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. 02/02/12 What Do Killer Whales Eat in the Arctic? - Science Daily Killer whales (Orcinus orca) are the top marine predator, wherever they are found, and seem to eat everything from schools of small fish to large baleen whales, over twice their own size. The increase in hunting territories available to killer whales in the Arctic due to climate change and melting sea ice could seriously affect the marine ecosystem balance. New research published in BioMed Central's re-launched open access journal Aquatic Biosystems has combined scientific observations with Canadian Inuit traditional knowledge to determine killer whale behaviour and diet in the Arctic. Orca have been studied extensively in the northeast Pacific ocean, where resident killer whales eat fish, but migrating whales eat marine mammals. Five separate ecotypes in the Antarctic have been identified, each preferring a different type of food, and similar patterns have been found in the Atlantic, tropical Pacific, and Indian oceans. However, little is known about Arctic killer whale prey preference or behaviour. Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) is increasingly being used to supplement scientific observations. Researchers from Manitoba visited 11 Canadian Nunavut Inuit communities and collated information from over 100 interviews with hunters and elders. The Inuit reported that killer whales would 'eat whatever they can catch', mainly other marine mammals including seals (ringed, harp, bearded, and hooded) and whales (narwhal, beluga and bowhead). However there was no indication that Arctic killer whales ate fish. Only seven of the interviewees suggested that killer whales ate fish, but none of them had ever seen it themselves. The type of reported prey varied between areas. Most incidents of killer whales eating bowhead whales occurred in Foxe Basin and narwhal predation was more frequent around Baffin Island. Inuit were also able to describe first-hand how killer whales hunted, including several reports of how killer whales co-operated to kill the much larger bowhead. During the hunt some whales were seen holding the bowhead's flippers or tail, others covering its blowhole, and others biting or ramming to cause internal damage. Occasionally dead bowheads, with bite marks and internal injuries but with very little eaten, are found by locals. 'Aarlirijuk', the fear of killer whales, influenced prey behaviour with smaller mammals seeking refuge in shallow waters or on shore and larger prey running away, diving deep, or attempting to hide among the ice. Even narwhal, which are capable of stabbing a killer whale with their tusks (although this is likely to result in the deaths of both animals), will run to shallow waters and wait until the whales give up. Killer whales are seasonal visitors to the area and have recently started colonising Hudson Bay (possibly due to loss of summer sea ice with global warming). Local communities are reliant on the very species that the orcas like to eat. Dr Steven Ferguson from the University of Manitoba who led this research commented, "Utilising local knowledge through TEK will help scientists understand the effects of global warming and loss of sea ice on Arctic species and improve collaborative conservation efforts in conjunction with local communities." more 01/22/12 Boaters on watch for tagged gray whale from Russia - Underwater Times Southern California marine mammal enthusiasts should note that a special whale named Varvara will be passing through local waters today and Friday. The 8-year-old female gray whale, sporting a satellite tag that reveals her position, is special because she has swum all the way from Sakhalin Island in the western North Pacific off Russia, providing scientists with more evidence that Western Pacific gray whales may not be as distinct from Eastern Pacific gray whales as previously believed. Varvara hails from a critically endangered population of perhaps 130 Western Pacific gray whales, with very few breeding-age females. There are about 20,000 Eastern Pacific gray whales, famous for their annual 10,000-mile round-trip migration from the Bering and Beaufort seas to and from winter breeding areas in lagoons along the Baja California coastline. It has become increasingly evident that both populations utilize the same breeding areas. However, David Weller, a marine mammal specialist with the National Marine Fisheries Service, has authored a manuscript (under peer-review) which states that despite this mixing, "Significant DNA and nuclear genetic differences between whales utilizing the Sakhalin feeding ground and those summering in the Eastern North Pacific support the continued recognition of Sakhalin animals as a distinct genetic unit." Varvara is expected to pass through the Los Angeles/Long Beach area late today and pass Orange County and San Diego on Friday. Her position is relayed to scientists at Oregon State University's Marine Mammal Institute. (People can obtain weekly updates of Varvara's progress, each Monday, via this link.) Her odyssey follows that of Flex, who was fitted with a satellite tag a year earlier. Flex, a male Western Pacific gray whale, surprised scientists when he crossed from the western Pacific to this side, and joined with Eastern Pacific grays during their migration. The tag worn by Flex, however, stopped transmitting off southern Oregon. Varvara's tag is still relaying her position. She has been photographed with other gray whales off Oregon and Northern California, but it was not clear whether they were Western Pacific or Eastern Pacific grays. It's likely, however, that un-tagged Western Pacific gray whales are on a similar journey. Weller and Amanda Bradford last summer presented a paper showing that four Western Pacific gray whales, cataloged as part of a photo identification study, had turned up in Baja's renowned San Ignacio Lagoon. It might seem to some that, given this information, there may be only one gray whale population in the North Pacific, and it just so happens that some gray whales utilize Russian coastal waters during the summer. But Weller says there have been observations of gray whales off Japan and China in the winter and spring, and a photo-ID match showing a Honshu-Sakhalin link, suggesting that "not all gray whales identified off Sakhalin share a common wintering ground." Thus, a strong conservation efforts is still required in order to protect the small Western Pacific gray whale population. Varvara will be nearly impossible to discern from other southbound gray whales. It's not known if she will pass beyond or inside of the Channel Islands. If boaters spot a very small tag just in front of the first dorsal knuckle on a whale's back, however, they could be seeing Varvara. As of the time of this post, Bruce Mate, who runs the Marine Mammal Institute, could not be reached for comment. He may have been too busy trying to physically locate Varvara. more 01/12/12 Australia's white whale, Migaloo, may have albino offspring - Underwater Times Palm Beach - A young albino humpback calf has been seen in Australia, looking pretty much like his albino dad, Migaloo. The little one is now called MJ, for Migaloo Junior, with mom looking like the average humpback whale. Migaloo is thought to be the only known all-white humpback whale in the world. He was first seen on June 28, 1991, passing Byron Bay, which is Australia's most easterly point. Migaloo was three to five years of age when first seen, approximately 25 years old now. Humpback whales have a life expectancy of about 45-50 years. A special whale from day one, Sunday Times reports that Migaloo has "special Queensland & Commonwealth Government legislation on a yearly basis to protect him from harassment." Jet-skis or any other water devisecan be no closer than 500m and aircraft can be no lower than 2,000 feet. If the law is broken, the fine is a hefty $16,500. Last August, it was thought Migaloo was the white whale carcass found off Palm Island, near Townsville, Australia, which caused grave concern that the famous albino whale had died. But My Daily News reported that Whale Research Center founder Oskar Peterson said, "it's not Migaloo. There are black spots on the whale and Migaloo is 100 per cent white." On Sunday, January 8, 2012, Migaloo and another male were seen north of Byron Bay, reported Robert Dalton from Whale Watching Byron Bay in Australia, to the online website Echo. "They were joined by some other whales as they were passing Byron Bay and then all these whales made a sharp right hand turn and swam into the middle of the bay. These whales dispersed soon after though Migaloo hung around for about 30 minutes just south west of Julian Rocks interacting with the same whale we initially encountered him with." The most exciting think going on in the area is that a 100% all-white little calf was first seen last fall with its normally marked mother along eastern Australia, with pink eyes and the inside of its mouth. The albino calf has been named MJ, or Migaloo Junior. A DNA has not been taken yet, but marine mammal experts say they consider little MJ a true albino. The little whale is a rare genetic trait that is a spontaneously happening, not something genetically passed down from its parents, according to Australia's Narooma News. more 01/09/12 A Juno Beach researcher seeks scientific breakthrough to let dolphins communicate with humans - Underwater Times About a decade ago, Denise Herzing sailed her catamaran into the secretive, protected Bahamian waters where she has spent most of her summers, studying dolphins in the wild. Within minutes of crossing into the clear, twinkling seas, one Atlantic spotted dolphin leaped alongside her 62-foot research vessel, the Stenella - named for the dolphins' scientific name. And then another jumped. And then five others. Soon, they were leaping over the bow, swimming in between the pontoons, chirping and calling to Herzing. Minutes after getting in the water, a pair of these wild, untrained dolphins were swimming completely out of the water, balancing on their tails, a sight most only see in shows at Sea World. And then, a mother dolphin with a weeks-old calf swam up to Herzing, nudging her young forward proudly for Herzing to see. For the past 27 years, Herzing, who resides in Juno Beach, has been sailing out to the same area of the Atlantic, tracking an unprecedented three generations of the same dolphin family, or pod, all of which she can identify by sight. The research, studying everything from their social structures to their communication, has made her quite possibly the most knowledgeable researcher in her field. It's not a stretch to say Herzing, 54, is doing what Jane Goodall did for our understanding of chimpanzees, what Dian Fossey did for gorillas. She is the face of her field. "I always wondered what they were thinking and wondering what they thought of us, how they communicated with each other," she said of the dolphins. Herzing's longtime friend, Ruth Petzold, a diver, underwater photographer and president of the board of Herzing's ground-breaking Wild Dolphin Project, was on the boat that day with Herzing. "In most cases, you would see a mother protecting her baby from humans," Petzold recalled, still stunned by what she saw. "The mother with her baby swam up to her as if saying, 'Look what I did while you were gone ' I was absolutely blown away." Like Goodall and Fossey, Herzing studies the dolphins in their habitat, intruding as little as possible into their environment, to truly gain an understanding of the lives and potential of these undersea mammals. "In their world, on their terms," is the motto for her Wild Dolphin Project, based in Jupiter, and the crux of her recent book, Dolphin Diaries, in which she details the findings of her scholarly work in layman's terms. And she stands on the verge of a science fiction-like achievement next summer, when she expects to implement a new technology she hopes will allow the dolphins to communicate with humans, using their own particular clicks and whistles. " 'Mind-blowing' doesn't do justice to the possibilities out there," Adam Pack, a researcher at the University of Hawaii, told The New York Times about Herzing's project, which has drawn interest from scientific journals to TV networks. The champion for these warm-water, ocean creatures comes from the unlikeliest of places ­- the frigid American north. Herzing was born and raised in St. Cloud, Minn., mostly by her father, Jerry, after her mother died of breast cancer when Herzing was 12. She never saw the ocean in person until she was an adult. But as a child, she watched Jacques Cousteau brave the deep blue oceans on TV and began to wonder about the lives of sea mammals. "I really wanted to know what was going on in the minds of those animals," she said. She was certified to scuba dive not in the warm waters of the Caribbean, but breaking the ice on an abandoned granite quarry in the frozen north. Not until she went to vacation in the Florida Keys when she was 18, and dove the reefs in John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park did she realize the life Cousteau had been living. She studied marine zoology at Oregon State, and did master's degree research in San Francisco. It was while observing whales and dolphins out in the dark, icy Pacific that Herzing decided she wanted to study them in their own environment. She came across a site in 1985, in the Bahamas, that underwater treasure hunters had stumbled across while searching for sunken Spanish galleons . In this area, wild Atlantic spotted dolphins were in just 20 to 40 feet of water. The food supply was plentiful, predators were few, because of the shallow depth, so these particular dolphins were free to spend more time socializing than making a living - a sort of Bahamian Club Med for dolphins. more 01/06/12 Whale Heads and Tales: A student probes the mysteries of whales' hearing - Underwater Times By Maya Yamato MIT/WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography Biology Department It’s a Saturday morning at Herring Cove Beach in Provincetown, Mass., the farthest point on the Cape. I am sleepy, hungry, and slightly dehydrated, but we are on a schedule dictated by the tides. The salty breeze wakes me up as I trudge through the sand in my steel-toed boots toward the stranded whale. Many people assume that because I work with whales, I must have a glamorous job involving being at sea with a permanent tan. In reality, I’m more likely to be swimming in whale than swimming with whales. I study hearing in baleen whales—the big, often endangered whales that include blue whales and North Atlantic right whales. We believe these whales are great listeners, possibly calling to each other over hundreds of miles. Unfortunately, it’s getting harder for them to hear each other in our increasingly noisy oceans. Imagine living next to an airport, with no doors to close and no earplugs to block the constant roar of airplanes jetting over your head. This may be similar to the surroundings of our local whales, which have feeding grounds across from Boston Harbor, one of the busiest shipping centers on the U.S. East Coast. When I was in high school, I visited one of these feeding grounds, the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary just north of Provincetown. I went out on a research vessel for the first time and did a mini-project on noise pollution and dolphins. We recorded background noise levels using underwater microphones and compared these noise levels to what was known about dolphins’ hearing capacities. I was a participant of the Aquanaut Program, funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to get high school students interested in science. Sure enough, I got interested. I also learned that if I wanted to investigate the effects of noise pollution on baleen whales, I couldn’t because we lacked basic data on what range and frequencies they can hear, and even how sound gets to their ears. The large size and inaccessible habitat of whales make them hard to study. We get few specimens with which we can learn about their anatomy, and little time because their tissues decompose rapidly after death. So what and how whales hear has remained a research frontier. Eau de cetacean A decade later, I am in graduate school trying to get inside the heads of baleen whales—literally. I dissect dead whales that stranded on the beaches of Cape Cod, working closely with the International Fund for Animal Welfare’s Marine Mammal Rescue and Research group. I examine the auditory anatomy to gain some clues about how sound travels from the ocean environment to their inner ears, how their ears function, and what frequencies they can hear. I also extract the ears, which are about the size of softballs. This requires sharp butcher knives, hammers, and chisels, as well as lot of practice and patience because these are delicate structures firmly lodged inside the skull. Even though I’m focused, it’s also important to stay alert to my surroundings so I don’t slip on a stray, slimy body part, fall into a pile of intestines, or get whacked in the head with a sheet of blubber being transported by heavy machinery. Manipulating a 40-foot whale weighing 10,000 pounds is not easy. I always loved dissections in biology classes, even after my middle school lab partner accidentally squirted frog juice into my eyes. It is amazing to reveal all of the inner components of an animal that work together to sustain life. Plus, if you’ve ever wanted to get close to a whale, this is as close as you can get. But this is not a pretty job. Dead whales have a distinct, sickly sweet stench strangely similar to the scent of putrid fruit, with a hint of vomit. Whales are also large, which means they have a lot of blood and guts. Most of us wear overall-style foul-weather gear so we don’t get soaked. With unflattering clothes covered in blood, hair flying in the wind, and runny noses that can’t be wiped, you never look good during a whale dissection. CT scans and cochleas Looking at the “gross” anatomy can tell us about sound reception pathways in the whale head. If the whale head weighs less than 1,000 pounds, we investigate it at the CSI lab at WHOI—that is, the Computerized Scanning and Imaging lab. If it weighs under 500 pounds, we put the whole head through our CT scanner. The CT data allow me to create three-dimensional visualizations of the internal anatomy of whale heads even before we dive into the dissection. This is particularly useful because the shapes and relative orientations of the soft tissues are inevitably distorted as soon as you cut into them. How sound gets from the aquatic environment to the inner ears of cetaceans is a question that has been debated for centuries. A major breakthrough came in 1964, when scientist Ken Norris realized that the unique fat bodies associated with the lower jaws of dolphins may provide a pathway for sound to travel to their ears. Today, his theory is widely accepted for toothed whales, including dolphins and porpoises. But the question is still unresolved for baleen whales. By applying new biomedical imaging techniques to old questions, I’m advancing an area of research that has seen little progress in the past several decades. Looking at the anatomy can tell us about the pathways through which sound travels through the whale head. However, to get a handle on what kinds of sounds whales might be able to hear, we need to zoom into the tiny inner ear. The cochlea, a common feature in all mammals, is a fluid-filled spiral canal shaped much like a snail shell. Sounds enter the cochlea and vibrate the basilar membrane, which stimulates hair cells that send electrical signals to the brain. The stiffness of this membrane determines the frequencies to which the ear is most sensitive and thus what types of sounds the ear can perceive. I can estimate an animal's frequency range by looking at its basilar membrane through a microscope. Baleen whales probably hear some of the lowest frequencies of all mammals. Their basilar membranes are wider, thinner, and floppier than those of other mammals, which makes them sensitive to low frequencies. Testing in the wild I think my research on whale hearing is exciting in itself, but it could also lay the groundwork to go beyond dissections and test hearing in live baleen whales. Once we know more about how their ears work, we may be able to use a common hearing test called the auditory evoked potential method. This test is used in humans and other animals, including marine mammals. In the case of dolphins and porpoises, electrodes are embedded in suction cups that attach to their skin and record the brain’s response to sound. By monitoring dolphins’ brainwaves while presenting various types of sounds to them, we can figure out the limits of their hearing in terms of both range and sensitivity. Baleen whales are much larger than dolphins and have very different head anatomy, requiring customized equipment and procedures. A better understanding of their auditory system would help us design effective electrodes, define their ideal placement, and give us a starting point for what frequencies of sounds we should test. With the help of my research, the application of auditory evoked potentials to baleen whales could yield quantitative data for the development of noise exposure regulations and other conservation measures in the future. And maybe someday, I will help a high school student study the effects of noise pollution on baleen whales. At sea. While swimming with whales. This research was funded by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, a WHOI Ocean Life Institute Graduate Fellowship, the Joint Industry Program, the Office of Naval Research, and the Operations Energy and Environmental Readiness Division of the U.S. Navy. more 01/03/12 Right whale sighting closes Cape Cod Canal - Cape Cod Times By Mary Ann Bragg mbragg@capecodonline.com January 03, 2012 BUZZARDS BAY — A pair of North Atlantic right whales swimming in the Cape Cod Canal led Army Corps of Engineers officials to close the waterway for four hours Monday. The endangered marine mammals were spotted in the canal shortly after 9 a.m., Dennis Arsenault, an Army Corps marine traffic controller, said Monday. Two government ships were sent out to keep tabs on the whales, which were last seen heading east in a strong current near the Sagamore Bridge, most likely exiting into Cape Cod Bay, Arsenault said. The canal was reopened at 1 p.m. The right whales are considered endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act. Fewer than 500 remain in the world, according to Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society communications manager Karen Urciuoli. The conservation society, which has offices in Plymouth, was not directly involved in the sighting. "This is about the time we start to see right whales in Cape Cod Bay," Urciuoli said Monday. "In the past few years, there's been about one sighting in the canal a year. It's really fantastic for them to spot them and shut the canal, to restrict the traffic. One of the leading dangers to the North Atlantic right whale is ship strike." Closing the canal when right whales are spotted is standard operating procedure because of the whales' scarce numbers. The canal is 14 miles long and typically sees about 20,000 ships pass through its waters each year. Since Nov. 30, right whales have been seen by spotters for the conservation society, Urciuoli said. A handful of right whales were seen in mid-December off the coast of Provincetown, according to the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies. The majority of the western population of North Atlantic right whales spends winters calving in coastal waters off southeastern U.S. lands. The whales move north to New England, the Bay of Fundy and beyond for summer feeding and nursery grounds. Massachusetts Bay and Cape Cod Bay are designated by the federal government as areas of "high use" for right whales and a primary habitat. In December 2008, the Cape Cod Canal was closed for 2½ hours because one right whale swam east to west through the canal, exiting at Buzzards Bay. Before that, the last one to traverse the canal was seven years previous, according to a Center for Coastal Studies spokesman. Staff writer Steve Doane contributed to this report. more 12/28/11 How Diving Marine Mammals Manage Decompression - Science Daily Any diver returning from ocean depths knows about the hazard of decompression sickness (DCS) or "the bends." As the diver ascends and the ocean pressure decreases, gases that were absorbed by the body during the dive, come out of solution and, if the ascent is too rapid, can cause bubbles to form in the body. DCS causes many symptoms, and its effects may vary from joint pain and rashes to paralysis and death. But how do marine mammals, whose very survival depends on regular diving, manage to avoid DCS? Do they, indeed, avoid it? In April 2010, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's Marine Mammal Center (MMC) invited the world's experts in human diving and marine-mammal diving physiology to convene for a three-day workshop to discuss the issue of how marine mammals manage gas under pressure. Twenty-eight researchers discussed and debated the current state of knowledge on diving marine mammal gas kinetics -- the rates of the change in the concentration of gases in their bodies. The workshop resulted in a paper, "Deadly diving? Physiological and behavioural management of decompression stress in diving mammals," which was published Dec. 21, 2011, online in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. "Until recently the dogma was that marine mammals have anatomical and physiological and behavioral adaptations to make the bends not a problem," said MMC Director Michael Moore. "There is no evidence that marine mammals get the bends routinely, but a look at the most recent studies suggest that they are actively avoiding rather than simply not having issues with decompression." Researchers began to question the conventional wisdom after examining beaked whales that had stranded on the Canary Islands in 2002. A necropsy of those animals turned up evidence of damage from gas bubbles. The animals had stranded after exposure to sonar from nearby naval exercises. This led scientists to think that diving marine mammals might deal with the presence of nitrogen bubbles more frequently than previously thought, and that the animals' response strategies might involve physiological trade-offs depending on situational variables. In other words, the animals likely manage their nitrogen load and probably have greater variation in their blood nitrogen levels than previously believed. Because the animals spend so much time below the ocean's surface, understanding the behavior of diving marine mammals is quite challenging. The use of innovative technology is helping to advance the science. At WHOI, scientists have used a CT scanner to examine marine mammal cadavers at different pressures to better understand the behavior of gases in the lungs and "get some idea at what depth the anatomy is shut off from further pressure-kinetics issues," Moore said. For other studies, Moore and his colleagues were able to acquire a portable veterinary ultrasound unit to look at the presence or absence of gas in live, stranded dolphins. There's still a lot to be learned, including whether live animals have circulating bubbles in their systems that they are managing. If they do, says Moore, noise impacts and other stressors that push the animal from a normal management situation to an abnormal situation become more of a concern. "When a human diver has some bubble issues, what will they do? They will either climb into a recompression chamber so that they can recompress and then come back more slowly, or they'll just grab another tank and go back down for a while and . . . and just let things sort themselves out. What does a dolphin do normally when it's surfaced? The next things to do is to dive, and the one place you can't do that is in shallow water or most particularly if you are beached." more 12/26/11 Unusual Marine Mammal Deaths on Four US Coasts - Mother Jones As of this week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has declared three "unusual mortality events" (UME)—unexplained death clusters—for multiple species of marine mammals on four US coastlines: the Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, the Bering Sea, and the Chukchi Sea. Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, a UME declaration triggers a scientific investigation into the cause or causes of the die-off. At least two of these UMEs have potential implications for human health. 1) Gulf of Mexico whales and dolphins—ongoing since February 2010. As of Dec. 18, 2011, 611 cetaceans (whales and dolphins) have stranded in the Northern Gulf of Mexico; 5 percent have stranded alive, and 95 percent dead. In addition to investigating all other potential causes [including ongoing effects of the Deepwater Horizon debacle], scientists are investigating what role Brucella [a bacterial infection] may have in the UME. Since our original finding of Brucella in 5 stranded dolphins from Louisiana, scientists have been concentrating testing on cases that show pathological changes consistent with the fetal pneumonia or adult meningitis identified in the first 5 cases. Here are our results showing the total number of Brucella cases identified so far. We will update these numbers when new results are available. FAQs on the investigations of the ongoing dolphin die-off and the potential impacts of the Deepwater Horizon BP oil spill on marine mammals are available. 2) New England harbor seals—declared on Nov. 3, for Maine, New Hampshire, and northern Massachusetts. Since Sept. 1, 2011, 162 harbor seals have died, most of them under six months old. From the NOAA declaration: An influenza virus similar to an avian flu seen in wild birds—but never before known in seals—has been linked to recent harbor seal deaths off New England. The UME is ongoing and all mortalities are being thoroughly investigated to the extent possible. The majority of cases have involved young of the year and many have similar skin lesions (ulcerative dermatitis). Unlike historical young of the year harbor seal mortalities, which are often attributed to malnutrition, many of these animals are in good body condition. During the UME investigation, Influenza A H3N8 was confirmed in five harbor seals that stranded in New Hampshire in mid-September/early October 2011... This particular virus subtype, while found in horses, birds, seals, and dogs, has not been detected in humans in recent decades. While the risk to humans from this virus is low (according to the Centers for Disease Control and National Wildlife Health Center), we want to remind people to keep a safe distance from seals they encounter on the beach and in the water and to keep their pets away from these animals. If they see an animal that looks sick, please report it to the NOAA stranding hotline or local stranding network member. 3) Alaska ringed seals and (soon) walruses—declared Dec. 20, 2011. Since mid-July, more than 60 dead seals and 75 diseased seals (mostly ringed seals) have been reported in Alaska, in the Arctic and Bering Strait regions. From the NOAA declaration: The US Fish and Wildlife Service is considering making a similar Unusual Mortality Event declaration for Pacific walrus in Alaska. During their fall survey, scientists with the US Fish and Wildlife Service also identified diseased and dead walruses at the annual mass haul-out at Point Lay... Seals and walruses suffering from this disease have skin sores, usually on the hind flippers or face, and patchy hair loss. Some of the diseased mammals have exhibited labored breathing and appear lethargic. Scientists have not yet identified a single cause for this disease, though tests indicate a virus is not the cause... [N]o similar illnesses in humans have been reported. Still, it is not known whether the disease can be transmitted to humans, pets, or other animals. Native subsistence hunters should use traditional and customary safe handling practices, and the Alaska Division of Public Health recommends fully cooking all meat and thoroughly washing hands and equipment with a water/bleach solution. more 12/20/11 Russian weather stalls beluga whale rescue - GoogleNews MOSCOW — More than 100 Beluga whales remain trapped between ice floes in the Chukotka region of Russia's Far East as bad weather hampers the rescue operation, the emergencies ministry said Tuesday. "The weather still prevents a vessel sent to the scene from approaching the zone where the Belugas are trapped," a spokesman of the ministry's Chukotka branch told AFP by telephone. "We cannot say right now when the rescue operation could start," he added. Officials said last week that more than 100 Beluga whales became trapped by ice floes 15 kilometres (10 miles) south of the village of Yanrakynnot on the Bering Sea. The Beluga whale, a protected species in Russia, is one of a handful of wild animals whose cause has been championed by Russian Prime Minister and nature lover Vladimir Putin. The transport ministry said bad weather was preventing a tugboat from accessing the area and it was currently on standby. Local authorities have said the whales risked starving and that the advance of the ice was reducing the space that they have to swim in. The whales, which grow up to six metres (20 feet) and weigh two tonnes, can stay submerged for 25 minutes before coming to the surface to breathe. In Russia, they live in the freezing Arctic waters of the north of the Far East as well as in the White Sea and Barents Sea in the northwest. Whales are often trapped in the Arctic ice but rarely in such large numbers. more 12/18/11 Belugas trapped in Arctic waters at risk of death - Underwater Times Moscow (CNN) -- Prisoners in ice, more than 100 Beluga whales in far eastern Russia risk death unless rescued soon. The flock of gentle ghost-white whales was trapped in ice floes in the Sinyavinsky Strait off the Bering Sea near the village of Yanrakynnot, said a statement from the Chukotka Autonomous Region. Fishermen reported that the whales were concentrated in two relatively small ice holes, where, for now, they can breathe freely. But the Belugas' chance of swimming back to water is slim due to the vast fields of ice over the strait. The whales have little food, and the ice flow is increasing, the statement said. They are at risk of rapid exhaustion and, ultimately, death by starvation or suffocation. Trapped whales are also susceptible to predators like polar bears and killer whales. The Chukotka Autonomous Region government has sought help from federal authorities and asked for an icebreaker to help rescue the Belugas. A rescue tug, Ruby, was in the area helping a Korean cargo ship that ran aground on the southern coast of Chukotka but it would take one and a half days for it to reach the whales, the statement said. Trapped belugas are a frequent phenomenon in the Arctic waters but are not often detected by people. In Chukotka, the last relatively successful case was recorded in 1986, when an ice-breaker helped free trapped beluga whales. more 12/13/11 Humpback whales' record breeding - Underwater Times Australian wildlife experts are celebrating after what is believed to be the best humpback whale breeding season for 50 years. Hundreds of mothers with newborn calves have been spotted migrating south past Australia to the cooler waters of Antarctica. Geoff Ross, from the National Parks And Wildlife Service in New South Wales, told Sky News: 'It's been a really cracking year. 'The season used to go from June to just after July, but it is now going on for much longer and we have seen many calves.' Earlier in the year 2,202 whales were counted during daylight hours passing Sydney's Cape Solander as they headed north to breed. Now the humpbacks are returning south, with skippers on whale-watching boats as well as crews on commercial ships all saying there has been a definite increase in numbers, especially of juveniles. The humpback and southern right whale populations off Australia's coast are slowly recovering after commercial whaling ended in the 1960s. 'It is excellent news,' said Mr Ross, adding 'the migration is longer, they are swimming more slowly, they are almost carefree.' The population is growing by about 10% each year, but in Antarctica whales are still at risk from humans. Activists have left Australia and are also heading south to try and disrupt Japanese whalers, who mainly hunt minke whales in Antarctic waters. Last season, Japan cut short its annual whale hunt after it was obstructed on the water by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. This year, Japan plans to send a patrol ship to protect its whaling crews. Andrea Gordon from Sea Shepherd said: 'The Japanese whaling fleet just got an infusion of an extra $30m to continue their whaling programme and Sea Shepherd has a volunteer crew funded by donations. 