal areas including the North Sea, the Barents Sea and the area around Svalbard.

The remaining 135 whales in the quota can be taken from the area around the island of Jan Mayen. However, high fuel costs have deterred whalers from operating in that zone in recent years.

Hunting conditions are also impacted by weather conditions.

Norway resumed whaling in 1993, arguing that hunting is necessary to prevent the minke whale population from growing so large that it threatens fish stocks.

Minke whales are the smallest of the seven great whales. They are up to 11 metres long, and can weigh about 8 tons.
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12/13/08
NOAA: Ships Must Slow Down To Protect North Atlantic Right Whales - cape cod times

Ships in southeastern Atlantic and mid-Atlantic U.S. waters must slow down to protect endangered right whales starting this week.

A landmark regulation going into effect on Dec. 9 will require ships 65 feet or longer to travel at 10 knots or less in certain areas where right whales gather. These new speed restrictions will take effect in waters off New England beginning in January 2009 when whales begin gathering in this area as part of their annual migration. The goal is to reduce the chances ships will collide with whales, injuring or killing them.

With only 300 to 400 in existence, North Atlantic right whales are among the most endangered whales in the world. Their slow movements and time spent at the surface and near the coast make right whales highly vulnerable to being struck by ships, especially since shipping lanes into East Coast ports cut across their migration routes.

The 10-knot speed restriction will extend out to 20 nautical miles around major mid-Atlantic ports. According to NOAA researchers, about 83 percent of right whale sightings in the mid-Atlantic region occur within 20 nautical miles of shore. The speed restriction also applies in waters off New England and the southeastern U.S., where whales gather seasonally.

The speed restrictions apply in the following approximate locations at the following times; they are based on times whales are known to be in these areas:

* Southeastern U.S. from St. Augustine, Fla. to Brunswick, Ga. from Nov. 15 to April 15
* Mid-Atlantic U.S. areas from Rhode Island to Georgia from Nov. 1 to April 30
* Cape Cod Bay from Jan. 1 to May 15
* Off Race Point at northern end of Cape Cod from March 1 to April 30
* Great South Channel of New England from April 1 to July 31

NOAA also will call for temporary voluntary speed limits in other areas or times when a group of three or more right whales is confirmed. Scientists will assess whether the speed restrictions are effective before the rule expires in 2013.

The rule is part of NOAA’s broader effort to help the right whale population recover by protecting their habitat and reducing chances of ships colliding with right whales and of right whales entangling in fishing gear. Existing protective actions include surveying whale habitat by aircraft, mandatory ship reporting systems that provide advisories and information on right whale locations to mariners, shifting shipping lanes into Boston, recommending shipping routes into other coastal areas to prevent collisions, and regulations to prevent entanglement in fishing gear.

NOAA understands and predicts changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and conserves and manages our coastal and marine resources. more

12/02/08
52 whales die in mass stranding in Australia - France 24

Fifty-two pilot whales have died after a mass stranding on Tasmania's northwest coast, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported Saturday.

Thirteen whales were still alive on Anthony's Beach at Stanley on the island south of the Australian mainland, and wildlife rangers and volunteers were trying to stabilise them, the broadcaster said.

"People are moving water around them, people are stopping them from drying and stopping them from getting sunburnt because their biggest problem is they get overheated," said Parks and Wildlife official Chris Arthur.

"Then we're going to try and move some if we can on to trailers so we can move them in to deeper water."

Pilot whales are members of the dolphin family but are considered by experts to behave more like whales.

A number of theories have been put forward as to why whales strand themselves, but the phenomenon remains a subject of scientific debate.
more

11/24/08
With dog's help, clues to orcas' decline found in whale scat - Seattle Times

Researchers trying to learn whether orcas are starving have turned — with the help of a dog — to a new source of information: orca scat.

Tucker, a black Lab trained in tracking animal scat, has been deployed two of the past three summers to track down orca scat between the San Juan Islands and Vancouver Island in Haro Strait, sniffing his quarry from the bow of a research boat for a University of Washington research team.

When Tucker finds what researchers are looking for, he gets to play with his ball. So he is a highly motivated tracker — and in the summers of 2006 and 2008, he helped track down some of 130 samples of scat from orca whales in Puget Sound's J, K and L pods.

Sam Wasser, director of the UW's Center for Conservation Biology, led the research team, which analyzed hormone levels in the scat. What they found surprised them. The orca mortality rate was the highest when thyroid hormone levels were lowest, indicating the animals may be nutritionally deprived.

The southern resident population of orcas that frequents Puget Sound is endangered. The seven orcas missing and presumed dead this year bring the population to just 83 animals, the fewest since 2003, and down from a recent high of 97 in 1996. The number of deaths has alarmed researchers, who haven't seen as steep a drop in nearly a decade.

The hormone study has not yet been published or peer-reviewed, and researchers want to get more data. But they think their preliminary findings may be an important clue to the orcas' decline.

"I'm pretty confident that what we are seeing is nutritional deficit," said Katherine Ayres, a UW graduate student working on the study. "It is interesting and sad. We have a link to what scientists have been saying for a long time."

Another regional icon, Puget Sound chinook salmon, were listed as a threatened species nearly 10 years ago. Both species are plagued by a range of ills, and no one solution will help bring them back. Addressing the food web that orcas depend on will involve not only rebuilding salmon populations, but also the species that salmon depend on, such as herring.

The orcas also need to be able to find their food, which could require restrictions on vessel traffic, so underwater noise doesn't interfere with their echolocation, a kind of sonar orcas rely on.

Orcas are wide-ranging, too, so salmon runs need to be robust not only here in Washington but in Canada's Fraser River, where many of the salmon runs that orcas feed on in the summer originate.

They also travel as far south as California in the winter, and may depend on salmon returning to the Sacramento and Columbia rivers, too.

"We really have to take a broader look," said Fred Fellerman, a consultant for Friends of the Earth, an environmental group. "We can't just say save the whales, we have to save the chinook, and the food for the chinook. Otherwise we are really fooling ourselves that we can save the Sound." more

11/18/08
Japan whaling fleet 'leaves port' Japanese whalers plan to hunt close to 1,000 whales this season - AFP

Japan's whaling fleet has left port and set sail for Antarctica in preparation for its annual whale hunt, the environmental group Greenpeace has said.

The fleet, led by the factory ship Nisshin Maru, left the port of Innoshima near the southern city of Hiroshima on Monday afternoon amid tight security, Greenpeace said.

Japanese officials have not confirmed the fleet's departure, hoping to avoid a repeat of protests that have dogged previous hunts.

"We cannot disclose any information on its departure out of consideration for the safety of the crew," a spokesman for boat operator Kyodo Senpaku told the AFP new agency.

The whalers plan to catch up to 935 minke whales and 50 fin whales during their five-month long hunt.

Commercial whaling has been banned since 1986, but Japan is allowed to continue hunting whales through a loophole that permits catches for research purposes.

Protests

Japan says it annual whale hunt is for
research purposes [AFP]
During the last Antarctic hunt, activists from the US-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society tracked down and hurled bottles of chemicals at the fleet in an attempt to disrupt operations, leading Japan to label them "terrorists."

Sea Shepherd has said it plans to do all it can this year to disrupt the hunt.

Greenpeace has also denounced the hunt but says it does not support the sometimes violent tactics employed by Sea Shepherd.

Japanese officials say whaling is part of Japanese culture, although surveys show demand for whale meat is dwindling among Japanese consumers.

Many younger Japanese are also questioning the justification for the hunt.

As the Japanese whalers departed on Monday, Australia announced it was setting up a $2.5m research programme aimed at persuading Japan that it is not necessary to kill the mammals to study them.

The package also includes money to develop commercial whale watching in the Pacific and an independent assessment of Japan's whaling programme.

"Australia does not believe that we need to kill whales to understand them," Peter Garrett, Australia's environment minister, told reporters in Sydney. more

11/16/08
Southern Ocean close to acid tipping point - Australia

Australian researchers have discovered that the tipping point for ocean acidification caused by human-induced CO2 emissions is much closer than first thought.

Scientists from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and CSIRO looked at seasonal changes in pH and the concentration of an important chemical compound, carbonate, in the Southern Ocean.

The results, published in today's Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, show that these seasonal changes will actually amplify the effects of human carbon dioxide emissions on ocean acidity, speeding up the process of ocean acidification by 30 years.

Dr Ben McNeil, senior research fellow at the UNSW's Climate Change Research Centre, says the ocean is an enormous sink for CO2, but unfortunately this comes at a cost.

"The ocean is a fantastic sponge for CO2, but as it dissolves in the ocean it reduces the pH of the ocean, so the ocean becomes more acidic," says Dr McNeil.

This acidification makes life especially hard for marine creatures such as pteropods - an important type of plankton found in the Southern Ocean - whose shells are made up largely of calcium carbonate.
Tipping point

Once the acidity of the Southern Ocean reaches a certain level, the shells of these and other calcareous marine creatures will start to dissolve.

"That's a really bad point to get to," says McNeil. "After that point, we can't go back unless we suck the CO2 out of the atmosphere."

This so-called 'tipping point' of acidification had been predicted to occur when atmospheric CO2 levels hit 550 parts per million, around the year 2060.

However, the new research shows levels of the carbonate that these creatures need to build and maintain their shells drops naturally in winter, due to natural variations in factors such as ocean temperature, currents and mixing, and pH.

This means the tipping point is likely to be reached at far lower atmospheric CO2 levels - around 450 ppm, says McNeil, which also happens to be the target set by the IPCC for stabilisation of CO2 emissions.

"That's the benchmark that a lot of climate scientists have said we want to reach," he says, but this concentration is forecast to be reached around 2030.

Dr McNeil says ocean acidification could lead to large scale ecosystem changes, affecting not just plankton but other marine life including fish, whales and dolphins.

"They're at the base of the food chain ... so right now we don't really know the ramifications." more

11/12/08
How do you breathalyse a whale? - bbc

You'd think it was an impossible task: how can you make a great beast like a sperm whale provide a breath sample?

But scientists have come up with an ingenious method that involves flying a toy helicopter over the animal just as it releases air through its blowhole.

Petri dishes slung beneath the chopper capture the exhaled gases and mucus.

Researchers from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) say the trick is helping them study the disease-causing micro-organisms carried by live whales.

It is an importance advance given that much of what we know about the cetaceans comes from dead animals, not free-ranging ones.

ZSL's Dr Karina Acevedo-Whitehouse told the BBC: "We don't know much about them because they are so big and they are in the water all the time, and that makes it really difficult to obtain biological samples that are relevant to determining health in these populations; unless they've already stranded or unless they are in captivity, which are hardly representative of a normal population."

The chopper breathalyser is featured in the BBC's new Oceans series, which records a series of underwater scientific expeditions aimed at building up a global picture of the state of our seas.

The ZSL work is being undertaken in the Sea of Cortez (also known as the Gulf of California), where sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) gather in large numbers.

The mammals have been boosted by the presence of abundant prey - humboldt squid (Dosidicus gigas), which themselves seem to be thriving in what are generally over-fished waters.

The whale numbers give plenty of opportunities for the researchers to get close to the animals - but often not close enough to get a good breath sample.

In the Oceans programme, presenter Lucy Blue is seen hanging out over the end of a small boat with Petri dishes attached to a long pole. But every time she gets near a whale, the creature dives.

Diving with hunting squid

The one-metre-long remote-controlled chopper allows Dr Acevedo-Whitehouse's team to take a sample without the whales being disturbed. The "pilot" controls the aircraft at a safe distance, directing the machine to hover over the water where whales are surfacing.

When a whale blows, the dishes catch the spray thrown up by the animal. The dishes are then flown back to the control boat where they are sealed and taken to be analysed in a laboratory to identify particular pathogens - bacteria, viruses, fungi.

"We're on a moving boat and we don't have too much space to manoeuvre, to let the helicopter land, so it can be quite dangerous," Dr Acevedo-Whitehouse told the BBC World Service's Science In Action programme.

"Also, it's quite challenging to be able to calculate at a distance where the whale is and where the blow is. We've even attached a tiny video camera to the helicopter to see when the whale is actually blowing and where we could pass the helicopter through it to collect the sample."

Using both the chopper and the pole method, the team has managed to sample some 60 whales in the Sea of Cortez (and a further 40, of different species, around Gibraltar).

The ZSL research is a collaborative study with Dr Diane Gendron from CICIMAR, a research institution belonging to the National Polytechnic University of Mexico.

"[Dr Gendron] has been working with the whales for more than 20 years," said Dr Acevedo-Whitehouse.

"She can photo-ID the animals; we know what animal it is. We will be able to tell if a whale is having the same pathogens year after year. It will let us monitor the health of the populations." more

11/11/08
Whale Wars: 'When we show up, they stop killing whales' - Canwest News Service

In the early 1970s, environmental activist Paul Watson served in the Canadian Coast Guard off the B.C. coast, handling weather ships, buoy tenders and search and rescue hovercraft.

He co-founded the Greenpeace Foundation in 1972, then founded the breakaway group Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in 1977. While on a campaign against Russian whalers, Watson came up with the novel idea of placing a himself between whalers' harpoons and their prey.

None of that, though, quite prepared Watson for last December's seagoing stunt off Antarctica, where he sailed a crew of greenhorns and first-time mariners out of Melbourne, Australia to the chilly waters off the end of the world.

There, they spent three months pursuing, hounding, harassing -- and being harassed by -- Japanese whalers determined to fill their "research'' quotas.

U.S.-based Discovery Networks, fresh off the success of its high-octane outdoor docu-reality series Deadliest Catch, in which fishermen troll the storm-ridden seas off the Aleutian Islands for Alaskan king crabs, assigned a camera crew to shadow Watson and his green crew on their latest adventure.

The result, a seven-part documentary series called Whale Wars, bows Nov. 9 on the CTV-owned Animal Planet Canada, two days after its U.S. debut.

"This show has everything that the new Animal Planet stands for,'' Animal Planet USA president Marjorie Kaplan told reporters at last summer's semi-annual meeting of the TV Critics Association. "There are remarkable characters. There are compelling stories, many of them life-and-death. There is built-in drama, right on the magnificent edge of the world. It's also absolutely, desperately real and important, and we think it's going to generate a lot of conversation.''

That's just a TV executive's hype, of course. The reality of filming in such impossible conditions, challenging oceangoing whaling ships with a green, untested crew, any one of whom could have been swept overboard in a heartbeat, was somewhat more down to earth.

Watson, standing in the lobby of the Beverly Hilton Hotel alongside his Saskatoon born-and-raised quartermaster Shannon Mann -- there's nothing like growing up in a Prairie town to prepare one for an Antarctic sea gale -- looked like nothing so much as a fish out of water with his heavy wool sweater and Hemingway beard.

To say Watson and Mann drew stares from the passing Beverly Hills glitterati is like saying Sarah Palin would draw a crowd at an NHL game.

For Watson, the issue is simple. The International Whaling Commission passed a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986, he patiently explained to a small but curious crowd.

"So what the Japanese are doing is targeting an endangered species in a whale sanctuary, in violation of that moratorium,'' Watson explained, warming to his subject. "Their argument is that they're doing it for scientific research purposes. However, they've killed more whales in the past 20 years than they killed in the previous 50. It's illegal, and it's deemed so by international law.''

Watson is grateful for the publicity Whale Wars will bring.

He is mindful, too, though that he is providing more fuel for his many critics. An environmental hero to some, an eco-pirate to others -- just ask Newfoundland and Labrador's harp sealers -- Watson has always fancied himself the environmental crusader and weather-toughened eco-warrior.

"We're already a target,'' Watson said. "Over the years, we've been rammed, depth-charged and had our lives threatened. Importantly, though, I think we're finally starting to change minds in countries like Norway and Japan where they are killing whales. When they see people are willing to risk their lives to save whales, they begin to think about what they're doing.''

For Mann, having the cameras around 24/7 wasn't as obtrusive as she thought it might be at first. She knew the documentary film crew was there for the ocean-going confrontations -- "And there is a lot of confrontation,'' Mann said -- but she was gratified to see the filmmakers were just as interested in the day-to-day operations of a working ship at sea as they were the high-stakes standoffs on the water.

"It shows everything that happens on the ship, from our daily activities, cooking up vegan food in the galley and doing our laundry, to how we sleep and play poker at night,'' Mann said. "And seasickness. Serious, serious seasickness.''

Watson makes no apologies, even now, for his hands-on approach to environmental activism.

"I left Greenpeace a long time ago because I got tired of seeing whales die, '' Watson said. "Since the day I left Greenpeace, I have not seen a single whale die. When we show up, they stop killing whales. It's really as simple as that.''

"This movement is a movement of diversity,'' Watson continued. "Our niche is direct intervention. What we do, we do on the high seas. There are other organizations involved in litigation, legislation, lobbying, that sort of thing. We are an interventionist organization. That's what we do.''

If Whale Wars does nothing else, Watson hopes, it will be to show viewers how lawless the Antarctic frontier really is.

"It's a free-for-all out there. Whaling is illegal, but every time we try to bring that up with the international regulatory bodies, it just degenerates into conversations that go nowhere. The problem is that international law is unenforceable.

"So, we're going back there again. And the Japanese have promised to be even more aggressive with us. I don't know what's going to happen next. We're just going to have to test the waters, as we go forward.''

Whale Wars premieres Sunday Nov. 9 on Animal Planet Canada at 8 ET/9 PT. more

11/02/08
20-Ton Canaries: The Great Whales of the North Atlantic - cape cod times

Michael Moore has experienced first-hand the toll public policy has taken on whales. As a senior research specialist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Moore analyzes marine mammal mortalities. In other words, he cuts into the dead whales, dolphins, seals and porpoises that wash up on our shores, looking for a cause of death.

"It's really upsetting," Moore told an audience at a two-day Boston College/Massachusetts Institute of Technology whale symposium last month. "You have to get into the animal's head. It's a pretty ugly experience."

The symposium, titled "20-Ton Canaries: The Great Whales of the North Atlantic," brought together legal and scientific experts from across the country, Hawaii and Australia to evaluate long-term and immediate threats to the species.

There were some bright spots, like international cooperation in reducing the chances for ships hitting whales along the Atlantic coastline, and technological improvements in fishing gear. But the problems that face whales and their solutions are global, and the amount of scientific research needed both daunting and expensive.

In the meantime, whales die directly at man's hands from whaling, entanglements and ship strikes, and indirectly from the effects of global warming. Symposium participants saw the plight of great whales as a warning, a symbol of how much damage man can inflict on an animal so large, so robust, located at the pinnacle of the ocean ecosystem.

But Moore was focused on the present pain. One slide showed a whale whose left pectoral fin was so tightly wound in rope that the bone had "flowered" around it, blooming into a large calcified lump. On another, the rope from a lobster trap had cut right to the bone just above the tail of a humpback, cutting off nerves and blood flow. The sickly whale limped along, pushed weakly forward by a ghost of a tail.

"This is an extreme animal welfare issue," Moore said. "It's obviously, out-of-sight, out-of-mind."

Included in this section is a summary of some of the most recent research by six whale experts who attended the conference...................................

Six whale experts discuss the plight of whales..........

PREVENTING SHIP STRIKES.......

Jeremy Firestone, associate professor of marine policy and legal studies at the University of Delaware, specializes in

climate change, renewable energy policy, fish and wildlife conservation, and indigenous peoples:

On average, two whales a year are killed after being hit by ships. Research has shown that, for most of the larger vessels, speed, not the size of the ship, kills whales. A speed of 25 knots, Firestone said, is almost certain death for a whale hit by a ship. At 12 knots, that drops to a 5 percent probability of death. Although ships mostly travel in international waters, they fall under U.S. control as they approach port.

Last month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was finalizing regulations that limit ship speed to no more than 10 knots within 20 nautical miles of a U.S. port along the Atlantic Coast.

But that is a relatively small portion of the ocean, and other methods are being used to cover more territory.

The Roseway Basin, just south of Nova Scotia, is an important gathering spot for many of the remaining 350 North Atlantic right whales. It is also in the middle of an international shipping lane. By working with the International Maritime Organization, the Canadian government shifted the shipping lanes slightly during the six months whales are present. Firestone said that reduced the probability of a ship strike by 80 percent while adding a minimal number of hours onto the travel time of the ships that use the area.

In June 2007, NOAA worked with the port of Boston and the Coast Guard to shift Boston ship traffic lanes to the northeast, away from an area where whales are known to congregate. NOAA has proposed doing the same for Great South Channel off Cape Cod.

"We need to prioritize risk," Firestone said. "Things are

not complicated with ship strikes. We ought to be able to do it.".........

EFFECT OF GLOBAL WARMING

Wil Burns, senior fellow at the Center for Global Law & Policy, Santa Clara University School of Law, and editor-in-chief of The Journal of International Wildlife and Policy. His specialties include international climate change litigation and international treaties intended to conserve whales, porpoises and dolphins:

Burns believes that climate change will soon eclipse commercial whaling, ship strikes, entanglement, and ocean noise as the primary threat to whales.

He said a worse-case scenario for global temperature rise now seems inevitable.Melting of the polar ice caps means less of the sun's light and heat are being reflected back out into space. That means that land and water are absorbing, and retaining that heat, further eroding the ice.

In Antarctica, for instance, the Antarctic Peninsula has seen a 3.6 (Fahrenheit) degree increase in the annual mean temperature, and a nearly 11 degree increase in mean winter temperature since 1950. This has caused major shifts in populations from penguins to krill.

The problem for whales is two-fold. Some krill species, which are the polar whales primary food source, are dependent on algae, which grow in the cracks of sea ice. Krill have shown population drops of nearly 50 percent in some regions. Less ice means less food for krill, and fewer krill means less food for whales.

It also means more ship traffic in the Arctic, which some predict will lose half its sea ice over the next 50 years, and year-round ice could vanish completely. Until recently, whales in the Arctic regions were generally protected from being hit by ships by the solid sheet of ice between the pole and Canada. But scientists are now predicting that the great polar melt will soon open up a Northwest Passage for at least a month each summer. A battle is already under way between international shipping interests, which covet the shortcut, and those who want to protect whales.

Burns also lamented the decline in funding for whale research. He said our limited knowledge of their lives and population make it hard to decide which species really need help.

EXPAND INTERVENTION..........

Richard "Max" Strahan, founder of WhaleSafe USA, has been responsible for several significant lawsuits to protect whales:

"Is this the beginning of the end for whale conservation," Strahan posed. He said that the focus on saving whales was too narrow, with efforts concentrated on the most endangered species, the North Atlantic right whale.

Strahan compared whales migrating along the eastern coastline to a submarine trying to pick its way through a World War II minefield. Lines from fish and lobster pots, fishing nets, moorings and other gear are known to tangle in whales' head and mouth, flippers and tail. A high percentage of whales show scarring consistent with having been entangled at one or more time in their life. If the same problem existed on land, the public outcry would be huge and the government would be forced to solve it, Strahan said.

Strahan believes the state and federal governments are violating the Marine Mammal Protection Act and Endangered Species Act in allowing fishermen to use gear that is capable of snaring whales, dolphins, seals and porpoises. He wants the regulation of fisheries to shift from the U.S. Department of Commerce to the Environmental Protection Agency or a similar governmental agency that would permit fishing only if it had no impact on marine mammals.

He said some technology already exists that would help solve the problem and lamented that $1 million was dedicated to entanglement rescue efforts like those mounted by Provincetown's Center for Coastal Studies and relatively little went to technological solutions.

"Don't spend money on rescues, but on technology that could solve the problem," he said.

THE DANGERS OF SONAR.........

Robin Craig, professor at Florida State University College of Law, specializes in the Clean Water Act, marine protected areas, science and water resource protection:

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court heard the Natural Resources Defense Council lawsuit against the U.S. Navy over the impact of its new sonar on marine mammals and fish. The NRDC claims the Navy sonar is loud at 235 decibels, comparable to a rocket at liftoff. The noise can travel across oceans. The Navy contends that its studies show that the noise level is not that high, more like 140 decibels, which can be heard 300 miles from the source. That's still 20 dB above the sound levels at a rock concert or from a jet engine at take-off, and comparable to a gunshot or firecracker.

Whale, and other marine mammal strandings and deaths, have been tentatively linked to tests of the new sonar off Greenland in 1996, the Bahamas in 2000, Tasmania in 2005, and Great Britain in 2008, Craig said.

The Navy says it needs this sonar to detect a new type of quiet sub capable of operating in 75 percent of the world's oceans. The Navy wants to conduct training in the new sonar in Florida, North Carolina and New York. It's national security vs. the environment, said Craig, with the federal Endangered Species Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act, Fur Seal Act, Coastal Zone Management Act, National Marine Sanctuary Act, and Magnuson Stevens Act (for salmon kills that have been attributed to sonar), all in play.

The Navy's policy has been to seek blanket exemptions from these federal regulations. Craig believes that courts are the best decision makers in this case, as evidenced by injunctions against the Navy, handed down by courts in California and Hawaii, that sought to minimize harm while still allowing testing to continue. She felt such compromises were the way to go in peacetime.

COMMERCIAL WHALING.............

Alison Rieser, retired professor

of law, University of Maine School

of Law, and chair, Department of Geography, University of Hawaii at Manoa. Rieser specializes in ocean and coastal, environmental and marine fisheries law and the

legislative process.

Under Whaling Commissioner Bill Hogarth, the U.S. is pursuing a strategy for the International Whaling Commission to break free of the battle between whaling and nonwhaling nations that has monopolized their annual meetings. Hogarth believes the IWC should focus on other areas, like global warming, that many feel will have a much bigger impact on whale populations.

Despite an IWC moratorium on commercial whaling that has been in place since 1986, nearly 30,000 whales have been killed by whalers under thinly disguised scientific research permits, as part of indigenous fisheries, and by countries, like Norway, who just defied the ban.

The idea is that the IWC return to its 1946 mandate of "managing" whale stocks at sustainable levels by setting catch limits for each species, and allowing a limited commercial whaling fishery. In theory, that frees the IWC to tackle global problems and use whales as a key species to win public support for fixing them.

But Rieser cautioned that

the IWC would have to be careful not to manage whales separate from the threats that exist to them within their

habitat, like global warming, prey depletion, and ocean noise, ship strikes and

entanglements.

She urged an ecosystem approach that coordinated the efforts of regional fishery management organizations and incorporated global warming impacts on whales and their prey.

"We need to do it in our country first," Rieser said.

AUSTRALIA'S STRATEGY.........

Don Anton, senior lecturer in law, Australian National University and visiting professor of law, Michigan Law School. Anton's focus is international and environmental law.

Australia has been anti-whaling, with a policy of complete protection for all whales, since 1989. In 2000, the nation created the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary, as well as other sanctuaries, by declaring it would enforce a 200-mile limit around the nation's possessions worldwide. In the past, at least one Japanese whaling company reportedly killed 90 percent of its whales within the Antarctic sanctuary boundaries.

To counter its lack of marine resources to enforce such a ban, Australia used a provision in international law to grant third-party enforcement rights to other entities, including the radical group Sea Shepherd. This group employs aggressive harassment tactics, such as ramming whaling ships to stop them from killing whales.

But Anton warned that the Australian strategy is not only counter to international law, but might backfire by causing other nations to enforce their own territorial claims in the Antarctic. That could lead to claims on the area's significant natural resources and destroy the cooperative international effort to preserve the continent's fragile ecosystem. That could ultimately play havoc with the food chain and whales.

"I would prefer a world without whaling vs. one with whaling, but not if it risks the stability of the (international Antarctic) treaty and the environmental impact on the Antarctic," Anton said. more

11/01/08
Encountering mutual respect with Minke whales - Science Alert

Since the beginning of recorded history whales have always held an extraordinary magnetism for humans. Now, for a particular subspecies of minke whale, which visits Queensland’s north coast each year, humans seem to have become just as magnetically interesting. Apart from offering tourists the surreal and often life-changing experience of coming face-to-face with a cetacean, the peculiar mutual fascination that these dwarf minkes have with humans is providing a world-first opportunity for underwater research.

The sub-species of minke, Balaenoptera acutorostrata, was first noticed in the Great Barrier Reef in the late 1970s and dwarf minke whales were only recognised as a distinct form in the mid-1980s. By this time these small baleen whales, which grow up to eight metres long, were becoming regular visitors at dive sites north of Cairns, where they appeared to be actively seeking out boats and divers.

In 1996, Dr Alastair Birtles (Senior Lecturer in Environmental Management and Ecotourism at James Cook University in North Queensland) and Dr Peter Arnold (Senior Curator of Tropical Natural History at the Museum of Tropical Queensland; now deceased) began a participatory dwarf minke research program known as the Minke Whale Project (MWP). Since its establishment, the initiative has gathered tens of thousands of underwater photos and many hours of video footage, making it the most extensive underwater study of whale behaviour and individual identification in the world.

With a team of three PhD students plus a host of volunteers, Dr Birtles’ project is also greatly assisted by the growing scuba diving ecotourism industry. In 2008 alone over 20 000 digital underwater images were donated by tourists and dive crew to the identification catalogue being compiled and analysed by PhD student Susan Sobtzick at James Cook University. Sobtzick is very grateful for this huge contribution. ‘Because so many people are contributing photos to the project I am able to build a far more complete picture of the whales’ movement patterns and their spatial and temporal distribution than could ever be achieved under normal research conditions on just one observation vessel’.

Dwarf minke whales have the most complex colour patterns of all baleen whales. The subtle variations in these markings can be used much like a human fingerprint to distinguish between individual whales. One individual minke that was regularly identified from 2005 to 2007 is known as ‘Pavlova’. Appropriately named after the famous Russian ballerina, this particular whale became somewhat of a celebrity with her distinctive and very close behavioural displays, including ‘pirouetting’ vertically in front of swimmers. ‘Pavlova’, along with several other minkes, has been known to approach swimmers to within less than a metre. Underwater photographer and dive instructor Julia Sumerling, of Mike Ball Dive Expeditions, has had several close encounters with the minke. In 2007 ‘Pavlova’ swam directly towards Julia and gently nudged her camera ‘It felt like this might have been a gesture of recognition’, Sumerling said.

PhD student Arnold Mangott is currently researching the visual and acoustic behaviour of the whales. Although dwarf minkes are most commonly observed alone or in pairs, occasionally large groups of more than 20 whales have been seen together. ‘One very interesting finding is that once the minkes have engaged in an interaction with a boat and swimmers they usually stay within 60 metres of the vessel and sometimes will follow it when it moves to the next dive site, to continue their interaction with swimmers. Such longlasting and close interactions with vessels and swimmers have not been documented in other cetaceans.

The reasons why these dwarf minkes return each year to the same locations in the northern Great Barrier Reef are still uncertain. There has been no indication that the whales are feeding during their time in the Reef. It is possible, however, that the minkes are aggregating in these protected waters for breeding purposes, as courtship behaviours are frequently observed.

An important research objective of the MWP has been to determine the effects on the minke of a growing tourism industry seeking underwater whale encounters. Habituation of individual whales to repeated interactions with boats and swimmers is a primary concern being investigated by Mangott, while his colleague Matt Curnock (the third PhD student) is working with key stakeholders to develop sustainability indicators and a long-term monitoring program for the industry.

In many countries it is illegal to swim with whales and heavy penalties apply.

Queensland’s unique opportunity for tourists to have an underwater encounter with dwarf minke whales is governed by Marine Park permits and a comprehensive Code of Practice. There are only nine Great Barrier Reef tourism operators permitted to conduct whale encounters and the stringent Code of Practice ensures that interactions are entirely on the whales’ terms.

‘One of the most encouraging outcomes of our research so far is the wonderful collaboration that has developed between the tourism operators, Reef managers, conservation NGOs and the MWP research team,’ says Curnock. ‘Tourism operators are genuinely concerned about their potential impacts on the whales. A great result of this collaboration is the new Code of Practice that is now in place, which far exceeds the requirements of the Marine Park Regulations.’

The three PhDs are expected to be completed by mid-2009, after which the MWP team will be integrating key findings and recommendations for the sustainable management of the swimming-with- whales industry into a report to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA).

Dr Alastair Birtles, MWP Team Leader, stresses the importance and uniqueness of the project’s collaborative approach to the research and management of this growing ecotourism industry. ‘Our first imperative was to understand enough about this remote Reef phenomenon to facilitate its ecologically sustainable management. However, the experiences the whales provide are so wonderful and utterly memorable that it soon became more a labour of love.’

Dr Birtles is understandably passionate about the overall outcomes of the MWP. ‘Our research activities now have a wide range of biological, sociological and applied management objectives,’ he says. ‘This is the only known predictable aggregation of these whales in the world and they provide a remarkable opportunity to study oceanic rorqual whales. The dwarf minke belongs in the same genus (Balaenoptera) as the mightiest animals on the planet, including the blue, finback and sei whale. The minkes therefore not only provide magnificent wildlife experiences, but a unique window into the lives of other rare and endangered whales.'

Whilst the reason the dwarf minke find humans so fascinating is yet to be determined, the personal impact of an underwater interaction with a whale is an undeniably exhilarating event for those who are fortunate enough to experience such a profound encounter of mutual respect. more

10/29/08
Dolphins Use Complex Coordination During Predation, High-tech Acoustics Study Finds - Science Daily

Spinner dolphins have long been known for their teamwork in capturing prey but a new study using high-tech acoustics has found that their synchronization is even more complex than scientists realized and likely evolved as a strategy to maximize their energy intake.

The study, by scientists at Oregon State University and the University of Hawaii, found that dolphins engage in a highly choreographed night-time "dance" to enclose their prey, and then dart into the circle of confused fish in organized pairs to feed for about 15 seconds, before backing out and letting the next pairs in line take their turn.

Results of the study were published this week in the journal, Acoustical Society of America.

"Synchronized swimmers have nothing on spinner dolphins," said Kelly Benoit-Bird, a marine ecologist at Oregon State University and lead author on the study. "The degree of synchrony they display when feeding is incredible – especially considering that they're doing it at night, several meters below the surface where they can't see their prey or each other."

The study is important, scientists say, because it greatly expands knowledge of spinner dolphin behavior and it opens up new fields of scientific inquiry into underwater ecosystems made possible by technological advancements in acoustical monitoring. It was funded by the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research.

Much of the knowledge about spinner dolphin feeding has been anecdotal because they are primarily nocturnal in their feeding, Benoit-Bird pointed out. However, acoustical eavesdropping allowed the scientists to "view" the dolphins' behavior without interrupting their routine with lights and underwater cameras. In their study off the coast of Oahu, Hawaii, the scientists used sonar readings from a "multi-beam echo-sounder" to monitor groups of spinner dolphins. The animals' systematic approach to feeding was eye-opening.

Initially a small group of about 20 dolphins would swim side-by-side in a straight line until finding concentrations of prey – in this case, lanternfish. When they got to within five meters of their prey, they would pull into a tight circular formation and sequentially swim up and down vertically, in essence, doing "the wave" like fans at a sporting event, Benoit-Bird said.

"They were using their bodies like a plow," she said. "We're not sure if they were creating a pressure barrier or trying to confuse the prey. But the result among the lanternfish was chaos."

As the lanternfish became concentrated, the dolphins tightened their circle and formed 10 pairs. The pairs at one o'clock and seven o'clock would move in, feed for 15 seconds, and retreat back to the circle. Then the pairs at two o'clock and eight o'clock would do likewise.

The feeding would last for about five minutes, during which time each dolphin got two opportunities to feed, and then the group rose as one to the surface to breathe, maintaining their circle. The dolphins would take one breath, Benoit-Bird said, and then dive down and begin the process anew.

"If one or two individual dolphins would break the circle or head to the surface to breathe, it breaks their whole system up," Benoit-Bird said. "They never did. So then you have to ask: How do they communicate with each other, and how do they pass on that knowledge to their young?"

The researchers are still working on the latter puzzle, but their acoustical monitoring study found that much of what scientists had assumed about dolphin communication may, in fact, be wrong in this species. In a companion article also published in Acoustical Society of America, the researchers describe how they used underwater hydrophones to listen to the dolphins during their feeding forays.

Dolphins are often vocal and their use of frequency-modulated whistles was thought by many to cue their coordinated behavior. But the researchers found they didn't use those whistles at all while hunting prey – just during non-foraging times or when they were surfacing. Instead, they used a series of "clicks," with the highest click rates taking place just prior to foraging.

"Whistles are omni-directional, like turning on a light bulb in a room," Benoit-Bird said. "Clicks, on the other hand, are directional like a laser. We think it may be a strategy to communicate only within the group and not to other potential lanternfish predators. Tuna and billfish are looking for the same prey and they can hear the whistles but not the clicks because the frequencies are too high and so focused.

"If you're lined up to eat this great smorgasbord, would you want to tell the tuna next door about it?"

Benoit-Bird's co-principal investigator on both papers was Whitlow W.L. Au, from the University of Hawaii.

Spinner dolphins are found primarily in tropical and subtropical waters, offshore and near island chains. They grow to a length of about six to seven feet, and feed on small, deep-ocean prey including lanternfish, shrimp and juvenile squid.

During their hunting forays, these athletic, acrobatic dolphins catch and consume a single fish at a time and each lanternfish may only be 3-5 inches long. To match their 3,200-calorie-per-day diet, they need to eat at least 650 fish each night – plus enough extra to fuel the energy they burn during the hunt, perhaps another 200 to 300 fish.

"To make that work, they need to eat about a fish a minute," Benoit-Bird said, "and we think that's why they've developed this elaborately complex system of group predation. Dolphins can't open their mouths like baleen whales and swallow large amounts of food at once. They have to target individual fish and it's too difficult and energy-consuming to hunt solo."

"It's tough to make a living in the subtropical ocean, which is something of a biological desert," she added. "They've had to adapt these unique behavioral methods to maximize their ability to capture prey." more

10/27/08
Trouble In The Pipeline For Grey Whales - Science Daily

The fate of the world’s few remaining Western Grey Whales now rests on the outcome of appeals to Russian authorities and courts following the refusal of an oil consortium to consider alternatives to a proposal to lay an oil pipeline through a shallow lagoon crucial to the whales’ food supplies.

Last month the Russian government ignored an outcry over project impacts on Piltun Lagoon to grant approval for the pipeline, part of the Sakhalin-1 project which includes oil giant Exxon and Russian, Japanese and Indian oil companies.

Only around 130 Western Gray Whales are left worldwide, including some 20 females able to reproduce. They gather in the seas around Sakhalin in Russia’s far east for four months to feed and build up the fat to survive the rest of the year.

Piltun Lagoon produces organic matter crucial for benthos such as as sea stars, oysters, clams, sea cucumbers, brittle stars and sea anemones which form the Grey Whale’s main food source.

The Moscow Tagansky Court last week accepted an action from local Sakhalin NGOs including the Sakhalin Association of Indigenous Peoples and Sakhalin Environmental Watch, as well as the Rodnik Law Centre demanding revision of the state environmental expertise conclusion which ignored scientific advice that the pipeline route should be changed.

That report, commissioned by WWF-Russia, Greenpeace and the International Fund for Animal Welfare, was presented to Russia’s minister of nature resources, Yury Trutnev, earlier this year after the consortium rejected an offer to negotiate a new route for the pipeline.

WWF-Russia has this month written to Minister Trutnev, asking him to stop the Exxon project.

“Exxon cannot be considered an environmentally responsible company if it constructs a pipeline contrary to the opinion of Russian and international conservation experts,” said Alexey Knizhnikov, WWF-Russia oil and gas environmental policy coordinator.

WWF is currently negotiating with the government on the creation of a marine protected area in the Piltun lagoon. If the protected status is confirmed the oil pipeline construction should be forbidden in the lagoon. more

10/25/08
Government declares beluga whale endangered - SFGate

The beluga whales of Alaska's Cook Inlet are endangered and require additional protection to survive, the government declared Friday, contradicting Gov. Sarah Palin who has questioned whether the distinctive white whales are actually declining.

It was the Republican vice presidential candidate's second environmental slap from Washington this year. She has asked federal courts to overturn an Interior Department decision declaring polar bears threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

The government on Friday put a portion of the whales on the endangered list, rejecting Palin's argument that it lacked scientific evidence to do so. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said that a decade-long recovery program had failed to ensure the whales' survival.