'We would be more than happy to step aside if the Australian government would send a fleet down to enforce international law.' Australia has condemned Japan's decision to continue whaling, but Tokyo claims Sea Shepherd's activities are illegal harassment. Japan introduced 'scientific whaling' to skirt a commercial ban on hunting the animals. Last year, Australia filed a complaint against Japan at the world court in The Hague to stop scientific whaling in the Southern Ocean. The decision is expected to come in 2013 at the earliest. more 12/03/11 Whale activists sue to free Orca- Lolita from captivity - Associated Press SEATTLE (AP) -- Supporters have offered $1 million for her release. Annual demonstrations have demanded her return to the Northwest. Over the years, celebrities, schoolchildren and even a Washington state governor have campaigned to free Lolita, a killer whale captured from Puget Sound waters in 1970 and who has been performing at Miami Seaquarium for the past four decades. Activists are now suing the federal government in federal court in Seattle, saying it should have protected Lolita when it listed other Southern Resident orcas as an endangered species in 2005. "The fact that the federal government has declared these pods to be endangered is a good thing, but they neglected to include these captives," said Karen Munro, a plaintiff in the lawsuit who lives in Olympia, Wash. Plaintiffs include two other individuals, the Animal Legal Defense Fund and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals The lawsuit filed in November alleges that the fisheries service allows the Miami Seaquarium to keep Lolita in conditions that harm and harass her and otherwise wouldn't be allowed under the Endangered Species Act. The lawsuit alleges Lolita is confined in an inadequate tank without sufficient space and without companions of her own species. The agency is still reviewing the lawsuit, said Monica Allen, a spokeswoman with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, whose fisheries service oversees marine mammals. Lolita, who is estimated to be about 44 or 45, is the last surviving orca captured from the Southern Resident orca population during the 1970s. She is a member of the L pod, or family. Female orcas generally live into their 50s though they can live decades longer. The J, K, and L pods frequent Western Washington's inland marine waters and are genetically and behaviorally distinct from other killer whales. They eat salmon rather than marine mammals, show an attachment to the region, and make sounds that are considered a unique dialect. The whales, with striking black coloring and white bellies, spend time in tight, social groups and ply the waters of Puget Sound and British Columbia. When the National Marine Fisheries Service listed the Southern Resident orcas as endangered - in decline because of lack of prey, pollution and contaminants, and effects from vessels and other factors - it didn't include whales placed in captivity prior to the listing or their captive born offspring. They're "not maximizing opportunity to protect the species if you exclude captive members," said Carter Dillard, litigation director for the Animal Legal Defense Fund. Lolita should have the same protections as other wild orcas, he added. He noted that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is currently considering whether to give all captive chimpanzees the same protection as wild chimpanzees. The Miami Seaquarium declined to comment on the lawsuit. It issued a statement saying Lolita is active, healthy, well-cared for and plays an important role in educating the public about the need to conserve the species. Lolita has learned to trust humans completely, the statement says, and "this longstanding behavioral trust would be dangerous for her if she were returned to Puget Sound, where commercial boat traffic and human activity are heavy, pollution is a serious issue and the killer whale population has been listed as an endangered species." Howard Garrett, co-founder of the nonprofit Orca Network based on Whidbey Island, Wash., said returning her to Northwest waters is the right thing to do. It would be healthier for her, and allow her to rebuild family bonds with the L pod. "She remembers where she came from. I think she will remember her water and her family," said Garrett, who has spent years advocating for her release and whose group plans to help Lolita transition back to Northwest waters. Munro joined the lawsuit because she believes Lolita deserves to retire and return to the Puget Sound, where she can swim naturally and attempt to reunite with her family. She became an advocate for the majestic creatures, after witnessing a "very violent, distressing scene" of orcas being torn from their pods while out sailing in 1976. The captors used explosives, boats and seaplanes to chase the animals into shallower waters and netted them, she said. "They were taking these orcas away purely for money and profit, because they make huge amounts of money from whale shows. They (orcas) don't belong in these aquariums," she said, adding "Lolita deserves to come back." more 11/19/11 SeaWorld employees say killer whale risk "acceptable" - Underwater Times SANFORD, Fla (Reuters) - A SeaWorld trainer who escaped being drowned by a killer whale during a public performance in California in 2006 testified on Tuesday that he still works with the whales and considers the risk "acceptable." "I could get killed in a car accident today, but I still get in a car," said Ken Peters, now an assistant animal curator at the SeaWorld San Diego park. Peters' testimony came as a federal hearing resumed, after a nearly two-month hiatus, over SeaWorld's challenge of safety charges stemming from the 2010 drowning death of trainer Dawn Brancheau by a different killer whale at SeaWorld Orlando. The most serious charge filed by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is classified as a "willful violation," meaning the theme park company showed indifference to or intentional disregard for employee safety and health. Brancheau, 40, was grabbed off a shallow ledge by Tilikum, a 12,000-pound bull orca, who thrashed around violently, drowning Brancheau and breaking and dislocating her bones. SeaWorld faces a potential $75,000 fine, and SeaWorld lawyer Carla Gunnin said in September that the park might be forced to end close physical interaction between the whales and trainers. SeaWorld has kept trainers out of the killer whale pools since Brancheau's death. Mike Scarpuzzi, vice president of zoological operations at the SeaWorld in California, said that park has implemented one safety recommendation that grew out of the investigations into Brancheau's death. Portable fences have been made available for trainers to place between themselves and killer whales when they want to make physical contact. Under questioning by government lawyer John Black, Scarpuzzi insisted the fences were not intended to protect trainers from falling, slipping or being pulled into the killer whale pools. "I'm not really sure what their purpose is other than they (trainers) have been directed to use them," Scarpuzzi said. Peters, who was called as a witness for OSHA on Tuesday, generally defended SeaWorld's safety protocols for employees working with killer whales during his testimony. But Black told Administrative Judge Ken Welsch that Peters' experiences with killer whales supported the government's argument that the animals are a recognized hazard in the industry. In September, Black showed Welsch a SeaWorld video of the San Diego incident in which killer whale Kasatka, a 5,000-pound dominant female, grabbed Peters' foot and twice dove to the pool floor, holding Peters underwater. SeaWorld officials told reporters at the time that Peters, then 39, was underwater less than one minute each time. Both times when Kasatka surfaced, Peters was seen in the video patting the whale. Kasatka eventually let go of his foot and swam away, allowing Peters to escape. While underwater, Peters testified, he heard Kasatka's calf vocalizing in a backstage pool and assumed that agitated her. "Even when I was down at the bottom of the pool, I thought she'd let me go," Peters said. Peters also described a 1999 incident in which Kasatka tried to grab his feet and hand. Peters said he and other trainers saw no sign that Kasatka was agitated before he entered the water. SeaWorld, in hindsight, ruled that entering the water was an "error in judgment" because Kasatka's then-calf had just left his trainer and gone to another pool, Peters said. After the 1999 incident, SeaWorld imposed a new rule that trainers should not go into the water "when upsetting social behavior is present," according to documents read in court. After the 2006 incident, SeaWorld installed more cameras so trainers could better monitor the whales' socialization in other pools and banned further wet work with Kasatka, Peters said. Brian Rokeach, a dolphin trainer supervisor at the California park, testified he was pulled underwater by a killer whale in 2006 but escaped. He said he tried unsuccessfully in 2009 to rescue a fellow trainer who was drowned during a performance by Keto, another SeaWorld killer whale that had been on loan to Loro Parque, a zoo in the Canary Islands. Rokeach said SeaWorld incident reports documenting undesirable behavior by killer whales usually conclude that the problem was an error in judgment by a trainer. Scarpuzzi testified that he went to Loro Parque and determined that a series of "commonplace and minor occurrences" during the Loro Parque performance agitated Keto. As a result, Scarpuzzi said trainers were advised to try to vary the rewards they give to the whales for successful performance. SeaWorld is expected to begin its defense after the government presents its final witnesses. more 11/09/11 Antarctic Killer Whales May Seek Spa-Like Relief in the Tropics - Science Daily ScienceDaily (Oct. 26, 2011) — NOAA researchers offer a novel explanation for why a type of Antarctic killer whale performs a rapid migration to warmer tropical waters. Scientists believe that warmer waters help the whales regenerate skin faster, after spending months coated with algae in colder waters. "The whales are traveling so quickly, and in such a consistent track, that it is unlikely they are foraging for food or giving birth," said John Durban, lead author from NOAA's Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, California. "We believe these movements are likely undertaken to help the whales regenerate skin tissue in a warmer environment with less heat loss." As evidence, the researchers point to the yellowish coating on Antarctic killer whales caused by a thick accumulation of diatoms or algae on the outer skin of the animals. The coloring is noticeably absent when they return from warmer waters indicating the upper epidermis of the skin has been shed. One tagged Antarctic killer whale monitored by satellite traveled over 5,000 miles to visit the warm waters off southern Brazil before returning immediately to Antarctica just 42 days later. This was the first long distance migration ever reported for killer whales. The coloring is noticeably absent when they return from warmer waters indicating the upper layer of skin has been shed. The scientists tagged 12 Type B killer whales (seal-feeding specialists) near the Antarctic Peninsula and tracked 5 that revealed consistent movement to sub-tropical waters. The whales tended to slow in the warmest waters although there was no obvious interruption in swim speed or direction to indicate calving or prolonged feeding. "They went to the edge of the tropics at high speed, turned around and came straight back to Antarctica, at the onset of winter," said Robert Pitman, co-author of the study. "The standard feeding or breeding migration does not seem to apply here." Researchers believe there are at least three different types of killer whales in Antarctica and have labeled them Types A, B and C. more 10/25/11 Higher Estimates of Endangered Humpback Whales in the North Pacific - Science Daily ScienceDaily (Oct. 18, 2011) — Scientists have increased the estimate on the number of humpback whales in the North Pacific Ocean in a paper published in the journal Marine Mammal Science. The increase follows a refined statistical analysis of data compiled in 2008 from the largest whale survey ever undertaken to assess humpback whale populations throughout the North Pacific. The number of North Pacific Humpback Whales in the 2008 study known as the Structure of Populations, Levels of Abundance and Status of Humpbacks, or SPLASH, was estimated at just under 20,000 based on a preliminary look at the data. This new research indicates the population to be over 21,000 and possibly even higher -- a significant improvement to the scant 1400 humpback whales estimated in the North Pacific Ocean at the end of commercial whaling in 1966. "These improved numbers are encouraging, especially after we have reduced most of the biases inherent in any statistical model," said Jay Barlow, NOAAs Fisheries Service marine mammal biologist at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, Calif. "We feel the numbers may even be larger since there have been across-the-board increases in known population areas and unknown areas have probably seen the same increases." The SPLASH research was a three-year project begun in 2004 involving NOAA scientists and hundreds of other researchers from the United States, Japan, Russia, Mexico, Canada, the Philippines, Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua and Guatemala and was the first systematic survey ever attempted to determine the humpback whales' overall population, structure, and genetic makeup in the North Pacific. Researchers were able to quantify the number of humpback whales by photographing and cataloging over 18,000 pictures of the animals' tail, or fluke because the pigmentation patterns on the fluke act like a fingerprint and are unique to each animal. Scientists determined population numbers by comparing photographs taken in northern feeding grounds (around the Pacific Rim from California to Kamchatka) compared with matches of the same animals in the warm tropical waters of southern breeding areas as far as 3000 miles away. "This latest revision to the study provides an accurate estimate for humpback whales in an entire ocean that could not have been possible without researchers working together to pool data," said John Calambokidis, senior research biologist and co-founder of Cascadia Research. "While populations of some other whale species remain very low this shows that humpback whales are among those that have recovered strongly from whaling." more 10/15/11 Sighting in Penzance was dwarf sperm whale - Underwater Times A marine research charity has confirmed a small whale spotted near Penzance was a dwarf sperm whale. The animal, little more than the size of a porpoise, swam into Mounts Bay, in west Cornwall, on Sunday. Dr Peter Evans, Director of Sea Watch, said the species had never previously been recorded off the UK coast. The confirmation means that 29 species of cetaceans have now been recorded in UK and Irish waters. Scientists know little about the whale. The whale was spotted on the beach and the sighting then reported to the coastguard and the Cornwall Wildlife Trust strandings officer, Jan Loveridge. A member of the public then managed to re-float the animal, which subsequently swam away. Dr Peter Evans said: "Pictures of the Penzance whale show it to be dwarf sperm whale, its fin being large and almost triangular. "This species has been recorded on only a handful of occasions in Europe, including Spain and France, and never in Britain or Ireland. "It is just one of the increasing number of records of warm water species to be turning up around the British Isles in recent years." So little is known about the dwarf sperm whale, that it is listed as 'data deficient' on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. more 10/03/11 Whale Hunt Update: Japan to beef up protection for this year's whaling fleet - Underwater Times Japan's whalers are reported to be set to resume their Antarctic hunt with increased security, after being forced out of the Southern Ocean last season under conservationist pressure. The Japanese government decided it would be against the national interest to give in to the Sea Shepherd activists, according to the ABC yesterday. Greenpeace Japan said the report was unconfirmed, but the Japanese government fisheries agency had requested more funds. An International Fund for Animal Welfare whales program director, Patrick Ramage, said the news was not unexpected. ''It's disappointing but not surprising, given the pace with which the Japanese government makes these decisions,'' Mr Ramage said. ''This seems to be much more about pride than profit.'' The whaling fleet normally leaves in mid-November and this year is due to operate in waters south of Australia. The Sea Shepherd leader, Paul Watson, said from Copenhagen that the group would have three ships ready to engage the whaling fleet again, but would ''welcome'' the presence of an Australian government vessel to monitor the action. more 09/29/11 Pure white humpback whale calf spotted off Great Barrier Reef - Underwater Times A rare white humpback whale calf has been spotted near Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Believed to be just a few weeks old, the 12ft calf was seen at Cid Harbour in the famous reef's Whitsunday Islands area by a family out in the bay in their boat. White whales are highly unusual, with only 10 to 15 believed to exist among up to 15,000 living along Australia's east coast. Wayne Fewings was diving in the harbour when he spotted the animal surfacing and described the sighting as a 'once in a lifetime experience'. He said: 'We were just drifting when I noticed the smaller whale in the pod was white. I couldn't believe my eyes. 'Then the white calf approached my boat, seeming to want to check us out. I was just so amazed at seeing this animal, it made me think how truly astounding the Great Barrier Reef is.' The calf's parents may both have been dark humpbacks carrying a recessive white whale gene, but Great Barrier Reef official Mark Read said one may also have been white themselves. That raises speculation that the calf could be the offspring of famous white humpback Migaloo. Migaloo - the name is an Aboriginal word meaning 'whitefella' - is the world's best-known all-white humpback and has built up a loyal following in Australia since first being sighted in 1991. Mr Read said it was impossible to speculate on the baby humpback's parentage without genetic tests to compare with samples taken from Migaloo. 'There is another couple of purely white whales and then there's a very, very low number of animals that are a sort of blotchy colour,' he said. 'It is pretty unusual, but we'd be purely speculating in terms of relationships to Migaloo.' Humpback whales are currently on their southern migration, and the baby will be feeding heavily from its mother as it lays down fat stores for the 'cold Antarctic waters'. Its sex was unknown and Mr Read said there were no plans to give the young mammal a name of its own. Australia's east coast humpback population has been brought back from the brink of extinction following the halting of whaling in the early 1960s. Migaloo was last officially sighted by a cargo ship crew on August 10 around 6 miles north of Pipon Island, in far north Queensland, according to the White Whale Research Centre. more 09/15/11 TV news crew treated to extremely rare blue whale serenade - Underwater Times Blue whales are being seen fairly frequently this summer off Southern California, but the planet's largest creatures are almost never heard vocalizing above the surface. On Tuesday off Long Beach, however, an NBC crew and biologists aboard the Christopher, during a special morning run, witnessed this extremely rare phenomenon as a large blue whale surfaced alongside the vessel and, with much of its head above the surface, issued a deep, low-pitch groan that lasted nearly 10 seconds. "We heard it through the air, loud and clear," said Alisa Schulman-Janiger, an American Cetacean Society researcher. "It was a strange, alien sound. It really was an extraordinary thing." Blue whales communicate, for up to hundreds of miles, with low-pitched vocalizations. The vocalizations can sometimes be picked up via submerged hydrophones, but the majestic leviathans, which can measure 100 feet and weigh 150 tons, are not known for making sounds other than those associated with breathing while at the surface. Blue whale 2 Those aboard the Christopher -- a naturalist from the Aquarium of the Pacific also was aboard -- were treated to blue whale vocalization twice, as the same whale repeated this behavior on the other side of the boat. Afterward, Schulman-Janiger phoned John Calambokidis, one of the world's top blue whale scientists. He told her that in his extensive study of blue whales around the world, he had never heard above-surface vocalization from a blue whale. "I told the reporters on the boat, "You don't understand but you will never see this type of behavior again,' " Schulman-Janiger said. About 2,000 blue whales -- part of an endangered global population of roughly 10,000 -- spend part of each summer and fall off California gorging on tiny shrimp-like krill. A single blue whale can consume four tons of krill, which flourishes in massive blooms in nutrient-rich areas where upwelling occurs, per day. The whales feed almost constantly but the four whales alongside the Christopher, perhaps having had their fill, were clearly cavorting and possibly engaging in courtship behavior. They lunged, or raced across the surface, at times lifting their heads and chin-slapping in what seemed a game of follow the leader. Typically, it's a female in the lead. It was during a break that the largest whale paused and was "like a log in the water," Schulman-Janiger said, when it began to vocalize. There were no bubbles from below and was no movement of the blow holes, which were clearly visible. The sound appeared to have come from deep within. Schulman-Janiger used terms such as "otherworldly" and "spooky" while trying to describe the sound, but judging from her enthusiasm it was still music to the ears. more 09/07/11 Hong Kong drops plan to import rare whales - Underwater Times AFP - A Hong Kong theme park has dropped a contentious plan to buy and import rare wild-caught beluga whales, in a decision lauded Friday by conservationists who had protested against the bid. Activists opposed Ocean Park's plan to import the whales, classified as "near threatened", from Russia, saying they are often injured or killed during capture and mortality rates are high among those in captivity. The park had wanted to use the belugas, usually found around the Arctic circle, to raise public awareness of climate change through its new Polar Adventure attraction to open next year. "After due consideration, we have decided not to pursue an acquisition from the wild even though the removal of some beluga whales has been shown to be sustainable," Allan Zeman, Ocean Park's chairman, said in a statement. The popular 34-year-old theme park and aquarium is owned by the Hong Kong government and has set out ambitious plans to boost visitors. The park recorded five million tourists last year. The beluga, or white whale, is on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) "red list" of "near threatened" species, while the US and Canada have effectively banned the whales' capture from their waters. "The park did the right thing. We certainly welcome the decision," Samuel Hung, chairman of the Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society, told AFP. "It's not right to confine a large intelligent mammal inside a tank, this is harming their chance of survival and send a wrong message to the public -- that whenever we need them for entertainment purpose, we can go out to catch them." The park has previously come under the spotlight over its conservation and protection of rare animals. Last year, Washington-based Animal Welfare Institute has said Ocean Park was trying to capture some 30 dolphins in the Soloman Islands, possibly in breach of animal conservation rules -- a claim which was later rejected by the park. Any dolphin imports from the cluster of islands near Papua New Guinea would breach the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). In 2009, three rare sturgeon -- which were among a group of 10 sturgeon donated to the theme park to mark China's hosting of the Olympics in 2008 -- died in the park. The endangered fish died because of different reasons including head injury, blood clotting, infection while one was killed by a bite from barracuda in the aquarium. Outside the park, conservation groups such as the WWF have consistently appealed to restaurants in Hong Kong -- the largest importer of shark fin globally in 2007 -- to stop using the fins in the popular soup delicacy. Scientists blame the practice of shark-finning for a worldwide collapse in shark populations. more 08/29/11 UW dog tracks Orca whale scat and contributes to a number of new studies - Underwater Times SEATTLE— Labradors are natural born hunting dogs, but what Tucker is retrieving is a little out of the ordinary. The research team from the University of Washington is in the San Juan Islands tracking Orca poop. Samples they've collected so far show our Southern Resident Killer Whales don't have enough to eat. "The fact that there is less food means they have to metabolize their fat and then the toxicants are released into their bodies," researcher Deborah Giles said. "It's a bad deal. Last year we lost two males that were just coming into that time when they could have been helping with the gene pool." Research shows one stressor impacting the Orcas is the noise of boat engines which interferes with the sonar they use to hunt and communicate. Another threat was recently discovered in a study by NOAA, led by Dr. Michael Ford. The study shows the Orcas in J, K and L pod are inbreeding, a circumstance that can cause a host of health issues in whales, just as it does in humans. "You expect to see problems with the immune system, robustness of the genetic code and the ability to reproduce and be fertile," Orca Relief president Mark Anderson said. Inbreeding isn't something we can do much about, so researchers are working twice as hard to get a handle on problems that can be prevented and learn more about how boat noise and pursuit impacts the whales' well being. In fact, the National Marine Fisheries Service is conducting a new study on the issue right now. "We have a tagging project and there are some suction cup tags our science center will put on the whales. It will record the sound level that the whales are hearing and that will give us a better indication not only what sounds the boats make but how the whales are receiving that sound," Lynn Barre with NMFS said. In another project, Soundwatch, a non-profit group that educates boaters on whale watching guidelines, are working with Tucker and his team tracking the number of boats near the Orcas. The UW crew collects scat and cross references the day and time with Soundwatch to measure increased stress levels of the whales in the presence of a lot of boats. "Physiologically if they’re having stressors coming from vessel activities we want to know that so we can alleviate that by having some new guidelines and laws. It would be a good indicator and we’re really happy to partner with them," Kari Koski said. more 08/12/11 Japanese advocate calls for halt to whale hunt - Underwater TImes The future of Japan's lethal whale research is in question, with internal criticism of its controversial Antarctic hunt fuelled by doubts the whalers can evade conservationist pursuit. A senior member of a government review panel set up to advise options after last summer's disastrous season has raised the stakes by openly calling for a halt. Respected Japanese consumer advocate Hisa Anan rejected any scientific need to kill whales. Advertisement: Story continues below ''Research whaling has been conducted for more than 20 years now,'' Ms Anan told the ABC through an interpreter in Tokyo. ''I think they've gathered enough scientific data and even if they want more, they can conduct non-lethal research.'' The committee's majority want to continue with the hunt, according to Japanese media reports, but like Ms Anan they are worried about the threat posed by Sea Shepherd. The mass circulation daily newspaper, Yomiuri Shimbun, said the majority found: ''Research whaling is justified on the basis of an international treaty. It should be continued without yielding to heinous interference.'' Last summer the whaling fleet was forced out of the Southern Ocean after its hunt was restricted by Sea Shepherd harassment. The Institute of Cetacean Research said its crews were exhausted by the pursuit, which left them with a catch of 172 whales out of a potential 985. An unnamed Fisheries Agency official said that the prospects of returning were ''extremely gloomy,'' although the government has since stressed that its official policy is unchanged. Extra pressure is coming from financial losses. The leading business newspaper, Nikkei, said: ''Japanese scientific whaling costs over 3 billion yen ($A35 million) every time, and its deficit is becoming a serious problem.'' Long-term observers of Japanese whaling were unconvinced the powerful agency would be overruled. ''I'm going to give them every chance to reconsider,'' said Mick McIntyre of the group Whales Alive. ''But I'm under no illusions that it's decided.'' Sea Shepherd's leader Paul Watson told the Herald all three of the group's ships would be positioned in Sydney and Fremantle in October. ''We are also looking for a fourth ship," he said. "If they return we will be ready to engage them again.'' Last season, the fleet operated south-east of New Zealand, but if it was to return next summer, it would be the turn of waters south of Australia, meaning closer involvement by the federal government in search and rescue, or monitoring of the fleets. more 08/05/11 Over 100,000 asking to free RWS dolphins - Underwater Times More than 100,000 people have petitioned to Resorts World Singapore (RWS) through Change.org to free the 25 dolphins that they are holding in captivity. Dolphin activist Barbara Napoles started the petition on Change.org, the world's fastest growing social change platform, bringing the dolphins' plight to the attention of tens of thousands of animal lovers and tourists. The dolphins are to become the latest attraction for the resort in Sentosa. They were captured in Solomon Islands and are being held in Philippines while the facility is being built in Sentosa. Only 25 dolphins of the original 27 have survived in captivity so far. Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES), a Singapore-based animal protection group, has gathered local and international support for the dolphins' freedom with their Save the World's Saddest Dolphins campaign. Louis Ng, Executive Director of the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES) said: "The public has shown their strong support for the dolphins' release and we are confident that an increasing number of people will sign the petition urging RWS to make a moral and ethical decision to let the dolphins go." Two years ago, Resorts World Sentosa responded to public outcry and cancelled plans for a whale shark exhibit. more 07/27/11 Gray Whales Likely Survived the Ice Ages by Changing Their Diets - Science Daily ScienceDaily (July 7, 2011) — If ancient gray whale populations migrated and fed the same as today's whales, what happened during the Ice Ages, when their major feeding grounds disappeared? UC Berkeley and Smithsonian paleontologists argue that gray whales utilized a range of food sources in the past, including herring and krill, in addition to the benthic organisms they consume today. As a result, pre-whaling populations were two to four times greater than today's population of around 22,000. Gray whales survived many cycles of global cooling and warming over the past few million years, likely by exploiting a more varied diet than they do today, according to a new study by University of California, Berkeley, and Smithsonian Institution paleontologists. The researchers, who analyzed California gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus) responses to climate change over the past 120,000 years, also found evidence to support the idea that the population of gray whales along the Pacific Coast before the arrival of humans was two to four times today's population, which stands at about 22,000. The whale is considered a conservation success story because protections instituted as early as the 1930s have allowed populations to rebound from fewer than 1,000 individuals in the early 20th century, after less than 75 years of systematic whaling. "There almost certainly were higher gray whale populations in the past," said evolutionary biologist David Lindberg, a UC Berkeley professor of integrative biology who coauthored the paper with his former student, Nicholas D. Pyenson, now curator of fossil marine mammals at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. The paper appears on July 6 in the online, open-access journal PLoS ONE. Lindberg and Pyenson suggest that higher populations in the past were possible because gray whales utilized a greater variety of food resources -- resources that today's whales are only now beginning to exploit. According to Lindberg, gray whales were once thought to feed only by suctioning seafloor sediment and filtering out worms and amphipods -- so-called benthic organisms. But some whales are now eating herring and krill as well, just like their baleen whale relatives, which include the humpback and the blue. Some whales are even dropping out of the migratory rat race. One group hangs out year-round off Vancouver Island in Canada, where they chase herring and krill. "We propose that gray whales survived the disappearance of their primary feeding ground by employing generalist filter-feeding modes, similar to the resident gray whales found between northern Washington State and Vancouver Island," the scientists wrote in their paper. "A combination of low population numbers and a species migrating between places where humans didn't bother them gave us the impression that gray whales have a stereotypical migratory and feeding behavior that may not be historically correct," Lindberg said. The new population numbers accord with a 2007 estimate that the California gray whale population was likely 76,000 to 120,000 before humans began hunting them. That estimate, by Stephen Palumbi of Stanford University and his collaborators, was based on an analysis of gray whale genetic diversity. The numbers clash, however, with claims by some ecologists that populations of between 15,000 and 20,000 are likely the most that the Pacific Coast -- specifically along the whales' 11,000 kilometer (6,900 mile) migratory route from Baja California to the Bering Sea -- could support, today or in the past. "Our data say that, if the higher estimates are right, gray whales would have made it through the Ice Ages in numbers sufficiently large to avoid bottlenecking," Pyenson said. "If gray whale populations were at the lower levels, they would only have squeaked through the ice ages with populations of hundreds or a few thousand. That would have left bottlenecking evidence in their DNA." Bottlenecking is when populations drop so low that inbreeding becomes common, decreasing the genetic diversity in the species and making them less able to adapt to environmental change. The new assessment is good news for gray whales, which appear to have "a lot more evolutionary plasticity than anyone imagined," Lindberg said. This could help them survive the climate change predicted within the next few centuries that is characterized by an expected sea level rise of several meters. "I suspect the gray whales will be among the winners in the great climate change experiment," Pyenson said. Lindberg and Pyenson initiated the study several years ago in the face of conflicting and contentious estimates for past gray whale populations. They thought that an understanding of how gray whales adapted to climate change over the past 3 million years, the period called the Pleistocene, might provide insight into how they will adapt to climate change today. Since gray whales arose -- the oldest fossils date from 2.5 million years ago -- Earth has gone through more than 40 major cycles of warming and cooling, each of which significantly affected the world's flora and fauna. During the last glacial cold spell, between 50,000 and 10,000 years ago, most of the large terrestrial mammals disappeared through a combination of climate change and human depredation, Lindberg noted. The marine realm, however, experienced almost no extinctions and very few new originations during that same period. The California, or eastern, gray whale, one of two surviving populations of gray whale, can be traced back about 150,000-200,000 years. Pyenson and Lindberg looked closely at only the past 120,000 years, during which Earth transitioned from a warm period to a glacial period and then to today's warmer climate. During the glaciated period, ocean water became locked up in land-based glaciers, drawing down the sea level by about 120 meters, or nearly 400 feet. That drop eliminated nearly 60 percent of the Bering Sea Platform, a shallow area that is part of the continental shelf and the major summer feeding area for today's gray whales. Gray whales can engage in benthic feeding no deeper than about 75 meters (250 feet), Pyenson said, and during the glacial period, waters offshore of the Bering platform would have been much deeper than that. "If gray whales were primarily feeding on the Bering Platform, it's hard to see how they could have avoided a population crash," Lindberg said. By calculating the amount of food lost because of dropping sea levels, and combining this with estimates of the food needed to keep a whale alive, the two researchers calculated the impact of global cooling on gray whale populations and the populations that would have had to exist in order for the whales to survive. They concluded that populations would have had to have alternative feeding modes sufficient to support a population of around 70,000 during warm periods so that population drops during glacial periods wouldn't be below 5,000-10,000 whales. Much lower numbers would have produced a genetic bottleneck obvious in the DNA of the whales, and such a signature has not yet been seen. "We don't yet have the ability to look deep enough into the whale genome to see this type of bottleneck," Pyenson added, though genetic analysis that has been done shows no evidence of a bottleneck much shallower in time, just before humans targeted the mammals for whaling. The carrying capacity of the North Pacific could have been as high as 170,000, "assuming modern day values for benthic productivity, food density, and gray whale energetics," the authors concluded. If gray whales also exploited non-benthic organisms, such as krill, the populations could have been even higher. If gray whales do respond well to the rising temperatures and sea levels predicted for the future, that may not be true for the birds and other marine mammals that feed in the Bering Sea, one of the most productive marine ecosystems during the summer. "If this environment disappears in glacial maxima, we really need to rethink what we know about the ecological history of all the other organisms that make a living in the Bering Sea," Pyenson said. He and Lindberg urge other scientists to focus on the historical ecology of species to fully understand their complex interactions with a changing environment. "We really make a lot of conservation decisions without a lot of data," Lindberg said. "Integrating paleontological and geological data in the context of known ecological traits can help us address impending biological changes in marine ecosystems." The work was supported by the National Science Foundation, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Smithsonian Institution. Pyenson performed part of this research while a post-doctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia. Lindberg is also a member of the Center for Computational Biology and the Museum of Paleontology at UC Berkeley. more 07/18/11 Ongoing talks: Whaling meeting 'ignores needs of whales' - Underwater Times The International Whaling Commission's (IWC) annual meeting has closed after a tense final day when relations between opposing blocs came close to collapse. Latin American nations attempted to force a vote on a proposal to create a whale sanctuary in the South Atlantic. Pro-whaling countries walked out, but eventually it was decided to shelve any vote until next year's meeting. Environment groups said the delays and wrangling meant important issues for whale conservation were neglected. But a number of nations pledged new funding for research on small cetaceans, some of which are severely threatened. Earlier in the meeting, governments agreed new regulations designed to prevent "cash for votes" scandals that have plagued the IWC in the past, and passed a resolution censuring the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society for putting safety at risk during its annual missions to counter Japanese whalers in the Southern Ocean. But the sanctuary issue threatened to derail the entire session. "Whale species and populations from the Southern Atlantic oceanic basin were amongst the ones that suffered the most due to commercial whaling on a large scale," Roxana Schteinbarg, from the Argentina-based Institute for the Conservation of Whales, told delegates. "Fifty-four species live in the waters where the sanctuary is proposed - it is therefore appropriate that the protection of these species in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary be extended and complemented in the reproduction areas in the Atlantic Southern basin." The 14-strong Buenos Aires bloc of nations knew it did not command the three-quarters majority needed to win, but remained determined to put it to the test. "We didn't come here to win the sanctuary on the vote, but we wanted to put it to a vote - we