"In spite of protections already in place, Cook Inlet beluga whales are not recovering," said James Balsiger, NOAA acting assistant administrator.

The decision means that before federal agencies can issue a variety of commercial permits, they must first consult with the National Marine Fisheries Service to determine if there are potential harmful effects on the whales.

That has the potential to affect major Alaska projects including an expansion of the Port of Anchorage, additional offshore oil and gas drilling, a proposed $600 million bridge connecting Anchorage to Palin's hometown of Wasilla and a massive coal mine 45 miles south of Anchorage.

The state does have serious concerns about the low population of beluga whales in Cook Inlet and has had those concerns for many years, Palin said in a statement. "However, we believe that this endangered listing is premature," she said.

Palin in April successfully lobbied for a six-month delay in a listing decision until a count of the whales this summer could be included in deliberations. That count showed no increase over 2007 numbers — 375 whales, compared with a high of 653 in 1995.

Federal regulators and conservation groups said further delay would be harmful.

NOAA said Friday the Cook Inlet population declined by 50 percent between 1994 and 1998 and "is still not recovering" despite restrictions on the number of whales that Alaska's native population can kill for subsistence. It said recovery has been hindered by development and a range of economic and industrial activities including those related to oil and gas exploration.

The National Marine Fisheries Service "will identify habitat essential for the conservation of the Cook Inlet belugas in a separate rule-making within a year," the agency said.

The federal decision pleased environmentalists.

"We can finally focus now not on whether the belugas are endangered, but what we can do to protect them," said Brendan Cummings, an attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the groups that petitioned for the listing.

Cook Inlet stretches 180 miles from the Gulf of Alaska to Anchorage. It is named for Capt. James Cook, the British explorer who sailed into the inlet in 1778 on a quest to find the Northwest Passage.

Beluga whales feed on salmon and smaller fish. They can also eat crab, shrimp, squid and clams. During summers, the whales, which reach a length of up to 15 feet, often can be spotted from the highways leading away from Anchorage, gathered at river mouths, chasing salmon that have schooled before a run to spawning grounds.

Beluga whales' natural enemies are killer whales, but something else has been keeping their numbers down in Alaska's Cook Inlet.

Craig Matkin, an independent biologist who has worked in south central Alaska for 25 years, said the delay in the listing had held up a comprehensive research plan to find out why the population had not recovered after subsistence hunting was curtailed.

The concern is not just in numbers, he said, but in distribution. Whales in recent years have been staying in northern Cook Inlet near Anchorage.

"They're just gone from these areas," he said of his own home near in Homer, near the tip of the Kenai Peninsula and about 100 miles from Anchorage. "Why they aren't coming down into this habitat is a question I'd like to answer."

Future development won't be helpful to the recovery, Cummings said, starting with the noise and pollution associated with industrialization of the inlet, which includes oil rigs off the Kenai Peninsula.

Global warming, changing ocean conditions and higher temperatures in salmon streams may be another factor, Cummings said.

The Port of Anchorage, helped by congressional earmarks secured by Sen. Ted Stevens and Rep. Don Young, has embarked on a $500 million project to double the port's size and replace its aging docks.

Environmental groups also have expressed concern about a planned coal mine 45 miles from Anchorage across Cook Inlet, where developers propose to mine 300 million metric tons of sub-bituminous coal, roughly equal to the energy of a billion barrels of oil, over 25 years. That would mean noise and boat traffic associated with building and operating a mine, a potential effect on salmon streams and more warming.

The Cook Inlet beluga whales are one of five populations in Alaska waters and the only one endangered. Other beluga populations off Alaska inhabit Bristol Bay, the eastern Bering Sea, the eastern Chukchi Sea and the Beaufort Sea. more

10/21/08
Whale meat gives hair mercuric sheen - japantimes.com

People who frequently eat pilot whale meat tend to have abnormally high levels of mercury in their hair, according to a study of residents of the whaling town of Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture.

The study was conducted by a team that included researchers from the Health Sciences University of Hokkaido and the College of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Daiichi University in Fukuoka Prefecture.

The team said there were three people whose hair mercury exceeded 50 parts per million, a level that can cause neurological symptoms.

Whales and dolphins tend to have high concentrations of mercury accumulated through the food chain.

Tetsuya Endo, an associate professor at the Health Sciences University of Hokkaido, said it is unlikely the residents will immediately experience mercury-induced health problems, but those with high mercury levels should consider cutting down on the amount of whale they eat.

The group collected hair samples from 30 men and 20 women between last December and July and asked them how often they eat pilot whale meat.

Mercury levels averaged 21.6 ppm among the men and 11.9 ppm among the women, both of which are about 10 times the national average, it said.

The three people whose hair mercury levels exceeded 50 ppm were all men, the team said. The three men ate whale meat more than once a month.

The study found that mercury levels were halved in about two months if the test subjects stopped eating whale meat.
more

10/17/08
Whale deal falls at last minute - BBC

A unique consensus between environment groups and whaling nations at the World Conservation Congress was derailed by a last-minute Australian intervention.

Japan and Norway had agreed to back a motion saying there was not enough data to support the claim that culling whales could raise fisheries yields.

But Australia's late bid for stronger wording broke the consensus and left other anti-whaling countries fuming.

The "whales eat fish" argument is often cited as a reason to maintain hunting.

The conservation groups behind the consensus, the Pew Environment Group and WWF, believed it could help build bridges between Norway, Japan and Iceland and their opponents which could, in the end, lead to a diminution of the whaling industry.

"We had an excellent spirit of co-operation and consensus," said Sue Lieberman, head of WWF's global species programme.

"We felt that we had a resolution, but these are the ins and outs of negotiations."

Japanese officials who had participated in an intensive series of consensus-building discussions during the week - at which Australia was also represented - were furious at the last-ditch attempt to introduce stronger wording than had been agreed.

"Australian bad behaviour has put the spirit of co-operation in jeopardy," said Hideki Moronuki, a senior official with Japan's fisheries agency.

"Australia had participated in the [consensus-building] process, they were in the room all the time - this is back-handed."

Officials from other anti-whaling nations agreed, one calling the last-minute intervention "despicable".

The Australian delegation here declined to comment.

Management issue

Japanese scientists have regularly argued that whales may be competing with humans for fish, and countries that usually vote with Japan within the International Whaling Commission (IWC) have cited it as a reason for their support.

The St Kitts Declaration, a resolution passed at the 2006 IWC meeting which numbered Japan and Norway among its sponsors, said: "Scientific research has shown that whales consume huge quantities of fish, making the issue a matter of food security for coastal nations and requiring that the issue of management of whale stocks must be considered in a broader context of ecosystem management."

This was greatly contentious. Three years earlier, the IWC's scientific committee had concluded there was no way of providing reliable advice on the impacts of cetaceans on fisheries, though acknowledging that "consideration of ecosystem interactions between fish stocks and cetaceans is a potentially important research topic".

The wording of the consensus resolution agreed here asked delegations, which include most of the world's governments, to acknowledge that "there is inadequate scientific information to support an assertion that controlling great whale populations can increase fisheries yields".

Pew and WWF argued that having Japan and Norway put their names to this would make it impossible for them to use the "whales eat fish" argument in future.

The amendment tabled by Australia asked delegations instead to acknowledge "that the great whales play no significant role in the current crisis affecting global fisheries".

A number of nations, Japan among them, could not accept the wording or the manner of its introduction. Although it passed with a substantial majority, the anti-whaling bloc will not be able to say that Japan accepted it.

The motion also urged members of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which runs the World Conservation Congress, to prioritise the conservation of fish, whales and the wider marine environment by addressing issues such as illegal fishing and excessively large fleets, and establishing marine protected areas.

It also encouraged the use of non-lethal research methods on the biology and behaviour of whales.

Engagement off?

The Pew group has been supporting moves over the last year and a half to seek ways of breaking the deadlock within the IWC, and appears to have established enough of a relationship with Japanese whaling officials to engender constructive dialogue.

"I hope that the constructive and unprecedented discussions that have taken place this week in Barcelona, with all sides working together to seek consensus, is a precursor of the signal that we have urged the government of Japan to give regarding its intentions," said Remi Parmentier, a senior policy advisor with Pew.

The latest stage in the IWC "peace process" was a week-long meeting in Florida held in September.

Sources indicate there was amicable dialogue, but little progress on the substantive issues such as Japan's desire to secure small whaling quotas for four coastal communities, and opposition to the scale of its current Antarctic hunt, conducted under regulations allowing whaling for scientific research.

Following the breaking of the consensus here, there must be doubts now about whether Japan and Norway will want to stay engaged, although officials from other anti-whaling nations and environment groups were at pains to emphasise the amendment had been a uniquely Australian affair. more

10/15/08
Court wrestles with case on Navy sonar, whales - honoluluadvertiser.com

The Supreme Court appeared divided today over how to resolve a long-running dispute over whether environmental laws may be used to limit the Navy's use of sonar to protect whales.

The court heard arguments in the Bush administration's appeal of court rulings that restrict sonar in submarine-hunting naval training exercises off the Southern California coast. Sonar can interfere with whales' ability to navigate and communicate.

The training is "vitally important" for sailors who may be deployed around the world in search of enemy submarines, Solicitor General Gregory Garre told the justices. Garre said there is scant evidence over 40 years of exercises off the Pacific Coast that the Navy's sonar harms whales and dolphins.

Richard Kendall, a lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the sonar's piercing sound was comparable to the noise of a jet engine magnified 2,000 times in the courtroom.

A species of whales called beaked whales are particularly susceptible to harm from sonar, which can cause them to strand themselves onshore, Kendall said.

The case left one justice, Stephen Breyer, wondering how a judge should balance national security concerns and environmental interests.

"You are asking us who know nothing about whales and less about the military to start reading all these documents to try to figure out who's right in the case where the other side says the other side is totally unreasonable," Breyer said.

The exercises have continued since the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled in February that the Navy must limit sonar use when ships get close to marine mammals.

Kendall told the justices that the Navy is managing under the restrictions, saying eight of 14 planned exercises have been completed since the restrictions took effect.

This round of training is scheduled to be completed by January.

Separately, the Navy has agreed to similar limits on anti-submarine training off the coast of Hawaii to settle a lawsuit.

But Garre said the issue for the court is whether federal judges should have stepped in to force changes to the training when the government's first environmental assessment found there was little prospect of harm.

The Navy's own environmental assessment of using sonar during the 14 training exercises off the California coast found that it could disturb or harm an estimated 170,000 marine mammals, including possible temporary hearing loss in at least 8,000 whales.

The administration also says the president has the power to override federal court rulings on environmental laws during emergencies that include harm to national security. The Navy says it already has taken steps to protect beaked whales, dolphins and other creatures and is balancing war training and environmental protections.

Justice David Souter ridiculed the idea that the administration could declare an emergency to try to get around complying with environmental laws. The Navy opted not to conduct a more rigorous environmental study, an environmental impact study, before beginning the long-planned exercises, Souter said.

"If there's an emergency, it's one the Navy created simply by failing to start EIS preparation in a timely way," he said.

Justices John Paul Stevens and Ruth Bader Ginsburg also suggested that the Navy could have avoided the court fight by producing the impact study before the exercises began.

Justice Samuel Alito suggested that he found little evidence in the court record that the marine mammals would be harmed by the sonar use.

Alito also said there was "something incredibly odd" that a single federal judge, who issued the first order against the Navy in this case, would be able to force changes in the exercises. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Antonin Scalia also appeared supportive of the government's case.

An injunction by U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper in Los Angeles early this year created a 12-nautical-mile no-sonar zone along the coast and ordered the Navy to shut off all sonar use within 2,200 yards of a marine mammal.

The 9th Circuit sided with the lower court and said the Navy must abide by the injunction. However, while the litigation was under way, the appeals court gave the Navy permission to use sonar closer than the restrictions allow during critical maneuvers.

The case is Winter v. Natural Resources Defense Council, 07-1239. more

10/13/08
US sets ship speed limit to protect right whales -

To save a slow-moving species of whale that lives along the Atlantic coast, the government is telling ships to slow down.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Wednesday issued a 11.5-mile-per-hour speed limit for ships 65 feet or longer that travel within 23 miles of major mid-Atlantic ports, and in areas where the North Atlantic right whale breeds, feeds and migrates. The regulation will go into effect in December.

Government marine scientists had initially proposed a 34-mile-wide coastal speed zone around the ports. That recommendation was scaled back after the White House questioned the science linking ship speed to whale deaths.

The North Atlantic right whale has been protected as an endangered species since 1970. Despite warning systems and aerial surveys to locate whales in shipping lanes, only 300-400 whales remain in the wild. The major remaining threat to the species is ship strikes, which from 1997 to 2001 killed about one to two right whales per year, according to federal officials.

The speed limit will be the first put in place to protect a species along the Atlantic coast. A federal analysis issued earlier this year said that the limit could cost the shipping industry millions of dollars in lost revenue. It would affect most commercial ships, including ferries, cruise liners and even whale-watching vessels.

more

10/11/08
Protest at Eritrea's whale vote -

THE Federal Opposition has called on the Rudd Government to tackle Japan about alleged vote-buying in the International Whaling Commission following the recruitment of strife-torn Eritrea to the organisation.

Eritrea joins Tanzania and the Republic of Congo as recent members of the 82-nation IWC.

All three African countries joined talks in Tokyo in March, which a Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement said then were aimed at "obtaining understanding for Japan's position on sustainable whaling".

The Opposition environment spokesman, Greg Hunt, said IWC vote buying was unacceptable.

"Mr Rudd should take the issue of vote buying directly to the Japanese," he said yesterday. "His concern about whaling appears to have evaporated from the day he became Prime Minister."

A spokesman for the Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, said Australia would welcome the opportunity to meet new IWC member countries and discuss recent developments in cetacean science.

Eritrea is a single-party state accused by neighbouring Ethiopia this month of training and arming terrorists. It is ranked 157th out of 177 nations in the UN Human Development Index and 126th on Transparency International's Global Corruption Index.

"We do not know their views on whales, or why a small, desperately poor country, where 80 per cent of the population is involved in farming and herding, would want to join the IWC, although it is not hard to guess" said John Frizell, of Greenpeace International.

Meanwhile there is little evidence that an attempt to find a consensus on the future of the IWC is progressing. A meeting of inner-circle IWC nations, including Australia, in Florida is understood to have developed a list of divisive issues for further meetings to consider.
more

10/09/08
Expert is on a quest to understand largest animal on Earth Tagging along with whales - County News

"Here we go!" John Calambokidis shouted over the roar of twin engines pushing his 18-foot boat through the waves.

Just beyond the boat's gunwales, an enormous, fast-moving streak of turquoise shot through the water. It was much larger than his boat.

Research assistant Megan McKenna stood at the bow of the jostling boat, clipped into a line to steady herself, as she extended an aluminum boom.

As Calambokidis gunned the throttle, the flash of blue broke the surface and an audible "whoosh" filled the air, followed by a blowhole breaking the water and, finally, the arching back of the largest animal that has ever lived: the blue whale.

McKenna slapped the pole down in an attempt to attach the acoustic monitoring device, precariously hanging at its tip, onto the 80-foot whale. But the challenges of bouncing around in a boat and being precise with an unwieldy instrument are many. As the whale slid below the surface, the monitor bobbled in the sea.

But there would be a next time and lots more whales to tag.

The blue whale feeding in the Santa Barbara Channel recently was one of more than 100 that Calambokidis has tagged — or tried to — in recent years in a quest to learn more about the creatures as they are feeding, mating and communicating in the depths of the ocean.

"It's a window into a part of their world we never had before," said Calambokidis, whose wiry mariner's beard speaks to the years he spent chasing whales around the Pacific Ocean. "This technology has given us a way to delve into their underwater world."

'A really valued species'

And while Calambokidis, who is widely regarded as one of the world's foremost whale experts, has spent nine years tagging whales in the Santa Barbara Channel, his work has become more focused this year as scientists try to grasp why so many blue whales collided with ships last year. At least four died, a record for the channel that left scientists scrambling for answers and trying to figure out ways to keep it from happening again.

An extensive monitoring and warning program has been established this year to search for the whales and alert the ships in the channel, coming to or going from one of the many ports in Southern California.

"Large whales are a really valued species for this area, and it's important to understand what they are doing and their behavior," said Chris Mobley, superintendent of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, which is supporting Calambokidis' work, along with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. "This new technology has opened up a window to see how they behave underneath the water. It's quite important."

The technique for tagging whales is relatively simple, if perhaps a bit daunting. Calambokidis is one of a handful of scientists in the country to have a permit to do this work.

"My heart races every time" he places one of his tags, he said.

Chasing after spouts

When he gets word that whales are in the channel, he leaves his home in Washington, where his company, Cascadia Research, is located and heads for California.

He launches his small inflatable boat from one of the area marinas and starts looking for the telltale spouts of water breaking the horizon. When he sees one of the behemoths, he chases after it, trying to time when it will surface for air again. And just when the enormous flash of blue is beneath the surface, he guns the boat. One of his research assistants uses a long aluminum boat hook or the mast from a windsurfer that has on its end a $10,000 acoustic monitor with a suction cup. It's used to slap the monitor on the whale's back.

And that's when the window in the underwater world is opened.

Calambokidis has four different tags that measure various things such as pitch and wavelengths and the sounds of whales communicating. One even has a camera on it to record the whales as they interact with other whales and feed on the acres of krill. The monitors stick for a few hours or, in the best of times, overnight, and he uses a beacon to (he hopes) relocate them bobbing in the water the next day.

Shallower depths at night

Because he's been tagging whales over the past nine years, he's learned plenty of things you'd expect — how deep the whales dive, how long they stay down — and lots of things he never knew he'd discover. By listening to the oscillation of the sounds, a researcher working with him was able to figure out how many times the whales flapped their flukes. Using that information, Calambokidis learned that once whales reach about 20 meters on a dive, they start sinking. Turns out, they need to use their fluke strokes to keep them moving through the water column.

Other data have shown the whales dive through the fields of phytoplankton, and when they are coming up to the surface, they feed on it. Calambokidis thinks there's a chance the whales are using their eyesight or maybe even somehow sensing the scads of phytoplankton on their skin to detect the food.

He's also learned this year what the whales are doing at night, which so far looks like not much.

A sensor on one of the monitors shows the whales are diving deep and feeding during the day, but remaining in relatively shallower depths at night. If they are sleeping or resting on or near the surface at night, when ships can't see them, they have a higher chance of getting hit, he said.

He suspects a lot more whales die from ship strikes every year but the whales simply die or float off to sea, and they are never documented.

'Lots of information'

Joe Cordaro, a marine mammal stranding specialist with the National Marine Fisheries Service, said understanding the whales is key to keeping them safe.

"There is still lots of information we can collect on blue whales to help with our understanding of the species," he said.

This year, Calambokidis tried to put tags on whales that were directly in the shipping lanes to see how they react when the massive ships go by. That information could help decide future management plans concerning the ships.

Some have suggested putting some kind of a warning whistle on the front of ships to keep the whales away. But what if, when confronted by an unfamiliar sound, whales come to the surface?

Calambokidis said it's important to first understand as much as possible about the whales, then make the decisions on how to protect them.

But first, he needs to find more whales to tag. more

10/07/08
Beaked whales: Sounding off - BBC

As a scientist, you know your world is about to change when your boss, the government and the international media are all suddenly on the phone asking for answers.

That was the lot of whale biologists and veterinary scientists in the Canary Islands on 24 September 2002 - a date that may go down as one of the most significant in humankind's long history of interactions with whales.

"There was already some news that many animals were stranding along the beaches of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote," recalls Antonella Servidio.

"Most of them were still alive and people on the beach were taking care of them with towels, trying to make them comfortable; but they were already in a very bad condition.

"On the beach were many tourists, the press were already there, we were receiving phone calls every five minutes to know what was going on; it was a really tense situation."

What made it especially tense - and the tensions have not fully subsided, six years on - was that over the bodies of dying whales, the tourists and the locals and the press could all see the flotilla of warships assembled for the Spanish navy's Neotapon 02 exercise.

The Society for the Study of Cetaceans in the Canary Archipelago (Secac), for which Ms Servidio works, scrambled to co-ordinate the collection and study of the dead and dying animals.

Beaked whales - for they, and only they, were stranding - are big creatures, up to seven metres (23ft) long and three tonnes in weight.

And yet speed of collection was vital, otherwise decomposition could overwhelm indications of what killed the animals.

So for the most part, scientists cut off the heads and other bits of tissue likely to be of interest and brought them to local laboratories for autopsy.

Six of them ended up in the Veterinary School of the University of Las Palmas in Gran Canaria, which had already made a specialism of studying marine mammals - hardly surprising when the school is just 300m (1,000ft) from the sea.

What Antonio Fernandez's team found when they dissected the whale heads would eventually transform the use of military sonar in Europe and the US.

"What we found in the micro-vasculature (capillary blood vessels) was that gas bubbles and fat were working there as foreign bodies, blocking the cardiovascular system," he says.

"Obviously these foreign bodies were blocking the small vessels, breaking them and inducing haemorrhage."

Not only was this seen in the six whale heads, but the same signs turned up in the liver, kidney, spleen, lungs, pancreas and lymph nodes of the whales examined intact.

Environmental groups said it proved that military sonar used during the exercise was driving the animals to their death. The military said there was no proven link.

The Canaries are a popular venue for naval exercises, partly because the seabed slopes quickly downwards from the islands, with deep canyons that enemy submarines might presumably use for concealment.

Nato was back in the region for Majestic Eagle in 2004. Within days, Dr Fernandez received four dead beaked whales, all showing the same signs of fat embolism and haemorrhage.
Whale liver (Antonio Fernandez)
This liver shows signs of embolism and haemorrhage

Further naval manoeuvres two years later in the Mediterranean coincided with beaked whale strandings along the coast of southern Spain.

Evidence was also coming in from other areas of the world, such as US Navy testing grounds around the Bahamas and California.

For the environmental movement, the case was proven beyond doubt. But for scientists, key questions remained.

If military sonar was driving beaked whales to strand, why was it happening?

Why did it only happen to these reclusive species, while others such as sperm whales, pilot whales and orcas appeared to swim through unaffected?

And if sonar needed to be restricted, what areas should those restrictions cover?

Knowledge gleaned from animal studies is these days routinely used to inform human medical science.

The reverse is less common. But here, researchers realised that what they knew about a human condition could be very relevant to what they were seeing in whales.

"We think it's a syndrome of decompression sickness, rather like human divers contracting 'the bends'," says Paul Jepson from the Institute of Zoology in London, who co-ordinates the study of strandings around the UK.

Divers contract "the bends" when they surface too quickly. Pressure on the body reduces as they ascend, allowing gases dissolved in the blood - mainly nitrogen - to come out of solution and form bubbles.

But is it conceivable that species that have evolved over millennia to be deep divers - and species that do not inhale as they go down, unlike human divers who must - could suffer from such a condition?

Computer models built to allow human divers to operate safely were adapted for what people knew of beaked whale physiology and behaviour.

Meanwhile, data on how whales dive was coming in from a new variety of tags that US scientists had developed. Attached to the whales' bodies, they showed a complete "dive profile" - descent time, dive duration, ascent time.

Putting all this together showed, says Antonio Fernandez, that beaked whales might indeed contract their version of the bends.

"The dive profile is different from the sperm whale and the pilot whale, other deep-diving species," he relates.

"They go down just as fast, but they come up much slower; and when they reach the surface they go into this pattern of shallower dives - 400m, 300m, 200m - and our interpretation is that they need this, and if they break this dive profile they can enter in a risky situation, into a decompression-like sickness."

No-one knows why beaked whales need these shallow dives, but presumably it has evolved for a reason.

There is a rival theory - that sonar acts directly to cause bubble formation in fat and blood - but the theory also suggests that whales would need to be really close to the sound-generating ships for this to happen, which makes Paul Jepson believe the behaviour modification link is probably correct.

"Military sonar systems tend to use frequencies around 1kHz to 5kHz," he says.

"And that may be close enough to the sound of a killer whale to disturb the animals and make them change their diving behaviour - particularly in young animals that haven't learned how to distinguish ocean sounds so well."

Local solution?

In August, after a lengthy legal and political wrangle, the US Navy - which runs its own research programme on marine mammals - struck a deal with conservation organisations that restricts its use of low-frequency sonar to certain regions and certain seasons.

Those same conservation groups are still pursuing restrictions on the mid-frequency systems identified by Paul Jepson as likely to be causing beaked whales the greatest distress.

And here?

"Now, in the Canary islands, they cannot do any kind of naval manoeuvres, they have to do it outside," says Antonella Servidio, who is sailing this week with the Song of the Whale research vessel for a programme designed to study beaked whales more closely.

She says it is not a perfect solution; whales could be damaged in other areas close by and drift, dead, to the islands.

A bigger issue, though, is that unless we know much more about beaked whales' habitats and behaviour, it is impossible to know for sure where it is safe to deploy these military sonar systems and where it is not.

And an even bigger one is that sonar systems can account for only a tiny proportion of the world's total number of whale strandings.

The latest evidence suggests, for example, is that it was not involved in the recent dolphin stranding in Cornwall, which Dr Jepson is shortly to investigate; and it cannot explain what some researchers term "normal" strandings, where big groups of apparently healthy cetaceans beach themselves.

It may be something that the animals have always been prone to, perhaps unwanted consequences of their familial ties or vigorous vocalisations.

Do other forms of ocean noise, from shipping or mineral exploration, make it worse?

And how serious is ocean noise as an issue compared with climatic shifts, entanglement in fishing gear or disruption of habitat?

Despite the answers from the laboratories of Gran Canaria and the US courts, big questions remain, as they do over many factors affecting the world's whales. more

10/03/08
Whales may bump Navy sonar training field out of Fla. site - pilotonline.com

The Navy has decided that a controversial sonar training range it proposed building off North Carolina's coast would be better located off Florida, where its East Coast sub-hunting helicopters are based.

More than 40,000 pages of public comments - most of them critical - had flooded in after the Navy announced coastal North Carolina as its preferred site for the range in 2005. It also considered locating the range off Virginia, South Carolina or Florida.

The switch in preference to a site off Jacksonville, Fla., may prove to be just as troublesome for the Navy. The border of the proposed 625-square-mile range would come within a few dozen miles of calving grounds of the endangered North Atlantic right whale.

Experts believe fewer than 400 right whales remain in the North Atlantic. The population spends its summers off the coast of Maine and Nova Scotia, and in winter, pregnant females migrate to warmer southern waters off Georgia and Florida to give birth.

Michelle Nowlin, a professor of environmental law at Duke University, said the Navy appears to be on a direct collision course with state and federal efforts to protect the right whale.

Navy brass have long called for an instrumented range to teach sailors how to detect quiet diesel submarines in noisy coastal waters. Hundreds of underwater microphones placed on the ocean floor would record exercises, so crews could reconstruct events.

The Navy estimates that the range, which would cost an estimated $100 million, would be used 480 times a year, from one to six hours at a time.

Many scenarios would involve surface ships and submarines from Norfolk and Groton, Conn., but the most frequent user of the range would be SH-60 Seahawk helicopters. As a result of 2005 base realignments, all of the Navy's East Coast Seahawk squadrons are now based in Florida. P-3C Orion planes, which conduct long-range anti-submarine warfare patrols, also will be based in Jacksonville.

At close range, blasts of mid-frequency, active sonar - the type Navy ships and helicopters use to detect enemy submarines - can injure dolphins and whales, which use sound to navigate and communicate. Scientists understand less about how marine mammals are affected by repeated or continual exposure to underwater noise.

Jene Nissen, environmental acoustics manager for the Navy's Fleet Forces Command, said the critical habitat for right whales extends to about 20 miles off the coast of northern Florida. The range's westernmost boundary would be 50 miles offshore.

"We believe we're far enough off that we're not going to have an adverse effect on right whales," Nissen said. Navy analysts concluded that humpback and right whales might behave differently when exposed to sonar from the range. But Nissen said the effects would be low-level, and not permanent.

Michael Jasny, a senior policy analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council, isn't convinced.

Jasny said the 1,000 pages of analysis the Navy compiled to support its decision "makes no attempt to consider cumulative effects on marine mammals, beyond glib statements that they wouldn't occur."

He also criticized the Navy's proposed mitigation efforts. The service should consider staying off the range in certain seasons or conditions, he said. Other measures that could reduce impact: restricting the use of sonar at night or in low visibility conditions, when Navy spotters can't easily see marine mammals on the horizon.

The Navy dismissed those alternatives in the document as impractical or contrary to the objectives of the training.

Marguerite Jordan, a spokeswoman for Florida's Department of Environmental Protection, said the agency has begun reviewing the Navy's analysis. The state has not reached any conclusions, she said.

If previous experience is a guide, the Navy could run into stiff opposition from the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission. In January 2006, the commission told the Navy that Florida's northern waters should not be considered for the training range - and in no case should the range be used between mid-October and mid-April, when right whale calves typically are born.

"The winter inhabitants off the coast of Jacksonville include the most vulnerable component of the right whale population," the commission said in a seven-page letter to the Navy in 2006. "The additional noise levels and increased vessel traffic could jeopardize the females and calves of a species that is already at high risk of extinction.... We believe the importance of the southeastern calving grounds to the persistence of the species renders the Jacksonville [operating area] inappropriate."

Michelle Duval, an invertebrate biologist with the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries in Morehead City, said she doesn't think North Carolina is out of consideration yet.

"I wouldn't say that the change in location means that North Carolina agencies can sit back and breathe a sigh of relief, or not pay attention to this," Duval said. "Some new information may come to light which could cause another change in location." more

09/27/08
Troubled waters: Did we really save the whale? - The Independent

Blue whales have been spotted in the Irish Sea, and humpbacks have been removed from the endangered list. But did we really save the whale? The acclaimed writer Philip Hoare, who has spent four years researching these magnificent creatures, reports

Twenty years ago, the writer and environmentalist Heathcote Williams launched an epic plea for the future of the whale. His televised poem Whale Nation – with its closing lines, "From space, the planet is blue / From space, the planet is the territory / Not of humans, but of the whale" – was a hymn to the beauty, majesty and intelligence of the largest mammals on earth, as well as a prayer for their protection. And the film was a stunning success around the world, attracting some of the largest audiences ever seen for a "nature" programme; the published version, described as a modern version of T S Eliot's The Wasteland, was a major bestseller too, with the American rights alone selling for $100,000 – a figure that prompted headlines at the time. Whale Nation became the most powerful argument for the newly instigated worldwide ban on whaling – and for a moment, back in 1988, it seemed as if a shameful chapter in human history might finally be drawing to a close.

Yet two decades on, the issues that Williams so passionately exposed are still with us. The Japanese are still hunting in the Southern Ocean – supposedly a whale sanctuary. Since 1987, when the international moratorium took effect, an astonishing 25,000 great whales have been killed. Under its Antarctic Research Programme, known as JARPA, and its North Pacific equivalent, known as JARPN, Japan has killed 7,900 minke whales, 243 Bryde's whales and 140 sei whales, as well as 38 sperm whales, which it resumed hunting in 2000. In 2006, JARPA II took 1,073 minke whales – known to their hunters as "cockroaches of the sea" – and added 50 fin whales to the tally. These cetaceans (from the Greek for "sea monster") died under the aegis of "scientific research". Only the piratical disruptions of protesters aboard the Sea Shepherd, who dogged the Japanese whaling fleet earlier this year, prevented the hunting of much-loved humpback whales in 2008.

And it's not only the Japanese. Throughout the world, whales and dolphins – now known to be as intelligent as primates – are still kept as performing animals in oceanariums. Since the 1960s, when killer whales were first taken from the wild, 200 have died in captivity. Whales and dolphins still die, too, in their thousands as "bycatch" in commercial fishing. They suffer from ever louder military and industrial sonar, causing mass strandings in which hundreds of whales and dolphins have been known to perish on beaches, slowly crushing their internal organs under their own weight. Meanwhile, the environmental threat to whales is greater than ever. As oceans warm and the oxygen content of the sea is impaired and acidifies, the zooplankton and small fish on which whales feed move further north, threatening long-held feeding and migration patterns.

One hundred and fifty years ago, in the most famous whaling book of all, Moby-Dick, Herman Melville asked presciently, "Does the Whale's Magnitude Diminish? – Will He Perish?" The answer is still hard to pin down.

For the past four years, I have embarked on my own voyage of discovery in the footsteps of Melville's ambiguous narrator, Ishmael. Writing a book about the vexed relationship between man and whale, and making a new BBC documentary, Arena: The Hunt for Moby-Dick, to be shown this evening, has been an eye-opening process.

In the ongoing battle between human history and natural history, one particular species, the sperm whale – Physeter macrocephalus, the real-life model for Moby-Dick – stands alone, not least because its persecution coincides with the rise of the Industrial Revolution. This was a whale seemingly put on earth to advance man's progress. Bizarrely blunt in shape, its pugnacious forehead full of oil, which when pierced, spurted out, causing early sailors to mistake it for the animal's semen – hence its name. But this oil – spermaceti – also supplied the world with light and lubrication. It made fortunes, and enabled empires.

For centuries man's contact with the sperm whale was wreathed in myth and legend. Sperm whales washed up on the coast of Europe were regarded as ill omens, auguring plague or famine. It wasn't until the beginning of the 18th century that they were actively hunted, when the Quaker captain, Christopher Hussey, was out hunting right whales off Nantucket. Blown off course, his ship happened upon a school of sperm whales feeding in the deep waters of the continental shelf. Soon the ports of New England had become the worldwide centre of whaling expertise.

Until the discovery of crude oil in Titusville, Pennsylvannia, in 1859, the world was lit by whale oil. The "Whaling City" of New Bedford, Massachusetts, from which Melville sailed on his 1840 whaling voyage, was the richest city in America. Its ships travelled further and further afield – as far as the South Seas – in search of their precious commodity. They were the equivalent of modern-day oil tankers. They exported the budding economic might of America around the globe – though as Hal Whitehead, the pre-eminent scientist specialising in the study of sperm whales, remarks, the whalers also "left behind diseases, non-native animals (especially rats), technology, and their genes".

Not to be outdone, Britain sent out its own fleet. Whale ships that would otherwise be empty took supplies to Australia. In his 1839 book, The Natural History of the Sperm Whale, Thomas Beale wrote: "Evidence inclines us to believe that these colonies would never have existed had it not been for whaling vessels approaching their shores ... It is a fact, that the original settlers at Botany Bay were more than once saved from starvation by the timely arrival of some whaling vessels." And if they helped lay the foundations of the British Empire, they also helped the country survive two World Wars: in both conflicts, the British fleet harvested whales to turn into nitro-glycerine and thus fuel the fighting machine. Soldiers even treated trench-foot by rubbing whale oil into their feet.

But just as whales helped further the Industrial Revolution, so it hastened their destruction. With the invention of steam engines and grenade harpoons, late-19th- and early-20th-century whalers could pursue the faster rorqual whales – such as the blue whale, the largest animal ever to have lived – which had previously eluded them. In 1951 alone, more whales were killed in one year by the British, Norwegian, Japanese and Soviet fleets than in a century and a half of American whaling.

And as time passed, new uses were found for the arcane commodity of whale oil in the post-modern world. Since it doesn't freeze in sub-zero temperatures, spermaceti was used in Nasa's space missions – no substitute could be found for this natural lubricant. Even now, the Hubble space telescope and the Voyager space probe are careening into infinity, oiled by whales.

Hal Whitehead, the Cambridge-educated scientist who now works at Dalhousie University in Newfoundland, has devoted most of his adult life to the study of sperm whales. He has calculated that their population was reduced from one-and-a-half million before hunting began to a present figure of 360,000.

The whalers often took the biggest animals – the largest bull sperm whales, or their female equivalents – and their removal has had a drastic effect on the current population. Whitehead has proved that sperm whales are highly intelligent animals, capable of communicating in complex series of sonar clicks. The brain of a mature sperm whale weighs up to 17 pounds – the heaviest of any known animal – with a complex neocortex structure. If allowances are made for the animals' blubber, the body-to-brain-size ratio (the Encephalization Quotient, a rough estimate of possible intelligence) of sperm whales indicates significant acumen. Having swum eye-to-eye with these creatures in the Azores – and felt my ribcage scanned by the animals' echo location – I can bear personal testament to their placid and obviously sentient nature.

Studies show that cetaceans can solve problems and use tools, exhibit joy and grief, and live in complex societies. Not only that, but they also pass on these abilities in "cultural transmission" – a gift that has become a problem in itself. Twentieth-century whaling may have destroyed "not just numerous individuals," says Whitehead, "but also the cultural knowledge that they harboured relating to how to exploit certain habitats and areas". The remaining animals have also experienced lower birth rates as a result, and the slow-breeding sperm whale population is growing at a mere 1 per cent a year. The 1986 moratorium, which took effect the following year, may have come only just in time for Physeter.

The blue whale, too, may be recovering from the appalling culls of the 20th century. By the time of the moratorium, the blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus – a little joke by Carl Linneaus, musculus meaning both "muscular" and "mouselike") was regarded as "commercially extinct". In fact, it was commerce, or the lack of it, which ultimately saved it. The hunting of whales stopped largely because there were so few of them left – and cynics note that the move to ban international whaling was championed by America only because its own whaling industry had since fallen into decrepitude. As with the 19th-century abolition of slavery, it was exigency rather than outrage which provided the whale's reprieve.

Neither pro- nor anti-whaling members of the International Whaling Commission ever forget that the 1986 ban was – and is – a temporary and voluntary measure. Norway merely ignored it and continued to hunt minke whales – the same animals watched by its tourists, with disastrous results. One boatload of horrified whale-watchers looked on aghast as the whales they were watching were harpooned by hunters.

But just as the Norwegians claim historical precedence for their whaling, we should also see Japan's actions in context. Their industry is relatively recent (although the island nation has a long tradition of shore whaling). It began in the 1930s, using techniques taught by Norwegian whalers. But it wasn't until the post-war years that it burgeoned, encouraged by the occupying powers under General McArthur, who had the decommissioned ships of the Japanese navy converted into a whaling fleet. One can understand Japanese resentment at what they see as Western hypocrisy.

In a country where whale meat was served in school lunches until the 1970s, it irks to be lectured on the subject. "It's not because Japanese want to eat whale meat," Ayako Okubo, a spokesman for a Japanese whaling company, told the New York Times last year. "It's because they don't like being told not to eat it by foreigners." Some contest that it was America's over-use of pressure on the Japanese – and the moral weight of the environmental lobby – that pushed Japan into its intransigent position.

Indeed, in a contrarian article for Atlantic Monthly, the academics William Aron, William Burke and Milton Freeman argued that "the ongoing campaign to ban all commercial whaling is driven by politics rather than science, and is setting a terrible precedent". The authors proposed that the "cynical actions of the IWC's anti-whaling nations constitute a clear warning to all nations engaged in negotiating multilateral environments". In other words, by saving the whale, the world itself might be lost. Now, as pro-whaling nations push harder for a resumption of legitimate whaling, more pragmatic campaigners say that the only way to stop the Japanese plundering the Southern Ocean is to permit limited commercial whaling, which would allow some control of a currently anarchic situation.

Yet given such pragmatic arguments, after my own experiences I'd still find it impossible to stand on a prow from which an explosive harpoon was about to be fired and not physically restrain the harpooneer from his task. There is no more emotive target in the animal kingdom, and over years of contact with whales, I've been torn between the rational appeal of scientific study and the pitfalls of seductive anthropomorphism.

For the scientists of the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies in Cape Cod, it is tiny organisms that hold their attention, even though the subject of their research is the North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis, "true whale of ice"). Their common name came about because their foot-thick blubber meant that they floated conveniently when dead (rather than sinking to the bottom as other whales will if not first secured). The legacy of hunting has reduced their number to just 350 animals.