believe our conservation agenda cannot be put forward, be stressed, be highlighted, be defended in some issues without a vote," said Brazil's commissioner Marcus Henrique Paranagua. "Why not vote on things that are controversial?" Voting with feet Iceland's Tomas Heidar and Japan's Joji Morishita, with other delegates Delegates from pro-whaling countries walked out in protest when a vote was called The pro-whaling bloc said this could herald a return to the fractious days of the past, and walked out in an attempt to bring the meeting below the quorum needed for votes to count. "We fear that the fact of voting will probably damage the very good atmosphere we have established, and might trigger a landslide of many votes for next year which might disrupt the progress we have made," said Japan's alternate (or deputy) commissioner Joji Morishita. "This was not a hostile move to the Latin American countries - our effort is to try to save this organisation, and it turned out ok." The good atmosphere, he added, had survived a "very difficult day". Critics, however, said the pro-whaling countries had tried to hold the commission to ransom by their walkout. Explosive meeting The compromise eventually hammered out, after private discussions lasting nearly nine hours, asks countries to strive to reach consensus during the coming year. If that proves impossible, next year's meeting will start with a vote on the South Atlantic Sanctuary. That could prove a particular concern for the US, which will be aiming at that meeting, in Panama, to secure renewed quotas for its indigenous hunters. US commissioner Monica Medina agreed the potential vote "put a hand-grenade" under next year's meeting. "I'm more than a little concerned - we've made good progress on improving the IWC's governance and that's a good thing," she said. "But as long as we choose to continue fighting, all of the IWC's members will lose; and the world's whales deserve better." The US played a leading role in the two-year "peace process" that attempted to build a major compromise deal between the various parties, and which collapsed at last year's meeting. Huge delays during the four days of talks meant that many items on the agenda pertinent to the health of whales and other cetaceans did not get discussed. Continue reading the main story Guide to whales (BBC) How to prevent whales from being killed by collisions with ships, how to reduce floating debris and how to tackle the growth of noise in the oceans were among the issues that received no discussion. "Acrimony is often the enemy of conservation - in this case, it meant that a critical meeting on whales failed to address the greatest threats they face," said Wendy Elliott, head of environment group WWF's delegation. "Several whale and dolphin species are in crisis - teetering on the brink of extinction - and conservation must be front and foremost at next year's IWC meeting, for the sake of the whales and the commission." The research programmes of the cash-strapped commission received something of a boost with France, Italy and several non-governmental groups pledging a total of about £80,000 ($130,000) for small cetaceans, which include the critically endangered Mexican vaquita. more 07/12/11 Heads Up! Is ocean garbage killing whales? - Underwater Times Millions of tonnes of plastic debris dumped each year in the world's oceans could pose a lethal threat to whales, according to a scientific assessment to be presented at a key international whaling forum this week. A review of research literature from the last two decades reveals hundreds of cases in which cetaceans -- an order including 80-odd species of whales, dolphins and porpoises -- have been sickened or killed by marine litter. Entanglement in plastic bags and fishing gear have long been identified as a threat to sea birds, turtles and smaller cetaceans. For large ocean-dwelling mammals, however, ingestion of such refuse is also emerging as a serious cause of disability and death, experts say. Grisly examples abound. In 2008, two sperm whales stranded on the California coast were found to have a huge amount -- 205 kilos (450 pounds) in one alone -- of fish nets and other synthetic debris in their guts. One of the 50-foot (15-metre) animals had a ruptured stomach, and the other, half-starved, had a large plug of wadded plastic blocking its digestive tract. Seven male sperm whales stranded on the Adriatic coast of southern Italy in 2009 were stuffed with half-digested squids beaks, fishing hooks, ropes and plastic objects. In 2002, a dead minke whale washed up on the Normandy coast of France had nearly a tonne of plastic in its stomach, including bags from two British supermarkets. "Cuvier's beaked whales in the northeast Atlantic seem to have particularly high incidences of ingestion and death from plastic bags," notes Mark Simmonds, author of the report and a member of scientific committee of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), which meets this week from July 11-14 on the British island of Jersey. How widespread the problem is, and whether it could threaten an entire population or species, remains unknown. "In many areas of the world, stranded whale carcasses are not recorded or examined, and in areas where strandings are recorded, examination of gut contents for swallowed plastics is rare," said Chris Parsons, a marine biologist at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. The majority of cetaceans that die from intestinal trauma getting caught up in fishing gear probably sink to the ocean floor, experts say. "There is, however, evidence that plastic debris in the seas can harm these animals by both ingestion and entanglement, and this needs to be urgently further investigated," said Simmonds, Director of Science for Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society. The main threats to cetaceans worldwide are accidental capture in fishing nets and climate change, he noted in an email exchange. "We don't yet know enough about marine debris to rank it against other theats, but as it continues to sadly grow in the oceans, it will surely play a greater and greater role." Studies have shown that litter concentrates in so-called convergence zones -- formed by currents and wind -- where whales feed on abundant prey. Scientists have been slow to measure the impact of ocean refuse on animals living in or by the sea, and international organisations have been even slower in taking action. In 2003, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) established the Global Initiative on Marine Litter, but it launched a detailed analysis of the scope of the problem only in 2009. More recently, representatives from 38 countries meeting in Hawaii in March adopted the "Honolulu Commitment" outlining a dozen voluntary measures. For whales, the level of threat from ocean garbage varies according to species and type of debris, the new report said. For toothed whales from the suborder Odontoceti, ingestion of plastic pieces appears to pose the greatest danger. Sperm and beaked whales are thought to be especially vulnerable because they are suction feeders. Less is known about the impact on filter-feeding or baleen whales (suborder Mysticeti), which consume huge quantities of tiny zooplankton and small, schooling fish. A single blue whale, for example, eats up to 3,600 kilos (8,000 pounds) of krill each day during feeding season. Potentially, the greater danger here is from toxins in plastic that breaks down over time into tiny, even microscopic, particles. Collisions with ships, and tissue-damaging noise pollution from off-shore oil exploration are additional threats, experts note. The IWC is riven between countries that oppose whale hunting, and those that back the handful of nations -- Japan, Iceland and Norway -- that defy a 1986 whaling ban or use legal loopholes to circumvent it. more 07/04/11 A rise in stranded dolphins worries marine scientists - Underwater Times More than 30 dolphins mysteriously washed up dead in the Lowcountry last spring. The big spike in strandings alarms federal researchers enough that they are conducting extensive tests on the remains. From late February through early May, 32 bottlenose dolphins stranded, mostly in Charleston and Beaufort counties. That's three times as many as normally would be expected during those months. "Right now, we don't know why they died," said Wayne McFee, National Ocean Service marine mammal stranding program scientist. "Most of the animals we've had have been really decomposed." The testing will take months, he said. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has designated the strandings as a "unusual mortality event," because they were unexpected and involved a relatively large number of animals. The designation gives forensic researchers funding to do detailed testing of remains, because of potential environmental and human health threats. A dolphin that dies because of contamination or a virus can be bad news for people who live along the coast. Because the sea mammals are so close to humans in some ways, they are a prime "canary in the coal mine" of trouble in the water. Marine mammal strandings along the South Carolina coast tend to spike in the spring and fall each year, when migrating animals are on the move. But in the past few years, strandings have spiked in mid-winter. The most likely explanation is the same winter cold snaps that led to mass bait fish kills along the beaches. The cold depletes the shallows of food - fish schools for the dolphin. Dolphins that already are sick can't catch enough to sustain themselves, so they weaken and gradually die, sometimes of pneumonia. More than 10,000 bottlenose dolphin are thought to roam along the Southeast coast. Some 40 dolphins strand on South Carolina beaches each year. more 06/27/11 Boy knocked unconscious by whale while fishing - Undeerwater Times Getting whacked on the head by a whale was the last thing young Drew Hall expected when he headed off fishing with his mum and dad yesterday. The Maclean family took their dingy out early yesterday morning to try their luck in waters off Redcliffe, just north of Brooms Head. The family noticed a large number of whales out further, happily keeping their distance. Drew's mum, Karen, said she was enjoying watching the display of the whales blowing air from their blowholes. Then, about 7am, the family began to slowly cruise along, looking for a better fishing spot when, without warning, a whale's tail emerged from the water and swiped the top of the boat from the bow to the stern. “It all happened within seconds,” Karen said. “I was sitting backwards in the boat looking at Drew and the tail just whacked him and sent him flying into the boat.” Karen said the whale's tail took the windscreen and the cover off the boat as it swiped it down its length. She said the whale's tail missed her completely but slammed Drew into the back of the boat. “I thought Drew was dead. I looked at him and thought he was gone – he was blue,” she said. “He was totally unconscious. It took about five minutes before we could get him to move or make a noise. “When he did come round he was going in and out of consciousness all the way back in (to shore). “We were too busy finding out if Drew was alive or dead to know what happened to the whale.” Drew was met by paramedics from the Yamba ambulance station and transported to Maclean Hospital for treatment. The assessment showed Drew had been left with a broken collarbone, a huge lump on his chest and an ‘egg' sized lump on his head. “I can't believe this. Drew is the keenest fisherman; he just lives to go fishing,” Karen said. “He did manage to catch two rock cod before it happened, though.” Just a few days ago, local trawler the El Margo had a whale encounter of its own. A whale became tangled between the boat and its stay arm before managing to free itself. more 06/21/11 Migaloo, the white humpback whale heads to Cairns - The Cairns Post The Far North's most famous aquatic holidaymaker is speeding along the humpback highway to get to the Great Barrier Reef. Migaloo, the world’s only known all-white humpback whale, was spotted swimming off the northern coast of Fraser Island on Sunday. He has joined a record number of humpbacks making their annual migration to the warm Reef water from Antarctica. Oskar Peterson, founder of the Gold Coast-based White Whale Research Centre, estimated it could take Migaloo between two or three weeks to reach Cairns. "Over the last couple of years, it hasn’t taken him long to get to Cairns and beyond," Mr Peterson said. Migaloo, an Aboriginal word for "white fella", was spotted off Port Douglas in mid-July last year. Mr Peterson believed the whale’s early appearance in Queensland waters may be a result of flooding on the mid-north coast of NSW. "He’s probably avoided all of the coastal areas of New South Wales because of the rain," he said. "He doesn’t like freshwater run-off, like most whales don’t." There are estimates at least 13,500 whales will head north this year, with the first humpbacks of the season seen by dive boats off Cairns late last month. more 06/18/11 Not without Critics: Princess of Whales-How a naked female scientist tries to tame belugas in the freezing Arctic! - Underwater Times Braving sub-zero temperatures, she has thrown caution — and her clothes — to the wind to tame two beluga whales in a unique and controversial experiment. Natalia Avseenko, 36, was persuaded to strip naked as marine experts believe belugas do not like to be touched by artificial materials such as diving suits.The skilled Russian diver took the plunge as the water temperature hit minus 1.5 degrees Centigrade. Belugas are famed for the way in which their faces are able to convey human-like expressions. Certainly Matrena and Nilma seemed to enjoy frolicking with Natalia. The taming of the whales happened in the Murmansk Oblast region in the far north-west of Russia at the shore of the White Sea near the Arctic Circle branch of the Utrish Dophinarium. An area of the sea is enclosed to stop whales and dolphins getting out and instructors tame the mammals before they are transported to dolphinariums around the world — a practice many animal conservationists consider cruel. Belugas have a small hump on their heads used for echo-location and it was thought that there would be more chance of striking up a rapport with them without clothes as a barrier. The average human could die if left in sub-zero temperature sea water for just five minutes. However, Natalia is a yoga expert and used meditation techniques to hold her breath and stay under water for an incredible ten minutes and 40 seconds. There are around 100,000 belugas in the wild. The first to be held in captivity was shown at Barnum's Museum in New York in 1861, and there are belugas in aquariums and sea life parks across Europe, North America and Asia. Their large range of 'facial expressions' comes from them having a more flexible bone structure than other whales. Certainly these two had a big smile for Natalia. more 06/13/11 Study Suggests Stranding Records Are Faithful Reflection of Live Whale and Dolphin Populations - Science Daily Whales are Earth's largest creatures, yet they are incredibly hard to study in the open ocean. For decades scientists have used boats, aircraft and even high cliffs to conduct visual surveys and gather data on whale and dolphin populations. Today, these live surveys form the basis of our knowledge of these marine mammals -- what species live where in the world, which ones tend to live together and how abundantly they are represented. Now, recent work by paleobiologist Nick Pyenson of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, has revealed a second, equally valuable resource for information on cetaceans -- the record of dead whales and dolphins stranded and washed ashore on beaches around the world "Some 30 years ago scientists got serious about the conservation of cetaceans, and began keeping records of strandings," Pyenson says. Stranding networks were set up around the world and information -- such as species type, sex, age, size, cause of death -- have been carefully collected, recorded and archived. By compiling and comparing long-term data from stranding records and visual sighting records, both taken from nearly every ocean basin in the world, Pyenson verified that stranding records "faithfully reflect the number of species and the relative abundance" found in live surveys. In fact, Pyenson says, the stranding data in many parts of the world "almost always provides better diversity information about existing cetacean communities than the live surveys. A lot of rare species show up in stranding records that never appear in the live surveys," Pyenson adds. The stranding record also faithfully reflects the structure of cetacean communities. "There is a strong and significant correlation in relative abundance of species at nearly all taxonomic levels in both the live data and the stranding data." Pyenson's study, which he refers to as "spreadsheet taphonomy," is the first time the cetacean stranding record has been verified as a viable reflection of the living community, across the globe. The live sighting and stranding data used in his research came from the coastlines of Australia, the Galapagos Islands (Ecuador), Greece and the Greek Archipelago, Ireland, The Netherlands, New Zealand and the United States. Pyenson based his approach on a study published last year, in the journal Paleobiology, which examined the stranding record of California, Oregon and Washington State. Pyenson's current paper, which appeared in a recent edition of the Proceedings of The Royal Society B, implies that other scientists seeking taxonomic data on living cetaceans for a specific region "should consult the archived stranding data rather than conduct a survey," Pyenson says. "The best results come from bodies of water adjacent to long coastlines where data have been collected for more than 10 years." "The results of this live-dead comparison show that key aspects of cetacean community diversity is actually preserved in the stranding record, which is important if you want some baseline for understanding their diversity in the fossil record," Pyenson adds. Strandings have more in common with natural traps, like the Rancho La Brea tar pits, which provide snapshots of diversity in restricted areas, than they do with live surveys. It is possible, Pyenson says, that fossils from certain geologic strata may even hold clues to the structure and abundance of extinct cetacean communities. more 06/09/11 Beluga hunting season opens in Nunavik Hudson Straits - Underwater Times Belugas are already beginning to stream through Nunavik’s Hudson Strait. And since June 1, hunters have had the right to hunt up to 190 belugas there until Aug. 31 — an increase in the quota which was fixed at 170 for that same period in 2010. However, hunters along the Hudson Bay and Ungava Bay must wait longer to learn when they can start beluga hunting and how many belugas they can hunt there or around Long Island and in James Bay. A June 1 news release from the Fisheries and Oceans Canada says there’s delay in announcing the beluga hunt in these zones because “the decisional process outlined under the Nunavik Land Claims Agreement is not yet complete.” For this reason, no quota or “total allowable take” has been fixed yet, although the DFO and Nunavik Marine Region Wildlife Board agreed to open the Hudson Strait “to allow hunters from Nunavik to practice their traditional harvesting activity and to ensure the conservation of the Eastern Hudson Bay beluga population.” The wildlife board is expected to set community quotas, although in 2011 the areas around the Nottingham, Salisbury and Ottawa islands will remain closed as well as the Mucalic, Nastapoka and Little Whale River estuaries, the news release said. Most of last year’s take was supposed to come from the Hudson Strait during the period from June 1 to Aug. 31. Of the quota of 170 for that period, hunters took 138, according to 2010 DFO statistics. During the fall hunt from Sept. 1 to Nov. 30, hunters exceeded the Hudson Strait quota of 46 by 15 belugas for a total take of 61 belugas. In the Ungava Bay, where the 2010 quota was fixed at only nine belugas due to concern over the population’s numbers, hunters took 15 belugas. The 2010 management plan stated that if the quota was exceeded, that this year’s take would be reduced. Nunavik’s hunters and trappers association, in collaboration with the DFO, worked on that plan before sending it to the Nunavik Marine Regional Wildlife Board. This board, created by the Nunavut Inuit Land Claims Agreement, then made recommendations and passed on the final version to the DFO minister. The board’s members — three appointed by Makivik, two by the federal government, one by the Government of Nunavut— manage a $5-million research fund. It also can establish quotas, identify wildlife management zones and approve designations for endangered species. The federal government then accepts, varies or rejects the decisions of the board. But if changed or rejected, Ottawa must provide reasons and give the board another opportunity to present its arguments — this may explain why the release of the 2011 plan has been delayed. more 06/05/11 Orca tracked making incredible journey from Arctic to Azores - Underwater times Biologist Cory Matthews knew the chances of spotting killer whales in the Arctic were slim. The odds of getting a satellite tracker onto the sleek predators were even worse. But Matthews and his colleagues hit the jackpot. Not only did they manage to fit two Arctic killer whales with trackers, but one of them headed off on a remarkable 5,400-kilometre journey. In just a month, the whale swam from northern Baffin Island, down past Greenland, Labrador and Newfoundland, and headed for the Azores in the mid-Atlantic. “It was fast and pretty much a straight line,” said Matthews, a University of Manitoba PhD student working with scientists from Fisheries and Oceans Canada. He is lead author of their report on the whale’s travels published in the current issue of Polar Biology. It’s long been known that killer whales, or orcas, get around, but the study is the first to document such a rapid, long-distance swim. And it provides new clues about the little-known whales, which appear to be showing up in Canada’s Arctic in increasing numbers. So many of the black-and-white predators have been spotted in recent years that some have suggested they may be invading the Arctic. Orcas been have spotted feasting on belugas and narwhals and also have been known to take down huge bowhead whales. Even so, Matthews headed north in August 2009 knowing that finding orcas in Arctic waters would not be easy. “We know they are up there,” he said. “But it’s like a needle in haystack.” But not long after he and his field crew stepped off a Twin Otter at the north end of Baffin Island, the Inuit told them they were in luck. There was a large group of 20 killer whales just off shore. Within days, Matthews and researcher Stephen Petersen, from Fisheries and Oceans, were out in a boat pointing crossbows at the whales. The crossbows were loaded with high-tech ammunition — darts to extract samples of whale blubber and embed in the whales satellite tracking devices worth $2,500 each. They got satellite trackers onto two of the orcas before they disappeared under the icy, inky water. The devices, about the size of cellphones, were attached by darts near the whales’ distinctive dorsal fins. One of the trackers stopped working within days, but the other one lasted three months, emitting up to 300 electronic signals a day when the whale surfaced. The signals were picked up by the Argos tracking system, which uses satellites 850 kilometres above the Earth to follow everything from sea turtles to fishing vessels. After Matthews and the DFO researchers returned to Winnipeg, they could check on the orca’s whereabouts simply by logging into the satellite tracking system by computer. They watched as the whale foraged in the waters northwest of Baffin Island until the temperatures began to plunge in early October. Then, as ice began to form and choke up the waters of Lancaster Sound, the orca took a decisive turn south. It cruised down Baffin Bay past Greenland and along the coast of Labrador and Newfoundland, hitting a top speed of 252 kilometres a day. “You can’t help but look at the track and think that it is amazing that the whale was going so fast and was so directed,” Matthews said of the 5,400-kilometre journey. “It seems like it knew where it was going.” When the orca was about 500 kilometres from the Azores, the signal stopped, bringing an abrupt end to an astounding scientific event. It is not known if the entire group of 20 Arctic orcas made the same trip, but whales are known to travel in groups. It is also anyone’s guess where the orca went after the tracker stopped working. The Arctic-to-Azores trip is believed to be the first documented case of an orca travelling so far in such a short period of time. Matthews and his group said the “remarkable” swim suggests killer whales have a large range in the Atlantic. Orcas on the Pacific coast are also known to make long journeys, with reports of them swimming from Alaska to California. It could be that orcas that spend summer in Canada’s north and along the east coast congregate in the mid-Atlantic between the Azores and Bermuda in the winter, said Matthews, noting that whalers reported seeing concentrations of orcas in the southern waters in the 1800s. Hunters, scientists and other northern travellers are spotting more orcas in the Arctic waters, especially in Hudson Bay. Narwhals, belugas and bowhead whales, which are known to take refuge under the ice, seem to be favoured prey. Matthews said the orcas may also be eating fish, but added more work is needed to understand the changing wildlife dynamic in Canada’s north. Researchers say the increase in orca sightings appear to be related to the way the Arctic ice has been retreating in recent years. Orcas tend to steer clear of thick ice. While climate change is a prime suspect, some have suggested that the increasing number of orcas in the Arctic may be related to the way bowheads have rebounded since the end of commercial whaling. To get a better read on the situation, federal scientists have anchored undersea microphones near Churchill, Man., and Repulse Bay, Nunavut, to record whale calls. Hunters and northern travellers have been asked to report orca sightings. Matthews and his colleagues are heading back to Baffin Island this summer. They aim to collect more biopsy samples, which will allow them to determine what the orcas are eating. And they have six more satellite tracking devices ready to load into their crossbows. more 06/01/11 SoCal dealer pleads guilty to selling whale meat - Underwater Times LOS ANGELES—A seafood dealer who illegally sold whale meat to Southern California sushi restaurants has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge. City News Service says 50-year-old Ginichi Ohira of Gardena entered the plea Tuesday in Los Angeles to a count of knowingly selling a marine mammal product for an unauthorized purpose. He faces up to a year in federal prison and a $100,000 fine. Under a plea agreement, Ohira acknowledged that he began importing whale meat from Tokyo about 10 years ago. His clients included The Hump in Santa Monica. The restaurant's chef and its owner, Typhoon Restaurant Inc., were each charged with misdemeanors but the charges were dismissed last year after the restaurant more 05/30/11 Scientists Discover the Largest Assembly of Whale Sharks Ever Recorded - Science Daily Whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) are often thought to be solitary behemoths that live and feed in the open ocean. Scientists at the Smithsonian Institution and colleagues, however, have found that this is not necessarily the case, finding that whale sharks can be gregarious and amass in the hundreds to feed in coastal waters. Aggregations, or schools, of whale sharks have been witnessed in the past, ranging from several individual sharks to a few dozen. However this new research, which involved both surface and aerial surveys, has revealed an enormous aggregation of whale sharks -- the largest ever reported -- with up to 420 individuals off the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. What brings them together is food. "Whale sharks are the largest species of fish in the world, yet they mostly feed on the smallest organisms in the ocean, such as zooplankton," said Mike Maslanka, biologist at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and head of the Department of Nutrition Sciences. "Our research revealed that in this case, the hundreds of whale sharks had gathered to feed on dense patches of fish eggs." While whale sharks may seem conspicuous as the heaviest and longest of all fishes, growing more than 40 feet long, there is still much that is unknown about them. They have a very widespread distribution, occurring in all tropical and sub-tropical regions of the ocean around the world. Understanding this filter-feeder's diet is especially important since food sources determine much of the whale shark's movement and location. During the dozens of surface trips that team members made to the aggregation, called the "Afuera" aggregation, they used fine nets to collect food samples inside and immediately outside the school of feeding whale sharks. Scientists then used DNA barcoding analysis to examine the collected fish eggs and determine the species. They found that the eggs were from little tunny (Euthynnus alletteratus), a member of the mackerel family. "Having DNA barcoding is an incredibly valuable resource for this research," said Lee Weigt, head of the Laboratories of Analytical Biology at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. "It not only allowed us to know what exactly this huge aggregation of whale sharks were feeding on, not readily done from only physical observations of eggs, but it also revealed a previously unknown spawning ground for little tunny." The team of scientists also examined a nearby, less dense aggregation of whale sharks, known as the Cabo Catoche aggregation, off the northern tip of the Yucatán Peninsula. They found that the prey of this group mostly consisted of copepods (small crustaceans) and shrimp. Increased sightings at Afuera coincided with decreased sightings at Cabo Catoche, and both groups had the same sex ratio, implying that the same animals were involved in both aggregations. "With two significant whale shark aggregation areas and at the very least one active spawning ground for little tunny, the northeastern Yucatán marine region is a critical habitat that deserves more concerted conservation effort," said Maslanka. The whale shark is listed as "vulnerable" with the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Populations appear to have been depleted by harpoon fisheries in Southeast Asia and perhaps incidental capture in other fisheries. The scientists' findings were published in the scientific journal PLoS ONE, April 2011. In addition to the Smithsonian Institution, team members were from the Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas in Cancún, Mexico, the Center for Shark Research in Sarasota, Fl., project DOMINO and the Georgia Aquarium, Inc. in Atlanta, Ga. more 05/24/11 A sick pilot whale wasaccompanied by its pod shortly before it death - Underwater Times Sick pilot whale 'helped by caring pod' before death A sick whale was supported by members of its pod before it succumbed to an infection and died off the Scottish coast, marine experts have said. The stricken female pilot whale was spotted with a group of about 60 others before the illness caused it to become stranded in shallow water. Its body was recovered from Loch Carnan, South Uist, an island in the Outer Hebrides. A preliminary post-mortem examination on the whale by Dr Andrew Brownlow of the Scottish Agricultural College found potential evidence of an infection in the animal’s melon, a fatty organ found in the forehead. It also showed external injuries to the whale were not enough to cause its death. Further tests indicate the creature was coming to the end of its lactation period after motherhood and rescuers said they hoped the mammal’s young calf would have been fully weaned. Dave Jarvis, of the British Divers Marine Life Rescue, said: ‘It appears that what has been witnessed is a group of these extremely social creatures accompanying an ill individual and that the infection may have caused this animal to strand. Despite an extensive search, there have been no sightings of the remainder of the pod.’ Pilot whales were almost stranded in the same sea loch last October. Less than a week later, 33 whales believed to be the same group were found dead on a beach in Co Donegal, Ireland. The species prefer deep water but come inshore to feed on squid, their main food. Last week a stranded pilot whale died in the Sullom Voe inlet, Shetland. more 05/19/11 Seasons's first humpback whales, possibly Migaloo's offspring, spotted off Brisbane - Science Times THE first humpback whales of the season have been spotted off Brisbane, marking an early start to the whale migration season on the eastern seaboard. At least two whales, thought to be a juvenile and mother, were seen swimming north about 100 metres off Moreton Island. The island's Tangalooma resort director Trevor Hassard said one of the whales was unusually light in colour and featured a large amount of white markings on its body. "It could be that this little fellow is the offspring of Migaloo," he said in a statement. Migaloo, the only known white humpback whale in the world, also travels via Moreton Bay. Up to 16,000 whales could pass through Moreton Bay over the coming months, Mr Hassard said. "The early sighting could indicate that Australia's humpback whale population is healthy and strong and on the increase," Mr Hassard said. The east Australian humpback population is still recovering after large-scale, industrialised whale slaughter between 1949 and 1962. The most recent survey estimated the population at 15,000, with an annual increase of 11 per cent. more 05/16/11 Whale death off Puerto Rico blamed on plastic bags - Underwater Times A rare whale has washed up dead in Puerto Rico, and a biologist is blaming plastic bags for its demise. Nilda Jimenez says that she conducted a necropsy of the Gervais beaked whale and found more than 10 pounds (4.5 kilos) of twisted plastic inside its stomach. The marine mammal specialist said Friday she has no doubt the plastic caused the death by preventing the whale from getting adequate nutrition. The whale washed up on the southeastern coast of Puerto Rico near the town of Maunabo on Wednesday. But beaked whales are not typically seen around the U.S. island territory, so Jimenez suspects it died recently out in the ocean. The 15-foot (4.6-meter) female juvenile was emaciated and apparently hadn't eaten in many days. more 05/13/11 Japanese earthquake disaster may delay Iceland fin whaling season - Underwater Times Japan disaster may delay Iceland fin whaling season AFP - Iceland's fin whaling season may be delayed by the giant earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan, the main export market for Icelandic fin whale meat, the country's only fin whaler told AFP Tuesday. "We may be delaying the time at which our whaling boats go out to sea. We usually go at the end of June and we whale until the end of September. This year, that may change because of the situation in Japan," Kristjan Loftsson of Hvalur Hf told AFP. "This doesn't mean we are not going to whale, we are just going to have to evaluate the situation come end of June. With commercial whaling you need customers and currently, Japan is not one," he said. He said that purchasing of fin whale meat, which is also eaten in Iceland to a lesser extent, had stalled in Japan since the earthquake and tsunami and the ensuing nuclear disaster. "The whole nation is grieving... nobody wants to do anything because of what happened," he said. Iceland, along with Norway and Japan, uses legal loopholes to flout a 1986 ban on commercial whaling. In a letter sent last November to Icelandic Fishing Minister Jon Bjarnason, US Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke warned Iceland the United States was "deeply concerned by and strongly opposed to Iceland's increasing commercial harvest of whales, in particular endangered fin whales." The letter said 148 fin whales were caught in 2010, up from 125 in 2009 and that prior to increasing its quotas in 2008, Iceland caught less than 10 each year. The International Fund for Animal Welfare on Tuesday accused Loftsson's firm alone of being responsible "for killing 280 endangered fin whales in the past five years," welcoming the delay in the whaling season. more 05/06/11 Do humpback whales use the stars to navigate? Scientists baffled by stunning accuracy of 10,000-mile migrations - http://www.dailymail.co.uk Humpback whales can travel thousands of miles deep underwater in an astonishingly straight line - and the sun, moon and stars may be why they never get lost. Scientists used satellite technology to track 16 tagged whales as they migrated thousands of kilometres northwards from the South Atlantic and South Pacific - but could not work out how they manage to navigate their way through the ocean's turbulent waters with such accuracy. But it has now emerged the huge mammals may use a combination of the sun's position, Earth's magnetism and even star maps to guide their journeys, which can up 10,000 miles long. Flippin' amazing: Humpback whales can swim legs of their journey with unswerving accuracy despite weather and ocean currents Experts say humpbacks never deviate more than about five degrees from their migration courses. Most of the whales in the experiment, which were tracked between 2003 and 2010, maintained an almost dead-straight course, deviating by less than one degree - despite the effects of weather and ocean currents. Writing in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters, Travis Horton from the University of Canterbury said: 'They are orienting with something outside of themselves, not something internal.' The migration patterns of hump back whales which can be 10,000 miles long Most long-distance traveling animals are believed to navigate using a compass based either on the Earth's magnetic field, or the position of the sun. But neither method can account for the extraordinary navigational ability of humpback whales, said the scientists, and they suspect the mammals use a combination of all three to find their way. They said the earth's magnetism varies too widely to explain the straight lines and solar navigation needs reference points not available in the water. They wrote in the letter: 'It seems unlikely that individual magnetic and solar orientation cues can, in isolation, explain the extreme navigational precision achieved by humpback whales. 