Each late winter and spring, these ponderous beasts plough across Cape Cod Bay, hoovering up a ton or more of zooplankton a day to support their enormous bulk. They are a bizarre sight, huge rotund animals surmounted with barnacle-encrusted crests called "callosities". Their baleen – much prized as whalebone in a pre-plastic age, and once used for everything from umbrellas and corset stays to carriage suspension and Venetian blinds – grows in plates up to nine-feet long from their upper jaws. When their garage-sized mouths open, the effect is of some surreal musical instrument.

The right whales choose one of the world's busiest shipping lanes in which to feed, a habit which exposes them, like the humpbacks which share their feeding grounds, to present danger. They may be caught in fishing gear – the Center for Coastal Studies reports that 50 per cent of right whales and humpbacks are thus entangled. Many never escape; others are scarred for life. This summer, I saw one humpback, named Meteor, with a tail so badly torn it resembled the dog-eared page of a book.

If right whales are rare and, for the public at least, difficult to see (only the Center's scientists are allowed closer than 500 feet to the right whales), then humpbacks are a different matter. Prone to surface display, the humpback was called "the most gamesome and light-hearted of all the whales" by Melville, "making more gay foam and white water" than any other. Megaptera novaeangliae ("big-winged New Englander") – its scientific name – is a real trouper.

In my own work with the Center, I've helped identify humpbacks from the black and white patterns on the underside of their tails, or flukes. These patterns are as unique as a fingerprint is to a human, and allow data to be collected about the animal's gender, breeding and patterns of migration. It's a kind of whale census. But the sublime sight of a whale's tail, water running off it like a curtain of mercury before it dips into the sea, is as nothing compared to other humpback behaviour.

A 50-ton and 50ft-long humpback will throw itself entirely out of the water in an act of acrobatics known as "breaching". No one knows why whales do this – and most of the 85 species do. It may be a means of communication; a way of dislodging parasites; or perhaps it's just fun. It certainly looks like it – if I could launch myself out of the water and 20 feet into the air, I'm sure I'd find it addictive too. But what has surprised me, after years of observing these animals, is how often they chose to breach within sight of the whalewatch boats. It is as if they like an audience.

In the evolving relationship between humans and whales, the whale has learned to use man and his machines. Recently, I was on a whalewatch boat with Dennis Minsky, one of the Center for Coastal Studies' naturalists, when a large female humpback came so near that Minsky quipped it could only get closer "if she got into the boat". We could see every detail of the animal. Rolling on its back, the whale displayed the rorqual pleats which expand as it swallows swimming-pool-size gulps of water, then contract to expel the mouthful, catching fish in its baleen like pasta in a strainer. Then, with the nonchalance of a cow in an English field, the female began to rub her belly on the prow of the boat. We were being used as a scratching post.

I've often watched humpbacks blow "bubble nets" underwater, creating spiralling circles to corral their prey, then rising in the middle, mouths wide open, to claim their prize. It is clear, from their proximity, that they use the side of the vessel as a buffer to push their catch to the surface. It works both ways, too. Spanish fishermen work with pods of killer whales which chase their catch into shallow waters, where cetaceans and humans benefit from the fishes' confusion.

Other inter-species relationships are more problematic. In the 1960s, the controversial scientist John C Lilly proposed that whales and dolphins were so intelligent that they should be considered as a parallel, alien life force sharing our Earth. Lilly even declared a new cetacean language, delphinese, and persuaded one female researcher to live in a semi-submerged house so that she could spend more time in intimate observation of her dolphin charges. Unfortunately, Lilly's wilder theories caused him to be shunned by his fellow scientists. Matters weren't helped when he began experiments into the use of LSD on human guinea pigs.

Lilly's left-field claims had the effect of setting back cetacean research – cautious scientists didn't want to be associated with such work. Nowadays, their renewed efforts are concentrated towards ensuring species stay alive. It is another irony that the roll-call of new species is being added to even as recognised species face extinction. In the time it took to write my book, the Yangste river dolphin, a strange, blind, freshwater cetacean, was declared extinct. The North Atlantic right whale will probably go the same way by the end of the century. Yet, amazingly, there are beaked whales or ziphiids – deep-diving cetaceans confined to the open ocean – which have never yet been seen alive, and are known only from bones recovered from beaches. It is a salutary notion that large marine mammals may be swimming in the world's oceans, unidentified by man.

In recent years, the humpbacks of Cape Cod have been particularly plentiful. Thousands of whales return here from their winter migration to the Caribbean. In these fertile, shallow waters, they feed on vast schools of sand eels. At one point last year I found myself on a boat surrounded by 75 humpbacks. In every direction there were spouts and splashes of whales. It was an Edenic sight; the ocean was alive with animals. Even the experienced naturalists I was with put down their cameras and clipboards and stared in wonder.

Maybe we did save the whale after all. As Richard Sabin, curator of sea mammals at the Natural History Museum, told me recently, there have been reports of blue whales swimming up the Irish Sea, and last month, the humpback was officially removed from the endangered list. But that may be an equivocal victory, reviving fears that whaling nations might once again declare open season on these animals. For all their apparently successful recovery, whales still face plenty of threats from the two-legged, gravity-bound creatures with which they happen to share the earth. more

09/23/08
Whale Songs Are Heard For First Time Around New York City Waters - Science Daily

For the first time in waters surrounding New York City, the beckoning calls of endangered fin, humpback and North Atlantic right whales have been recorded, according to experts from the Bioacoustics Research Program at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).

"This is an exciting time for New Yorkers. Just think, just miles from the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, Carnegie Hall and Times Square, the great whales are singing," says Chris Clark, the Director of the Bioacoustics Research Program at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. "These are some of the largest and rarest animals on this planet trying to make a living just a few miles from New York's shores. It just goes to show us that there are many important and wonderful discoveries to be made about the living world right here, right in our back yards."

"With data generated by acoustic monitoring, we can better understand New York's role in the life history of these endangered whales and make more informed conservation decisions," says James Gilmore, chief of the DEC's Bureau of Marine Resources. "This is especially important for the survival of right whales."

The recorders were placed about 13 miles from the New York Harbor entrance and off the shores of Fire Island. Information about the seasonal presence of whales will help New York state policymakers develop management plans to protect them. Knowing the whales' travel paths will help ship traffic managers avoid whale collisions in New York waters. Further, the study will characterize New York waters' acoustic environment and examine whether underwater noises, including shipping, affect the whales.

Acoustic monitoring was initiated in spring 2008 – between March and June – in order to record the right whales' northward migration from their calving ground off the Florida eastern coast to their feeding grounds off Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Acoustic monitoring has begun for the whales' southern migration in the fall, back to the calving areas. The study will continue through February 2009 and is expected to reveal which species occur in New York waters throughout the winter months. more

09/22/08
Oceans are 'too noisy' for whales - BBC

Levels of noise in the world's oceans are causing serious problems for whales, dolphins and other marine mammals, a report warns.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (Ifaw) says undersea noise blocks animals' communication and disrupts feeding.

Naval sonar has been implicated in the mass deaths of some cetaceans.

In some regions, the level of ocean noise is doubling each decade, and Ifaw says protective measures are failing.

"Humanity is literally drowning out marine mammals," said Robbie Marsland, UK director of Ifaw.

"While nobody knows the precise consequences for specific animals, unless the international community takes preventive measures we are likely to discover only too late the terrible damage we're causing."

In its global assessment of cetacean species, released last month, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) concluded that ocean noise posed a significant threat.

Across the spectrum

Whales and dolphins use sound in ways that are clearly important to their survival, though not completely understood.

Baleen whales, such as blue and humpback whales, produce low frequency calls that can travel thousands of kilometres through water.

Dolphins and toothed whales generate higher frequency clicks used to locate prey.

Noise generated by ships' engines and propellers, and by seismic airguns used in oil and gas exploration, produce a range of frequencies that can interfere with both these groups of species, Ifaw concludes.

Its report - Ocean Noise: Turn it down - cites research showing that the effective range of blue whales' calls is only about one-tenth of what it was before the era of engine-driven commercial shipping.

It also notes that high-energy military sonar systems have driven the mass strandings and deaths of beaked whales.

The sonar is thought to disrupt the animals' diving behaviour so much that they suffer a condition rather like "the bends" which human divers can contract if they surface too quickly.

Pressure from conservation groups has led to restrictions on the use of sonar by the US Navy.

In some places, companies involved in oil and gas exploration limit their use of seismic airguns.

But Ifaw argues these restrictions are not enough.

The use of high-energy sonar and seismic airguns should be completely prohibited in sensitive areas, it says. National legislation, such as the UK's Marine Bill, should comprehensively restrict the exposure of cetaceans to noise.

The UK branch of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS) has sounded alarm bells recently over oil and gas exploration in the Moray Firth, home to a small population of bottlenose dolphins.

The Ifaw report is not the first to raise the threat posed by ocean noise, and it will not be the last.

The problem is that most of the activities causing the problem - commercial shipping, mineral extraction - are part and parcel of the modern, interconnected economy.

A further obstacle to legislation is that much of the noise is generated on the high seas, which are largely unregulated. more

09/17/08
IWC issues media blackout on discussions to lift whaling ban - mongabay.com

The fate of the ban on whale hunting to be decided behind closed doors

The survival of whales is perhaps the most successful conservation story of the 20th century. Since a moratorium on commercial hunting, some whale species have staged dramatic recoveries. In May it was announced that the humpback whale population has climbed from 1,500 to 20,000 individuals, resulting in it being "downlisted" from vulnerable to least concern, according to the IUCN's Red List. Others, like the blue whale, appear to have stable populations but recovery remains slow.

The moratorium on hunting, begun in 1982, was the decisive moment for whale conservation. Next week, the fate of that moratorium will be decided by the International Whaling Commission (IWC). In St. Petersburg, Florida twenty-six of the eighty nations making up the IWC will gather under a media-blackout to discuss the continuance of the commercial hunting ban on whales.

"These closed-door meetings pose a grave risk to the future of the IWC and the whales it was established to protect," said Patrick R. Ramage, Global Whale Program Director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). "Whales face more threats today than at any time in history and Americans from sea to shining sea want to see them protected. The last thing we need is a secret deal to re-open whaling.”

Despite the moratorium a few nations continue commercial whaling. Both Iceland and Japan partake in annual hunts, stating that their whaling is only conducted for scientific purposes. Many conservationists, however, believe that scientific whaling is just a cover for commercial whaling. Japan remains the world’s largest consumer of whale products and meat is widely available in grocery stores, restaurants, and even children’s school lunches. Norway also actively participates in commercial whaling. But Norway is not bound by the IWC moratorium, since it is not a member of the commission. Collectively, these few nations have killed 30,000 whales since hunting resumed in 1986. Conservationists believe that if the whaling ban is lifted, the number of whales killed every year will rise exponentially.

"The global ban on commercial whaling was one of the most important conservation victories of the last century," Ramage said. "If Japan, Norway, and Iceland, the last three countries engaged in commercial whaling are successful in their efforts to overturn the whaling ban, forty years of conservation efforts will go right down the drain."

Whale populations still face a variety of threats, even without commercial hunting, such as collisions with ships, pollution, by-catch, seismic testing for oil, the use of sonar, and climate change. In addition, whale numbers lag far behind their original abundance. Despite successful population growth, humpback whales have recovered only 2 percent of their estimated historic population.

Many of the twenty-six nations attending the meeting in St. Petersburg are suspected of being aligned with Japan and Iceland in their desire to lift the ban on whaling. In an op-ed piece, Ramage states that he believes the Bush administration is preparing to allow the ban to be lifted in order to placate Japan. The IWC chairman, William Hogarth, is a Bush administration appointee.

Ramage says that Hogarth, “should either open up the process for scrutiny, or simply cancel the meetings." more

09/14/08
Sachs celebrates rare beluga catch/Northwest Territories, Canada - NNSL

IKAAHUK/SACHS HARBOUR - Folks in Sachs Harbour had an unexpected feast on the Labour Day long weekend after two beluga whales were harvested right in the town's harbour.

Lawrence Amos was the first hunter to spot the whales.

He wasted no time in grabbing his rifle and heading for the beach. Amos didn't even stop to call for help because he had already seen John Keogak Sr. working on his boat.

Amos said Keogak was a bit doubtful when he first reported his sighting.

"I guess he didn't believe me at the beginning but I had so much adrenaline flowing I grabbed my boat and turned it around. That was when he believed me," said Amos.

By all accounts the whales were very close to shore.

"We got it pretty quick because the water wasn't that deep. You could see it," said Keogak.

Keogak threw the harpoon and it connected on his first try. It wasn't long at all before the two men returned to shore with their catch.

Two other whalers also went out after Keogak and Amos. Lucky Pokiak and Wayne Gully also brought in a beluga.

Keogak said Pokiak and Amos are both experienced whalers. Pokiak is from Tuktoyaktuk.

The catch is unusual for Sachs Harbour. Unlike the waters off Tuktoyaktuk, Sachs Harbour does not normally have a lot of belugas swimming around nearby. Keogak said these were the first to be harvested in several years.

"We had a couple of chances a few years ago. The past two years there have been whales spotted here from the shore but when we did spot them it was too rough to go out," he said.

While Sachs Harbour residents have ventured out to sea for whales on occasion, this was the first time in living memory that whales have been taken directly in the harbour.

"I was talking to an elder the day it happened and he said he had been in Sachs for 50 years and he had never seen anyone get a whale right in the harbour," said Amos.

Once both whales were on the beach, almost everyone from the community came down to congratulate the hunters.

"Everybody went down there. It was like a big community gathering," said Angela Keogak.

With two whales brought in, there was no shortage of muktuk and meat to go around.

Amos said it feels good to know people in the community won't have to rely on pails of muktuk ordered from the mainland this winter.

"All the muktuk went to elders first and then after that everybody around town got muktuk and meat to make dry meat," he said. more

09/12/08
Whale performs for the camera - thisiswesternmorningnews.co.uk

ONE of the most spectacular sights in the natural world – a 50ft whale leaping from the water – has been caught on film just two miles off the Isles of Scilly.

The "extremely rare" photograph of a humpback whale was taken by wildlife enthusiast Ross Newham, during what was scheduled to be a birdwatching trip.

"It was so calm out there, it was really good for looking for whales, dolphins and porpoises," Mr Newham explained.

"Usually we go out to find sea birds, we put some fish out and see what bird-life turns up but on our way out I spotted this large whale about 300 yards away and that's when things started to get a bit more exciting."

Joe Pender, skipper of the MV Sapphire, followed the whale at a safe distance and passengers watched as it broke the surface to breathe and then dive again.

"We were waiting for it to surface again when it did a series of three dives. The last time we saw the brilliant white on the underside of the tail," added Mr Newham, a communications manager for a plant research company. "We then realised we had got quite an interesting species.

"All of us were looking at the right patch of sea, which was flat calm, when it decided to leap out of the water. Fortunately I was the one who pressed the button at the right time. It was absolutely superb.

"It was a very special moment to witness something like that."

A keen "birder", Mr Newham , from Maidstone in Kent, has visited the Isles of Scilly between 30 and 40 times since his first trip in 1989. The "highlight" of his week-long holiday happened last Saturday, on the first day of his break.

He added: "I only know of one other picture taken in the UK of a humpback whale breaching and that was taken off Scotland 10 to 15 years ago."

The migratory species, which feed on shoals of small fish, can reach 50 years of age. They reach 18 metres in length and weigh up to 40 tonnes.

Douglas Herdson, from Plymouth's National Marine Aquarium, said the "exquisite" photograph was "extremely rare".

"Humpback whales are seen around Britain particularly between South Wales and Ireland," Mr Herdson explained, "but they are fairly uncommon around the South West.

"Last year we had one that was washed up dead on a beach in East Devon and there was also a sighting off the North Devon coast. Prior to that they had not been seen off Devon and Cornwall for 10 or 12 years.

"No-one knows for certain why they breach. It could be a way of showing others in the area that they are around. It could be a way of getting rid of parasites, or it could be for the sheer joy of it." more

09/09/08
Norway's whalers defend tradition amid shrinking markets - http://www.france24.com

In the Lofoten Islands, the main base for Norway's whaling industry, hunters insist that their tradition has a future despite decades of criticism -- and reject claims that consumers aren't buying whale meat.

In this cluster of islands nestled within the Arctic circle, the whalers have all returned to their home ports, this year's hunting season having ended on August 31. Their vessels are easily identified by the harpoons perched on the bow and an imposing watchtower that enables them to spot minke whales from afar.

Stocks of minke whale, the smallest of the big whales, number more than 100,000 in the North Atlantic, but the quota was hard to meet again this year, with whalers killing only half of the permitted catch of 1,052 whales.

Since Norway resumed whaling in 1993, six years after an international moratorium was agreed, the hunters have only met their quota once.

They blame the low catch on high fuel prices, bad weather -- still waters are needed to harpoon a whale -- as well as quotas often distributed in regions far out to sea and a crunch in processing and distribution channels.

Greenpeace sees the issue differently.

"The figures speak for themselves: the market for whale meat is non-existent," says Truls Gulowsen of the environmental group's Norwegian branch.

Greenpeace long ago abandoned its spectacular anti-whaling campaigns where its boats went head-to-head in confrontations with whaling vessels.

"We have a better plan: we'll let the market decide. And it will die out," Gulowsen says.

Once a staple of the poor man's diet, whale meat is now almost never found in grocery stores.

But in Svolvaer, a small village in the Lofoten Islands, it has pride of place on restaurant menus where it is served both fried and as carpaccio, often a pleasant surprise for tourists' sceptical palates.

"Our problem is ignorance. A lot of people just don't understand what it is they're opposed to," says Leif Einar Karlsen, a local whaler who left his job as a mechanic 12 years ago to start hunting.

"People don't know that there are dozens of kinds of whales," he adds.

Like Iceland, Norway estimates that stocks are abundant enough to allow a limited quota for commercial whaling.

But the minke whale remains on the list of near-threatened species drawn up by UN agency CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species), which means it cannot be sold internationally.

"The result of unfortunate and effective lobbying," laments Bjoern Hugo Bendiksen, head of the Norwegian whalers' association.

The son, grandson and brother of a whaler, he harpooned 23 minkes this year.

"A mediocre season," he says.

While one minke whale can yield more than a tonne (1,000 kilogrammes) of meat, the processing plants on the nearby islet of Skrova pay only 30 kroner (3.8 euros, 5.5 dollars) per kilo.

Half of a season's revenue will cover the costs of the boat, while the crew, normally made up of four people, shares the rest.

"Before, whaling used to be a primary source of income. Now it's just a way for fishermen to supplement their income alongside the cod, hake and herring they catch the rest of the year," Karlsen said.

Whaling represents only 20 to 25 percent of overall income nowadays for most of the 30-odd whaling vessels that take part in the hunt in Norway each year.

In that light, whale safaris have become a more profitable business, with lower costs and less conflict. Usually.

"Once a whaler harpooned a whale right in front of us. My passengers, who were German tourists, were horrified. I almost had a heart attack," says Heiki Vester who runs the Ocean Sounds whale safari company.

Greenpeace's Gulowsen insists that "whaling is an industry of the past."
more

09/06/08
How Whales And Other Marine Mammals React To Sonar - Science Daily

NOAA’s Fisheries Service, in partnership with top international scientists and the U.S. Navy, has just completed a pioneering research effort in Hawaii to measure the biology and behavior of some of the most poorly understood whales on Earth. During the study, for the first time, scientists attached listening and movement sensors on marine mammals around realistic military operations.

Using satellite-linked and underwater listening tags to monitor movement and behavior, NOAA and partnering scientists tagged more than thirty individual marine mammals of four different species. They measured how deep-diving marine mammals feed, interact with one another, dive and respond to sounds in their environment in this pioneering pilot project carried out in conjunction with the Navy’s Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2008 exercises.

Scientists used the naval military exercises, hosted biennially by the U.S. Pacific Fleet, as an opportunity to learn more about deep-diving whales and how they might respond to military sonar in their environment. RIMPAC includes the use of mid-frequency active sonar for anti-submarine warfare training in various areas around Hawaii. Transmissions were not directed at marine mammals for the study. Scientists and the Navy used mitigation measures to minimize exposure to nearby mammals.

Dr. Brandon Southall, director of NOAA’s Ocean Acoustics Program and co-funder of the project says that this study has already produced major advances, including ground-breaking measurements of basic biological factors, such as increased data on individual animals. Although this area of study is relatively new and challenging, scientists around the world are developing sophisticated technologies, and partnering to learn more about how human sounds affect marine mammals.

“The study of marine mammal acoustics and behavior is an area of emerging interest for many reasons, but there have been many recent advances, including this recently completed study” Southall said. “We were fortunate to have some of the best scientists in these fields working with NOAA on this pilot project. It will take some time to analyze the data and see what conclusions may be drawn, but in many ways this effort lays the foundation for more sophisticated collaborative efforts in the future.”

Operating from the NOAA research vessel Oscar Elton Sette and smaller boats, scientists placed monitoring tags on deep-diving beaked, pilot and melon-headed whales, as well as false killer whales. Some devices recorded short duration bits of detailed information about how the animals move and the sounds they make and hear. Others provide, and continue to provide, longer-term data on their geographical movements around the Hawaiian Islands. Photo identification and other basic biological measurements were made on nearly a dozen cetacean species in total throughout the project.

The diversity of the research team includes scientists from Cascadia Research Collective, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Duke University, NOAA’s Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, the University of Hawaii, and the Wild Whale Research Foundation. more

09/04/08
Commercial Whaling and the International Whaling Commission (IWC) - greennature.com

The International Whaling Commission (IWC) is the international institution responsible for the management of whale species in the world's oceans.

As the institutional arm of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (1946), it was originally designed as an international institution to coordinate commercial whaling management practices of states with whaling interests.

Over the years, the IWC institutional mandate has evolved to include the scientific study of small cetaceans. The addition of another policy focus to the IWC agenda is not without criticism. Some member states question its legal basis and claim that the study and management of small cetaceans exceeds the bounds of the original treaty. On the other hand, institutional evolution is not without precedent. One need look no further than the combined histories of the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance (NATO), and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), two parallel post-war institutions in the security and economic areas, to observe additional examples.

While the IWC has expanded it focus, member states still work on commercial whaling issues. There is a separate debate as to whether member states should promote any commercial whaling. A discussion of its merits is left for another article. This article discusses current IWC commercial whaling activity.

Aggressive exploitation of whale stocks in the immediate Post-WWII era led to dramatic declines of great whale species populations. In 1986 member states voted to pause commercial whaling, i.e., place 0 catch limits on all the great whale species, until a proper scientific consensus could be reached about sustainable commercial whaling practices.

In the past twenty years, member states have developed The Revised Management Procedure (RMP) and the Revised Management Scheme (RMS) as their dual commercial whale management tools.

The RMP deals with whale population management. The science of whale population estimates is far from exact, given the fact that whales spend the majority of their lives under water and out of site of human observation. The scientific model for the RMP is technically called a Catch Limit Algorithm.

For math enthusiasts, algorithms are the mathematical forms of common workplace applications such as flow charts and decision trees. Generally speaking, algorithms solve problems by moving data through a series of mathematical equations that determine the data's next step in the flow of things. In practical whaling terms, the CLA moves the statistical version of whale populations through a series of filters to determine how many of these statistical whales might flow to a commercial whaling end point under a specific set of conditions. CLAs do this using various scenarios based on historical evidence and hypothesis of future trends.

Any algorithm can be improved by either improving the data that flows through it or improving the equations the data flows through. IWC member states, generally accepted the CLA approach because of its conservative approach to population management. Since 1992 member states have worked to improve the data used in the CLA and improve the statistical equations contained therein. There is little disagreement over its use as a whale fishery management tool.

Future considerations of a return to commercial whaling now depends on member states agreeing on the RMS, the portion of commercial whale management that deals with the industry side of the practice. If and when commercial whaling resumes, how can member states verify that commercial whalers actually following the rules of the game? Member states concerns with the issue are based in the long history of the commercial overexploitation of whale stocks for short term gains. They seek verifiable means of assurance that both member and nonmember states have little incentive to either abet or turn a blind eye to commercial whalers who either operate in illegal waters or exceed set catch limits for short term commercial gain.

Concerns expressed by RMS supporters have validity. It is arguable that all whaling actors, state, industry and environmental, act within a culture of excess. Justification for such a broad brush statement might start with a recitation of the long and aggressive history of the whaling industry's exploitation of whale stocks. Justification might end with a shorter, but equally aggressive history of the anti-whaling faction. For example, conflict on the high seas between whaling and anti-whaling actors often makes headlines.

Less dramatic examples of a limit testing culture among the actors can be found on the ground. For example, a recent Report of the Finance and Administration Committee explains how IWC member states occasionally revisit their rules of procedure regarding the activities of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) during IWC meetings. Organizations with whaling interests have been invited to attend meetings provided they met certain criteria, with one criteria being the organization in question having offices in four different states.

It did not take long for the NGO community to discover loopholes in the admission provision in order to attend or increase their presence at meetings. One comment in the document (p.24) states,

"Personal communication with one of the large environmental NGOs suggests that there are some 30 'flag of convenience' organizations for conservation/welfare groups and around 15 for pro-whaling groups."

Member states will discuss the status of negotiations on the RMS during the 2007 IWC meeting in Alaska. The agenda item for RMS says,

At last year's Annual Meeting, the Commission accepted that an impasse had been reached at the Commission level on RMS discussions and did not identify any formal activity prior to IWC/59. However, it noted that individual governments or groups of governments could work towards the development of an RMS during the intersessional period. This item has been retained on the agenda to provide an opportunity for governments to report on any intersessional activities and/or to propose further work. more

09/01/08
Oil, Gas Seismic Work Not Affecting Gulf Sperm Whales, Study Shows - Science Daily

In recent years, there has been concern that man-made noise may be a cause of stress for dolphins, whales and other marine mammals, but the results of a five-year study show that noise pollution – especially noise generated by seismic airguns during geophysical exploration for oil and gas – seems to have minimal effect on endangered sperm whales in the Gulf of Mexico, say researchers from Texas A&M University who led the project and released their 323-page report today at the Houston Museum of Natural Science.

The multi-year $9 million study, the largest of its type ever undertaken and formally titled Sperm Whale Seismic Study in the Gulf of Mexico, was conducted by the Minerals Management Service and featured cooperation with the Office of Naval Research, the National Science Foundation and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The project brought together researchers from eight universities, but it was managed overall by Texas A&M's Department of Oceanography, with research scientist Ann Jochens and professor Doug Biggs serving as principal investigators.

"The bottom line is that airgun noise from seismic surveys that are thousands of yards distant does not drive away sperm whales living in the Gulf," Biggs explains.

"However, some individual whales feeding at depth reduced the rate at which they searched acoustically for their prey when scientists carried out controlled exposure experiments by bringing seismic surveys close by the whales. As a result, the oil and gas industry has agreed to a best-practice attitude that seismic surveys should shut down temporarily when towed airguns come within one-third of a mile of whales or groups of whales in the Gulf."

Though not often seen, sperm whales are regular visitors to and residents in the Gulf of Mexico. They are the largest of all toothed whales and can reach lengths of 60 feet or more and live 60 years or longer. Their primary diet is squid and fish and they have been known to dive as deep as 7,000 feet. Humans no longer hunt them for their oil, but the whale in Herman Melville's classic novel Moby Dick was a sperm whale.

Sperm whales are not often seen because they prefer to stay in the deep waters of the Gulf, usually in depths of 3,000 feet or more and at least 150 miles offshore, Biggs says.

"Sperm whales go to where their food source is, and that means very deep water. So folks that do see them are marine mammal observers who ride the seismic survey vessels and the workers on the big oil and gas rigs, and even that does not happen often," Biggs adds.

The primary concern facing the scientific research group was noise – there's more of it in the world's oceans than you might think. A study by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography shows that the world's oceans are 10 times noisier since the 1960s, and at any one time, there are as many as 30,000 ships circling the globe.

Biggs says that over the course of five summers, 98 sperm whales were tagged with devices that relayed back critical data such as measurements about sound levels and behavioral aspects of whales, including tracking their movements. Of particular concern was the effect that loud low-frequency noises, such as those created by seismic activity, might have on sperm whales in the area.

Oil and gas companies prospect for subsea reservoirs by firing air guns during their seismic work, which government regulators thought might negatively affect sperm whale behavior. Also, the sheer volume of work being done in the Gulf was another concern: The Gulf of Mexico accounts for almost 70 percent of the oil and gas extracted from U.S. waters and there are thousands of oil and gas platforms in the region.

But the study found no unusual effects of controlled exposure to seismic exploration on the swimming and diving behavior by sperm whales in the Gulf, and also revealed a wealth of data about sperm whale biology and habitat.

"We now know that the sperm whales in the Gulf appear to be their own distinct stock – they show genetic and social differences from other sperm whales around the world," Biggs says.

"There are believed to be about 500 to 1,500 sperm whales that reside in the Gulf. Most of these are family groups of females and maturing young. When one family group socializes with another family group in the Gulf, they make very distinct sounds. Even though the family groups are visited by males that come into the Gulf from other oceans, their 'clicking' sounds, called codas, the Gulf sperm whales make appear to be different from most others made by sperm whale groups in other parts of the world.

"The five-year study has greatly contributed to our knowledge of sperm whales, especially those found in the Gulf of Mexico. It's also raised new questions we need to know more about, such as their feeding and breeding patterns. There's still a lot we don't know about these huge creatures." more

08/30/08
Japanese study finds worrying loss of blubber in whales - guardian.co.uk

Scientists in Japan claim that their country's controversial whaling programme, which has killed thousands of minke whales since the late 1980s, has established that the animals have lost significant amounts of blubber. Measurements taken from more than 4,500 slaughtered minkes show they are getting thinner at a worrying speed, the researchers say.

The team from the Institute of Cetacean Research in Tokyo, set up to analyse the results of the scientific whaling programme, says its study offers the first evidence that global warming could be harming whales, because it restricts food supplies. They say the discovery could only have been made by killing the animals.

Crucially for the Japanese, the results have been published in a mainstream western scientific journal, Polar Biology. Campaigners say publication could offer scientific whaling a veneer of respectability, and bolster Japan's efforts to hunt more whales.

They fear Japan could use the results to support efforts to hunt endangered humpback whales for the first time in 50 years. The study claims the recovering humpback population in the Southern Ocean could also be hurting the minkes because of "interference" between the two species as they compete for food.

Campaigners and politicians say Japan's scientific whaling programme is commercial whaling by another name and is unethical and unnecessary.

Lars Walloe, a Norwegian whale expert at the University of Oslo, who helped the Japanese team analyse the data, and an author of the study, said: "This is a big change in blubber and if it continues it could make it more difficult for the whales to survive. It indicates there have been some big changes in their ecosystem."

Whales rely on blubber for energy and insulation. The shift could already be making it more difficult to reproduce, Walloe said. "I don't think you could measure this by other [non lethal] means."

He said the Japanese findings, and their publication, had been unpopular among scientists from nations opposed to whaling, including Britain. Two journals refused to print the findings before they were accepted by Polar Biology, which published them online last month. Walloe, who says he does not support the ban on commercial whaling, claimed that the journals that turned down the study did so for political, not scientific, reasons.

The findings are the most high profile of the Japanese scientific whaling programme so far.

Mark Simmonds, director of science at the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, said: "Lots of dead bodies will provide robust data, so if you kill lots of whales then you will get some information. The question is whether the benefits outweigh the number of whales killed and how they were killed. Scientific whaling is not about science, and there is no pressing conservation need that requires it." more

08/28/08
How Whales And Other Marine Mammals React To Sonar - Science Daily

08/27/08
Whaling under fire as Norway catches only 50% of its quota - guardian.co.uk

Norway will not catch enough whales to meet its quota this year, in what environmentalists are claiming is proof that the nation should abandon the activity completely.

Since the whaling season started on April 1, fishermen have caught around half the number of animals allowed by the authorities – 533 common minke whales out of a quota of 1,052.

The season ends on August 31 and fishermen recognise they will fall short. "I don't think we will do it," said Bjoern-Hugo Bendiksen, chairman of the Norwegian Whalers' Union.

Conservation groups say the catch came short because Norwegians' taste for the mammal has declined. "This shows that people don't want to eat whale meat anymore. The market is not there," said Truls Gulowsen from Greenpeace. "The Norwegian government should stop supporting a dying industry and apply the 1986 international moratorium on whaling."

Fishermen deny that falling demand is behind the low catch. "We were able to meet the quota in the two best areas for whaling, around [the Arctic archipelago of] Svalbard" and along the northern coast of Norway, explained Bendiksen, who caught 23 animals this season.

Instead, Bendiksen claims boats have intentionally avoided the hunting areas that are further away, such as the waters around Jan Mayen, an island 600 miles west of the Norwegian mainland. "Only one boat went there this season. It's a long, dangerous trip and it's very expensive because of the increased fuel costs. So it's not worth the risk," he said.

According to official regulations fishermen have three weeks from the moment they catch a whale to deliver it to a processing plant onshore. But "processing plants don't have enough capacity to deal with the meat," thus limiting how much whalers can catch, claims Bendiksen.

Norway resumed commercial whaling in 1993, despite an international moratorium put in place in 1986 to protect the species from extinction. Only one other nation, Iceland, has followed suit, in 2006. Japan allows whaling for scientific reasons, although a large number of whale steaks are found in fish markets every year.

Norway's whale catches have been declining in recent years. In 2004 fishermen hunted 639 animals from a total quota of 796. Last year they caught just 597, out of a quota of 1,052 – the highest quota allowed since 1993. Around 30 ships were involved in this year's hunting season.

Conservationists have long argued that all forms of whale hunting should be banned because it is cruel and stocks are too low for hunting to be sustainable. But Norway defies the ban because whaling "has high political status, even though it's a marginal industry," according to Gulowsen.

"It's a symbolic issue for the government, a way to show its independence from the international community when it comes to controlling its natural resources," he said.

For many Norwegians, especially for those living in the Arctic north where whaling is considered a normal economic activity, eating whale is as ordinary as eating cod or salmon. Whale steaks are available at supermarkets and are served in restaurants.

Norway hunts only one type of whale, the common minke whale, which is considered as "threatened with extinction" according to Cites, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which bans its international trade.

The common minke whale is viewed as "near threatened" according to the Red List of the IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the second lowest step on its "Red List", its classification of endangered species. In August, the IUCN said common minke whales, along with other big whales, were slowly recovering from the threat of extinction thanks to the 1986 moratorium. more

08/24/08
Baby whale tries to suckle new boat - SMH.com.au

The fate of the three-week-old baby humpback whale stranded in Pittwater will most likely be decided by vets from Taronga Zoo after attempts to lure it out to sea this morning failed.

The vets hope to be able to assess the health of the calf and whether it can survive. If not, the calf may have to be put down.

The North Sydney manager of the NSW Parks and Wildlife Service, Chris McIntosh, will give an update on efforts to save the whale's life soon but there are fears that, if it is too weak to survive, it may have be destroyed.

The humpback calf was first seen in the Pittwater area on Sunday apparently trying to search for its mother and nuzzling up to a yacht.

Probably ignored by whales along coast

Arjun Ramachandran reports: The whale - weak, hungry and desperate to find its mother - has probably been ignored by whales swimming along the coast who can hear its distress calls, the National Parks and Wildlife Service says.

The young calf was this morning found trying to suckle a boat at The Basin, near Palm Beach, which it had apparently mistaken for its mother.

When the whale was first spotted on Monday, it had been similarly nuzzling up to a whale-sized yacht in the Pittwater area.

National Parks and Wildlife Service spokesman John Dengate refuted reports that there were plans to euthanase the whale, but said there was very little else that could be done.

"It's absolutely the case that we haven't given up on this little whale," he said.

While NPWS had been investigated options to care for the whale in captivity, there were no facilities in Australia large enough to suckle a baby whale for its 11-month suckling period and to provide it with its nutritional needs, he said.

The whale already weighed more than a tonne, and would grow further during the 11-month period.

After that, it would need to feed on krill - a small crustacean - which would require that it be transported to the Antarctic where krill was present, he said.

All of this was "extremely difficult to do and our advice is that in Australia, and quite likely in the world, there is not facility to deal with this".

Mr Dengate also revealed that the baby whale would probably have been contacting other pods of whales travelling up and down the coast, as whales could communicate up to 10 kilometres under water.

However, it looked unlikely that the whale's mother would return or that another lactating adult whale would adopt it, he said.

Authorities had lured the baby out to sea on Monday, but it had returned to Mackerel Beach, in Pittwater, by the next morning.

This morning, a man found the whale trying to suckle on his boat at The Basin, near Palm Beach.

"I've got a baby whale suckling my boat," the man, Peter, said on 702 ABC Sydney this morning.

"I've been sailing back from Port Stephens and came in late last night and woke up this morning to a strange sucking sound at the bottom of the boat.

"It sounds quite pathetic ... like someone with a great vacuum cleaner trying to suck the bottom of the boat."

The man said he had not been aware there was a lost baby whale in the area.

He had moored his boat at The Basin while he tried to contact the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, he said.

"I just didn't want to start the boat or do anything to hurt the whale."

Mr Dengate said it was likely the whale had just days to live.
more

08/21/08
Don't let baby whale suffer: Coast experts - goldcoast.com.au

A SEA World marine expert has begged the public to accept that a humane death could be the only solution for 'Colin' the abandoned humpback whale calf.

Hopes are fading for the calf, which is stranded in Sydney's Pittwater estuary.

The baby whale, believed to be about two to three weeks old, had apparently been abandoned by its mother.
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It was first spotted on Sunday, nuzzling up to a yacht in an apparent search for its mother.

Sea World director of marine sciences Trevor Long said the animal's suffering should not be prolonged.

"We have considered all possibilities and exhausted all possible rescue scenarios and along with other experts in the field we agree the animal's suffering should not be prolonged and advocate for a humane outcome," he said.

Sea World has received a deluge of calls from distraught and angry locals urging them to intervene and save the calf.

A Sea World spokesman said people empathised with the calf's plight but its future rested with the NSW National Parks and Wildlife officers.

"It is a good thing that people care about animals but in this case we are asking the community to consider the animal's welfare first over their own emotional empathy," she said.

Mr Long said no human help would replace its mother's care and even if it was nursed by scientists, it would not survive in the wild.

"The chances of survival for the calf, even with human intervention, are extremely low," he said.

"This animal is approx 4.5 metres long and will weigh around four tonnes, so logistically it will be extremely difficult to transport, house, feed and rehabilitate.

"Even if the whale were successfully nursed, it will have no life skills. It won't know how to communicate or socialise with other whales, and it wont know how to migrate to Antarctica."

He said that survival rates for newborn animals were extremely low.

Mr Long said the calf would need 100 litres of high-fat milk a day, increasing substantially every day, and would eventually need to be weaned to feed on a diet of krill.

Mr Long said no one had ever successfully nursed a humpback calf, let alone attempted to wean an animal.

A spokeswoman for NSW Environment Minister Verity Firth said yesterday 'we haven't given up on the whale', but another spokesman, John Dengate, said euthanasia was 'certainly a possibility'. more

08/18/08
Whales mourn if a family member is taken: scientists - | abc.net.au

Tasmanian scientists are examining the teeth of 100 whales and believe their research shows whaling impacts the mental health of other whales in the pod.

In February 1998 more than 100 sperm whales from three pods beached and died on Tasmania's north and west coasts.

Scientists are now sawing their teeth in half to find out more about the species.

The University of Tasmania's Mark Hindell says the teeth have provided vital information about the demographic structure of pods, and explained social behaviours.

"They [the teeth] are absolutely invaluable ... it underpins everything that we learn about these animals, they're kind of like gold," he said.

Associate Professor Hindell says some of the whales were over 60 years old and were all closely related, which could help explain why they stranded.

He says closely related pods have such tight bonds that when one whale strands, they all follow, because they don't want to leave the whale on its own.

"[Having the teeth is] quite unique because they were whole family pods and you don't get access to pods in any other way," he said.

"To study these animals in the wild, if they're still alive and swimming around, you just can't do it, so even if you went to do biopsies for skin samples you just can't do it, you never get the whole pod."