'The relatively slow movements of humpback whales, combined with their clear ability to navigate with extreme precision over long distances, present outstanding opportunities to explore alternative mechanisms of migratory orientation based on empirical analysis of track data.' Humpbacks feed during the summer near polar oceans and migrate to warmer tropical oceans for the winter when they mate and calves are born. more 05/01/11 The Lack Of Sea Ice Is Good News For The Whales For Now...' - Underwater Times DURHAM, South Carolina -- Scientists have observed a "super-aggregation" of more than 300 humpback whales gorging on the largest swarm of Antarctic krill seen in more than 20 years in bays along the Western Antarctic Peninsula. The sightings, made in waters still largely ice-free deep into austral autumn, suggest the previously little-studied bays are important late-season foraging grounds for the endangered whales. But they also highlight how rapid climate change is affecting the region. The Duke University-led team tracked the super-aggregation of krill and whales during a six-week expedition to Wilhelmina Bay and surrounding waters in May 2009. They published their findings today in the online science journal PLoS ONE. "Such an incredibly dense aggregation of whales and krill has never been seen before in this area at this time of year," says Douglas P. Nowacek, Repass-Rodgers University Associate Professor of Conservation Technology at Duke. Most studies have focused on whale foraging habitats located in waters farther offshore in austral summer. Nowacek and his colleagues observed 306 humpback whales – or about 5.1 whales per square kilometer, the highest density ever recorded – in Wilhelmina Bay. They measured the krill biomass at about 2 million tons. Small, floating fragments of brash ice covered less than 10 percent of the bay. The team returned in May 2010 and recorded similar numbers. Smaller but still higher-than-normal counts were also reported in neighboring Andvord Bay. Advancing winter sea ice used to cover much of the peninsula's bays and fjords by May, protecting krill and forcing humpback whales to migrate elsewhere to find food, Nowacek says, but rapid climate change in the area over the last 50 years has significantly reduced the extent, and delayed the annual arrival, of the ice cover. "The lack of sea ice is good news for the whales in the short term, providing them with all-you-can-eat feasts as the krill migrate vertically toward the bay's surface each night. But it is bad news in the long term for both species, and for everything else in the Southern Ocean that depends on krill," says Ari S. Friedlaender, co-principal investigator on the project and research scientist at Duke. Antarctic krill are shrimplike creatures that feed primarily on phytoplankton and live in large swarms in the Southern Ocean. Penguins, seals, seabirds and many whale species rely on the protein-rich, pinky-sized crustaceans as a source of food. Commercial fisheries are allowed to harvest up to three-and-a-half tons of the krill a year as food for farm-raised salmon and for oil, rich in omega-3 acids, which is used in human dietary supplements. Around the Western Antarctic Peninsula, krill migrate in austral autumn from open ocean waters to phytoplankton-rich bays and fjords, where juveniles feed and the population overwinters under the protective cover of ice. There is a strong correlation between the amount of sea ice and the amount of krill that survive the long, harsh Antarctic winter. "If there are more areas with large aggregations of krill hanging out in waters where sea ice has diminished, you could see a big decrease in the standing krill stock, especially if we have a few years of back-to-back bad ice and the krill can't replenish themserlves," Friedlaender says. Scientists already have documented drops in krill abundance over the last 50 years related to reduced sea ice cover. Further drops could have far-reaching consequences. Seals and penguins have a relatively small foraging range, and some can't eat any prey other than krill or hunt without the presence of sea ice. Whales can migrate longer distances and might be able to find food elsewhere, but may be affected in other ways, as evidenced by snippets of unexpected sounds being transmitted by 11 whales the Duke team tagged in the study. "We're starting to hear songs being produced by whales in the Antarctic – sexual advertisements typically heard only in humpback breeding grounds that are located thousands of miles away from these bays," Friedlaender says. Humpback whales typically reproduce once every three years, "so if a female doesn't have to go to the breeding grounds every year – if she has access to food here and isn't being forced out by sea cover – why should she leave?" Nowacek says. The presence of more females, coupled with access to a nightly krill feast, entices more males to stick around too. "So this may affect the timing and location of humpback breeding and other important lifecycle events." Consideration of these factors, and the effects of rapid climate change, on krill dynamics will be critical to managing sustainable krill harvests and the continued recovery of baleen whales in the Southern Ocean, he says. Nowacek holds appointments at Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment and Pratt School of Engineering. He and Friedlaender's co-authors on the study were Patrick Halpin, David Johnston and Andrew Read of Duke; Elliott Hazen of the NOAA/University of Hawaii Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research; Boris Espinasse of the Université de la Méditerranée; and Meng Zhou and Yiwu Zhu of the University of Massachusetts. The study was conducted aboard the research vessel Lawrence M. Gould, which is operated by the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs. more 04/29/11 Whale sightings alarm Cape Wind foe - cape cod times The sighting of North Atlantic right whales in Nantucket Sound this week has tripped another round of debate over whether the proposed Cape Wind project would put the endangered animals at risk. Fishermen on one vessel reported the whales in the Sound on Monday to both the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound and the National Marine Fisheries Service. Audra Parker, president of the alliance, the leading organization opposed to the proposal to erect 130 wind turbines in the Sound, said the whales were reported about three miles off Dennis and swimming toward Horseshoe Shoal, where the turbines would be located. Fisheries Service aerial survey teams did spot three right whales in the Sound on Monday, which prompted a voluntary mariner speed reduction to 10 knots or less, NMFS spokeswoman Teri Frady said Wednesday. Tanya Grady, a spokeswoman for the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, called the fishing vessel's sightings unconfirmed but said a team hopes to fly over the Sound today to try to spot the whales. This has been a record spring for right whales in local waters. More than 200 right whales — about half the known population — have been spotted off the Cape over the past few weeks. Most are feeding in Cape Cod Bay, with some off the Outer Cape and to the north off Stellwagen Bank. Parker pointed to the speed restrictions as an indication that the Sound is too environmentally sensitive for the construction of large wind turbines. "From our perspective, we are concerned about the impact of Cape Wind on right whales," she said Wednesday. The Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound is a co-plaintiff in a lawsuit that contends Nantucket Sound turbines will negatively affect birds, sea turtles and right whales. With fewer than 500 known individuals, North Atlantic right whales are the most endangered of the great whales in the North Atlantic. The death of even one whale from human causes sets back the recovery of the species, especially if the lost whale is a female. Parker said her major concern over the whales is with turbine construction, specifically the underwater noise caused by pile drivers installing turbine towers. She also mentioned the possibility of ships colliding with whales during increased vessel traffic to the site during the construction effort. But Cape Wind spokesman Mark Rodgers said the nine-year environmental review of the project incorporates the possibility that right whales could be in the Sound and proposes mitigation strategies to protect the marine mammals. "Right whale sightings in Nantucket Sound are comparatively rare compared with neighboring water bodies," Rodgers said. "There are protocols we'll have to follow during construction to make sure there aren't any marine mammals in close proximity, particularly for acoustics." When former state Secretary for Environmental Affairs Ian Bowles certified the final environmental impact report for Cape Wind in 2007, he noted that construction vessels would travel at 14 knots or less in an area with low concentrations of rare or endangered species. To minimize the impact of noise, Cape Wind has proposed posting an observer and suspending operations if marine mammals are seen within 500 meters of construction activity. The company has committed to keeping sound levels below 180 decibels beyond a 500-meter safety zone as required by the Fisheries Service, even during pile driving. The voluntary speed restrictions established this week will continue until at least May 10. The Fisheries Service hopes that by then, the whales will have moved on. Although rare in Nantucket Sound, right whales have been observed there in the past. Five separate sightings were reported in the Sound last year, for a total of about 15. Those observations and the discovery of 98 right whales immediately south of Nantucket Sound in Rhode Island Sound last April — the largest group ever documented in those waters — prompted the Fisheries Service to review its 2008 biological opinion on Cape Wind, Frady said. But that review reached the same conclusion: Cape Wind is not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of right whales or other whale species. Nantucket Sound is not included with Cape Cod Bay and the Great South Channel off Chatham as critical right whale habitat, according to the Fisheries Service. more 04/25/11 Do Humpback Whales use Celestial Navigation in Migration? - Underwater Times Humpback whales can travel thousands of miles deep underwater in an astonishingly straight line - and the sun, moon and stars may be why they never get lost. Scientists used satellite technology to track 16 tagged whales as they migrated thousands of kilometres northwards from the South Atlantic and South Pacific - but could not work out how they manage to navigate their way through the ocean's turbulent waters with such accuracy. But it has now emerged the huge mammals may use a combination of the sun's position, Earth's magnetism and even star maps to guide their journeys, which can up 10,000 miles long. Experts say humpbacks never deviate more than about five degrees from their migration courses. Most of the whales in the experiment, which were tracked between 2003 and 2010, maintained an almost dead-straight course, deviating by less than one degree - despite the effects of weather and ocean currents. Writing in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters, Travis Horton from the University of Canterbury said: 'They are orienting with something outside of themselves, not something internal.' Most long-distance travelling animals are believed to navigate using a compass based either on the Earth's magnetic field, or the position of the sun. But neither method can account for the extraordinary navigational ability of humpback whales, said the scientists, and they suspect the mammals use a combination of all three to find their way. They said the earth's magnetism varies too widely to explain the straight lines and solar navigation needs reference points not available in the water. They wrote in the letter: 'It seems unlikely that individual magnetic and solar orientation cues can, in isolation, explain the extreme navigational precision achieved by humpback whales. 'The relatively slow movements of humpback whales, combined with their clear ability to navigate with extreme precision over long distances, present outstanding opportunities to explore alternative mechanisms of migratory orientation based on empirical analysis of track data. Humpbacks feed during the summer near polar oceans and migrate to warmer tropical oceans for the winter when they mate and calves are born. more 04/20/11 One Year Later, Oil Spill’s Impact on Gulf Not Fully Understood - Science Daily One year after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill began on April 20, 2010, two Cornell experts comment on the known and unknown impacts to wildlife -- in the air, on the land and in the sea. John Fitzpatrick, director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, comments on the spill's effect on birds and the need to restore ecosystems. Fitzpatrick says: "The oil did not cause the catastrophic mortality of birds that we might have seen had the winds and tides carried oil into all the major islands where colonies of birds raise their young. Thousands of birds were heavily oiled, and we know now that probably tens of thousands more were affected by smaller amounts of oil that couldn't be seen from a distance but were visible in the high-definition video footage acquired by the Lab's video crews. "At the breeding colonies where our crews worked, nearly all the young birds and a huge proportion of the adults had at least some oil on them. Even these small amounts of oil can be harmful. The oil can be ingested, it can ruin the waterproofing and insulation properties of feathers, and can cause birds to spend energy cleaning their feathers at the expense of finding food or caring for young. These health effects couldn't be measured, of course, so we won't ever really know the total mortality from this spill. "Looking ahead, we have to ask how many more additional problems that birds and our natural ecosystems can endure. We have to commit ourselves to preventing any recurrence of such a calamity, because next time we might not get this lucky. True recovery means not only responding to the spill, but fundamentally changing the way we do business in such resource-rich areas. We need to restore long-term ecosystem functions to the spectacular ecosystems of the Gulf Coast and the Mississippi Delta, because these functions are essential for people as well as for one of America's richest concentrations of wildlife." Scientist Christopher W. Clark, an expert on whales and bioacoustics and director of the Bioacoustics Research Program at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, comments on studies of marine life after the spill. Clark says: "Despite the proximity of the Gulf of Mexico to the coast, we have a very poor understanding of its marine life and ecosystem. In the ocean, one of the best ways to study whales and fishes is by listening for them -- something that our Bioacoustics Research Program has been doing for more than 30 years. Last summer after the oil spill, our researchers worked with NOAA to deploy 21 underwater recording devices on the Gulf seafloor from Louisiana to South Florida. "By the middle of July, these units were in position and recording the sounds of sperm whales, Bryde's whales, pilot whales and dolphins. Some units recorded sperm whales calling 24 hours a day, every day. Others near the Florida panhandle recorded up to 20,000 vocalizations suspected to be of Bryde's whales, a very poorly studied species thought to number only 15 to 40 individuals in Gulf waters. "The data are now being compared to maps of the oil's spread across the Gulf of Mexico to find out if whales altered their behavior in response to the oil-covered water. Our scientists will present their findings to NOAA in an interim report on May 11. The recording units remained underwater for five months after which we replaced them with new units to continue recording. Monitoring will continue through at least this summer, and we hope to find support to continue monitoring for the next several years to understand the effects of the spill." A video with footage of the breeding bird colonies affected by the oil and a video about restoring the Mississippi River Delta are available at www.birds.cornell.edu/spill more 04/18/11 Bone-Munching Worms From The Deep Sea Thrive On A Variety Of Bones; 'Very Satisfying' - Underwatertimes.com News Service SAN DIEGO, California -- A new study led by a scientist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego is painting a more complete picture of an extraordinary sea worm that makes its living in the depths of the ocean on the bones of dead animals. Discovered fewer than 10 years ago off Monterey, Calif., but since identified in other oceans, the flower-like marine "boneworms," or Osedax, have been documented mainly living upon whale carcasses that fall to the ocean floor, leading some scientists to argue that Osedax specializes in whale bones. But Scripps Professor Greg Rouse, along with colleagues at Occidental College and Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) wondered: Do Osedax boneworms also live on the bones of non-mammals? To assess the question, the researchers carried out an experiment, which is described in the April 13 online edition of Biology Letters, a Royal Society journal. The team employed MBARI's remotely operated vehicles Ventana and Doc Ricketts to deploy tuna and wahoo bones, as well as shark cartilage inside wire cages at approximately 1,000-meter (3,280-foot) depth off Monterey, Calif. When the researchers retrieved the cages five months later, they found Osedax living on the fish bones, although the shark cartilage had already been eaten by unknown organisms. "We weren't sure that Osedax boneworms would be able to settle on fish bone and to grow to maturity and breed. When it actually turned out that we could establish all these things it was very satisfying," said Rouse. "That we actually found three different Osedax species living on the fish bones was a further bonus. The finding shows that Osedax boneworms are not whale bone specialists, but are arguably generalists and able to exploit a variety of vertebrate bones." The finding also lends support to a hypothesis they have previously proposed that Osedax and its bone-eating lifestyle may have evolved millions of years ago during a time known as the Cretaceous period, well before the dawn of marine mammals. "These bone-eating worms may have expanded their feeding niche several times to exploit the bones of large marine vertebrates as they successively colonized the world's oceans from land," say the authors in the paper. The scientists say Osedax's ability to exploit non-mammalian bones could be an ancestral trait: "We suggest that whalebones are but one in a long series of food sources that Osedax has exploited and continues to exploit." "Our experimental studies at MBARI have identified 17 species of Osedax from various depths in Monterey submarine canyon," said MBARI's Bob Vrijenhoek, a paper coauthor. "We now know that the worms are capable of subsisting on a variety of bones from cows, pigs and seals, but this new discovery of Osedax on fish bones forces us to take a fresh look at their nutritional limits and evolution." The team now plans to further study the possible use of shark remains by Osedax and describe and further understand a host of new species of boneworms they have discovered off Monterey. They also plan to study how the worms actually eat into bone. more 04/15/11 Humpback Whale Songs Spread Eastward Like the Latest Pop Tune - Science Daily Humpback whales have their own version of the hit single, according to a study reported online April 14 in Current Biology. At any given time within a population, male humpbacks all sing the same mating tune. But the pattern of the song changes over time, with the new and apparently catchy versions of the song spreading repeatedly across the ocean, almost always traveling from west to east. "Our findings reveal cultural change on a vast scale," said Ellen Garland, a graduate student at The University of Queensland. Multiple songs moved like "cultural ripples from one population to another, causing all males to change their song to a new version." This is the first time that such broad-scale and population-wide cultural exchange has been documented in any species other than humans, she added. Researchers from The University of Queensland in collaboration with members of the South Pacific Whale Research Consortium made the discovery by searching for patterns in whale songs recorded from six neighboring populations in the Pacific Ocean over a decade. This revealed a striking pattern of cultural transmission as whale songs spread from Australia to French Polynesia over the course of about two years. "The songs started in the population that migrates along the eastern coast of Australia and then moved -- just the songs, and probably not the whales -- all the way to French Polynesia in the east," Garland said. "Songs were first learnt from males in the west and then subsequently learned in a stepwise fashion repeatedly across the vast region." In fact, only one song ever moved to the west over the period of the study. Garland explained that the almost exclusive movement of songs to the east may be due to population size differences, because the population on the east coast of Australia is very large compared to all others in the area. The researchers suspect that either a small number of males move to other populations, taking their songs with them, or whales in nearby populations hear the new songs while they swim together on migration. Most of the time, songs contain some material from the previous year blended with something new. "It would be like splicing an old Beatles song with U2," Garland said. "Occasionally they completely throw the current song out the window and start singing a brand new song." Once a new song emerges, all the males seem to rapidly change their tune. Those songs generally rise to the "top of the chart" in the course of one breeding season and typically take over by the end of it. Garland said it is not yet known why the humpbacks' songs spread in this way. In fact, why whales sing in the first place isn't fully known. Song is likely a mating display, but it is unclear whether the main effect is to attract females or to repel rival males. Still, Garland suspects that the whales may want to stand out like a new pop song. "We think this male quest for song novelty is in the hope of being that little bit different and perhaps more attractive to the opposite sex," she said. "This is then countered by the urge to sing the same tune, by the need to conform." more 04/13/11 Norwegians have lost their appetite for whale meat - http://www.exchangemagazine.com In the first week of the Norwegian whaling season, three animal welfare groups, the World Society for the Protection of Animals, NOAH-for dyrs rettigheter and Dyrebeskyttelsen Norge, released a new economic study on Norwegian whaling, revealing the Norwegian public’s appetite for whale meat is at an all time low and the whaling industry is unlikely to survive without substantial financial support at taxpayers’ expense. Siri Martinsen, Veterinarian in NOAH-for dyrs rettigheter, said: “The Government states that whaling is a non-subsidised activity. Nevertheless, whaling related activites such as promotion, marketing and research are receiving significant government funds. It is absurd that taxpayers’ financial support for whaling is almost as high as the landing value of the meat. These forced attempts to increase the viability of whaling need to end.” The report highlights the unpopularity of whale meat in Norway, revealing that fewer than five percent of Norwegians eat it regularly. Notably, young people are particularly uninterested in trying whale meat. The low demand is reflected by the whaling industry which counts less than 20 vessels taking part in the annual hunt and estimates that less than one percent of fishermen are whaling – representing a maximum of 50 jobs for this season. Tanya Schumacher, Marine Mammal Advisor in Dyrebeskyttelsen Norge, said: “It is clear the public has little appetite for the products. It is also a principle of Norwegian animal welfare law, that animals should not suffer unnecessarily. Unfortunately, according to the available government figures, 20% of whales in Norwegian whale hunts do not die immediately and do suffer. Keeping this industry alive defies logic.” Despite the Norwegian public clearly being concerned about the animal welfare impacts of whaling, the Norwegian Government has replaced whaling inspectors with a less costly automated data collection system, leading to insufficient oversight of killing methods. The three groups are calling for the Government to reintroduce the full inspection system on board all whaling vessels. Joanna Toole, Oceans Campaigns Coordinator at WSPA, said: “Norwegian whaling is not only inherently cruel, it is neither wanted nor needed. With this economic argument bolstering our argument against whaling on welfare grounds, it is about time that the Norwegian Government takes notice of these clear facts and reconsiders their whaling policy.” NOAH-for dyrs rettigheter and Dyrebeskyttelsen Norge will hand over the report to the leader of the Trade and Industry Committee in the Norwegian parliament urging him to make whaling a thing of the past. more 04/09/11 Hundreds of whales face slaughter as Norway's killing season resumes - http://www.theecologist.org/blogs_and_comments April 1st is the official start of the whaling season in Norway. Norway is one of just three countries defying the 1986 international ban on commercial whaling. This moratorium on whaling was implemented by a qualifying majority of member states of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in attempt to put a stop to a hunting practice which was leading to the near extinction of several whale species. Despite the international opposition, Norway resumed commercial whaling in 1993 and has since killed over 9,500 whales. This year, 1,286 sociable and sentient minke whales are earmarked to die in Norwegian waters in the hunting season which runs between April and August. For years the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) has worked alongside animal welfare groups in Norway to help increase the pressure on the Norwegian government to put a stop to this cruel, outdated and unnecessary practice. So far it has been hard getting through to government officials in the Norwegian home turf and the IWC alike. It has been made clear by the Norwegian government that the argument of whaling being cruel isn’t reason enough to put a stop to the hunts. Dwindling support However, next week WSPA and Norwegian organisations Dyrebeskyttelsen Norge and NOAH – for Dyrs Rettigheter will release new evidence which demonstrates that public support for whaling in Norway is dwindling, that the Norwegian appetite for whale meat is at an all time low and as a consequence the industry is struggling to survive. The diminishing profitability of the industry is already acknowledged by whalers and the Norwegian government as recent years have seen declining catches and fewer people and vessels involved in the hunts. The new report is set to reveal the true extent of the situation and demonstrate why the government needs to act. All three groups want the Norwegian government to take a hard look at the numbers and question the logic of sustaining an industry which is not only already in decline but also has diminished public support. The public discontent was clear when the three groups went to the streets of Oslo last year to get an impression of the Norwegian mindset. The feedback demonstrated the changing attitudes of Norwegians towards whaling and it was decided to showcase it in a video. Adding to this, the animal welfare aspect of whaling is more evident than ever. Scientific evidence and eye witness accounts both confirm that there is no reliably humane way to kill whales at sea. Despite considerable investment and research by the Norwegian government, a suitable killing method has not been found. Norwegian whalers target minke whales, which they kill with penthrite harpoons, a technology which has changed little in over 100 years. However a wide range of factors including visibility, sea swells and the movements of the boat and the whale make it impossible for even the most experienced of whalers to ensure a shot accurate enough to kill the whale instantly. The Norwegian government’s own official data shows that at least one in five whales do not die straight away and therefore suffer long and agonising deaths. Undercover evidence In 2010 an undercover investigation, conducted by WSPA, Dyrebeskyttelsen Norge and NOAH – for Dyrs Rettigheter, recorded footage of a minke whale being harpooned by a Norwegian whaling vessel and the subsequent failure of the whalers to ensure that it was dead over the next 22 minutes. The footage supports WSPA’s position that the sheer size of whales, coupled with the challenging hunting environment means that there is simply no humane way to kill these animals at sea and therefore it should not be done. Condemnation of whale hunts is universal. Last year over 101, 000 people worldwide signed a petition directed at the Norwegian Prime Minister, urging him to put an end to the suffering of whales. Yet despite this rising concern, including amongst Norwegians, the government are still issuing high hunting quotas for whales each year. It is about time that the Norwegian government listen to the Norwegian population, think about Norway’s reputation and take steps to make whaling a thing of the past. more 04/05/11 Killer Whales in Antarctic Waters Prefer Weddell Seals Over Other Prey - Science Daily NOAA's Fisheries Service scientists studying the cooperative hunting behavior of killer whales in Antarctic waters observed the animals favoring one type of seal over all other available food sources, according to a study published in the journal Marine Mammal Science. Researchers Robert Pitman and John Durban from NOAA's Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, Calif., observed killer whales hunting in ice floes, off the western Antarctic Peninsula during January of 2009. While documenting the whales' behavior of deliberately creating waves to wash seals off ice floes, the researchers noticed Weddell seals as their primary target, despite the availability of other prey species, particularly the more abundant crabeater seals. "These killer whales would identify and then attack Weddell seals almost exclusively, even though they made up only about 15 percent of the available seal population," said Pitman. Killer whales creating waves to wash seals off ice floes in Antarctica had previously been observed only a handful of times. The whales, sometimes as many as seven abreast, charge the ice floe creating a wave that either washes the seal off the ice or breaks the ice into smaller pieces and more vulnerable to another attack. A previous study involving the authors suggested that this very distinctive killer whale population, which they refer to as "pack ice killer whales," is a separate species. Once the seal was washed off the ice, the killer whales worked as a group to keep it away from hauling onto the safety of another ice floe. The whales seemed to try and confuse the seal by causing turbulence in the water with their flukes and blowing bubbles under the water through their blowholes. Away from the ice, the whales attempt to tire and eventually drown the animal by pulling it under water by its hind flippers. Eventually the seal succumbs to exhaustion and is usually divided up among the pod members underwater. In most cases, little of the seal's remains float to the surface, but in one instance the carcass rose to the surface and appeared to have been methodically skinned and dismembered before being eaten. more 04/02/11 Counting corpses underestimates Deepwater Horizon whale toll - http://blogs.nature.com A paper published today in Conservation Letters suggests that the number of whales and dolphins killed during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill could be as much as 50 times that originally reported. During the disaster, the US government compiled figures of injured and dead wildlife based on reports from US Fish and Wildlife Service and other authorized sources. Those numbers include approximately 115 whale and dolphin carcasses. But after analysing data on abundance, mortality rates and strandings for whale and dolphin species in the Gulf, Rob WIlliams and his colleagues have concluded that that only two percent of the whales and dolphins that die in these waters are ever recovered. “We used the default values for survivorship and natural mortality that are used in standard US stock assessment reports for marine mammals,” says Williams, a marine biologist at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. “Our calculations are rough, but they are a good starting point, and far better than assuming, implicitly or explicitly, that the bodies on the beach represent the sum total of the damage.” Carcasses are simply a poor method of assessing the impact of an incident like Deepwater Horizon, says co-author Scott Kraus, a whale expert at the New England Aquarium in Boston. “Our detection rate for mortality is very poor, and generally, surveys are not an effective way to pick up dead animals unless you have extremely high coverage.” Those surveying during the Gulf spill had vast areas of open water to cover, much of it far from shore. The researcher’s findings have implications for understanding cetacean deaths from other causes, such as ship strikes and fishing gear entanglements. “The potential for underestimating total mortality is so high. We need a more sophisticated approach to the missing animals equation,” says Kraus. more 03/29/11 Whale strandings improve scientists' knowledge - http://www.abc.net.au/ Marine biologists say they have learned more about the behaviour of pilot whales after the latest stranding in Tasmania. They say a pod of 25 whales beached themselves on South Bruny Island near Hobart on Thursday, and more than a dozen died. It is believed the whales swam close to shore to feed on squid. Marine biologist David Pemberton says the 11 survivors were returned to the sea yesterday. "For the first time really we worked with animals in the early hours of the morning, then let them be in their little pod in quite shallow water," he said. "We were waiting for daybreak but that seemed to allow the animals to mill around get their bearings, rest and then take off. "So, we've learnt a lot and hopefully the animals are doing well." Mr Pemberton has also thanked the fish farm workers who were first on the scene. "Got to be quick to stabilise the animals," he said. "Once you have them stabled on the beaches etcetera then you can work, then you've got time on your side but it's those first few hours keeping them cool, keeping the sun off, stopping them drowning, and the fish farmers were fantastic, they helped us with boats and people." more 03/23/11 'Whale Wars' activist survives quake - http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD By Patrick Oppmann, CNN March 19, 2011 3:05 p.m. EDT Scott West was in unfriendly territory when the quake hit. Scott West was in unfriendly territory when the quake hit. STORY HIGHLIGHTS * Scott West documents and protests the killing of porpoises * When quake hit Otsuchi, West and crew were waiting for boats to return with catch * West said he was able to leave devastation through the kindness of Japanese people * He's invited many he met in Japan to his family's home Scott West went to Japan expecting trouble. A veteran anti-porpoise hunting activist, West documents and protests the killing of the mammals. His actions are deeply unpopular in many of the Japanese coastal communities that cling to the tradition of catching and eating whale. West's organization, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, has a long and colorful history of clashing with the Japanese. In the Animal Planet series "Whale Wars," Sea Shepherd volunteers impede Japanese whale fishing off the coast of Antarctica. Their tactics include placing their boats in front of whaling ships, attempting to carry out citizen's arrests of the Japanese crew and heaving acid stink bombs onto the vessels. For their efforts, the Sea Shepherd volunteers have had flash bang grenades thrown at them, their boats sunk in collisions and detainment for days by the Japanese crews. The show has made the Sea Shepherd members reality TV stars and notorious in Japan. March 11 started like many other days for Scott West. He was in an unfriendly territory, a small Japanese coastal town where a porpoise hunt was under way and the efforts of outsiders to document the slaughter were not welcome. West led a five person Sea Shepherd team of Mike Vos, Tarah Millen, Carisa Webster and Marley Daviduk to the town of Otsuchi, Japan. They were joined by Brian Barnes a cameraman from Save Japan Dolphins, a group that often collaborates with Sea Shepherd. The activists had other company, as well. Closely monitoring the group were two plain clothes Japanese policemen the activists nicknamed "Turner and Hooch," for the Tom Hanks comedy about a cop and his sidekick, a dog. As detailed in the Academy Award winning documentary "The Cove," the relationship between anti-porpoise hunt activists and Japanese authorities often becomes a game of cat and mouse. The police try to impede the activists from documenting the killing of the dolphins. The activists use disguises and other sleights of hand to keep the police off their tails. A former EPA and customs investigator, West said he is still able to think like law enforcement agents. And he recounts with a smile how he managed to lose Turner and Hooch at a traffic light with some creative driving as they tried to shadow his group. West is back in his home in Edmonds, Washington. It's been just over 24 hours since he returned from Japan and four days since the earthquake and tsunami that wrecked much of the country. As he thinks of the two cops back in Otsuchi his mood darkens. "You know those guys are probably dead," he said. When the earthquake hit in Otsuchi, about 94 miles from Sendai, the quake's epicenter, the activists were at the town's port waiting for the porpoise fishing boats to return with their catch. "The car was rocking and rolling it was actually jumping on the pavement like a frog," West said. "We got out of the cars and it was almost impossible to stand up. The ground was heaving. It lasted for a long time." Immediately seafood workers got out of factories as the town loud speakers called for residents to seek higher ground. The six activists jumped into their two cars and made for the hills. It was a snap decision that West believes saved their lives. "If we had stayed where we were, they probably would have never found our bodies or our cars," West said. West estimates that the drive to higher ground took them about eight minutes. In that time the first tsunami waves already crashed into the town. Video West took from the hillside shows fishing ships fighting the incoming rush of water to get to the open ocean and safety. Houses can be seen being dragged out to sea by the monster waves. On the hillside, the activists were joined by a handful of rescue workers and a Japanese woman. "It was impossible to comprehend the amount of devastation and the human misery," West said "How many people got to the hill? There were only a handful of us up there. Why aren't there thousands here with us?" In the video he took from the hill, West narrates as a wave heads toward the area below where they have sought refuge. "Look at the black one heading toward us," he said. An aftershock rocks the activists. "This is scary s**t," a woman says off camera. As darkness fell, the tsunami waves continued sweeping into the town below them. The rescue workers on the hill left to begin their work and check on their own homes. The activists and the Japanese woman who also made it to the hill took turns warming themselves in the cars. Over the roar of the waves they heard a voice. "We could hear this woman screaming out in the water," West said. "It