The CSIRO's Karen Evans says whale teeth are similar to tree rings.

"You can count those ridges and it basically gives you the age of the animal," she said.

Dr Evans says the teeth show that when a whale is taken from a pod, the rest of the whales go into mourning, which is detrimental to their health.

"What tends to happen is if one individual has stranded, the social bonds between that group mean that the rest of the group don't want to leave the area without that individual," she said.

"And because they don't want to leave the area it then puts them into danger." more

08/16/08
Humpback whale less under threat - Australia

TWO whale species, the humpback and the southern right, are less under threat from becoming extinct, a new study released today shows.

However, smaller cetaceans, including a species of porpoise, were facing a greater risk of extinction, said the study by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

"Humpbacks and southern right whales are making a comeback in much of their range mainly because they have been protected from commercial hunting," said Randall Reeves, of the IUCN.

"This is a great conservation success and clearly shows what needs to be done to ensure these ocean giants survive."

But nearly a quarter of cetacean species remain threatened, with 10 per cent listed as endangered or critically endangered, including a species of porpoise, the study shows.

The vaquita, a porpoise found in the Gulf of California, was expected to be the next cetacean species to go extinct, as only about 150 are alive in the wild, said the IUCN.

The IUCN is a global environmental network of more than 1,000 governments and non-governmental organisations. Its Red List of threatened species is widely used as an index of species endangerment.

Its assessment, which looked at cetacean species including whales, dolphins and porpoises, found the humpback whale had improved from 'vulnerable' to 'least concern', meaning a low risk of extinction.

The southern right whale had also improved to 'least concern'.

Justin Cooke, a specialist in cetaceans with the IUCN, acknowledged the reclassification of humpback whales might prompt renewed pressure from whaling nations to resume hunting them.

"It's quite possible that they will use this was support for their case, but one can't determine that because a species is under less threat from extinction that it's automatically okay to start hunting them," he said.

In June, Greenland sought permission to add 10 humpback whales to its annual subsistence hunting quota but the International Whaling Commission (IWC) turned down the request.

Japan said last month it was ready to spare humpback whales from its Antarctic hunt for another year if international whaling talks make progress.
more

08/13/08
Humpback whale recovery spurs debate - cape cod times

The global population of humpback whales, which commonly feed off Cape Cod during the summer, has rebounded so much in four decades that an international nature preservation group has taken the mammal off its high-risk-for-extinction listing.

But local humpback scientists said that while the announcement is good news, it oversimplifies the plight of individual humpback communities like those that visit Cape Cod Bay.

The estimated worldwide population of humpbacks is 63,600, according to the Internet site of the International Whaling Commission. Of that total population, about 11,000 feed in the northern Atlantic Ocean region, said officials from the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies and the Whale Center of New England in Gloucester. Of the northern Atlantic population, about 900 feed in the Gulf of Maine, which includes Cape Cod Bay and Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary.

The massive but agile animals, which can be 50 feet long and weigh 45 tons, are known as the acrobats of the whale world, a spokesman for the New England Aquarium said. About 200 individual humpbacks have been observed during whale watch excursions this summer from Provincetown, said Steven Milliken, owner of the Dolphin Fleet of Provincetown whale watch company.

"We still have to be concerned with every population," said Richard Delaney, executive director of the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies. "We're not ready to say that all humpback whales should come off the protection lists here in U.S. waters."

On Monday, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which is based in Switzerland, announced that it lowered the overall risk rating of the humpback, apart from two small groups, from "vulnerable" to "least concern" on its Red List of Threatened Species.

On the Red List, species listed as critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable have a higher risk of global extinction. The least concern designation is the lowest ranking possible, apart from an assessment with insufficient data or no assessment at all.

Both the humpback and the North Atlantic right whale, another whale seen off Cape shores in the summer, remain listed as endangered species in the United States, according to a federal source. The right whale is considered endangered worldwide on the Red List, with a population of about 350 animals, according to a spokesperson for the International Fund for Animal Welfare in Yarmouthport.

The humpback's Red List risk assessment was lowered because international protections put in place in the past 40 years have helped the marine mammal's population recover, according to Patrick Ramage of the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

But that lowered ranking could be misleading, Mason Weinrich of the Gloucester whale center said.

Scientific data suggests that individual communities of humpbacks appear not to interact, so that one group could be killed off and not be replenished by others from across the globe, Weinrich said. In the case of the north Atlantic humpback population, which includes whales linked to the Gulf of Maine, Greenland, Iceland and Norway, the relative isolation of the animals puts them at risk, he said.

"You could take down Greenland, and it may not be replaced," Weinrich said. "We don't yet know how they interchange with (each) other."

Scientists and humpback whale advocates said there were other factors that call for vigilance in protecting the humpback population, including fishing gear entanglement and ship strikes. And one advocate cited new risks to the species such as ocean noise pollution and global warming. more

08/11/08
Blue whale song grows deeper, experts say - Columbus Dispatch

The song of the blue whale, one of the eeriest sounds in the ocean, has mysteriously grown deeper.

The calls have been steadily dropping in frequency for seven populations of blue whales around the world over the past 40 years, said researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and WhaleAcoustics, a private research company.

The scientists analyzed data collected with hydrophones and other tools and found that the songs, which they believe are by males advertising for mates, had lowered by as much as 30 percent in certain populations. Much of the song lies at frequencies too low to be detected by the human ear.

John Hildebrand, professor of oceanography at Scripps and an author of the study, said the drop might signal a rebound in the population of blue whales since commercial whaling bans began to take effect in the 1970s.

Scientists believe that only male blue whales sing. Female blue whales choose their mates based on size, a selection process that has fostered the species' gargantuan proportions. And deeper might signal bigger.

When populations were smaller, whales might have had to be louder to make their calls heard. Now, the males might be competing to make their calls deeper, said Sarah Mesnick, a behavioral ecologist at the NOAA Fisheries Service and one of the study's authors.

"The idea is, as density increases and there are more individuals competing to find mates, that we expect the mating display to change," Mesnick said. "We may be seeing that in two ways with blue whales: the songs are getting lower and a little less loud."

Trevor Branch, a fisheries scientist at the University of Washington's School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences who studies whales and was not associated with the song study, estimates that there are as many as 25,000 blue whales, compared with perhaps 300,000 before whaling. The number might have risen from a low of about 10,000 animals.

The population-rebound explanation, while speculative, is compelling to David Mellinger, a professor at the Hatfield Marine Science Center at Oregon State University who has studied blue whales for the past 16 years.

Mellinger, who was not part of the study, said, "It's hard to see anything that would have impacted all of those populations and made them all decrease frequency other than the increase in the population." more

08/06/08
Humpback Whale Spotted in German Waters - SPIEGEL ONLINE International

In the past century and a half there have been exactly three documented sightings of living humpback whales in German waters. Marine biologists say that makes last Friday's sighting a "sensation."

Biologists Andreas Nick and Christoph Bock had travelled to the German island of Rügen in the Baltic Sea to watch birds. Yet, instead of spotting some rare animal in the sky or in a tree, they came across a far more unusual sight: a humpback whale.

Bock told SPIEGEL ONLINE he recognized the animal straightaway. The biologists grabbed their cameras and started to click away, as the whale kept jumping out of the sea -- in what was eventually a two-hour show.

The last time a living humpback whale was spotted in German waters was nearly 30 years ago: in August 1978, also off the coast of Rügen. But to find a prior documented sighting you have to go back another 127 years -- to 1851.

"It's a sensation," Harald Benke, the director of the German Oceanographic Museum in Stralsund told SPIEGEL ONLINE. Benke managed to verify that the animal was in fact a humpback whale after the biologists sent his museum the pictures they took.

"The men's descriptions were detailed and exact," he said. "Besides, the photos left no doubt: I could clearly make out that it was a humpback whale. It had the typical long white pectoral fin, which can make up a third of the animals' bodies." The whale, which is estimated to be around 12 meters (40 feet) long, was spotted last Friday, but the news of the sighting only came out on Tuesday.

Benke believes the animal might have got lost -- swimming first into the North Sea and then into the Baltic Sea -- by following a swarm of fish during its usual trip to spend the summer in the Arctic. Although the animal will probably stick around the Baltic Sea for a few more weeks, Benke added, it is likely it will look for other hunting grounds, as it will struggle to find enough food in those waters.

The whale is only the latest unusual sighting in the Baltic Sea in recent years: A giant swordfish stranded itself on the Darss peninsula in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania earlier this month; in September 2007 several dolphins were spotted between Darss and the island of Hiddensee; and seals began appearing on Baltic Sea beaches in August 2007.

According to Greenpeace, humpback whales live in all the world's oceans. In the summer they tend to flock to the polar regions and, in winter, to subtropical waters. The animals, which can grow to 18 meters and weigh up to 40 tons, live off small fish and krill. Their world population is estimated to number between 35,000 and 40,000.

Humpback whales are also known as "singing whales" because they compose intricate compositions that can last longer than 10 minutes. These songs, which are comparable to human ones, are the most multifaceted and longest among whales. more

08/04/08
Faroe whales show new pollutant spreads worldwide - EcoDiario.es

People who eat whale meat in the remote Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic have high levels of an industrial toxin in their blood in a worrying sign that the pollutant has spread worldwide, scientists said on Thursday.

"This pollution is a new health concern for the Faroese and many populations worldwide," said Philippe Grandjean, an environmental health expert at the Harvard School of Public Health and the University of Southern Denmark.

"We know very little on the toxicity in humans so far, even less in regard to whales," he told Reuters of polyfluoroalkyl compounds (PFCs), used in products such as water or grease repellents for textiles, fire-fighting foams, or some papers.

A study with scientists in the Faroe Islands, Denmark and the United States showed higher traces of PFCs in the blood of people who ate whales in the Faroes -- between Norway and Iceland -- comparable to those in people in industrial nations closer to the sources of the chemicals.

Pilot whales, a small species caught in the Faroe islands, are at the top of the marine food chain. PFCs apparently build up in their muscles and liver because they consume smaller fish which have in turn absorbed PFCs washed into the seas.

The children and mothers surveyed in the Faroes who did not eat much whale meat did not have such high concentrations.

For one of the nine types of PFCs known as PFOS, "a single dinner with whale meat every two weeks is associated with an increase of 25 percent in the blood concentration," he said.

Initially, widening PFC contamination was thought to come from everyday exposure to items such as textiles or furniture containing PFCs. "Now we are seeing evidence that they are widespread in the environment and building up," Grandjean said.

The study, issued online, would be in August edition of the journal Environmental Science & Technology. A separate study had also shown high levels of PFOS in polar bear livers.

A report by the European Food Safety Authority this week said that some PFCs have produced tumors in rats but do not seem to cause cancers in humans. It said more data was needed. One study has linked PFCs to lower human birth weights.

Grandjean said that a couple of the people in the Faroes survey had blood levels of PFOS that exceeded the safe limit implied by the Food Safety Authority report.

Worries about the dispersal of the chemicals in the environment led 3M Co to change the formula of its stain repellant Scotchgard in 2002 to eliminate use of PFOS. more

08/02/08
Stranded sick whale put to sleep - BBC

A 26ft (8m) whale that beached on a mudflat off the south coast of England has been put to sleep with a lethal injection, rescuers said.

The Northern Bottlenose, which has suffered kidney failure, became trapped in Langstone Harbour, off Hampshire, on Thursday and beached overnight.

Rescuers had suspended an attempt to issue a lethal injection because the mammal swam back out to sea.

But after it beached again, medics put it to sleep at about 1845 BST.

Faye Archell, director with the British Divers Marine Life Rescue, said the whale was administered with a fast-acting fatal strength anaesthetic, called Immobilon.

"The decision has been made based on medical grounds," she said.

"It's the right decision for the whale. It's sick and distressed and it has come in for a second time. It has chosen to strand both times.

"We now know it's not a navigational error but it has stranded for a reason, it is sick."

A post-mortem examination will be carried out and samples will be sent to laboratories around the country for testing.

The body will then be disposed of either out at sea or in a landfill site.

Rescue workers try to save the whale

Experts warned if the six-tonne mammal carried on swimming in deeper water it could take up to two days to die naturally from renal failure, which had been confirmed with a blood test.

Earlier, the whale was freed from mudflats using a special lifting pontoon but it remained in shallow water.

An operation to try to save the whale, believed to be a young adult, began on Thursday.

The whale ended up about 3,000 miles (4,828 km) off course due to its illness, experts said.

Dr Paul Jepson, a vet with the British Zoological Society of London, said: "When it's too shallow to feed, they become dehydrated, and they become weakened and that's the problem.

"Then they strand and get the muscle damage. It's a picture that we're increasingly recognising now, the more we investigate these strandings.

"It may originally have been part of a pod, a larger group."

Stephen Marsh, an advanced marine mammal medic with BDMLR, told BBC News many people had worked to save the whale as well as two specialist vets.

About a dozen firefighters, police, coastguards, the RNLI from Ryde and Hayling Island harbour staff took part in the rescue attempt.

The species feed on deep-sea squid, which are not readily available in the English Channel.

It is the same species of whale as one that died despite a massive rescue attempt to save it when it swam up the River Thames in January 2006. more

07/28/08
A whale of a trip - cape cod times

This is the second in a series in which we join Cape Codders as they try an iconic local activity for the first time.

Five-year-old Jackson Monteiro was pumped for a whale of an adventure.
Calling all readers

We know a Manhattanite who's never visited the Statue of Liberty, so there are probably some Cape residents who've never dug for clams, climbed the Pilgrim Monument or watched a Cape League game.

On a recent overcast morning, he and his mother, Suzanne Monteiro, drove from their Brewster home to Barnstable Harbor and boarded the Hyannis Whale Watcher Cruises boat.

A single mother who's lived on the Cape for nine years, Monteiro has always wanted to go whale-watching.

"It's such a Cape Cod thing to do," she said.

She waited until Jackson was old enough to enjoy the experience with her.

Jackson has read lots of books about sea creatures, and whales — the largest sea mammals in the world — are his favorite.

The boat sailed across Cape Cod Bay to the Gerry E. Studds Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, a rich summertime feeding ground for whales located six miles north of Provincetown. But it couldn't get there fast enough for an excited Jackson, who scampered about the deck eager for his very first whale sighting.

Naturalist Jon Brink gave passengers tips on what to look for, such as the whales' blows (exhalations that look like a wall of steam or smoke); body parts like their flippers or tails; and the sight of sea birds hovering overhead trying to get a free bite to eat from the whales' seafood buffet. Whales also cast bubble clouds to corral schools of fish.

Although Brink said sightings have been plentiful lately, he warned passengers that nature isn't a sideshow.

"This isn't Sea World. ... Whales are wild animals."

After about an hour, the boat reached the bank. Suddenly, Brink announced the appearance of a cluster of eight humpbacks feeding about 40 feet from the boat.

"Are you sure those are whales, Mommy?" Jackson asked incredulously, then squealed with delight.

His eyes opened wide as he saw the whales surface with their mouths open to catch fish, then slap their majestic tails on the water as they dove back into the deep.

Over the next 90 minutes, there were numerous sightings of humpbacks and baleens and a sole minke, the smallest of the species.

"It's overwhelming," Monteiro said. "They are just so magnificent."

Jackson laughed when Brink said whales have belly buttons and lifted up his shirt to check his own. A grin spread across his face at the appearance of a humpback cow frolicking in the sea with her 7-month-old calf.

"He'd like to touch the baby calf," Monteiro said.

Jackson was amused by Brink referring to some of the humpback whales, who are bank regulars, by their names: Freckles, Milkweed and Sockeye.

Jackson rested by his mother's side during the sail back to the harbor, tuckered out but happy with the four-hour adventure .

What Monteiro liked best about the trip was seeing the whales through her young son's eyes.

"It was beyond my expectations," she said, smiling.

For more information about Hyannis Whale Watcher Cruises, call 508-362-6088 or visit www.whales.net. more

07/28/08
Faroe whales show new pollutant spreads worldwide - EcoDiario.es

People who eat whale meat in the remote Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic have high levels of an industrial toxin in their blood in a worrying sign that the pollutant has spread worldwide, scientists said on Thursday.

"This pollution is a new health concern for the Faroese and many populations worldwide," said Philippe Grandjean, an environmental health expert at the Harvard School of Public Health and the University of Southern Denmark.

"We know very little on the toxicity in humans so far, even less in regard to whales," he talked of polyfluoroalkyl compounds (PFCs), used in products such as water or grease repellents for textiles, fire-fighting foams, or some papers.

A study with scientists in the Faroe Islands, Denmark and the United States showed higher traces of PFCs in the blood of people who ate whales in the Faroes -- between Norway and Iceland -- comparable to those in people in industrial nations closer to the sources of the chemicals.

Pilot whales, a small species caught in the Faroe islands, are at the top of the marine food chain. PFCs apparently build up in their muscles and liver because they consume smaller fish which have in turn absorbed PFCs washed into the seas.

The children and mothers surveyed in the Faroes who did not eat much whale meat did not have such high concentrations.

For one of the nine types of PFCs known as PFOS, "a single dinner with whale meat every two weeks is associated with an increase of 25 percent in the blood concentration," he said.

Initially, widening PFC contamination was thought to come from everyday exposure to items such as textiles or furniture containing PFCs. "Now we are seeing evidence that they are widespread in the environment and building up," Grandjean said.

The study, issued online, would be in August edition of the journal Environmental Science & Technology. A separate study had also shown high levels of PFOS in polar bear livers.

A report by the European Food Safety Authority this week said that some PFCs have produced tumors in rats but do not seem to cause cancers in humans. It said more data was needed. One study has linked PFCs to lower human birth weights.

Grandjean said that a couple of the people in the Faroes survey had blood levels of PFOS that exceeded the safe limit implied by the Food Safety Authority report.

Worries about the dispersal of the chemicals in the environment led 3M Co to change the formula of its stain repellant Scotchgard in 2002 to eliminate use of PFOS. more

07/27/08
Tougher laws introduced for white whale protection - The Sunday Mail

AS A third white whale heads towards Queensland waters, the State Government has moved to give the rare mammals greater protection.

Sustainability, Climate Change and Innovation Minister Andrew McNamara has ordered wider exclusion zones and tougher fines to protect the rarest of the whale herd.

A $9000 penalty for getting too close to whales will be bumped up today to $12,375 for the white ones, including the famous 40-tonne Migaloo, first seen in 1991.

A second white humpback whale was seen off the Gold Coast last week.

And an infant albino was seen off the coast of Sydney last week with an adult of normal pigmentation, assumed to be its mother.

There was speculation the calf could be the offspring of Migaloo, named after an Aboriginal word meaning whitefella.

Mr McNamara said interest in the white whales had intensified following the sighting of the calf and its mother, on their way to the warmer waters of Queensland.

Migaloo was reported off Gosford on July 5 and the other white whale – with black spots on its head and tail – was seen off North Stradbroke Island three days later.

"These beautiful, rare animals are now in our waters and it is every Queenslander's responsibility to ensure they aren't disturbed," Mr McNamara said.

"That's why the already stringent controls have been beefed up."

Mr McNamara said about 10,000 whales were expected off the Queensland coast this year, up 10 per cent from 2007.

"Reports already indicate this will be the biggest year since whaling ceased," he said.

Environmental Protection Agency officers would carry out regular surveillance and he urged whale watch operators and the public to report anyone breaking the law.

Mr McNamara said commercial whale-watching boats did not have to be licensed if operating in Commonwealth waters, which start three nautical miles off the coast.

He intended to raise the issue with Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett.

Under the new state rules governing white whales, people who bring a boat closer than 500m or an aircraft closer than 2000ft (about 600m) to the albinos face fines of up to $12,375, or $9000 for a non-white whale.

Boats must not come within 100m of the whales, while jet skis must stay at least 300m away. In the whale protection zones of Whitsunday, Lindeman and Gloucester islands, boats must keep a 300m distance. more

07/25/08
Migaloo's back in our waters - The Cairns Post, Australia

Australia
A GROUP of fishermen are certain they have scored the season's first white whale sighting near Yorkey's Knob.

Brad Brook, 36, and two friends were yesterday heading home after unsuccessful efforts to hook red emperor and mackerel when they spotted what they believe was Migaloo next to their boat.

View Migaloo picture gallery.

"We all saw it," Mr Brook, of White Rock, told The Cairns Post.

"We were all pretty gobsmacked."

Before the 9am sighting, he said: "We were all feeling pretty glum until then. It was a pretty dismal fishing trip. Nothing."

Meeting the snowy giant near Pixie Reef, about 40 minutes offshore from Yorkeys Knob, changed all that.

"It was wild to see it," a jubilant Mr Brook said.

"I’ve seen plenty of whales before, but I’ve never got a look at a white one.

"He was easily longer than our boat - I'm guessing 6m - and he was within 1m of the surface."

The albino's pale skin made the water glow as though lit from beneath, Mr Brook said. "It goes a turquoise green colour. It's illuminated from underneath.

"He looked like he was only a metre or so under the surface."

The white whale was guarded by two huge humpbacks, Mr Brook said.

"When I saw the fin on the side sticking up, I thought it was a yacht or a sail.

"I thought ‘Windsurfer?’ but it was just the side fin of the whale."

Quicksilver Group’s Megan Bell said there had not yet been any other reports of Migaloo's presence.

But he appeared on July 24 last year and on July 15 in 2006.

Ms Bell said: "We're in the zone.

"These guys might have got lucky."

"According to marine biologists, yes, he does look a little bit luminous under water." more

07/25/08
Migaloo's back in our waters - The Cairns Post, Australia

07/22/08
Warming threatens migratory whales' feeding grounds - nzHerald

A study into the potential effects of global warming on Earth's largest creatures paints a stark picture.

Endangered migratory whales will be faced with shrinking Antarctic feeding grounds, a report on the effect of climate change on Southern Ocean whales has found.

Ice breaker: Pushing The Boundaries For Whales, is based on World Wildlife Fund research and says levels of global warming predicted over the next 40 years will reduce winter sea-ice coverage of the Southern Ocean by up to a third in some areas.

WWF international species programme director Susan Lieberman said species such as the Antarctic minke whale would face dramatic changes to their habitat within little more than the average whale lifespan.

As the ice pack receded, migratory whales may need to travel 200 to 500km further south to find the "frontal zones" - their crucial foraging areas.

Frontal zones are where water masses of different temperatures meet.

"The impact on whales is one more imperative for the world to take decisive action to reduce the risk of catastrophic climate change," Dr Lieberman said. more

07/20/08
Is infant albino humpback whale wayward calf of Migaloo? - Daily Telegraph

Exclusive pictures of an infant albino humpback whale off the coast of Sydney have sent Government scientists into a spin, with claims that it could be the wayward calf of Migaloo - and one of the first recorded white whale births.

The tiny cetacean was discovered cruising off the Royal National Park last week with an adult of normal pigmentation - presumably its mother.

But the sighting of the whales in southern waters at this time of year - they should be further north, in the warmer waters off the Coral Sea - has raised questions about whether climate change was already having an impact on sea temperatures.
Save the whale: Read our in-depth section

A study is now being launched to learn if changes to migratory patterns of whales could be an indicator of more serious oceanic environmental changes.

NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change Acting Director General Sally Barnes said the all-white calf had "reignited the debate about Migaloo's stature as a true albino or just a very pale humpback whale".

White whale Migaloo was first recorded in 1991 making its way from Antarctica in NSW waters.

Since then, it has been found that Migaloo was a young male in search of a companion.

Scientists said it was possible that the white calf was the product of Migaloo's success.

"Migaloo is the only documented, all-white humpback whale in the world, making him particularly interesting to wildlife experts, whale-watchers and scientists alike," said Ms Barnes.

"He was first reported in 1991 and since that time there have been numerous conjectures as to whether or not his unusual colouring was due to albinism," she said.

"Migaloo was sighted travelling with another whale near Coffs Harbour on the north coast in early May this year," said Ms Barnes.

"Making him one of the first whales to begin the migration and indicating a clear keenness to reach the breeding grounds up north.

"It is generally agreed that albino animals typically suffer from low fertility and the chances of any offspring also being albino are slim - but not impossible.

"We will just have to wait and see if this little calf stays white or grows darker with age - but it is certainly a luminous little whale at the moment," said Ms Barnes.

"Monitoring animal behaviour is an important scientific way of gauging the impacts of global warming and rising sea temperatures.

"The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) has been monitoring whale movements and numbers for over a decade now and this year joined forces with Macquarie University and their leading aquatic mammal experts to help provide a more comprehensive picture of the impacts climate change might be having on their world," she said. more

07/16/08
Rescue risked orca's life: expert - nzHerald

Shifting a young orca from one side of Auckland New Zealand to the other on a trailer was risking its life, an expert on marine mammals says.

Associate Professor Liz Slooten, an Otago University marine mammal biologist, said last night that although orca had a large home range - they had been known to move between Auckland and Kaikoura - the 4-year-old female rescued on Friday would be in danger if it remained on its own.

While she was unwilling to criticise the animal's relocation by trailer from Auckland's west coast to Takapuna Beach on the east, she questioned whether there were alternatives.

"It would have been a really tough call to know what to do. It might have been better to hold on to it in the Manukau Harbour [by keeping a boat with it] and see if the family came back or the weather improved so you could put it back out to sea on that side."

That would have been less disruptive to the animal than relocating it on a trailer, Professor Slooten said.

From reports that after its release it had repeatedly swum up the Waitemata despite boats trying to shepherd it in the opposite direction, it seemed the immature orca had been disoriented and was trying to find its way back to the west coast, without realising there was a landmass in the way.

The 3.4m-long whale - found beached on Friday at Whatipu, outside the Manukau Harbour - was last seen off Devonport on Sunday night, heading towards the Hauraki Gulf.

Orca Research Trust founder Dr Ingrid Visser, who spent yesterday unsuccessfully hunting for it among other orca, said it was relocated because of the danger trying to refloat it in the rough seas at Whatipu posed to it and its rescuers.

Another factor was that the orca was likely to join a new pod.

"We wouldn't have done it if it wasn't viable. The orca social structure in New Zealand is very fluid. The animals move quite frequently from one group to another and spend years with one group then maybe just a couple of weeks with another group."

Professor Slooten said a 4-year-old orca would not survive on its own as it had yet to fully develop its hunting, navigational and social skills. She was also less sure than Dr Visser about the fluidity of the social structure.

"I wouldn't want to jump to the conclusion that another group will adopt it. It might have been sensible to wait a little longer." more

07/13/08
Don't save the whale - la times

It turns out the state's deal with the artist behind California's whale-tail license plates was kind of a fluke.

We admire whales as much as anyone. But with all respect to the artist currently known as Wyland, there are other airbrush wielders who can produce a respectable image of a cetacean’s flukes among the waves. Now that the Laguna Beach muralist has revoked California's right to use his artwork on a license plate, the state should happily swim off in a new direction.

The deal under which the one-name artist's whale-tail design was donated to adorn more than 125,000 specialty plates smacks more of surfer-dude thinking than legal smarts. Wyland, after all, has made a worldwide splash and a lot of money with his airbrushed renderings of idealized marine life, and California is, well, California. Wouldn't you think the two powerhouses could have come up with a more solid agreement 14 years ago than an oral understanding that, it turns out, wasn't an understanding at all?

The higher fees for specialty plates in California go to support various organizations. In the case of the popular Wyland plates, a third of the money goes to the state Coastal Commission and the rest to other environmental groups.

But Wyland has his own nonprofit foundation and wanted 20% of the state's profits from his plates -- about $700,000 a year -- donated to it. He worked out a similar deal, for 10%, with Florida, but for California, this is a load of blubber. The Wyland plates have been prettifying cars for years, but the state Department of Motor Vehicles isn't a marketing tool for any individual's ventures, for profit or not. No commissions in return for the use of intellectual property.

"The whale tail is my art and my idea," Wyland spouted off to The Times. "I'm sticking up for artists' rights, for the common person."

Not that common people generally travel the world painting gigantic cetacean murals, but we get the concept. Wyland's donation of the license plate design, however temporary, was a terrific gift -- for the state, its drivers and for him. He's had thousands of free mini-billboards all over the freeways this last decade.

Now that he's bowed out, the state has an opportunity to showcase a new artist. So here's an idea to help the art world, education and the environment all at once: Hold a competition among California's art students for a new ocean plate, with a $10,000 scholarship for the winner. And this time, make sure the kid signs a written agreement.

more

07/10/08
Stranded: A whale of a mystery - Science

Scientists generally agree that sonar can trigger strandings of certain whales, but no one really knows what leads these deep divers to the beach
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Off the eastern edge of Andros Island lies the Tongue of the Ocean, a hundred-mile, inky blue swathe of sea over the Great Bahama Canyon. Bounded on the south and east by the shallow sands of the Bahamas banks, the seafloor drops precipitously from 3 meters near shore to more than 2,000 meters farther out.

While the region boasts a colorful history of pirates and shipwrecks, scientists will head there this summer seeking treasure of a different sort: beaked whales, some of the deepest diving and least known animals on Earth. The research aims to solve one of the most contentious mysteries in marine biology today — the relationship between military sonar and stranded, dying whales.

In recent decades, a string of whale strandings have coincided with military testing that uses mid-frequency sonar to detect the low murmur of diesel and nuclear submarines. Beaked whales have washed up on the beach, sometimes with blood in their ears and eyes, but often with no obvious cause of death. After scientists first drew the connection between sonar and the strandings, environmental groups took note, embarking on a campaign to restrict sonar use in certain times and places. The hostilities reached a crescendo this winter in a U.S. federal court. A judge rejected the Bush administration’s attempts to override a ruling that ordered the Navy to take measures to protect marine mammals while conducting sonar exercises. Now the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the Navy’s appeal this fall.

The wrangling over the stranded whales brings home how science can get lost in the scuffle between advocacy and policy. It also illustrates the highly charged nature of issues involving large, charismatic mammals. And then there’s the attraction of simplicity — the Navy makes a tidy, singular foe. But there is no Moby Dick in this story.

Scientists agree that under certain conditions, sonar does trigger strandings of certain whales. But no one really knows why. Hypotheses, like fish in the sea, are plentiful. Sonar may be so forceful that it damages the whales’ ears. Some researchers speculate that the sounds spur bubble formation in tissue, bringing on deadly embolisms. Or the sonar might distress and disorient the creatures, prompting them to surface too quickly and get the bends. Other researchers have suggested that certain frequencies of sonar might sound like killer whales on the hunt, stimulating beaked whales to seek shallower, safer waters.

Several research groups are trying to untangle what is happening, with the hope of developing strategies that minimize harm to marine life.

The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Fisheries Service is partnering with the Navy to undertake some of the first controlled behavior experiments with beaked whales at a Navy Atlantic test center in the Tongue of the Ocean. Others are constructing computer models, looking at CT scans and studying beaked whale anatomy. There are efforts to compile stranding-related information in public databases.

In the meantime, providing policy-makers and the public with advice on how to alleviate the problem has been stymied by holes in the data big enough to swim a whale through. Ziphius cavirostris, or Cuvier’s beaked whales — the animals most associated with the unusual strandings — are understudied, elusive creatures. They spend little time in surface waters and, until the strandings, people rarely saw these whales at all. Then there are ethical and practical concerns with experiments that involve 2 ½–ton mammals that spend much of their time nearly a mile beneath the surface of the sea.
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Unusual beachingsScientists recognized a link between mid-frequency sonar and strandings after several Cuvier's beaked whales washed up on the Mediterranean coast in 1996.

The mystery is compounded by several factors. No one knows where the whales are before they strand, so assigning safe distances from sonar is problematic. The strandings have been associated with specific geologic features, such as deep oceanic trenches near land, but by definition, stranded whales end up near or on land, so teasing out cause and effect is difficult. Because no one knows where and when a stranding will happen, experts might not arrive on the scene until days after the event. By then tissues are often decomposed, as are clues to the animal’s death.

“One of the problems is we’ve really only had information on single exposures — one sound, one mammal,” says Brandon Southall of the NOAA Fisheries Service, who is leading the Bahamas study. “We really need more data.”

Some environmental groups and scientists argue that waiting for such data is folly. It is better to act quickly — perhaps by banning Navy sonar altogether — than it is to wait. But others express frustration at the bulldog approach, and at the time and money tied up in lawsuits that might be better spent on research. And while blame is slung in the courts, marine mammals face many threats beyond sonar.

“It is absolutely critical that we understand what is going on,” says Darlene Ketten, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts and a researcher at Harvard Medical School in Boston. “But when people ask, ‘Why don’t you shut down the Navy?’ the answer is we’re talking about five animals a year, and I have to balance that with over 100,000 deaths a year from fisheries interactions. I don’t know that shutting down the Navy is going to do anything. And if you are worrying about noise in the oceans, how about the 3-decibel increase per decade from shipping?”

Signal from the noise

Scientists realized the link between whale strandings and mid-frequency sonar in 1996, several months after a stranding in the Mediterranean’s Kyparissiakos Gulf. In early May, Cuvier’s beaked whales began washing up along a 24-mile stretch of sandy beach. The spread of the 12 whales in time and space was unusual, but there was no smoking gun. The whales had stranded alive and appeared healthy — they had no obvious wounds, such as blunt trauma from a ship, and no signs of disease. A few animals appeared to be bleeding from their eyes, which prompted more questions than answers. There were various squid remains in the whales’ stomachs — beaks, ocular lenses and flesh — suggesting that they had recently eaten.

“For a beaked whale to have been diving at depths great enough to find squids means they must have been healthy a few hours before they stranded,” says Alexandros Frantzis of the Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute in Greece. The usual suspects — extreme weather, earthquakes, pollution, parasites, irregular geochemical or magnetic circumstances — were absent. “We had no idea what was happening,” he says.

Several months later Frantzis discovered that around the time of the stranding event the NATO research vessel Alliance was performing “sound-detecting system trials” in the area of the strandings. Although the available data couldn’t prove that the Alliance’s sonar activities caused the event, the abruptness, timing and distribution of the strandings implicated sound, says Frantzis. He reported his conclusions in Nature in 1998.
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In the 10 years since Frantzis’ write-up, scientists have linked about a dozen stranding events to military sonar, depending on whom you ask. But whales have been stranding long before the advent of mid-frequency sonar use, which became widespread around 1963. Ketten, who has been compiling records of whale strandings, estimates that since 1950, fewer than 300 whale deaths can be attributed to naval sonar. Other researchers put that estimate at fewer than 100.

Ketten did necropsies on several of the beaked whales whose fatal strandings were concurrent with Navy sonar exercises. These include the oft-cited stranding in the northern Bahamas of nine Cuvier’s beaked whales and three Blainville’s beaked whales, a stranding of three Cuvier’s beaked whales in Madeira and two strandings off Puerto Rico.

The evidence from Puerto Rico was inconclusive. The response team buried most of the heads — standard procedure in tropical areas — but one that destroys crucial soft tissue. Scans of the one intact head suggested it was an old male who had suffered prolonged infection.

Necropsies from the Bahamas and Madeira were more telling. Beaked and other toothed whales such as dolphins have a large pad of fat inside their lower jaw. Sound may enter the whale’s head through the fat, which surrounds a very thin section of the lower jaw next to the middle and inner ears.

“There were no blown-out membranes, no broken middle ear bones,” Ketten says, which would have suggested direct acoustic trauma to the ears. But in a few of the animals, blood had leaked from the brain case, pooling around the ear bones and the fat pad of the lower jaw. This suggested stress and possible pressure-related trauma, she says.

Researchers have raised other pressure-related hypotheses as well — unusual gas bubbles have been found in the tissues of beaked whales that stranded off the Canary Islands. The bubbles hinted at decompression sickness — what SCUBA divers call the bends — but later reports of dolphin strandings off the United Kingdom found similar bubbles in tissues, which led many scientists to deem the bubble evidence inconclusive.

It’s been difficult for scientists to understand pressure-related injuries in animals built for the crushing pressure of the deep sea. These whales spend more than an hour at depths greater than 1,200 meters — more than three times the height of the Empire State Building. Down where it is as dark as a starless night, the whales, like bats, hunt with their ears, not their eyes. Beaked whales have three times as many nerve cells devoted to hearing as people do, Ketten says. They use echolocation — emitting sounds that bounce off objects and return to the whale, giving a “picture” of prey shape, size and location.

“These are acoustic animals in the way that we are visual animals,” Southall says.

Beaked whales also have a convoluted circulatory system that during dives sends blood to essential areas like the heart and brain, but cuts off flow to the extremities. Below roughly 70 meters the whales’ lungs collapse, preventing gases from diffusing into blood and tissue where they could cause embolisms.

“These animals have been around 35 million years,” says Ted Cranford of San Diego State University, who in April published in The Anatomical Record an analysis of how sound travels in and out of a beaked whale’s body. “It doesn’t make sense that a few nitrogen bubbles are going to cause chaos. Perhaps if the whales are at their physiological limit. But if it is nitrogen, why don’t we see it affecting other deep divers?” he says.

This question bothers other researchers as well. Beaked whales are often seen around the Navy’s testing site for mid-frequency sonar in the Bahamas. “So we know that marine mammals and beaked whales can live where there is sonar,” Southall says. “It is not like a death ray where as soon as they hear it, they swim to the beach and strand.”

Sound science

The ambiguous data suggest to many researchers that the sonar-related strandings result from a perfect storm of environmental, physiological and acoustic conditions. A recent analysis by Gerald D’Spain of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif., and colleagues, hinted at the role of surface ducts — areas in the water where sound waves are trapped.

Sound travels about four times faster underwater than in air — about 1,500 meters per second versus 340 m/s on land. It slows in colder water, but increases with pressure, speeding up with the weight of the overlying water column. These factors, along with others such as the topography of the ocean floor and surface winds and weather, may mean sound sometimes creeps up on and startles deep divers.

Under certain conditions, as sonar sweeps an area, the pings and clicks could get trapped in a surface duct, making them less audible from below. If a beaked whale is down deep, it might not notice the sound until the ship is quite close, which could prompt the whale to surface. If the animal emerged to surface-duct depth, it would suddenly find itself in an intense, confusing zone of noise, D’Spain says.

Experiments planned by Southall’s team for this summer in the Bahamas are designed to sift through these ideas and get at the peculiar set of circumstances that sends beaked whales to the beach. Using the Navy’s 600-square-mile grid of interconnected, underwater microphones at the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center, researchers will continue playback experiments that began last summer, exposing the animals to low levels of sounds and tracking their responses.

The team is also investigating the notion that beaked whales confuse sonar with a pack of killer whales, which emit noises in a frequency similar to the mid-range Navy sonar. Beaked whales’ primary predators, killer whales and great white sharks, tend to hang out near the water’s surface, notes Peter Tyack of Woods Hole, a member of the NOAA investigation team. If beaked whales think they hear the enemy, they might embark on repeated shallow dives for quick escape. Work by Tyack and colleague Walter Zimmer modeling nitrogen bubble growth suggests that if the dives are too shallow, the whales’ lungs may not collapse, a physiological safety mechanism that doesn’t kick in until the animals reach depths of 70 meters. Then even these deep divers might get decompression sickness, and visible bubbles might form in the whales’ tissues, the researchers reported in Marine Mammal Science last fall and June 30 at the Acoustics ’08 meeting in Paris.

Hampered by storms, last summer’s first field season yielded data from only 10 tagged animals, six Blainville’s beaked whales and four pilot whales, Southall says. Pilot whales, which are deep divers and frequent stranders, have similar biology to the beaked whales. But they haven’t shown up in the sonar-associated strandings, so tracking them could reveal important behavioral differences, he says.

“We’re seeing some avoidance,” Southall says. “The animals become quiet and move away from the sound.”

If the behavioral experiments reveal that the whales stop shallow diving as soon as the noise stops, the duration of sonar transmission could be limited, which might limit harm. Precautionary measures such as holding off from sonar exercises when surface ducts are likely to form may keep the creatures from becoming startled and disoriented.

When the Bahamas study is done, researchers may have enough data to solve the stranding puzzle and give policy-makers, the Navy and the courts sound advice on reducing harm to whales. more

07/09/08
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