was dim out there and all this debris was out there and then we could make out her form on a pile of debris. " The activists tried to reach her but were pushed back the waves still topping the tsunami wall. They commandeered an abandoned fire truck and the Japanese woman with them used the loud speaker to call to fishing boats off the coast. "We quit hearing her," West said of the trapped woman. "I don't know if it was because she grew weary or from exhaustion or she floated too far away. But then her voice would come back." The boats came near to where the woman was floating but the group could not make out if they rescued her. "We don't know if the boats found her but we certainly hope they did," West said. "We heard her voice no more and the sound of her pleas in Japanese are a sound that will stay with me the rest of my life." The next morning the group marched out of the town that was shrouded in a fog of burning wreckage and diesel. West calls it a journey through a "post-apocalyptic world." The photos he took along the trip show enormous tsunami barriers torn and twisted by the waters, a person being plucked from a roof top by a rescue helicopter and fields of debris that were once people's homes. And there are photos of a human body hanging in a tree. The group came across a teenager still in his school uniform wandering the debris fields. They tried to get him to come with them. Unable to communicate with the activists, the teenager walked away in another direction. They finally made found a group of Japanese people huddled over a campfire. Their house was destroyed but they offered the travelers soup. West said they felt bad but receiving food from them but "it would have been rude to have refused and it was welcome." West said he and his companions were only able to leave the devastation through the kindness of Japanese people they encountered along their journey and who they could just barely communicate with. One man, West said, pantomimed for the group to stay put and then returned with cars to drive them from the disaster area. The Japanese, West said, refused to take anything more than gas money. Back at his home in Edmonds, West has been able to take a hot shower and sleep in a real bed if not yet fully absorb his ordeal. West's views on the porpoise hunts haven't changed. But he has invited many of the Japanese people he knows to come stay in his family's home as they try flee the damage and radiation released by the quake. He is more than 4,000 miles from Japan but still feels like he is on the hilltop being battered by the tsunami waves. "My wife's been saying, 'what if?' I hadn't really allowed myself to go there," West said. "The six of us made it, we are fine, we are home with our families but so many other people didn't make it." more 03/19/11 Import Beluga whales for Ocean Park, Hong Kong? - http://www.chinadaily.com.cn Less than a year after stirring up controversy by considering importing wild bottlenose dolphins from the Solomon Islands, Ocean Park has upset conservationists again with its plans to import wild-caught beluga whales for a new Polar Adventure attraction. There's no doubt about Allen Zeman's star quality. Within minutes of his arrival at Aqua City in Ocean Park, crowds of visitors queue up excitedly to have their photographs taken with him. The 61-year-old entrepreneur beams happily as he chats with them and poses for pictures. Zeman, the theme park's chairman, is arguably Hong Kong's most recognizable expatriate and, thanks to his starring role in tourism TV advertisements on the mainland and overseas, almost as familiar a symbol of the city's vitality and success as movie star Jackie Chan. Aqua City, the theme park's spectacular new three-story super-aquarium with more than 400 species of exotic fish, has given Zeman more reason than usual to light up his trademark grin. Hundreds of thousands of people have experienced it since it opened in January and it helped generate capacity-bursting crowds over the Chinese New Year holiday. Beyond the park's perimeter, however, not everyone is comfortable about Ocean Park's expansion - and some conservationists are particularly uneasy with its plans to import beluga whales, classed as "near threatened" by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, from the Russian Arctic for a new Polar Adventure attraction to open in 2012. Nearly 1,000 people have signed up to a Facebook page expressing "serious concern" over the park's animal acquisition policy and a coalition of 16 environmental pressure groups have called on Ocean Park to stop capturing animals it believes are wild and endangered. Hundreds of people have also signed an online petition supported by groups including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society and the Humane Society International, which calls into question the way the park sources its animals. Less than a year after it triggered a storm of controversy by looking into the possibility of importing wild-captured bottlenose dolphins from the Solomon Islands, Ocean Park has now made more waves with the suggestion it might import belugas from the Okhotsk Sea. Suzanne Gendron, the park's executive director for zoological operations and education, said Ocean Park Corporation has given almost $6 million over the past four years to fund research into the sustainability of beluga whale populations in the Russian waters. That study, she said, had so far concluded the population was sufficient to allow wild capture, opening the possibility of wild-caught beluga whales being imported to Hong Kong for the Polar Adventure attraction that will open in 2012, if they can't be sourced from existing overseas aquariums, which seems unlikely. "The indications are that the numbers (in the Okhotsk Sea) are such that there is likely to be a sustainable number but it is premature for me to tell you what that number might be," Gendron said. However, she stressed that an independent review panel would be convened to confirm any sustainability findings before a transfer took place. Ocean Park hopes to import at least eight, ideally in time for the opening of the Polar Adventure attraction. However, Gendron and her colleagues insist that unless they are totally satisfied the beluga population is sustainable, the new attraction will open without them. Whatever the outcome of the study, some conservationists will not be happy with the addition of the beluga whales. Sandy Macalister, executive director of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) which works closely with Ocean Park on many projects, is among them. "The SPCA believes that the unnecessary suffering of any animal should always be avoided," he said. "We are very much opposed to the live capture of larger marine life such as beluga whales. We are against any degree of confinement which is likely to cause distress or if they are unable to be kept in a manner appropriate to the normal biological and environmental requirements of their species." Macalister, who also objected to the idea of importing wild-caught dolphins from the Solomon Islands, added: "The welfare issues involved in capturing, transporting and confining a wild animal such as a dolphin or a beluga whale to a restricted tank or pool cannot be justified." Another is Cathay Williamson, of the UK-based global charity the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS), who said: "WDCS is very concerned about the continued capture of large numbers of belugas from the waters of Far East Russia for the aquarium industry. "Belugas are threatened throughout their range by a number of factors including live capture, hunting and pollution and we strongly encourage Ocean Park not to add to these threats by including belugas as part of any new exhibit they are planning." Williamson said beluga whales had in recent years been bought by countries including Canada, Iran, the Ukraine, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Egypt and Bahrain, but she said: "In addition to the conservation threat posed by live captures, captures can also be very cruel, with individuals dying during the capture operations and, once in captivity, these amazing animals also suffer a significantly reduced live expectancy." Asked how he felt about the groups' criticisms, Zeman - perhaps appropriately for the founder of Hong Kong's Lan Kwai Fong entertainment zone - answered with a dance music analogy. "Some people like hip hop. Some people like classical dance or ballet," he said. "This is our form, and every group is different as well. "Some say no animals should be kept in captivity. Some believe only certain animals should be kept in captivity I know we'll never please everyone but I believe that in this world you must do what you believe in." The greatest justification for Ocean Park's approach, he believes, is the crowds gathering at the entrance every morning at opening time. "When I see all the people here, young and old, with their cameras reading the (conservation) messages, I know we're doing something right," he said. Ocean Park had already ruled out bringing polar bears to Polar Adventure without any pressure from conservationists, Zeman pointed out. "We went to see places where they had polar bears in captivity already and the facilities were small, the bears were pacing around and it didn't feel right," he said. "We came back and said 'You know what? We're not going to do polar bears'. "We always try to look first for an animal that is already in captivity that we can get over here. If that doesn't work we will then look to rescue an animal, in the last resort we will look to the wild but the only way we will every take an animal from the wild is if there are independent studies done by top-rates scientists who conclude they are not endangered." Zeman, along with Gendron and Ocean Park managing director Tom Mehrmann, held talks with the conservation groups in February to discuss the belugas among other concerns. Zeman said he hoped to meet them on a regular basis - but he concedes their ideas on conservation may remain as different as their tastes in dance music. "With conservation, you have to do what you believe in," he said. "We have to agree to disagree because at the end of the day, the story is about how more people can learn about belugas and sustaining belugas. Most people don't know what a beluga is and that's the importance of what we're doing. "You will never convince everyone. You have to believe what you do is right and the public is the ultimate judge. As long as we can keep bringing people here and getting the conservation message across while being non-profit, I can put my hand on my heart and say what we do is right." Samuel Hung, chairman of the Hong Kong Dolphin Society, was among the conservationists who came away from the meeting with Zeman in February unconvinced. "I am not against all animals in captivity," he insisted. "Over the years, I have been very consistent and I have only two requests for them. "My first request is not to acquire more wild marine mammals. I don't think they need them. They already have 16 bottlenose dolphins. They shouldn't get wild dolphins from the Solomon Islands or belugas from Russia. "Secondly, they should do a lot better with their education program. They shouldn't get dolphins to do circus-type shows. I'm not asking them to put the dolphins back (in the wild). Since they have them, they should use them for education rather than get them to do jumps and stunts and other unnatural behavior." Hung said he was unhappy about the import of blue-fin tuna and scalloped hammerhead sharks from Japanese waters for Aqua City. "They say they are saving the species from Japanese fishermen so they won't be put on the fish market and they call that conservation," said Hung. "Isn't that ridiculous? "Ocean Park keeps saying they are doing everything in the name of conservation and education but they don't know what they are talking about so how are they going to educate the people? People will be miseducated and that is the root of the problem. "People aren't being educated properly at Ocean Park about what dolphins face in the wild. That is how you educate people and motivate them to change the world for the animals. That makes up for the sacrifice of the dolphins being in captivity." Gendron and Mehrmann said the blue-fin tuna and the 22 scalloped hammerhead sharks imported to Aqua City were by-catch acquired from Japanese fishermen. The tuna would be tagged and released back into the wild, Mehrmann said. As part of its conservation mission, Ocean Park intends to set up an Asian Beluga Research Institute which would partner with other facilities holding belugas to advance understanding of the whale, they said. Whether that institute will have any belugas by the time the Polar Adventure opens in 2012, or whether the new facility opens with just penguins and walruses and empty pens waiting for the belugas to arrive remains to be seen. But whatever the outcome of the ongoing $6 million sustainability study in the Okhotsk Sea, it looks as if Ocean Park and the conservation groups are going to remain poles apart in their view of how best to preserve the whales' future. Mehrmann justifies limited wild capture with a straightforward argument that conservation groups view as overly simplistic. "It is much better than everyone going out on a boat to look at the animals or getting in their car or on a train and going to that habitat, because that will destroy the habitat," he said. "I don't think they (the conservation groups) are ever going to come round and say 'You're right'. They're always going to take the counter position. Every protagonist needs an antagonist, I suspect, in life. There may be a point at which we agree to disagree. Like Zeman, however, he believes the sheer numbers that Ocean Park attractstell their own story. "We believe the vehicle we have for giving messages to people is far more effective, far more important, than anything we are seeing the groups do," Mehrmann said. "We are reaching more people, we are able to put in more funding based on the visitation (levels) we have and we can affect more change on the things we can do through the Ocean Park Conservation Fund and the park." more 03/16/11 Beaked whales 'scared' by navy sonar - http://news.bbc.co.uk Beaked whales are disturbed by naval sonar, according to scientists. A new study suggests that the whales are particularly sensitive to unusual sounds. Measuring their reactions to both simulated sonar calls and during actual naval exercises, researchers found the whales fell silent and moved away from the loud noises. The use of sonar for naval communication has been linked to beaked whales stranding in the past. Scientists from the University of St Andrews, Scotland have been working with marine experts from around the world to investigate how sonar affects beaked whales in the Bahamas. "We showed that the animals reacted to the sonar sound at much lower levels than had previously been assumed to be the case." said Professor Ian Boyd Beaked whales are an elusive group of small whales named for their elongated snouts. However, they are probably best known for their connection to the possible risks that naval sonar poses to marine mammals. For example, in 2000 and 2002, large groups of beaked whales stranded and died. Naval exercises involving sonar communication were taking place nearby on both occasions, raising concerns that the whales' deaths were directly linked to the mid-frequency signals. In their study, published in the journal PLoS One, researchers focussed on waters around the US Navy's Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center. Blainville's beaked whales (Mesoplodon densirostris) have been identified foraging in the area by the navy's acoustic monitoring equipment, used for listening to signals from submarines. The scientists listened to the group of whales using these hydrophones - underwater microphones. During live sonar exercises by the US Navy, the whales stopped making their clicking and buzzing calls, which they are thought to use to navigate and communicate. "Results... indicate that the animals prematurely stop vocalisations during a deep foraging dive when exposed to sonar. They then ascend slowly and move away from the source, but they do resume foraging dives once they are farther away," said David Moretti, Principal Investigator for the US Navy. Using tags attached to the whales, the team was also able to track their movements with satellites. They found that the whales moved up to 16km away from the area during sonar tests and did not return for three days. Beaked whale breaches (c) Charlotte Dunn / Bahamas Marine Mammal Research Organisation "It was clear that these whales moved quickly out of the way of the [navy] sonars. We now think that, in some unusual circumstances, they are just unable to get out of the way and this ends up with the animals stranding and dying," said Professor Ian Boyd, chief scientist on the research project. To further understand the whales' behaviour, the team also played simulated sonar calls to the whales, including the calls of killer whales. The beaked whales showed the same avoidance behaviour in response to these calls. "It appears that they just don't like unusual sounds. But the way in which sonars are used to hunt for submarines may mean that the whales are more vulnerable to that type of sound," said Prof Boyd. SONAR Sonar stands for SOund Navigation And Ranging In their tests, the US navy used active sonar - emitting pulses of sound and using the echoes to calculate the location of other vessels Animals such as bats and dolphins use echolocation in the same way to navigate their surroundings They are known to emit high-frequency calls but this is the first time anyone has proven that they react to mid-frequency sounds. "We showed that the animals reacted to the sonar sound at much lower levels than had previously been assumed to be the case," said Prof Boyd. "Perhaps the most significant result from our experiments is the extreme sensitivity of these animals to disturbance." more 03/13/11 Sperm whale pod makes rare Southern California showing - http://www.petethomasoutdoors.com A pod of about 15 sperm whales was seen west of Long Beach on two occasions Wednesday afternoon by passengers and crew aboard the Christopher (see video, which shows nine of the whales). This is exciting news for marine mammal enthusiasts. The rare sightings were made aboard the split-level whale-watching boat. The first was in mid-afternoon when it had been returning from a non-whale-watching trip to Catalina. The second was during its 3 p.m. whale-watching run. Sperm whales are occasionally spotted off Southern California, but usually as individuals or in very small groups. Large pods such as the one encountered Wednesday are "extremely rare," said Alisa Schulman-Janiger, an American Cetacean Society researcher. Schulman-Janiger, who runs the Gray Whale Census and Behavior Project on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, said it has been at least 30 years since a large pod was spotted by volunteers atop the South Bay promontory. Check out the video on YouTube at.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuUF2HFJFZs&feature=player_embedded#at=97 more 03/10/11 New Wintering Grounds for Humpback Whales Discovered Using Sound - Science Daily Researchers have made a remarkable new discovery regarding humpback whale wintering grounds. In the thick of whale season, researchers from Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shed new light on the wintering grounds of the humpback whale. The primary breeding ground for the North Pacific was always thought to be the main Hawaiian Islands (MHI). However, a new study has shown that these grounds extend all the way throughout the Hawaiian Archipelago and into the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI), also known as Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (PMNM). Humpback whales, an endangered species, were once on the brink of extinction due to commercial whaling practices of the last century. Today, thanks to international protection, their numbers have dramatically increased, resulting in a greater presence of these singing mammals during the winter months. Song is produced by male humpback whales during the winter breeding season. All males on a wintering ground sing roughly the same song any given year, but the song changes from year to year. No one is exactly sure why the whales sing but some researchers believe it could be a display to other males. Between 8,500 and 10,000 whales migrate to Hawai'i each winter; while the rest of the population can be found in places like Taiwan, the Philippines, the Mariana Islands, Baja California, Mexico, amongst other Pacific locations (Calambokidis et al. 2008). Over the past three decades, population recovery has resulted in a steady increase in the number of whales and a geographic expansion of their distribution in the MHI. Until recently, however, no empirical evidence existed that this expansion included the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. This changed recently when scientists from HIMB and NOAA published their findings in the current issue of the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series, detailing the presence of humpback whale song in the Northwestern Hawaiian Archipelago. These researchers deployed instruments known as Ecological Acoustic Recorders (EARs) in both the NWHI and MHI to record the occurrence of humpback whale song, as an indicator of winter breeding activity. Humpback whale song was found to be prevalent throughout the NWHI and demonstrated trends very similar to those observed in the MHI. Dr. Marc Lammers, a researcher at HIMB and the lead scientist of the project explains "these findings are exciting because they force us to re-evaluate what we know about humpback whale migration and the importance of the NWHI to the population." The results are also of particular relevance in light of recent suggestions that an undocumented wintering area for humpback whales exists somewhere in the central North Pacific. Dr. Lammers and his colleagues believe that the NWHI could be that area. more 03/08/11 Killer whales hunt in silent 'stealth mode' - http://news.bbc.co.uk Orcas avoid being overheard by their prey by hunting in "stealth mode", according to researchers. The scientists wanted to know how orcas, commonly known as killer whales, communicate when hunting mammals, which can hear their distinctive calls. The researchers thought the predators might switch to very high frequency whistles to co-ordinate the hunt. But the orcas actually go completely silent and are somehow still able to form organised hunting groups. Volker Deecke from the University of St Andrews in Scotland and Rüdiger Riesch from North Carolina State University in Raleigh, US, carried out the study, which was published in the journal Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology. They used hydrophones - underwater microphones - to listen to and record orcas communicating with each other. The team could even hear crunching sounds when the animals were eating their prey. The researchers focused on transient orcas, in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Canada and Alaska. These tend to live in smaller social groups and to move around more than resident orcas. Some scientists believe that the two are distinct sub-species. "The most striking difference between the two is their diet," explained Dr Deecke. Residents eat fish, whereas transients hunt and eat marine mammals, including seals and porpoises. Dr Deecke added: "In the 40 years that these animals have been studied, scientists have never seen a resident eat a mammal and never seen a transient eat a fish." Resident orcas hunt for salmon using echolocation. The orcas click, producing waves of sound that travel through the water and bounce off the fish, allowing the predator to sense its location. "But all marine mammals have excellent underwater hearing," explained Dr Deecke. "If if a killer whale swam along clicking like mad, all the seals and porpoises would think - here comes a predators, let's get away." But the transient orcas' solution surprised the researchers. "They go into stealth mode - completely silent," said Dr Deecke. "This raises the question: how are they communicating?" It seems that orcas can carry out complex, co-ordinated mammal-hunting trips without "talking to each other" at all. "To cover a wider area, they fan out occasionally - travelling hundreds of metres, even kilometres apart, and they come back together again," said Dr Deecke. Only once they catch their prey, does the noise - whistling and pulsing calls - begin. "It's a bit like us at a dinner party," said Dr Deecke. "They communicate while they eat then gradually wander off and go quiet again." The orcas are unlikely to be able to see each other from these distances. Glaciers that descend into the sea on the Alaskan coast give the ocean the consistency of milk. Dr Deecke thinks that the orcas might "rehearse" their hunting routines, to learn the position of each group member. "They tend to be very predictable," he said. "I often know exactly where they are going to surface." How they manage this level of co-ordination is not clear. And the scientists plan to continue their research by fitting sound recording and satellite tracking tags to individual orcas to follow their behaviour much more closely. Dr Deecke said: "It seems like there's no way for them to communicate without their prey being able to eavesdrop." more 03/06/11 Everybody hertz: The heartbroken whale who sings so low that no-one else can hear - dailymail.co.uk When confronted with a broken heart our loved ones often tell us not to worry because there are plenty more fish in the sea. Well that may be the case, but the advice is worthless for one baleen whale because none of those fish can hear her lonely call. The fact that this one specific whale sings at more than double the normal frequency of other whales means that it is completely alone in the vastness of the ocean; no family, no friends and no mate. So lonely: The disconsolate whale is a baleen whale, a group which includes blue, fin and humpback whales. Scientists have dubbed the whale 52 Hertz because it sings at 51.75Hz, just above the lowest note on a tuba. It is a completely unique frequency, with the rest of whale-kind communicating between 12 and 25Hz. To make matters worse, as the whale ages its voice becomes lower, meaning that it is less likely to be heard by other animals as time passes. More....... Listen to the lonely whale song here at http://i.dailymail.co.uk/mp3/whalesong.mp3 The whale's song in the recordings above are sped up to five times their normal speed to make them audible. They come in groups of two to six calls, lasting for five to six seconds each. This particular whale's song was first recorded in 1989, by the hydrophone network of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Since then it has been tracked using hydrophones by researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. It is not known why the whale sings at that frequency and explanations put forward include it being the last of its species, a total one-off or even a mutation of an existing species. Whatever the reason, the whale keeps roaming the enormous ocean calling out for a friend, but never receiving a call response. In a 2004 edition of the journal Deep-Sea Research, one study team reported that the sounds came from a single animal whose movements 'appeared to be unrelated to the presence or movement of other whale species.' The baleen whale is a group that includes blue, fin and humpback whales. more 03/03/11 Environmentalists confirm existence of new whale species in Philippines - http://www.gmanews.tv/ Environmentalists confirmed the existence of the ginkgo-toothed beaked whale (Mesoplodon ginkgodens) in Philippine waters. A report of the Marine Wildlife Watch of the Philippines (MWWP) and Balyena.org said the discovery brings the number of cetaceans (creatures such as whales and dolphins) occurring in the Philippines to 27. The Mesoplodon ginkgodens was first found alive in the shallow shores of Sitio Matang-ib, Cawag, Subic, Zambales on April 20 last year. The gingko-toothed beaked whale, which unfortunately died the next day was misidentified as a Blainville’s beaked whale by Ocean Adventure, a captive dolphin entertainment facility. According to Ocean Adventure consultant Dr. Lem Aragones, the whale was identified as Blainville's beaked whale because that is the more familiar species. Aragones clarified that Ocean Adventure had not officially called it a Blainville's beaked whale, nor had the finding been published in any scientific journal. Thanks to the efforts of locals, FARMC and DENR-CENRO this stranding incident was documented and photos of the whale spread on the internet. Local and foreign marine mammal researchers took notice, and this eventually led to the correct species identification. "Since they are deep species, we usually don't see them. They're quite rare," said MWWP director AA Yaptinchay told GMA News. The report said photographs of the animal were examined by Wojtek Bachara, Dr. John Wang and Dr. Tadasu Yamada, experienced beaked whale scientists from abroad who declared that the whale depicted in the photos is unmistakably a ginkgo-toothed beaked whale. There are 21 species of beaked whales known worldwide, and only two other species of beaked whales known to occur in the Philippines apart from the gingko-toothed beaked whale, which is one of the least known species of cetaceans in the world. Generally they are deep divers and spend little time near the surface, one of the reasons why few have been observed in the wild. This species was named as such because the Japanese scientists who first described it noted that the teeth of the mature males were shaped like a gingko leaf. "Usually it would be easy to determine what species from how they look," Yaptinchay said. While the finding's ecological significance is difficult to determine, it shows that there is much that has yet to be done in terms of getting information. "The finding is significant because it shows us there's really more under the sea. We haven't really looked at much in terms of knowing the fauna of the Philippines - just a little over 30 percent has been surveyed," said Yaptinchay. The gingko-toothed whale has long been suspected to occur in the Philippines, first by Steve Leatherwood in 1992 and by Lory Tan in 1997 based on the known distribution of the species in tropical areas and warm temperate waters of the Indo-Pacific, including Indonesia, Taiwan and Japan. Reports of strandings of not just whales and dolphins but other large marine animals such as sea turtles and whales sharks have been increasing around the country for the past 3-4 years. The MWWP said this is mainly because of the developing communication portals readily available to people. "Usually the government has funding, dito sa Philippines wala. The Department of Agriculture doesn't really have a program to research and survey. It's mostly just academics and NGO's who raise their own funds," said Yaptinchay, adding that there are only a few cetacean researchers. "The ones doing actual surveys and research or involved in dolphins and whales, probably just around 20," he said. There are about four more other species of cetaceans not yet in the Philippine list suspected to occur in our waters. It is hoped that increased reporting of sightings and strandings particularly through internet and social networks would help in research and contribute to the existing knowledge on cetaceans in the Philippines. "This should inspire more people to keep their eyes open, their cameras clicking and share their stories online," said the statement from MWWP and Balyena.org. more 02/27/11 Whale meat sales expected to drop on obstruction by Sea Shepherd - http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110224p2g00m0dm015000c.html The Japanese Institute of Cetacean Research expects its whale meat sales revenues in the year to September 2011 to fall 16.5 percent from the previous year due to obstruction of Japan's so-called research whaling by conservationists, institute officials said Wednesday. The figure was estimated in the institute's fiscal 2010 budget even before Japan halted its whaling operations in the Antarctic Ocean for this season earlier this month after Sea Shepherd Conservation Society vessels impeded them. The actual decline in the institute's whale sales revenues will thus be even sharper than estimated in the budget. The nonprofit institute has depended heavily on revenues from the sale of whale meat to raise funds for what it describes as research whaling and has no choice but to reduce its research outlays. The budget indicates that whale meat revenues fell from about 6.4 billion yen in fiscal 2008 to 5.4 billion yen in fiscal 2009 and about 4.5 billion yen in fiscal 2010 in line with the decline in whale catches. The institute has accordingly reduced its fiscal 2010 research whaling outlays by 16.8 percent to about 5 billion yen. "If the obstruction continues, the present system of financing research whaling with revenues from whale meat sales may fail to be sustained," an institute official said. Japan has hunted whales since 1987 for what it says are scientific research purposes after officially halting commercial whaling in line with an international moratorium. Environmentalists condemn the activity as a cover for the continuation of commercial whaling. more 02/25/11 Has Japan's whaling program really gone belly-up? - http://www.petethomasoutdoors.com The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is understandably proud to have forced an early end to Japan's whaling effort this season in the Antarctic, and to have played a role, perhaps, in bringing an end to whaling in the region. It's also understandable that the many critics of Sea Shepherd and Paul Watson, the group's controversial leader, have fallen silent during the past week. That's because Sea Shepherd's relentless harassment -- all those stink bombs, prop-fouling ropes and near other disruptive measures -- has, in fact, made a difference. Though it's naive to believe Japanese whalers have harpooned their last leviathan, it seems that the nation's so-called "research" whaling program is either near death or seriously diminished. That's probably due more to economic realities and increasing international opposition than fears of facing Sea Shepherd activists at sea. However, the Sea Shepherd presence -- this was the group's seventh consecutive harassment campaign -- has reduced the number of whales being killed, especially during the past two campaigns, providing for Japan's Fisheries Agency a smaller return on its investment. Watson, in an interview Sunday night on "Fish Talk Radio" in Southern California, said Sea Shepherd's objective all along has been to "bankrupt" the Japanese whaling program, and that "it looks like we've finally succeeded." Japan has used a "lethal research" loophole in the wording of a longstanding International Whaling Commission ban on commercial whaling to justify its hunts. The program, which is funded by government subsidies and the sale of whale meat, is deeply in debt. Japanese whalers annually target about 900 minke whales and 50 fin whales, despite a shrinking demand for whale meat domestically. They succeeded in killing only 174 minke whales and two fin whales this season. They killed 506 whales last season. Fisheries Agency officials have acknowledged that the whaling ships are not fast enough to outrun Sea Shepherd boats. According to the online newspaper, Yomiuri Daily, officials with Japan's Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry recently discussed the possibility of ending research whaling in the Antarctic. But the same story quoted Minister Michihiko Kano as saying, "We can't say anything definite about that." A high-ranking ministry official, who chose to remain anonymous, revealed that options under consideration include the continuation of research whaling, but with a Japan Coast Guard escort; building new vessels that are faster than Sea Shepherd's; replacing research whaling with commercial whaling; continuing with the current program; and ending the program. The first two options are too costly and not practical. The third would involve coming to an accord with the IWC so that some level of commercial whaling could legally be carried out. The fourth is not practical given the Sea Shepherd factor. The fifth, of course, is what most people outside of Japan are hoping for. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out over the next year or so. more 02/18/11 Japan ties amicable despite whaling row: Rudd - http://www.abc.net.au Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd has confirmed Australia's ambassador to Japan was called in for a meeting about whaling but says relations with Japan are still amicable. Japan cancelled this season's Antarctic whale hunt yesterday and called in ambassadors from Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands, demanding their governments take action to stop Sea Shepherd activists from harassing its fleet. Japan's foreign minister Seiji Maehara said yesterday his ministry had invited in the three envoys and "conveyed a sense of regret and reiterated a strong request to take effective measures to avoid the recurrence of Sea Shepherd's obstructionist activities". Mr Rudd says it is up to Japan to comment on its reasons for recalling its fleet and he would not reveal any details of what was said in the meeting. "Our ambassador attended a meeting at the Japanese Foreign Ministry in Tokyo yesterday," he said. "I'm sure you can understand and respect the contents of that diplomatic conversation should remain confidential." A DFAT spokeswoman also refused to comment on the details of the meeting but says the Australian Government shares Japan's concerns about safety at sea and has repeatedly condemned dangerous or unlawful behaviour. Meanwhile, the Greens say there is nothing to suggest that anti-whaling activists have acted illegally, despite assertions by Japan. Greens Leader Bob Brown says he hopes DFAT's statement does not mean Australia is accepting Japan's position. "The Australian Government should be much more vigorously pursuing the Japanese whaling fleet, who are illegally whaling in Antarctic waters, and making sure that when they get home to Tokyo that they never return this side of the equator," he said. Earlier, Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson hailed Japan's decision and pledged to stop any future hunts. "It's great news. We will, however, stay with the Japanese ships until they return north and make sure they're out of the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary," he said. "Personally I don't trust them, but I will take their word on this and we will follow them out. We're just not going to leave them until we know for sure they're out of the Southern Ocean." The environmental group has pushed environmental militancy to new levels in its fight against the whalers. In recent years its tactics have included moving their ships and inflatable boats between the whaling ships and the whales, as well as throwing stink and paint bombs at their crews. more 02/16/11 Japan suspends whale hunt after 'harassment' by activists - http://www.guardian.co.uk Japan has temporarily suspended its annual whale hunt in the Antarctic after anti-whaling activists obstructed its fleet's mother ship. Officials in Tokyo have conceded that this year's mission, which had again been the target of international criticism, had not gone as well as hoped and the fleet may be called home early, according to reports. Tatsuya Nakaoku, a fisheries agency official, said the decision was taken after the mother ship, the Nisshin Maru, was "harassed" by members of the marine conservation group Sea Shepherd. "Putting a priority on safety, the fleet has halted scientific whaling for now," he said. "We are currently considering what to do next." Reports said the government was considering halting the expedition entirely well before its scheduled end in mid-March. Sea Shepherd described this year's campaign as its most successful yet. "I see victory on the horizon," a spokesman for the group, Peter Hammarstedt, told ABC News in Australia. "I think certainly our actions down there have contributed to them possibly calling off their season early." The Japanese fleet is thought to have killed between 30 and 100 whales – a fraction of its quota – since it arrived in Antarctic whaling grounds late last year. The Sea Shepherd's vessel, the Bob Barker, located the fleet as soon as it arrived and has been pursuing the Nisshin Maru as it heads towards the Antarctic peninsula below South America. The harpoon ships are unable to kill whales unless the mother ship is there to process them. Japanese broadcaster TBS said the government believed the situation had become "so dangerous" that it had no choice but to suspend the hunt and recall the fleet. "If the government does call back the fleet it would mean giving in to anti-whaling activists," the broadcaster said. Japan is one of three countries that continue to hunt whales – the others are Norway and Iceland – despite opposition from environmental campaigners and countries including Australia and New Zealand. Latin American members of the International Whaling Commission recently urged Japan to end its scientific hunts and respect whale sanctuaries. Australia, meanwhile, has filed a complaint with the international court of justice in the Hague in an attempt to get the hunts banned. A decision is expected in 2013 or later. Under a provision in the IWC's 1986 ban on commercial whaling, Japan is permitted to kill around 1,000 whales in the Southern Ocean every year for what it calls scientific research. This year the fleet, comprising four ships and 180 crew members, had planned to kill about 900 minke and 50 fin whales. But the whalers have been hampered in recent years by clashes with Sea Shepherd activists. Last year they returned to port with 506 minke whales, far fewer than their intended haul. more 02/11/11 Death Of Young Right Whale Highlights That Prevention Of Entanglements Is Key - NOAA The death of a young right whale off Florida drives home the point that while disentanglement responses give the animals a better chance at survival, prevention of entanglements in fishing gear is paramount. On February 3, NOAA scientist Barb Zoodsma joined partners from numerous state and local agencies, along with researchers from academic institutions and nonprofits organizations, to perform a necropsy – animal autopsy – on a young right whale. The animal was observed floating dead off St Augustine, FL, by an aerial survey team from Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission two days earlier, and was towed to shore for examination. Scientists were already familiar with this animal. First sighted entangled with fishing rope on Christmas Day, this two-year old female whale had been the focus of much attention since the new year. In two separate disentanglement attempts December 30, 2010 and January 15, 2011, more than 200 feet of rope had been removed from this critically entangled species. Unfortunately, as scientists would learn, these unprecedented response efforts were not enough to save its life. Led by necropsy team leader, William McLellan of University of North Carolina Wilmington, and assisted by Dr. Michael Moore, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and Alex Costidis, University of Florida, scientists examined this 31 foot, 15,000 pound whale for clues to its demise. Numerous lesions from its long term entanglement and shark bites were examined thoroughly, and tissue samples from the wounds will be shipped to labs for further study. The final results of the necropsy will depend on these analyses and will not be available for some time. Initial observations lead researchers to conclude this whale had been entangled for months. Parts of the rope that could not be removed during the disentanglement efforts were found to be embedded in the whale's mouth, possibly impeding it from feeding. The young female was significantly underweight. Weakened and injured by the long entanglement, she was easier prey for sharks. Bite marks on the carcass suggest that scavenging sharks may have finished off the wounded whale by severing major veins at the base of the tail. The rope removed from the whale was floating groundline from a trap/pot fishery. NOAA Fisheries Service has prohibited floating groundline in U.S. Atlantic coast trap/pot fisheries managed under the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan to try to reduce these lethal entanglements, but it is still used in some international fisheries. The necropsy was a multi-organizational effort, with experts hailing from several states. NOAA necropsy partners include: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Georgia Aquarium Dolphin Conservation Field Station, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Hubbs Sea World, St John's County, University of Florida, University of North Florida, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and the Virginia Aquarium. 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 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) or the Georgia Department of Natural Resources at 1-800-2-SAVE-ME (272-8366). All live right whale sightings should be reported to the USCG via Channel 16. more 02/07/11 Whales return to New York City: Massive mammals appearing again in seas near city; draws sightseers - nydailynews.com Whales, dolphins and seals have made a triumphant return to the waters just outside New York Harbor - and the comeback has even sparked whale and seal-watching tours. Tom Paladino, captain of two ferry boats from the Rockaways, says pods of aquatic mammals off the city's coast have "increased tenfold." "We used to see 10 whales a year - now we see 100," he said. "We saw dolphins almost on a daily basis between June and September." There are so many more seals in New York Harbor that earlier this month he started weekend tours on his ferry, American Princess. On one trip last weekend, he counted 14 lolling on a small island off Staten Island. Cornell University Prof. Chris Clark estimates that as many as 30 to 50 fin whales now live full-time in the waters just past the Verrazano Bridge. Acoustical monitors installed by Cornell in and near the harbor discovered six species of whales touring the New York-New Jersey bite - "a real menagerie of giants," he said. Experts say anti-hunting laws and cleaner waters may have brought back whales and their cousins after being largely absent for a century. The numbers are "far, far more than expected, even for me," Clark said. "I've been surprised elsewhere in the world, but off New York - yikes!" Much of the data was collected by a federally funded study by Cornell and the state Department of Environmental Conservation. When acoustical traps were laid in New York waters in 2008, researchers were surprised to hear not only the 20-minute serenades of humpbacks, but a cacophony of other fish making a racket, Clark said. "Black drum fish lit up the night with their choruses. Males were out there singing their hearts out: 'Hey Baby! Hey Baby! Hey Baby!' There's a cornucopia of life 10 miles off the Verrazano Bridge. It's mind-boggling!" he said. Officials said the study was supposed to last three years but was abandoned when a DEC official overseeing the project quit to get her doctorate. Budget cuts made it impossible to hire a replacement. Clark said the whale study needs to be revived because no one knows the extent of whale activity around New York Harbor - or how best to protect them. Environmentalists are especially worried about endangered species like the Right Whale, spotted locally along with Humpback, Fin, Sei, Minke and Blue whales. The Right Whale is the slowest-moving local species, traveling at no more than 10 knots, and is the most prone to being killed by ships. Clark is hoping to raise $1 million to revive the whale study and install a sophisticated monitoring system like one in Boston that notified boats to slow down. "We don't know what's off our coastline," said Maureen Murphy of the Citizens Campaign for the Environment. "I know more from 19th century books than I do from anything printed in the last century." more 02/02/11 Colossal Fossil: Museum's New Whale Skeleton Represents Decades of Research - Science Daily There's a whale of a new display at the University of Michigan Exhibit Museum of Natural History, a leviathan that represents a scientific saga of equally grand proportions. A complete, 50-foot-long skeleton of the extinct whale Basilosaurus isis, which lived 37 million years ago, now is suspended from the ceiling of the museum's second floor gallery and will reign over an updated whale evolution exhibit scheduled to open in April 2011. "It's a spectacular fossil," said Exhibit Museum director Amy Harris. "Basilosaurus looks ferocious with its big teeth, and we hope people will spend a lot of time looking at it, studying it and reading about it. The Exhibit Museum tells the story of life on Earth, and when museum visitors see Basilosaurus, they'll be able to see evidence for whale evolution, which is one of the more interesting stories in evolution." Basilosaurus and its companions also represent decades of paleontological detective work by a team led by Philip Gingerich, director of the U-M Museum of Paleontology and the Ermine Cowles Case Collegiate Professor of Paleontology. Since the 1980s, Gingerich and colleagues have located and mapped the remains of more than a thousand whales in an area of the Egyptian desert known as Wadi Hitan ("valley of the whales"), a UNESCO World Heritage site. Their work there was the subject of an article in the August 2010 issue of National Geographic. In addition, Gingerich and colleagues have made significant fossil whale discoveries in Pakistan. The finds have helped piece together the story of how whales evolved from typical land-dwelling mammals to creatures that spend their whole lives in the sea -- a story that will be showcased in the new exhibit, "Back to the Sea: The Evolution of Whales." The Basilosaurus skeleton was discovered in 1987, when a member of Gingerich's team found a bit of the whale's shoulder blade protruding from the sand. As he swept the sand away, he revealed the whale's lower jaws, but the field season was almost over, so the team simply noted the fossil's location and covered it back up. Two years later, they returned to excavate the skull and lower jaws, casts of which have been on display at U-M since 1997. On that same return trip, Gingerich made an astonishing discovery when he stopped to pick up what he thought was a piece of Basilosaurus rib. The "rib" turned out to be a small femur (thigh bone) of a mammal with a well formed knee joint. Suspecting that the diminutive leg belonged to Basilosaurus, Gingerich returned to a skeleton that was well exposed in the desert sand and, surprisingly quickly, recognized another small leg, this one in its rightful place far down the lengthy vertebral column. Armed with the knowledge that at least some of these huge whales had legs and knees and knowing where on the skeleton to look for them, Gingerich's team re-examined and excavated other Basilosaurus skeletons whose locations they had mapped, and ended up finding a complete pelvis, leg bones, ankles and even toe bones. The giant whale's legs and feet were small and useless for walking, but they represented an important link to its terrestrial ancestors. Gingerich kept busy with other fossil whales through the 1990s, working mainly in Pakistan, where his team found complete skeletons of early whales that could walk on land. Then, in 2005, the team returned to Wadi Hitan to see if they could find the rest of the Basilosaurus skeleton they'd partially excavated in 1987. After more than two weeks of painstaking work, they had exposed the remaining bones, which they encased in plaster jackets for shipping. Two and a half years passed, as Gingerich negotiated for permission to ship the bones back to Michigan. When the bones finally arrived, it took another year or more of work to expose, clean and stabilize the fossils. "We're talking about four tons of sediment, with the whale encased in the sediment," said William Sanders, an assistant research scientist who supervises the vertebrate fossil preparation laboratory. "We had to get these immense crates into the museum, break open the heavy plaster jackets, and then start separating the sediment away from the fossils. Four tons is a considerable amount to remove." For that task, Sanders enlisted a "small army" of work study and Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program students. Next came the "elaborate and exhausting" work of making replicas of the complete skeleton for study, display and exchange with other institutions -- a process that took even longer than cleaning the bones, Sanders said. Again, students were involved in the molding and casting. The replicas made for study are considerably lighter in weight than the original skeleton -- a single fossilized Basilosaurus vertebra weighs 35 pounds, while the fiberglass version weighs only two pounds -- but because the display skeleton was to be hung from the ceiling, the Exhibit Museum wanted it even lighter. So Exhibit Museum preparators Mike Cherney and Dan Erickson came up with a way of making foam-filled fiberglass replicas of the bones, and they worked with Gingerich to figure out exactly how to arrange the skeleton in a life-like pose -- a process that was as educational for Gingerich as for the preparators. "Just the act of mounting the skeleton makes you think about how the bones really fit together and confront uncertainties that you would never realize you didn't understand until you try to put them together," said Gingerich, who holds appointments in the departments of Geological Sciences, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and Anthropology. "So mounting it here has been a very satisfying and informative experience in terms of my research. I'm also thrilled to have this exhibit in the museum because it symbolizes the cooperation that goes into an international project, as well as the internationalism of the university." more 01/31/11 Sea Shepherd locates Japanese whaling factory ship - http://www.petethomasoutdoors.com After three-plus weeks of skirmishing with Japanese harpoon boats, activists opposing the country's Southern Ocean whale hunt today announced they had located the factory processing ship. "We finally have this serial killing death ship where we want them," said Capt. Paul Watson, founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which is campaigning against the hunt for a seventh season. "This whaling fleet belongs to us now -- lock, stock, and smoking harpoon gun." The Sea Shepherd fleet of three boats encountered two of three Japanese harpoon boats on Dec. 31 about 1,700 miles southeast of New Zealand. The processing vessel Nisshin Maru and the harpoon boat, Yushin Maru, had apparently used the other two boats as decoys as Sea Shepherd tried to stay with them and also pursue the factory ship. Watson, who is controversial because of his group's militant tactics, presumed that no whales had been killed because the factory ship was being kept on the run. However, when he and his crew aboard the Steve Irwin spotted the Nisshin Maru today, as it was entering the ice-filled Ross Sea, they saw a whale being processed on its deck. "Sea Shepherd's objective now is to make sure that whale is the last one taken this season," a news release states. Japan annually targets 900-plus minke whales and a handful of fin whales in hunts approved by the Fisheries Agency and run by the Institute of Cetacean Research. The country uses a "lethal research" loophole in the wording of a longstanding global ban on commercial whaling, and claims its hunts are for science. Sea Shepherd has been criticized for methods that include heaving smoke bombs on whaling boats, and tossing rope devises to foul propellers. Last season a vessel collision led to one of its boats being scuttled. But Japan has fallen under increased pressure from non-whaling nations to cease whaling or reduce its quota and, to be sure, the drama and intrigue this season has spilled beyond the remote Southern Ocean. U.S. diplomatic cables dated Jan. 1 and posted a few days later on the WikiLeaks website revealed that Japan and the U.S. had discussed punishing the nonprofit Sea Shepherd by removing its tax-exempt status as part of a compromise arrangement in which Japan would reduce its quota but be allowed to hunt legally in Antarctic waters. That has not happened. Earlier, as the whalers and activists bounded toward the Southern Ocean, the U.S., Australia, New Zealand and The Netherlands issued a joint statement condemning, in advance, "any actions that imperil human life." According to reports from both sides, whose versions sometimes differ, there have been no life-threatening situations this season. The Institute of Cetacean Research has not posted an update on its website since Jan. 9, when it accused Sea Shepherd crew members of throwing "flash bang" devices onto one of its harpoon boats. Sea Shepherd had deployed its speedy interceptor boat, Gojira, to pursue and locate the Nisshin Maru. Its crew tried to keep track of the Nisshin Maru's position by using weather balloons outfitted with cameras and radar. But the activist group revealed today that Gojira has returned to Hobart, Tasmania, because of problems with its fuel pump. Now the theater is inside the Ross Sea and centers around the Nisshin Maru, where crews aboard Sea Shepherd's Steve Irwin and Bob Barker -- plus, a helicopter and inflatable boats -- presumably will harass the whalers while awaiting the return of Gojira as the whaling season is just past its halfway point. Boasted Watson: "We will now chase them through the frozen gates of hell if need be, but we will stop their illegal whaling operations ... I am confident of that!" more 01/29/11 Scientists Successfully Use Chemical Sedation To Free Entangled Right Whale; 'Less Stressful For The Animal' - NOAA Fisheries Service SILVER SPRING, Marlyand -- Scientists from NOAA Fisheries Service and its state and nonprofit partners successfully used at-sea chemical sedation to help cut the remaining ropes from a young North Atlantic right whale on January 15 off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Fla. The sedative given to the whale allowed the disentanglement team to safely approach the animal and remove 50 feet of rope which was wrapped through its mouth and around its flippers. This is only the second time a free-swimming whale has been successfully sedated to enable disentanglement efforts. The first time a whale was successfully sedated and disentangled was in March 2009 off the coast of Florida. "Our recent progress with chemical sedation is important because it's less stressful for the animal, and minimizes the amount of time spent working on these animals while maximizing the effectiveness of disentanglement operations," said Jamison Smith, Atlantic Large Whale Disentanglement Coordinator for NOAA's Fisheries Service. "This disentanglement was especially complex, but proved successful due to the detailed planning and collective expertise of the many response partners involved." The young female whale, born during the 2008-2009 calving season and estimated to be approximately 30 feet long, was originally observed entangled on Christmas Day by an aerial survey team. On December 30, a disentanglement team of trained responders from Georgia Department of Natural Resources and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission were able to remove 150 feet of rope from the whale, but additional rope remained. NOAA and its partners continued to track the animal via satellite tag to determine if the animal would shed the remaining gear on its own. Calm weather conditions were necessary before attempting further intervention on January 15. During this response, scientists used for the first time a special digital monitoring tag which recorded the whale's behavior before, during, and after sedation. Sedating large whales at sea is in its infancy and data collected from the digital archival tag will be used to inform future sedation attempts that may be necessary. After disentangling the whale, scientists administered a dose of antibiotics to treat entanglement wounds and drug to reverse the sedation. The whale will be tracked up to 30-days via a temporary satellite tag. The disentanglement and veterinarian team consisted of scientists from: NOAA Fisheries Service, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, University of Florida, EcoHealth Alliance, and Coastwise Consulting. The Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies and the New England Aquarium also provided offsite support. Fishing gear removed from this whale included ropes and wire mesh material, similar to what is found in the trap or pot fisheries for fish, crab and lobster along the mid-Atlantic, northeast U.S., and Canadian coasts. However, the specific fishery and its geographic origin are pending examination by experts at NOAA's Fisheries Service. 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 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) or the Georgia Department of Natural Resources at 1-800-2-SAVE-ME (272-8366). All live right whale sightings should be reported to the USCG via Channel 16. more 01/24/11 Scientists Successfully Use Sedation to Help Disentangle North Atlantic Right Whale - Science Daily Scientists from NOAA Fisheries Service and its state and nonprofit partners successfully used at-sea chemical sedation to help cut the remaining ropes from a young North Atlantic right whale on January 15 off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Fla. The sedative given to the whale allowed the disentanglement team to safely approach the animal and remove 50 feet of rope which was wrapped through its mouth and around its flippers. This is only the second time a free-swimming whale has been successfully sedated to enable disentanglement efforts. The first time a whale was successfully sedated and disentangled was in March 2009 off the coast of Florida. "Our recent progress with chemical sedation is important because it's less stressful for the animal, and minimizes the amount of time spent working on these animals while maximizing the effectiveness of disentanglement operations," said Jamison Smith, Atlantic Large Whale Disentanglement Coordinator for NOAA's Fisheries Service. "This disentanglement was especially complex, but proved successful due to the detailed planning and collective expertise of the many response partners involved." The young female whale, born during the 2008-2009 calving season and estimated to be approximately 30 feet long, was originally observed entangled on Christmas Day by an aerial survey team. On December 30, a disentanglement team of trained responders from Georgia Department of Natural Resources and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission were able to remove 150 feet of rope from the whale, but additional rope remained. NOAA and its partners continued to track the animal via satellite tag to determine if the animal would shed the remaining gear on its own. Calm weather conditions were necessary before attempting further intervention on January 15. During this response, scientists used for the first time a special digital monitoring tag which recorded the whale's behavior before, during, and after sedation. Sedating large whales at sea is in its infancy and data collected from the digital archival tag will be used to inform future sedation attempts that may be necessary. After disentangling the whale, scientists administered a dose of antibiotics to treat entanglement wounds and drug to reverse the sedation. The whale will be tracked up to 30-days via a temporary satellite tag. The disentanglement and veterinarian team consisted of scientists from: NOAA Fisheries Service, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, University of Florida, EcoHealth Alliance, and Coastwise Consulting. The Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies and the New England Aquarium also provided offsite support. Fishing gear removed from this whale included ropes and wire mesh material, similar to what is found in the trap or pot fisheries for fish, crab and lobster along the mid-Atlantic, northeast U.S., and Canadian coasts. However, the specific fishery and its geographic origin are pending examination by experts at NOAA's Fisheries Service. 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 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) or the Georgia Department of Natural Resources at 1-800-2-SAVE-ME (272-8366). All live right whale sightings should be reported to the USCG via Channel 16. more 01/21/11 Scientists hunt for right whales’ love nest - http://www.globalnews.ca A team of Canadian and U.S. biologists is planning a high-stakes search next week in waters between Nova Scotia and Maine for what they suspect is a one-of-a-kind love nest for the continent’s most endangered marine mammal: the North Atlantic right whale. The bid to locate the mating grounds of the creature, pushed to the brink of extinction by 19th century hunters who dubbed it the “right” whale for easy killing, is considered key to understanding the full life cycle of a species with as few as 450 surviving members, and which is still threatened by ship strikes, fishing nets and climate change. The search is taking place in the Jordan Basin area of the Gulf of Maine, where right whales have been known to congregate at this time of year. The whales spend much of the summer and fall feeding on plankton in nearby waters off New Brunswick and Nova Scotia — including the Bay of Fundy — where ship speed limits and other special protections have been put in place to reduce threats to the fragile species. Many pregnant female whales can be found in southeastern U.S. waters during the early winter months, when they typically give birth in previously identified calving grounds off the coasts of Florida and Georgia. But scientists suspect that around the same time, other female whales that are ready to become pregnant are thousands of kilometres to the north, mingling with their male counterparts in a Gulf of Maine breeding ground that has yet to be pinned down. “There’s a substantial portion of the population that’s missing at that time of year,” search leader Moira Brown, a Canadian whale expert with the New England Aquarium in Boston, told Postmedia News. “And because we believe that the gestation is somewhere around 12 to 13 months, then November-December-January is when you’d expect conception to be taking place.” Since 2002, there have been several significant right whale sightings in the Jordan Basin — located about 200 kilometres southwest of the Bay of Fundy — around New Year’s Day. In late December 2008, scientists with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration spotted more than 40 right whales in the Jordan Basin, prompting a belief among Brown and other marine biologists that the area may well be the mating ground they’d long been hoping to discover. “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 or five animals are much more common,” NOAA researcher Tim Cole said at the time. In December, the Montreal-born Brown — who also conducts research with the Canadian Whale Institute in New Brunswick — headed an initial search of the Gulf of Maine target zone with funding from the Canadian Wildlife Federation and TD Bank. A limited number of whales were spotted in December, but the last of the day trips to the suspected mating area is scheduled for this week. Brown said the scientists will continue documenting sightings and collecting fecal matter that could provide telltale chemical traces proving female whales in the zone are ready for conception. "We have long known that there is an undiscovered right whale mating ground," Brown said in a statement issued last month at the outset of the search. "With a population of only 450, the North Atlantic right whale is one of the most endangered large whales in the world, so discovering the breeding ground is integral to their conservation." more 01/19/11 Whale poo makes the ocean more productive - http://www.theage.com.au/ IF A whale breaks wind in the Southern Ocean and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? This philosophical riddle could have been contemplated by Australian scientists while they collected whale waste as part of a study to determine if it could help ''fertilise'' the ocean and make it more productive. Scientists from the Australian Antarctic Division, based in Hobart, have been testing the hypothesis that enormous amounts of iron excreted by whales is similar to liquid manure. Advertisement: Story continues below This fertiliser helps phytoplankton grow, which in turn helps support a wide number of marine species including those eaten by humans. Whales take the iron into their systems by eating massive quantities of krill, a shrimp-like crustacean. But because whales produce blubber rather than muscle, they don't need iron in their diet - so it passes out in their excrement. In the days before industrial whaling there were millions of the mammals in the waters around Antarctica in the summer providing the iron to keep the ecosystem productive. But molecular biologist Simon Jarman, with the Australian Antarctic Division, said now that whale populations had dropped to levels of just 2 to 3 per cent of former numbers, there was not enough iron in the Southern Ocean. ''Removing whales from the ecosystem has probably made the whole ecosystem less productive,'' Dr Jarman said. ''We know there used to be a lot more fish.'' To test their theories the scientists had to find areas where whales were feeding, and then be ready with a fine mesh net to scoop up the faeces. ''They will defecate eventually,'' Dr Jarman said. ''You can notice it fairly easily, it's a big event. ''It could be as much as half a tonne in one go, but no one has ever been actually able to measure it.'' ''It floats on the surface for a little while, but you have to get it as quickly as you can before it sinks.'' more 01/17/11 Protest group says it won't let whaling ships refuel - http://www.nzherald.co.nz The Sea Shepherd anti-whaling group says it has intercepted a Japanese whaling supply ship in the Southern Ocean and plans to stop it delivering its cargo to the fleet's factory ship and harpoon vessels. The Sea Shepherd ship, Gojira said it was tailing the tanker, the Panamanian registered Sun Laurel carrying fuel and other supplies. When the Gojira captain Canadian Lockhart MacLean found the San Laurel he immediately alerted other Sea Shepherd ships in the area which changed course to intercept the tanker. Captain Paul Watson said from the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin described the San Laurel as the "Achilles heel" of the whaling fleet. "We intend to stay on it like a bloodhound to keep this ship from delivering fuel and supplies to the whaling fleet. "This tanker's support of Japan's illegal activities makes the captain and crew of the Sun Laurel as culpable as the person firing the harpoon into a whale's flesh." He said the Japanese whaling ships would need to refuel soon. "We will be here with the Sun Laurel waiting for them to arrive. Refuelling south of 60 degrees is illegal and we intend to enforce the Antarctic Treaty if they attempt to violate it." He said there was no evidence any whales had been killed this season as the whaling fleet had spent the past two weeks fleeing from the Sea Shepherd ships. more 01/14/11 Loss of Arctic Ice May Promote Hybrid Marine Mammals - Science Daily Scientists have expected for some time that the Arctic Ocean will be ice-free in summer by the end of this century. Writing in the December 15 issue of the journal Nature, a trio of researchers say the seasonal loss of this ice sheet, a continent-sized natural barrier between species such as bears, whales and seals, could mean extinction of some rare marine mammals and the loss of many adaptive gene combinations. Marine mammalogist and first author Brendan Kelly of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's marine mammal lab in Juneau, with conservation geneticist Andrew Whiteley of the University of Massachusetts Amherst and evolutionary biologist David Tallmon of the University of Alaska, say genes developed over millennia in isolated populations have given many Arctic marine animals sets of fine-tuned adaptations, helping them uniquely thrive in the harsh environment. Their article for the first time looks ahead to speculate on what biologists can expect as these populations meet, hybridize by interbreeding and mix their gene pools. The authors call for immediate monitoring and stepped-up study of many already rare, threatened or endangered bears, whales and seals in the coming decades, before discrete populations begin to disappear through interbreeding. As Whiteley explains, the picture is complicated and it is hard for biologists to know exactly what to expect because hybridization can have beneficial consequences in the first generation. But in later generations, the process begins to have more negative effects as genomes mix and any genes associated with environment-adapted traits are recombined. Genes related to any trait that once allowed the animal to thrive in a specific habitat can be diluted, leaving the animal less well suited to surviving and reproducing there. In some cases hybridization, which is one of nature's sources of evolutionary novelty, might not be so bad, the authors acknowledge. But in other cases such as interbreeding between the rare North Pacific right whale, with fewer than 200 individuals believed to be left, and more numerous bowhead whales, interbreeding could mean extinction of the rarer, smaller population. In a chart accompanying their Nature article, Kelly, Whiteley and Tallmon identify 22 marine mammal species they believe may be at risk of hybridization. They report that several Arctic hybrids have been documented already by DNA testing. For example, hunters shot a white bear with brown patches in 2006 that later was confirmed to be a polar bear-grizzly bear hybrid. more 01/10/11 2010 Highlights From Ma Coastal Zone Mgmt - Ma CZM After the release of the ground-breaking Massachusetts Ocean Management Plan at the very end of 2009, in 2010 CZM focused its efforts on putting this plan into practice. From building on the science and data needed for effective planning to crafting changes in state regulations to aligning Massachusetts efforts with regional ocean management strategies, CZM began the process of effective implementation of the plan. Also in 2010, CZM continued its efforts to help coastal communities combat storm damage through its StormSmart Coasts program and made measureable progress working on pilot projects with Boston, Hull, Falmouth, Oak Bluffs, and the three-town region of Kingston, Duxbury, and Plymouth. Finally, 2010 marked the year when Massachusetts passed the half-way point for officially designating all coastal waters as No Discharge Areas (NDAs) for boat sewage. These and other CZM highlights for 2010 are summarized below. Massachusetts Ocean Management Plan Moves into Implementation Phase With the promulgation of the final Massachusetts Ocean Management Plan in December 2009, CZM’s efforts in 2010 were focused on implementing this comprehensive approach to protecting marine resources and fostering sustainable uses in state ocean waters. The plan provides new protections for critical environmental resources in nearly two-thirds of the Commonwealth's coastal waters and sets standards for the development of renewable energy and other uses. As put forward in the plan’s science framework (which identifies priority ocean management research projects), several key science and data needs were CZM priorities for 2010. One such effort is a study conducted jointly with the Massachusetts Ocean Partnership (MOP) and the Urban Harbors Institute (UHI) of the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Boston to identify patterns of recreational boating in marine waters. Also in partnership with MOP, CZM worked with researchers from UMass Dartmouth to refine and further develop their Gulf of Maine-wide ocean current circulation model, particularly to provide key physical oceanographic data in support of habitat modeling. CZM also coordinated with MOP on two other efforts: 1) a cumulative impact modeling project conducted by the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, and 2) improvements to MORIS (the the Massachusetts Ocean Resource Information System). In addition to these science-related tasks, work is underway on administrative elements of the plan, including the review of pertinent state regulations for amendments, development of performance indicators, and continued coordination with regional and federal levels of government. National Ocean Policy in 2010 On July 19, the Obama Administration issued an Executive Order and Final Recommendations of the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force (IOPTF), establishing a new National Policy for the Stewardship of the Ocean, Coasts, and Great Lakes and directing all federal agencies to implement the policy and its priority objectives. Key elements in the IOPTF report and national policy include: creating a new National Ocean Council to oversee federal agency implementation efforts for the policy; improving coordination across jurisdictions; adopting ecosystem-based management; advancing research, monitoring, observations, and decision-support tools; and developing regional coastal and marine spatial plans to provide a more comprehensive, integrated, and proactive approach to planning and managing sustainable multiple uses. In December, representatives from the Departments of Commerce, Interior, Defense, and Homeland Security gathered at Faneuil Hall in Boston for a stakeholder meeting on the National Ocean Policy. Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) Secretary Ian Bowles welcomed the participants and introduced the federal panel, who provided an overview of the policy, priority objectives, and planned implementation activities. One of the central themes in remarks from the panelists and stakeholders was that the leadership and progress demonstrated by Massachusetts and its peers in the Northeast has positioned this region as a strong base for advancing more comprehensive and pro-active ocean planning, management, and stewardship. Northeast Regional Ocean Council At the regional level, 2010 saw important progress on the part of Northeast Regional Ocean Council (NROC)—as CZM worked with NROC’s state and federal members and partners to advance actions on the regional priority issue areas: Ocean and Coastal Ecosystem Health, Coastal Hazards Resilience, and Ocean Energy Planning and Management. In addition, NROC began developing the context and basis for Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning (CMSP) in the region—a proactive response to the National Ocean Policy and Executive Order, laying the groundwork for implementation. Key NROC actions on CMSP included: creating a draft CMSP framework document that interprets guidance from the IOPTF recommendations to fit specific drivers and circumstances in the Northeast and incorporate input from regional stakeholders and partners; conducting a workshop in November to advance the regional dialogue on CMSP; improving collaboration with partners, including the Northeastern Regional Association of Coastal Ocean Observing Systems and the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment, to advance elements such as regional data integration and accessibility and joint strategic planning; and submitting two proposals in response to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) funding opportunity for regional ocean partnerships. For more information and to download NROC’s action plans for its priority issue areas and CMSP (including the regional CMSP framework), see the NROC website. Ocean Survey Vessel Bold In June, CZM staff conducted an eight-day survey in Massachusetts Bay on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Ocean Survey Vessel Bold—collecting samples of sediments and benthic organisms and shooting underwater videos of the seafloor and its marine life. The results are being used to groundtruth habitat maps of the seafloor created by CZM using a combination of surficial geology, bathymetry, and backscatter data. The survey also served as a pilot project to test collection and analysis methods in support of a larger seafloor mapping partnership between CZM and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) across all Massachusetts marine waters. The final habitat maps will help CZM refine the resource maps used in the 2009 Massachusetts Ocean Management Plan and will assist CZM and other agencies in their siting and permitting of ocean uses. CZM's proposal was selected through a competitive process conducted by EPA Region 1, and the time and space provided by the OSV Bold represents a significant federal contribution to Massachusetts's ocean management efforts. CZM is currently examining the data to better classify the benthic habitats of Massachusetts coastal waters. Also, CZM will apply for ship time in 2011 to continue this important data collection component of the ongoing seafloor mapping program. StormSmart Coasts Through CZM's StormSmart Coasts program, seven cities and towns participating in five pilot projects took significant steps toward addressing coastal storm damage and sea level rise issues in 2010. The team of Duxbury, Kingston, and Plymouth worked together to help homeowners and the construction industry understand and address storm-damage risks in high-hazard coastal areas. A brochure and workshops outlined steps residents can take to ensure personal safety and prevent property loss while potentially reducing flood insurance premiums, resulting in long-term economic and environmental benefits. The brochure, called Protect Your Family and Your Home (170 KB), is available on the Kingston town website. In May, the Oak Bluffs town meeting approved amendments to its floodplain overlay district bylaw that aim to minimize the impacts from storms, including property damage, lack of safe access for emergency response, economic costs, public health threats, and loss of public recreational areas. Special Permit Regulations to implement the new bylaw were adopted in September. Boston formed a partnership with local technical experts that resulted in the development of coastal inundation maps for the city. Boston is now drafting a "toolbox" of regulatory options to minimize public safety threats and damage to buildings. The town of Falmouth is developing a local multi-hazard mitigation plan to reduce anticipated risk to its residents, businesses, and municipal services due to flooding, sea level rise, and other natural hazards. Finally, the town of Hull has created an innovative incentive program to encourage builders to "freeboard," or elevate existing and new buildings above predicted floodwaters, which can substantially reduce flood insurance costs and decrease damage to homes by storms and flooding. See the StormSmart Coasts website for more information and updates on these and other projects. Pleasant Bay and Upper North Shore NDAs Approved In July, EPA approved the state's proposal to designate the coastal waters of Pleasant Bay on Cape Cod as a No Discharge Area, which bans discharge of all boat sewage. Pleasant Bay is the largest estuary on Cape Cod and is one of the most biologically diverse and productive marine habitats on the East Coast of the United States. This NDA covers a 14-square-mile area in Harwich, Chatham, Orleans, and Brewster. In August, the coastal waters of the upper North Shore were also designated as an NDA, covering the 176 square miles of state waters from Gloucester to the New Hampshire border, including the tidal portion of the Merrimack River up to the Essex Dam in Lawrence. With this designation, nearly 60 percent of state waters are now no-dumping zones for boat sewage. Related efforts to authorize NDAs are underway for Nantucket Sound, Mt. Hope Bay, and the outer Cape from Chatham to Provincetown. For more on NDA activities along the coast, see CZM's NDA website. Coastal Habitat Protection and Restoration The former Wetlands Restoration Program, which was previously hosted within CZM, continued to fold its operations into the work of the newly created Division of Ecological Restoration (DER). The new DER also includes the former Riverways Program and is now located within the Department of Fish and Game (DFG). CZM staff continue to coordinate closely with DER to identify, implement, and monitor various coastal restoration projects. Highlights from completed projects in 2010 include: · The Newman Road Salt Marsh Restoration Project in Newbury resulted in 33 acres of restored salt marsh when a new, larger box culvert replaced an undersized culvert under the road, greatly reducing scouring by the tides. The property, owned by The Trustees of Reservations, experiences free flowing tides for the first time in over a century. · In Somerset, an undersized, failing culvert off of Labor-in-Vain Brook was replaced, leading to improved tidal flow to an 11-acre salt marsh. The project included the installation of a berm to prevent flooding to adjacent homes and the removal of portions of a regularly flooded parking lot to restore a tidal channel. The final result helps to protect coastal fish and plant habitat. · The Straits Pond Restoration Project, located at the junction of Hull, Cohasset, and Hingham, is the largest tidal restoration project to date in the Commonwealth at 94 acres. Culverts and expanded tide gates were installed to increase flow between the pond and the Weir River estuary, which is part of the Weir River Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC). Among the many partners, CZM’s South Shore coordinator, Jason Burtner, stands out for his many hours spent spearheading this effort over the past decade. · The Stony Brook Salt Marsh and Fish Run Restoration in Brewster, just completed in December, restores tidal flow to a 20-acre marsh and enhances fish passage to 3,000 feet of coastal stream and 386 acres of ponds used by herring by replacing an undersized culvert under Route 6A. NOAA funding, as well as collaborations from many partners, contributed to this success. With the completion of the Stony Brook project in Brewster, the state has managed more than 1,000 acres of wetlands restoration projects across the Commonwealth since these efforts began in 1998. Coastal Landscaping Website In March, CZM launched a new Coastal Landscaping website. Landscaping with native plants can help coastal property owners prevent storm damage and erosion, provide wildlife habitat, and reduce coastal water pollution—all while improving a property's visual appeal and natural character. The website presents: detailed information on the benefits of these landscaping techniques; step-by-step instructions on landscaping a bank, beach, or dune; tips for planting, installation, and maintenance; plant lists and photos; sample landscape plans; information on permitting; suggestions on where to purchase native plants; and links to additional information. The Surfrider Foundation's State of the Beach Report for 2010 recognized this website as one of the "Rad" programs that help to protect the nation’s shores. more 01/09/11 Call for calm as whale war waged in Southern Ocean - Authorities are calling for calm as the war over whaling heats up again in the Southern Ocean. Water cannons are being sprayed and stink bombs are being thrown as Japanese whaling ships once again clash with anti-whaling campaigners Sea Shepherd – with two skirmishes in the past week. Captain Paul Watson, on the Sea Shepherd boat Steve Irwin, said the run-ins were a "cat-and-mouse pursuit over thousands of miles of remote and dangerous seas". The first came on New Year's Day, when protesters threw stink bombs in glass bottles at a Japanese ship, and were in turn chased and fired on with water cannons. The Japanese have also alleged ropes were put in the water in an attempt to tangle their propellers. Then on Wednesday the two groups had another encounter, with stink bombs and water cannons again fired at each other. The whale-hunting season runs from about December to February. Mr Watson said Sea Shepherd would continue chasing the whaling ships till March if it had to, because it tied up the whalers' attention. "We chase them: they chase us. But the important thing is that we are all running, wasting away miles, and buying time for the whales." Meanwhile, the Japanese have labelled the activists' activities dangerous and illegal, and called for international intervention. "We call on all related countries including the Netherlands which is the Steve Irwin flag state and Australia, the Gojira provisional flag state and the virtual home port of these vessels, to stop condoning the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society violent actions and to take every means available to restrain them," the Institute of Cetacean Research, which runs Japan's scientific whaling programme, said after the latest incident. The Gojira is Sea Shepherd's newest boat. Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully said as far as he was aware no maritime rules had been broken in the skirmishes to date, but if they were it would be up to the countries the boats were from to take action. "There's been no suggestion that I'm aware of that any of the rules for behaviour on the high seas have been breached." The Government had no jurisdiction over the high seas, but the Southern Ocean was in New Zealand's search and rescue zone, which made it a concern, and he was keeping a watchful eye on the situation. Last year, the society's ship Ady Gil was destroyed in a collision with the Shonan Maru 2. The Kiwi skipper of the Ady Gil, Pete Bethune, then boarded the Japanese ship and was arrested. A repeat of that collision had to be avoided, Mr McCully said. more 01/07/11 Colossal Fossil: Museum's New Whale Skeleton Represents Decades of Research - Science Daily There's a whale of a new display at the University of Michigan Exhibit Museum of Natural History, a leviathan that represents a scientific saga of equally grand proportions. A complete, 50-foot-long skeleton of the extinct whale Basilosaurus isis, which lived 37 million years ago, now is suspended from the ceiling of the museum's second floor gallery and will reign over an updated whale evolution exhibit scheduled to open in April 2011. "It's a spectacular fossil," said Exhibit Museum director Amy Harris. "Basilosaurus looks ferocious with its big teeth, and we hope people will spend a lot of time looking at it, studying it and reading about it. The Exhibit Museum tells the story of life on Earth, and when museum visitors see Basilosaurus, they'll be able to see evidence for whale evolution, which is one of the more interesting stories in evolution." Basilosaurus and its companions also represent decades of paleontological detective work by a team led by Philip Gingerich, director of the U-M Museum of Paleontology and the Ermine Cowles Case Collegiate Professor of Paleontology. Since the 1980s, Gingerich and colleagues have located and mapped the remains of more than a thousand whales in an area of the Egyptian desert known as Wadi Hitan ("valley of the whales"), a UNESCO World Heritage site. Their work there was the subject of an article in the August 2010 issue of National Geographic. In addition, Gingerich and colleagues have made significant fossil whale discoveries in Pakistan. The finds have helped piece together the story of how whales evolved from typical land-dwelling mammals to creatures that spend their whole lives in the sea -- a story that will be showcased in the new exhibit, "Back to the Sea: The Evolution of Whales." The Basilosaurus skeleton was discovered in 1987, when a member of Gingerich's team found a bit of the whale's shoulder blade protruding from the sand. As he swept the sand away, he revealed the whale's lower jaws, but the field season was almost over, so the team simply noted the fossil's location and covered it back up. Two years later, they returned to excavate the skull and lower jaws, casts of which have been on display at U-M since 1997. On that same return trip, Gingerich made an astonishing discovery when he stopped to pick up what he thought was a piece of Basilosaurus rib. The "rib" turned out to be a small femur (thigh bone) of a mammal with a well formed knee joint. Suspecting that the diminutive leg belonged to Basilosaurus, Gingerich returned to a skeleton that was well exposed in the desert sand and, surprisingly quickly, recognized another small leg, this one in its rightful place far down the lengthy vertebral column. Armed with the knowledge that at least some of these huge whales had legs and knees and knowing where on the skeleton to look for them, Gingerich's team re-examined and excavated other Basilosaurus skeletons whose locations they had mapped, and ended up finding a complete pelvis, leg bones, ankles and even toe bones. The giant whale's legs and feet were small and useless for walking, but they represented an important link to its terrestrial ancestors. Gingerich kept busy with other fossil whales through the 1990s, working mainly in Pakistan, where his team found complete skeletons of early whales that could walk on land. Then, in 2005, the team returned to Wadi Hitan to see if they could find the rest of the Basilosaurus skeleton they'd partially excavated in 1987. After more than two weeks of painstaking work, they had exposed the remaining bones, which they encased in plaster jackets for shipping. Two and a half years passed, as Gingerich negotiated for permission to ship the bones back to Michigan. When the bones finally arrived, it took another year or more of work to expose, clean and stabilize the fossils. "We're talking about four tons of sediment, with the whale encased in the sediment," said William Sanders, an assistant research scientist who supervises the vertebrate fossil preparation laboratory. "We had to get these immense crates into the museum, break open the heavy plaster jackets, and then start separating the sediment away from the fossils. Four tons is a considerable amount to remove." For that task, Sanders enlisted a "small army" of work study and Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program students. Next came the "elaborate and exhausting" work of making replicas of the complete skeleton for study, display and exchange with other institutions -- a process that took even longer than cleaning the bones, Sanders said. Again, students were involved in the molding and casting. The replicas made for study are considerably lighter in weight than the original skeleton -- a single fossilized Basilosaurus vertebra weighs 35 pounds, while the fiberglass version weighs only two pounds -- but because the display skeleton was to be hung from the ceiling, the Exhibit Museum wanted it even lighter. So Exhibit Museum preparators Mike Cherney and Dan Erickson came up with a way of making foam-filled fiberglass replicas of the bones, and they worked with Gingerich to figure out exactly how to arrange the skeleton in a life-like pose -- a process that was as educational for Gingerich as for the preparators. "Just the act of mounting the skeleton makes you think about how the bones really fit together and confront uncertainties that you would never realize you didn't understand until you try to put them together," said Gingerich, who holds appointments in the departments of Geological Sciences, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and Anthropology. "So mounting it here has been a very satisfying and informative experience in terms of my research. I'm also thrilled to have this exhibit in the museum because it symbolizes the cooperation that goes into an international project, as well as the internationalism of the university." more 01/04/11 Tokyo Two declare whale meat victory - http://www.abc.net.au/ Two Japanese Greenpeace activists known as the Tokyo Two say they have been vindicated in their efforts to expose corruption in the country's whaling industry. The powerful Japanese Fisheries Agency has admitted that some of its officials took kickbacks of whale meat. For Toru Suzuki, this confession by the Fisheries Agency could help overturn his criminal conviction. Together with fellow Greenpeace activist Junichi Sato, he was handed a one-year suspended sentence for stealing whale meat. He says he was merely intercepting public property stolen by the whalers and exposing this corruption in the public interest. "This is a big victory for us," Mr Suzuki said. "This is a very important step for us to tell the Japanese public about what we've been doing." Six months ago the ABC broadcast allegations by two whaling crew members that officials and crew were illegally taking thousands of dollars worth of whale cuts. At the time the Fisheries Agency denied the allegations, but it has now reprimanded officials for taking more than $3,000 worth of whale meat. The agency has apologised and vowed to stamp out corruption in the industry. But the confession by the Fisheries Agency that public officials corruptly accepted whale meat has been barely reported in Japan. Prime Minister Julia Gillard says the revelations reinforce the Federal Government's legal action against Japan's whaling program. more 01/01/11 Japan admits whale meat scam - http://www.abc.net.au/ Japan's Fisheries Agency has admitted its officials accepted gifts of whale meat from the body that runs the country's so-called scientific whaling program. Six months ago the ABC broadcast allegations by two whaling crew members that officials and crew were illegally taking thousands of dollars worth of whale cuts. At the time the Fisheries Agency denied the allegations, but it has now reprimanded five of its officials for taking more than $3,000 worth of whale meat. Agency spokesman Toyohiko Ota has publicly apologised for the scandal. "I deeply apologise for this act in which officials took whale meat," he said. "It's an act for which we will lose credibility. We will take prevention measures so it will never happen again," he added, with a deep bow of apology. The original allegations, broadcast on ABC TV's Foreign Correspondent program, undermined Japan's claim that its whaling program was purely for science. "One crew member would take home 500 to 600 kilograms of whale meat as if it was normal," one of the whistleblowers said. "That's a little too much to eat at home. Some people give it to their neighbours, others are obviously selling it. I heard a story that one crewman built a house from selling whale meat." At the time the allegations were dismissed by the Institute for Cetacean Research, which helps run Japan's whaling program. The Fisheries Agency also denied that officials or crew took whale meat for personal consumption or profit. Although the agency now admits that more than $3,000 worth of meat was taken, Greenpeace and the two whistleblowers believe that is just a fraction of the amount that has been embezzled. And today's admission is a massive boost for the two Japanese Greenpeace activists known as the Tokyo Two. Four months ago, Toru Suzuki and Junichi Sato were given suspended jail sentences for theft. Their crime was to track and then intercept a box of whale meat taken by a crew member. They later handed the box over to prosecutors. But instead of the crewman being charged, Suzuki and Sato ended up in the dock and with a criminal conviction. Sato spoke to the ABC outside the court after his conviction in September. "It's outrageous that the court actually recognised that there is some ambiguous handlings of whale meat in the whaling industry," he said. "Even so, they are trying to punish us [with] one year in prison and three years in suspended. It is outrageous, and if this is a democratic country, this shouldn't be happening." The Tokyo Two have now challenged that conviction, and this admission from the Japanese Fisheries Agency is certain to be a key plank of their appeal. Greenpeace Australia's Stephen Campbell says the agency's admission shows there is no such thing as scientific whaling. "We know in fact that the Japanese whalers toss whale meat overboard as well," he told ABC News 24. "All of this activity in the Southern Ocean is really largely for show and to keep the Japanese Fisheries Agency alive and to feather the nests of the few officials." more 12/29/10 Japanese Fishing Agency gets gifts of whale meat - Greenpeace After more than two and half years of pressure by Greenpeace and the famous "Tokyo Two" trials, officials with the Japanese Fishing Agency publicly admitted last week that they received whale meat as "gifts" from private companies contracted by the government to slaughter whales. One of the officials, who according to press reports was one of several who received gifts of whale meat with an estimated value of $180 to $840, even went so far as to bow in apology to the assembled media. Junichi Sato, one of the defendants of the "Tokyo Two" trial and now Executive and Program Director of Greenpeace Japan said of the victory that, "Greenpeace welcomes the Fisheries Agency of Japan's decision to discipline its officials who had been receiving free whale meat from the whaling operating company. However, FAJ only punished 5 officials while the corruption in the whaling program is much bigger and institutionalized. Greenpeace demands a third-party investigation on the whale meat scandal to reveal the true face of the whaling program." "…the recognition of the corruption in the whaling program by FAJ itself will strike the credibility of the program significantly,” Sato added. This is a great victory for Greenpeace and people like you who support the work we’re doing to pressure the Japanese government to end its annual slaughter of whales in the Southern Ocean. more 12/26/10 Whalers double hunt area to foil activists - http://www.mooneevalleyweekly.com.au JAPANESE whalers have radically changed their plans this summer, doubling the area of the Southern Ocean in which they say they may hunt. The change, notified to the International Whaling Commission, will make it more difficult for anti-whaling activists to find the whalers. Japan's self-awarded scientific permit for 2010-11 gives the whaling fleet millions of square kilometres of ocean south of Australia in which to hunt, as well as south of New Zealand. In previous seasons, the fleet has alternated between these two areas. Until the notification was given to the commission's secretariat in Britain, it was thought to be the turn of New Zealand, whose authorities would be mainly responsible for search and rescue, monitoring and surveillance. The Greens leader, Bob Brown, said the shift made it imperative for Australian authorities to watch the hunt, at least through aerial surveillance. ''I will be talking to the Japanese ambassador in Canberra and offering the opinion that this is criminal behaviour in the Australian Antarctic Territory,'' Senator Brown said. The Environment Minister, Tony Burke, said there had been no decision to send a monitoring vessel south this season, and there were adequate international protocols to fulfil search-and-rescue obligations. The permit confirms that a four-ship fleet plans to take up to 935 minke whales and 50 fin whales this summer. Humpbacks also have been included, but Japan told the commission it would continue to suspend this catch ''as long as progress is being made in the discussions on the future of the IWC''. These talks stalled at the commission's annual meeting in Morocco last June, and no further talks have been scheduled. Greenpeace's international whales campaign co-ordinator, John Frizell, said the fleet's size had been reduced for the second year, and the season shortened by one month. ''Whatever they are doing, it is not business as usual, and I suspect it is being driven largely by the fact that sales of whale meat in Japan are poor and that they need to cut operating costs,'' he said. The marine conservation organisation Sea Shepherd has three ships preparing to search for the fleet, which it is believed will arrive in Antarctic waters in about a week. Sea Shepherd's founder, Paul Watson, said: ''The wider area will of course make it more difficult for us to find the whaling fleet, and this new special permit has Japan thumbing their noses at both Australia and New Zealand.'' more 12/21/10 Minister warns of armed whaling ships - http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz New Zealand foreign Minister McCully warns anti-whaling protesters that Japanese ships will be armed and says activists must take care The government is warning anti-whaling protesters that Japan is taking a strong stand to prevent any action against them this year, after clashes last season. Last year, Pete Bethune, the New Zealand skipper of the Ady Gill which was destroyed in a collision with the Shonan Maru, climbed aboard the Japanese vessel in an attempt to serve a citizen's arrest on its captain. He was arrested and taken to Japan where he stood trial. The Greens want the government to do everything it can to keep anti-whaling protesters safe on the seas this summer, including sending offshore patrol vessels to the Southern Ocean but Foreign Minister Murray McCully has ruled that out. He is warning activists that Japanese whaling ships will have armed officers on board this season and says it's up to protesters to keep themselves safe. "We've got information to suggest that the intent of the protesters is to take a fairly robust approach. It's a recipe that causes me considerable concern which is why I keep reminding people of the need for them to observe the law of the sea in regard to the safety of human beings." However, Green MP Gareth Hughes says more needs to be done and sending ships would provide Japan with a strong signal. "If a ship is able to go it should be sent because what we're talking about is people's lives on the high sea. Also I believe we can legitimately question New Zealand's commitment this year towards whale conservation." The government has announced it won't join Australia in taking court action against Japan's whaling programme but will have input into the case. Australia is applying to the United Nations' highest court, the International Court of Justice, to stop Japan's co-called 'scientific whaling.' more 12/16/10 NZ not joining whaling court action - http://www.3news.co.nz New Zealand won't join in Australian court action over Japanese whaling but will have input into the case. The Government has decided not to file as a party to Australia's legal action in the International Court of Justice, the UN's highest court, against Japanese 'scientific whaling' in the Southern Ocean. But it will have input into the case, Foreign Minister Murray McCully and his Australian counterpart Kevin Rudd said in a joint statement. In June, Australia launched a complaint against Japanese whaling at the court in The Hague. Commercial whaling was banned worldwide in 1986, but Japan set up the non-profit Institute of Cetacean Research a year later and has since culled hundreds of the ocean mammals annually for scientific research. Japan argues its scientific activity is permitted under the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, but Australia says it is a commercial activity. Mr McCully said that the Cabinet had this week agreed to his recommendation to intervene in the case but not to file as a party. "Australia has indicated that they would prefer New Zealand not to file as a party. Because New Zealand has a judge on the ICJ, Sir Kenneth Keith, the joining of the two actions would result in Australia losing its entitlement to appoint a judge for the case. New Zealand's decision to intervene will allow the case to proceed without delay," Mr McCully said. "With this decision made, we have begun to focus on new diplomatic and communications strategies to try to persuade Japan to end whaling in the Southern Ocean. With this in mind, I have spoken to Japan's Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara to explore the room for further diplomatic initiatives." Mr Rudd said New Zealand's decision was what Australia wanted. "New Zealand has once again confirmed that it is a strong partner of Australia in the bid to end scientific whaling and improve whale conservation worldwide," Mr Rudd said. "By intervening in the case, New Zealand will be able to make both written and oral submissions to the court that Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean is contrary to its obligations under applicable international conventions to which Australia and New Zealand are also Parties. "We have kept in close consultation with the Government of New Zealand about how best to progress our shared anti-whaling objectives. We are very pleased with the valuable support New Zealand will lend to this vital case." more 12/13/10 'Godzilla' ready to battle Japan's tardy whalers - http://www.watoday.com.au ANTI-WHALING campaigners begin their Antarctic season a few days ago with a dilemma - the whalers are said to be still in Japan. Sea Shepherd has overhauled its two existing ships and bought its first Australian-flagged vessel, the $1 million Gojira, to launch this summer's campaign from Hobart. The 90 activists will leave tonight to train off Tasmania before heading south, leader Paul Watson said. Advertisement: Story continues below Sea Shepherd's Gojira. However, Sea Shepherd members in Japan this week photographed the factory whaling ship Nisshin Maru docked at its home port of Innoshima and Greenpeace said there was no sign of it leaving. The fleet usually departs by mid-November, but even if the main ship of the fleet left later this week it would probably not begin processing whales until January, Captain Watson said. The Institute of Cetacean Research still plans to take up to 935 minkes and 50 fin whales, institute spokesman Glenn Inwood said. Gojira (Japanese for ''Godzilla'') presents a potentially ticklish diplomatic problem for the Gillard government as the first Sea Shepherd vessel to be Australian flagged. Tokyo persuaded other countries to strip Sea Shepherd of ship registrations because of its actions against the whalers. The Netherlands held out and still flags the Steve Irwin and Bob Barker. Formerly the round-the-world-record-holding Ocean Adventurer, Gojira is twice the size of the sunken Ady Gil and faster than any of the whaling ships. It is expected to scout for the fleet ahead of the other two ships. ''As long as we can keep on the Nisshin Maru we'll shut them down,'' Captain Watson said. ''I think for the first time we are stronger than them.'' The institute does not comment on the fleet's movements, but the delayed departure has been attributed to logistical troubles caused by decommissioning of the whalers' usual re-supply vessel. In past seasons the Hiyo Maru No. 2, also known as Oriental Bluebird, refuelled the fleet mid-season and took on frozen whale meat to return to Japan, freeing up freezer capacity on Nisshin Maru. However the Hiyo Maru No. 2 was sold recently to be broken up for scrap. Greenpeace oceans campaigner Wakao Hanaoka said the whalers faced a growing problem selling their product. ''There is no whale meat demand any more,'' he said. ''It has not been economic for a long time, but now this is becoming critical.'' This season, armed Japan Coast Guard officers will be with the whalers, according to Nobutaka Tsutsui, senior vice minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Kyodo news reported. Some of Sea Shepherd's tactics are expected to be moderated. Captain Watson said controversial ''rotten butter'' butyric acid thrown to taint whaling ships' decks will be replaced by a chemical called Pseudo Corpse, which is used to train sniffer dogs to find bodies. more 12/10/10 Whaling mother ship leaves port - Japan times The Nisshin Maru, the mother ship of Japan's whaling fleet, left Innoshima port in Hiroshima Prefecture on Thursday, presumably to participate in the annual hunt in the Antarctic Ocean, Greenpeace Japan said. Greenpeace sent staff to Innoshima to witness the Nisshin Maru leave port, the group's secretary general, Junichi Sato, said, adding that Greenpeace couldn't confirm if the ship left for the Antarctic Ocean. Kyodo Senpaku, the company that owns the Nisshin Maru, declined comment. The departure is unusually late. The fleet set sail between Nov. 6 and Nov. 19 in each of the last 10 years until last year. Greenpeace predicts the duration of research whaling, in which whalers kill the mammals to collect ear wax to check their age and bring their meat home for food, will be shorter this year because of decreasing demand for whale meat. The fleet normally arrives in the Antarctic Ocean after a voyage of three to four weeks. more 12/07/10 Fleshing out the Life Histories of Dead Whales - Science Daily Dead whales that sink down to the seafloor provide a feast for deep-sea animals that can last for years. Previous research suggested that such "whale falls" were homes for unique animals that lived nowhere else. However, after sinking five whale carcasses in Monterey Canyon, researchers from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) found that most of the animals at these sites were not unique to whale falls, but were common in other deep-sea environments as well. Nonetheless, the whale-fall communities did include a few very abundant animals that were "bone specialists," including 15 species of bone-eating Osedax worms and several newly discovered species of bone-eating snails. In 2004, evolutionary biologist Robert Vrijenhoek and his colleagues announced the discovery of a new family of bone-eating worms, which they found two years earlier living on a dead whale in Monterey Canyon, almost 3,000 meters below the sea surface. Following this discovery, Vrijenhoek's team set out to study how these worms survived, reproduced, and spread from one whale carcass to another. To this end, MBARI researchers and marine operations staff hauled five very smelly dead whales off the beaches of Monterey Bay, attached weights to the carcasses, and sank them at different depths in Monterey Canyon. Over the next six years, MBARI researchers and collaborators revisited these whale falls every few months. This long-term, concerted effort involved dozens of dives using MBARI's remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). After each dive, MBARI's video-lab staff identified all of the animals visible in video recordings taken by the ROV, and entered the results into MBARI's Video Annotation and Reference System (VARS) database. One result of this effort was the discovery of 14 additional species of Osedax worms, as well as new species of anemones, snails, worms, crabs, and other deep-sea animals. At first, this work appeared to support the conclusions of previous researchers -- that many of the animals at whale falls were unique. In 2010, however, MBARI marine biologists re-analyzed the hundreds of hours of video footage from Vrijenhoek's ROV dives. Using the VARS database, the researchers counted all of the different types of animals observed at the Monterey Bay whale falls over the last six years. They discovered that, rather than being whale-fall specialists, most of the animals were "background species," which were common elsewhere in Monterey Bay. The results of this new research are described in a recent paper published in Deep-Sea Research. The paper was written by MBARI biologist Lonny Lundsten in collaboration with Vrijenhoek and six other researchers. The research team also studied how the animals at each whale fall changed over time. Like previous researchers, they found that, during the first few months after the carcass reached the seafloor, a few species of scavenging animals, including sharks, hagfish, rattails, and crabs, removed flesh from the whale bones. As the flesh disappeared, a more diverse collection of animals appeared, including some that fed on whale bones or on seafloor bacteria, as well as predators that hunted animals attracted to the carcass. Overall, however, the Monterey whale-fall communities did not seem to progress through a well-defined or consistent series of stages, as had been observed at other sites. In fact, each of the whale falls followed a different sequence of community development, involving different key species. There were, however, similarities between the animal communities observed at similar depths. For example, the whale falls in shallower water were sometimes surrounded dense swarms of tiny, shrimp-like amphipods. In the same way, whales at similar depths were colonized by similar species of Osedax worms. The presence of over a dozen species of Osedax worms reflects the fact that these worms largely control the fate of whale falls in Monterey Canyon. Because these worms devour the primary source of nutrition at a whale fall -- the whale bones -- they dictate how long a whale-fall community will survive. Thus Lundsten's paper shows that Osedax worms are not just another weird deep-sea animal, but a "foundation species." But it turns out that Osedax worms are not the only animals that eat whale bones. In a recent paper in Biological Bulletin, MBARI researcher Shannon Johnson describes two new species of bone-eating snails. One of the new snails, Rubyspira osteovora, is the second most abundant animal (after Osedax worms) at the deepest Monterey whale fall. Johnson and her colleagues are still trying to determine if these snails can digest whale bones directly or require the help of "symbiotic" bacteria. If Rubyspira snails do not require symbiotic bacteria to digest bone, they would be the only known marine animals capable of surviving on a diet of bone alone. They also appear to be "living fossils," representing a lineage that survived from the time of the dinosaurs (the Cretaceous era). With all of these worms and snails feeding on them, whale carcasses in Monterey Canyon do not seem to last as long as those observed elsewhere. Lundsten's paper suggests that the whale carcasses in Monterey Canyon will completely decompose in less than 10 years. In contrast, whale carcasses studied off Southern California may survive for 50 to 100 years. Lundsten and his coauthors suggest that the Southern California whale carcasses last longer because: 1) They lie in deep basins where the seawater contains very little oxygen (and thus fewer Osedax worms); and 2) They are mostly adult whales, which have thicker, more heavily calcified bones, whereas the whales in Monterey Bay were mostly juveniles. Even though the whale carcasses that were "planted" in Monterey Canyon are rapidly disappearing, they continue to support interesting communities of animals and microorganisms. Vrijenhoek and his fellow researchers are in the process of describing several new species of snails, limpets, worms, and amphipods, all from the whale falls in Monterey Bay. As Lundsten concludes in his paper, "As these sites progress into their final stages of degradation, they will continue to reveal new insights into life and death in the deep seafloor." more 12/04/10 Japanese whalers to be chased by Godzilla - http://www.news.com.au THE Australian Federal Government's willingness to crack down on illegal whaling will be tested if Sea Shepherd's newest and only Australian registered vessel is rammed or attacked by Japanese whalers. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society today launched its new interceptor vessel Gojira, named after the widely-feared monster of Japanese film known in English as Godzilla. The non-for-profit organisation's director Jeff Hansen said the Gojira will be a game-changer in this year's fight against illegal Japanese whaling as it can out-run harpoon vessels. "This vessel can out-run any Japanese vessel, so it means we'll have the element of surprise and we can find the factory ship," Mr Hansen said. "The factory ship is the one we're after and if we can find it, we can shut down whaling. "We save 10 to 12 whales a day by blocking the slipway on the factory ship so really this vessel is going to play a huge part in shutting down the Japanese whaling fleet for the entire summer." The Gojira set off from Fremantle today to join the Steve Irwin and Bob Barker in Hobart before leaving on December 2 to defend the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary. Its captain, Locky MacLean, said having the fast, new vessel combined with Japanese whalers still to leave port, it was anticipated Sea Shepherd would be able to stop all whales from being slaughtered this year. "If we can get down there before they do we can stop them straight off the bat which would be a big blow to the whaling industry down there," Mr McLean said. "Last year we followed them for 45 days and during the 45 days they didn't kill a single whale. If we can do that again this year and be there right when they get there, we've got a full quota on our side." The Gojira is Sea Shepherd's first Australian registered vessel, with Fremantle as designated as home port, and will have Australian citizens on board. In January the crew of Sea Shepherd's protest boat the Ady Gil claimed they were rammed by a Japanese whaling ship in the Southern Ocean but New Zealand authorities found both vessels were at fault. Mr Hansen said the Federal Government would be tested in its response if a similar incident occurred with the Gojira. "We hope the Australian Government, if there's any issues down there, that they will step up and defend a vessel that's named and birthed as a home port in Australia and has Australian citizens on board," he said. "We hope the Australian Government will have the guts to take on the whalers." more 11/28/10 Beer bottles lead to whale of a tale - http://www2.canada.com Jenelle Reece and her schoolmates had just finished tossing hundreds of beer bottles overboard when a humpback and her calf swam up for a friendly encounter. The whales hung around for close to an hour, splashing their mottled flippers and sidling up so close the students could almost touch their huge heads. Then the humpbacks, like the beer bottles, headed for parts unknown. "Just unbelievable," says Ernie Hill, principal of the school in Hartley Bay, a remote First Nations village on British Columbia's Central Coast, who welcomed a chance for his students to participate in a growing global experiment. The drift bottle project, led by federal scientist Eddy Carmack at Fisheries and Ocean Canada, is charting surface currents and how they can carry things along -- be it beer bottles, young salmon or spilled oil. Carmack's growing army of volunteers from Greenland to B.C. has dropped more than 4,500 bottles since 2000. Each one carries a message saying when and where it was tossed and asking the finder to contact Carmack's team. Some bottles beach within days, many sink and the ones that meet their demise on rocks "return to the earth," says Carmack, as the glass, paper and cork break down. But others make incredible journeys. One far-flung "drifter" turned up in Puerto Rico after travelling about 15,000 kilometres -- almost a third of the way around the Earth -- from where it was dropped near Baffin Island four years earlier. Another 50 bottles tossed off icebreakers and ships in Canada's North slipped out of the Arctic by Greenland, and were swept across the Atlantic, bobbing along at five to 10 kilometres a day, before making landfall in Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Norway and Denmark. Carmack says the bottles do "a pretty good job of mimicking anything that is floating in the surface waters." This fall's 500-bottle drop in B.C. waters helps underscore how poorly understood the currents are off the rugged Central Coast -- and the danger posed by plans to ship Alberta's crude oil to Asia and the United States, says Hill, who is also a hereditary chief in Hartley Bay. The community, accessible by boat and air, is part of the growing coalition opposed to Enbridge Inc.'s proposed Northern Gateway project to pipe crude from Alberta's oilsands to a container terminal in Kitimat, B.C., where more than 200 supertankers a year would be filled and head down a long channel passing within sight of Hartley Bay. more 11/24/10 Whale Saved 10 Years Ago Reunites With Rescuers - treehugger.com One morning in November 2000, a large humpback whale was found stranded on a beach near Ubatuba, Brazil, clinging to life in the crashing surf. It didn't take long before a team was assembled of nearly one hundred fishermen, firefighters, biologists, and locals who began working tirelessly to return the struggling animal back to sea -- and after twelve long hours, they were successful. Still, as that whale slipped beneath the waves and out of sight, those volunteers could only hope their efforts were not in vain, knowing full well that the whale's chances of survival were slim. But now, after ten years of guessing, rescuers are finally sure the whale is alive and well -- because they've seen it. Sadly, beached whales have become an all too common sight in Brazil; this year alone, 95 animals have been discovered, only one of which was returned to the sea alive. For the rescuers who inevitably arrive to give beached whales a fighting chance, the work is daunting and the outcomes uncertain at best -- but for the first time ever, it has been discovered that their efforts can pay off. In 2008, biologists doing researcher in the waters off Brazil spotted a large, healthy-looking humpback whale with coloring that was startlingly similar to the one they'd rescued from the beach eight years earlier. To confirm this unlikely reunion, skin samples were collected and compared to those taken from the stranded animal in 2000. Now, after genetic analysis, it has finally been confirmed to be the same whale. Never before has a rescued whale been re-encountered after so long at sea -- and the news is giving hope to those who continue to devote their time to saving beached whales. "The confirmation of the survival of this animal for a least eight years after its stranding shows that, despite the low chances of survival, it is worth every effort to save the whales," veterinarian Milton Marcondes told Brazilian media. The odds that a whale will survive after beaching, however, are still quite slim. Of the hundreds of whales that have become stranded over the years, only three large humpbacks were returned to the ocean alive -- and even then, it isn't known whether they survive for long or not. In the past, some have questioned if efforts to save beached whales were worth the trouble, believing that the animals were sick or injured and would likely die in either case. But for the biologists and volunteers who struggle in the surf to rescue those majestic creatures in desperate need of a helping hand, the slightest chance of success is always worth their sweat, and often, tears. And with a fleeting glimpse of one such rescued whale, swimming alive and free against the current and against the odds -- they can carry on knowing that they do not toil in vain. more 11/18/10 Sonar Inspired by Dolphins: New Kind of Underwater Device Can Detect Objects Through Bubble Clouds - Science Daily Scientists at the University of Southampton have developed a new kind of underwater sonar device that can detect objects through bubble clouds that would effectively blind standard sonar. Just as ultrasound is used in medical imaging, conventional sonar 'sees' with sound. It uses differences between emitted sound pulses and their echoes to detect and identify targets. These include submerged structures such as reefs and wrecks, and objects, including submarines and fish shoals. However, standard sonar does not cope well with bubble clouds resulting from breaking waves or other causes, which scatter sound and clutter the sonar image. Professor Timothy Leighton of the University of Southampton's Institute of Soundand Vibration Research (ISVR), who led the research, explained: "Cold War sonar was developed mainly for use in deep water where bubbles are not much of a problem, but many of today's applications involve shallow waters. Better detection and classification of targets in bubbly waters are key goals of shallow-water sonar." Leighton and his colleagues have developed a new sonar concept called twin inverted pulse sonar (TWIPS). TWIPS exploits the way that bubbles pulsate in sound fields, which affects the characteristics of sonar echoes. "To catch prey, some dolphins make bubble nets in which the best man-made sonar would not work. It occurred to me that either dolphins were blinding their sonar when making such nets, or else they have a better sonar system. There were no recordings of the type of sonar that dolphins use in bubble nets, so instead of producing a bio-inspired sonar by copying dolphin signals, I sat down and worked out what pulse I would use if I were a dolphin," said Leighton. As its name suggests, TWIPS uses trains of twinned pairs of sound pulses. The first pulse of each pair has a waveform that is an inverted replica of that of its twin. The first pulse is emitted a fraction of a second before its inverted twin. Leighton's team first showed theoretically that TWIPS might be able to enhance scatter from the target while simultaneously suppressing clutter from bubbles. In principle, it could therefore be used to distinguish echoes from bubble clouds and objects that would otherwise remain hidden. In their latest study, the researchers set out to see whether TWIPS would work in practice. Using a large testing tank, they showed experimentally that TWIPS outperformed standard sonar at detecting a small steel disc under bubbly conditions resembling those found under oceanic breaking waves. Encouraged by their findings, they next conducted trials at sea aboard the University of Southampton's coastal research vessel the RV Bill Conway. They compared the ability of TWIPS and standard sonar to discern the seabed in Southampton Water, which handles seven per cent of the UK's entire seaborne trade. The seabed in this area varies in depth between 10 and 20 metres. "TWIPS outperformed standard sonar in the wake of large vessels such as passenger ferries," said co-author Dr Justin Dix of the University of Southampton's School of Ocean and Earth Science (SOES) based at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton. Possible future marine applications for TWIPS include harbour protection and the detection of bubbles in marine sediments and manufacturing. Technologies based on the same basic principles could be used in medical ultrasound imaging, which was already using pairs of inverted pulses to enhance (rather than suppress) contrast agents injected into the body. The TWIPS principle would work with other sensors such as in Magnetic resonance imaging(MRI), and Leighton has proposed TWIPR (Twin Inverted Pulse Radar) for the detection of improvised explosive devices or covert circuitry. But what about the original inspiration for the research -- do dolphins and other echolocating animals use TWIPS? "Key ingredients of a TWIPS system appear in separate species but they have never been found all together in a single species," said Leighton. "There is currently no evidence that dolphins use TWIPS processing, although no-one has yet taken recordings of the signals from animals hunting with bubble nets in the wild. How they successfully detect prey in bubbly water remains a mystery that we are working to solve. I have to pay credit to the team -- students Daniel Finfer and Gim-Hwa Chua of ISVR, and Paul White (ISVR) and Justin Dix of SOES. Our applications for funding this work were repeatedly turned down, and it took real grit and determination to keep going for the five years it took us to get this far." more 11/14/10 Dead whale beached in Denmark 'was world's oldest' - http://www.thesundaily.com COPENHAGEN (Nov 2, 2010): A whale which died after being stranded in a Danish fjord earlier this year was 130-140 years old – making it likely the oldest known whale to date, officials said Tuesday. The age was determined after analysis of the fin whale's carcass conducted at the Natural History Museum in Copenhagen. Initial estimates had put the whale's age at 15 to 20 years. However, analysis of amino acids in the whale's eyes proved it was more likely to have been 130 to 140 years old, museum conservator Abdi Hedayat told the local newspaper Lokal-Bladet Budstikken. "That makes it the world's oldest, scientifically described whale," he said. A 116-year-old fin whale held the previous longevity record. The beached whale was spotted in June at several locations in western Denmark before it became stranded in the Vejle Fjord. Several attempts to free the whale failed after it swam back to shallow waters. The whale's struggle attracted hundreds of bystanders. The whale was not particularly large, measuring some 17 meters, which is seven meters shorter than the largest known fin whale. Hedayat said the old whale might have suffered from brittleness of the bones, but that had not been established. more 11/06/10 Epic fight for their lives (backboned species) - usatoday 1 in 5 backboned species on planet face extinction Nearly one in five mammal, reptile, bird or amphibian species, from Tasmanian devils to whooping cranes, face extinction, international experts report. Without the nature reserves erected over the last half-century, more would be gone. “Conservation is working: there is just not enough of it,” says study author ANA Rodrigues of France’s Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive. “Now is the time to scale up Conservation.” The five decade survey of the extinction status of 25,780 vertebrate species, roughly half of all backboned animals was released by the journal Science. Led by Michael Hoffmann of the United Nations Environmental Program, the results find that almost a fifth of those species are threatened with extinction (from 13% of birds to 41% of amphibians), meaning either that there are fewer than 50 individuals left, or the species chances of extinction are 50% or greater within 10 years. The declines are mostly due to expanding farmland, overlogging, overfishing and competition from invasive species. An additional 52 vertebrate species move closer to extinction in a typical year. By comparing 50-year population trends both before and after conservation measures such as regulation and erection of preserves, however, the survey shows 18% more species would be threatened with extinction had the measures not been taken. Some success stories: Humpback whale. Protected by whaling conventions, populations have recovered to about 80.000 from 5,000 in the 1960’s. California condor. Once numbering only 22, no more than 300 exist because of captive breeding efforts. Przewalski’s horse. Increased from 13 or 14 living in 1945 to more than 1800 today. “This is a really conservative estimate of conservation’s effects,” says ecologist Taylor Ricketts of the world Wildlife Fund in Washington D.C. “The extinction findings are in line with past reports, but finding a basic effectiveness for conservation world-wide is the bottom-line news.” The results, being presented today at the 10th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Nagoya, Japan, mean that 193 nations have failed to meet a 1993 agreed-upon goal “to achieve by 2010 a signify ant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national level as a contribution to poverty alleviation and to the benefit of all life on earth.” Representatives of those nations are at the meeting to discuss a new agreement on protecting species. Economists estimate that biodiversity brings about $33 trillion in annual benefits worldwide to humanity, notes study co-author Stuart Butchart of the United Kingdom’s BirdLife International, through cleaner water, pest consumption and other environmental benefits. “ Money spent on conservation isn’t wasted, it’s cost effective, “ he says. more 11/03/10 Meet WA's teenage whale rider: 14-year-old Sam Matheson - http://www.perthnow.com.au/ THE teenageer who made international headlines after he rode a whale off the WA coast says he just wanted a closer look at the gentle giant. The Sunday Times can today reveal the boy who climbed on to a southern right whale off Middleton Beach in Albany, 420km south of Perth, last month was Sam Matheson, 14. The Albany Senior High School student's actions sparked a Department of Environment investigation and made headlines in the US, Britain, Canada, New Zealand even Ghana. But speaking publicly for the first time since the incident, the keen surfer, fisherman and motorcross rider said he regretted climbing on to the whale. Sam said, in a spur-of-the-moment decision to see how close he could get, he swam out to the 14m whale, stroked it and then lifted himself on to the animal for about 30 seconds. He did not realise swimming within 30m of a whale was illegal or dangerous, he said. "I was down at the beach with my mate Shayden. The whale was right there, only about 10 or 15m from the rocks. It's not that often that a whale comes so close. I wanted to seize the opportunity and have a closer look," he said. "I swam out to it and put my arms on it, sort of laid against it for about 20 or 30 seconds. I was out of the water from the waist up. It was like a leather texture, like a really smooth leather, really soft. It wasn't even scary, it was like, 'Dude, it's a whale'. "It didn't even notice me until I laid on it. Then it lifted up its tail, it went under and it pulled me down at bit, but I was fine and I swam back to the rocks. "I didn't even think I'd done anything wrong until I saw the news and all the stories on the internet. It was on CNN. It was everywhere. If I had known it was illegal I wouldn't have done it." His mother, Tammy Smit-Sell, 35, said Sam was "not a delinquent" but had an adventurous spirit. She agreed to speak publicly to set the record straight after hurtful comments around town and some media reports that Sam stood or jumped on the whale. "He's not bad misunderstood maybe but not bad. He's not a delinquent but he is gutsy," Mrs Smit-Sell said. "He's grown up around the ocean, he loves the ocean. He loves surfing, fishing and diving. Sam would never even keep an undersize fish, let alone harm a whale. He's been taught to take care of the ocean. He's done what most people have only dreamed of doing. "It was more like, 'Wow, there's a whale'. There's no way he'd ever want to hurt anything, and he certainly didn't realise it was illegal. "Some of the comments I've heard have been really inappropriate. Some people have said, 'String him up and make an example of him'. Don't people remember what it's like to be a kid? He's a good kid and this was blown out of all proportion." Sam said he weighed only 57kg and didn't think the whale would notice him. He estimated the whale was about 14m in length and 4m wide. "There was no malicious intent. I like fishing, but besides that, I would never hurt anything in the ocean," he said. Wildlife officers were alerted when a beach-goer took a photo of Sam on the whale and reported the incident. Mrs Smit-Sell said she wanted to thank the woman for not releasing the photo. Department of Environment and Conservation regional manager Mike Shephard said officers had interviewed Sam, who was remorseful, and issued him with a warning. Harassing protected species is an offence under the Wildlife Conservation Act. The maximum penalty is $10,000. The exclusion zone around whales is 100m for boats, surfers and people on kayaks. more 10/31/10 Marine noise 'worth inquiry' - http://www.nzherald.co.nz The possible connection between undersea noise and mass whale strandings in New Zealand deserves more attention, say marine scientists. The stranding in the Far North of 70 pilot whales last month accentuated New Zealand's position as one of the most frequent sites of mass strandings in the world. Scientists are keen to unlock the mysteries of group strandings, saying that our marine biodiversity and industry - especially tourism - is dependent on understanding marine mammals' behaviour. Whales may become beached for various reasons - illness, disorientation or an unwillingness to abandon sick pod members. But the cause of mass strandings in New Zealand remains difficult to understand because of a lack of research and funding. Te Papa marine mammals collections manager Anton van Helden said the effect of noise - sonar, seismic testing, or boating activity - on marine mammals was an obvious avenue for research. Overseas studies had already made significant developments in this area. United States-initiated research in the Canary Islands and the Bahamas directly linked US naval activity, especially sonar, to mass strandings of beaked whales. Similar research in New Zealand could be prohibitively expensive. Mr van Helden said acoustic testing for petroleum drilling would probably have to be funded by oil companies. But scientists said New Zealand could begin making small steps to make sure mass strandings were not being caused by loud underwater sounds. Marine biologist Dr Rochelle Constantine emphasised that New Zealand was unlikely to ever have resources to understand the physics of underwater sounds and their effect on marine mammals' behaviour. "But, in saying that, it doesn't mean New Zealand shouldn't make a better effort at understanding the marine mammals in a particular area ... where seismic testing is being done." She said the Government needed to keep good records of where loud underwater sounds were occurring. "Because in the case of a mass stranding event, [the underwater sound] may well explain it. If we know when those sounds are occurring, we can respond to the strandings properly." The Department of Conservation was reviewing its guidelines for seismic activity in New Zealand waters. Operators such as petroleum prospectors were required to observe and listen for marine mammals when carrying out underwater work. But Dr Constantine said, "I do worry that industry is getting away with a very basic level of monitoring, especially given the massive diversity of cetaceans that we have." Her current research focused on the interaction between recreational boating and Bryde's whales in the Hauraki Gulf. She said there was evidence that underwater sounds from boating could mask communication between marine mammals. more 10/27/10 Tail of a whale, snapped in 2 seas, reveals surprising wanderlust - capecodtimes.com By scouring a photo-sharing website for tourists’ pictures of whales, a citizen scientist from Maine has helped to document a female humpback’s record-breaking 6,000-mile journey from Brazil to Madagascar. The distinctive tail of Whale 1363 was photographed off the Brazil coast in 1999, and off Madagascar two years later. The remarkable voyage of whale number 1363 from one breeding ground to another is a scientific discovery for the social-networking age — a study made possible both by vacation photos posted on Flickr and an exhaustive library of photos of whales’ tails that scientists have built since the 1970s. “This to me is just an incredibly exciting way of reminding people they are our whales — they’re not the biologist’s whales,’’ said Gale McCullough of Hancock, Maine, who has become a liaison to Flickr for the Allied Whale research group at the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine. She regularly scours the popular website for humpback whale photos and uses expertise she’s honed over more than three decades of identifying whales by the shape and color of their tails, as well as the patterns on the undersides. Each whale’s tail, or flukes, is distinct. Whale 1363 in the Antarctic Humpback Whale Catalogue made its first appearance in the annals of science in a most conventional manner. It was first spotted by scientists off the coast of Brazil in August 1999, swimming with another whale for an hour. The scientists took skin samples and did genetic analyses, determining that both whales were female. Then, two years later, Freddy Johansen, a Norwegian tourist on a whale watch cruise, took an auspicious photo of the same whale’s flukes as it swam with two other whales off the east coast of Madagascar. “It was only a short trip taken on a whim in between scuba diving and exploring of this small island off Madagascar’s east coast,’’ Johansen, chief executive of a workshop that specializes in exhaust systems for cars, wrote in an e-mail. In 2009, Johansen uploaded the photos from his trip to Madgascar to the website to back up his images and share them with friends. McCullough found them on a search. She saw in the speckled pattern on the underside of the whale’s white tail a configuration that reminded her of a face, and the same pattern leaped out again when she looked in the Antarctic Humpback Whale Catalogue. She brought the match to scientists at the College of the Atlantic, where she works as a research associate. Typically, humpback whales swim long distances to travel from feeding to breeding grounds — around 3,000 miles, according to Peter Stevick, a biologist at College of the Atlantic and the lead author of the paper published yesterday in the journal Biology Letters. “This record is unusual, not only in being longer than any of those recorded migrations, but because it’s not between a feeding ground and a breeding ground — it’s between two different breeding grounds,’’ Stevick said. He said it is not known why the whale would have made the trip. One possibility is the whale swam too far following prey and then swam back to Madagascar to breed. Although it is believed to be rare for whales to swim such a long way, it suggests scientists should look harder at whether this movement occurs, to a less extreme degree, in other whales, Stevick said. It is also intriguing, he said, because male whales are the ones thought to roam widely. Phillip J. Clapham, leader of the Cetacean Ecology and Assessment Program at the National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle, who was not involved in the research, wrote in an e-mail that it was very unusual for a whale to travel so far. “This remarkable movement shows either that humpback whales are amazingly flexible, or that they’re capable of making amazingly large navigational mistakes!’’ Clapham wrote. Richard Merrick, chief of the resource evaluation and assessment division at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, said that increasingly, citizen scientists are making important contributions, whether they are fishermen, tourists, or whale-watchers. Because they may look in places that aren’t being studied, he said, they may make important finds. For Johansen, whose first passion is nature and wildlife, the chance to take part in a scientific discovery has been a pleasure. “This is my first time as coauthor of anything at all,’’ Johansen wrote. “You can imagine my surprise when it turned out the way it did!’’ more 10/24/10 Who needs a trainer? Wild dolphins show they can do exactly the same tricks as their captive cousins - dailymail.co.uk Tail walking is a guaranteed crowd pleaser in any dolphin show. But these remarkable creatures are not performing for a human audience but are simply entertaining themselves. In an incredible discovery, a group of six wild bottlenose dolphins have taught themselves to 'walk' backwards on the water using their tails. Marine biologists say the craze is spreading through the community of dolphins in Adelaide at an astonishing rate and that the only plausible explanation is that they are doing it for fun. Bianca the dolphin 'walks' on her tail, a skill which she is believed to have learnt from a captive dolphin that was released into the wild. The discovery shows how dolphins are even brighter than we realised. Dr Mike Bossley has been observing the dolphins in Port River, Australia, for 24 years and previously reported tail walking in two adult females - Billie and Wave. Billie, a female dolphin, is thought to have picked up the skill during three weeks in captivity in 1988. The female was looked after by a local dolphinarium after she became trapped behind a marine lock and was unable to return to the sea. After three weeks in a tank she was released into the wild with a “3” branded on her dorsal fin to make her easy to spot. Billie returned to her usual haunts and - to the astonishment of experts - began to tail-walk herself. Despite receiving no formal training, the researchers believe she learned the trick by watching other captive dolphins being fed for performing the trick. Now - two decades after being released back into the wild - she is passing on the skill. Over the last few years she has taught the trick to five other dolphins in her group . Another dolphin performs tricks for fun. Scientists have discovered five of the animals tail-walking in the wild Another dolphin performs tricks for fun. Scientists have discovered five of the animals tail-walking in the wild Dr Bossley, of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, said Wave’s Calf Tullula, Bianca and her calf Hope, and the calf Bubbles have all taken up the past time. 'Culture in the wider sense of the term, defined as "learned behaviour characteristic of a community, is now frequently on show in the Port River', says Dr Bossley. 'This cultural behaviour is of great significance for conservation. 'Cultural behaviours in animals have been identified in several species, particularly chimpanzees. However, most if not all the cultural behaviours described to-date have been of a utilitarian nature, mainly to do with obtaining food. A well known chimpanzee example is using a twig to extract termites from a nest in the Gombe Stream reserve. 'The only dolphin example seen up to now is in Shark Bay, West Australia, where a small group of dolphins habitually carry a sponge on the end of their jaw while fishing to protect them from fish spines. 'As far as we are aware, tail walking has no practical function and is performed just for fun - akin to human dancing or gymnastics. As such, it represents an internationally important example of the behavioural similarities between humans and dolphins.' It is thought one dolphin, called Billie, started the trend of tail-walking after she was released off the south coast of Australia in 1988 Tail walking is one of the most popular tricks in dolphin show. Rewarded with food, dolphins learn to surge vertically out of the water and then propel themselves backwards 'walking' through the water. But while it is common in captivity, it is extremely rare in the wild. The WDCS team are watching Billie and her group to see whether the trick is a form of play, or communication. They also want to see if even more members of the dolphin group will join in. Other captive dolphins in America have worked out how to bait visiting sea gulls. The animals learned to hold back fish from feeding time, and then use it to attract passing sea birds. When the gulls swooped, the dolphins would grab them and present them to the astonished trainers. more 10/21/10 Critically Endangered Whales May Be Fleeing Russian Oil and Gas Boom, Observers Fear - Science Daily Russian oil and gas company Rosneft is conducting oil and gas exploration work that may have caused the critically endangered western gray whale to flee its main feeding ground. Tests and offshore installment of equipment by Rosneft for a major seismic survey began in late August, despite repeated calls from 12 governments, NGOs, scientists and the public to postpone the survey because of potential risks to the whales. Rosneft started preparations for the survey last month near Sakhalin Island even though a small number of western gray whales mothers and calves were feeding in the area. Only an estimated 130 western North Pacific grey whales are left in the world, with around 30 breeding females. Seismic surveys are done by blasting the water with acoustic noise to detect oil and gas deposits under the ocean floor. Observers from WWF and other NGOs began monitoring Rosneft's activities and the whales in mid-July. It appears that as of Aug. 20, only weeks after Rosneft's activities started, whales feeding in the area had already been affected. Before those activities began, observers registered 10 to 15 of the whales feeding in the area. Now whales have only been seen migrating across the area -- not feeding. "This is a critical problem as the whales have only a short time in which to consume enough food to last them through the year when they migrate to their breeding and calving grounds," said Wendy Elliott, WWF's whale expert. The company also has twice conducted seismic surveys at night, which is in violation of international standards, and even Rosnefts' own guidelines. On August 23, WWF-Russia issued a letter of concern to Russian environmental authorities, requesting an immediate stop to Rosneft's testing. As part of a WWF initiative, more than 10,000 people have sent Rosneft emails requesting that the surveys be postponed. However, Rosneft continues to shut out public opposition to its actions with some WWF members reporting that their emails to Rosneft's outgoing President Sergei Bogdanchikov had been blocked. Scientists from the Western Gray Whale Advisory Panel (WGWAP), a group of eminent whale scientists, have also repeatedly asked the company to postpone the surveys until the whales have left the area. A letter sent from 12 governments to the Russian government asking them to make Rosneft postpone the survey also went unheeded. "Rosneft is irresponsibly insisting on conducting this survey when they could easily postpone the survey until next year and hold it before the whales arrive," said Aleksey Knizhnikov, Oil & Gas Environmental Policy officer, WWF Russia. "Rosneft may be ignoring public outcry but their negligent behavior will not be forgotten, and they will have to be held responsible for any harm that comes to the whales as a result of these surveys." Postponing the surveys would also enable Rosneft to develop the precautionary monitoring and mitigation measures that are essential to minimize the impact of the seismic survey on the whales. Monitoring and mitigation measures have already been developed by the WGWAP, and are being used by another company in the same area. WWF and other NGOs have dozens of observers and boats on Sakhalin Island this year and will be monitoring the test and how it affects the feeding whales. In addition, WWF is planning to approach Rosneft's new president about postponing the seismic surveys. more 10/17/10 Whales Help Fertilize Ocean With Floating Dung - NPR Whales may have a new group of cheerleaders. They've always been popular with marine conservationists, but new research suggests that the fishing industry may also want to adopt the slogan "Save the Whales." The reason starts with algae. Algae range in size from single-celled organisms to giant kelp plants. Some live near the surface of the ocean, and these algae need nitrogen to grow. "They need other nutrients as well, but in the system we looked at, the limiting nutrient tends to be nitrogen," says Joe Roman, a conservation biologist at the University of Vermont. "That's the first nutrient they use up." Roman says once the algae use up the nitrogen, they eventually die and sink to the bottom, taking the nitrogen with them. Sometime fish eat the algae, but then they poop, and the nitrogen sinks to the bottom in the fish poop. "Whales, on the other hand, often feed at depth," says Roman. "So they feed low in the water column. And they're consistently seen pooping at the surface." How does Roman know whales poop at the surface? Because he went out and watched. "And we were following the whales and collecting feces whenever there was poop at the surface," he says. Diagram of whale dung nutrient cycling Enlarge Courtesy of the University of Vermont The difference between whale poop and fish poop is that whale poop tends to float, or at least stay near the surface. This is significant, because when Roman took the whale poop back to his lab, he found it was rich in nitrogen. So the whales were bringing that essential nutrient that had sunk to the bottom back to the surface. "So, essentially, by defecating at the surface, they are fertilizing their own areas where they are feeding," he says. Not only were there more algae, there were also increased numbers of fish. That's because fish thrive on algae. Worthy Whales Roman says the finding that whales may be helping to feed their fishy friends comes as something of a surprise. "Often whales are seen by some communities as competitors," says Roman. "Here, we're showing that whales can actually provide a service." This isn't the first time scientists have suspected that whales and large fish play a role in moving nutrients from one part of the ocean to another. "The real question is whether this is a net gain in the system, or what the whales are really doing is just speeding up the cycling," says Andrew Pershing, a research scientist at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute and the University of Maine. Winds or storms can move nutrients from the bottom of the ocean to the surface. Nobody knows yet how much of a difference the whales really make. "It's a lot like an accounting problem," says Pershing. "Are you just sort of trading money around within your local economy, or is there actually a net increase in the GDP?" In this case it's not money we're talking about, but manure — or nitrogen, if you want to get technical. Pershing says Roman's work is bound to get scientists thinking more about the role of large marine mammals in ocean ecosystems. more 10/14/10 Seismic bangs 'block' whale calls - BBC Scientists have turned up new evidence showing that ocean noise can affect the communication of whales. Studying blue whales off the eastern Canadian coast, they found the animals changed their vocalisations in response to an underwater seismic survey. The survey was conducted using gear considered to have a low impact. Writing in the journal Biology Letters, the researchers say this is the first evidence that whales will increase calls in response to underwater noise. At this site, on a feeding ground, the whales make frequent calls of just a few seconds' duration, rather than the long "songs" that can be heard across vast tracts of ocean. "The calls are used for short-range communication within a range of a few hundred metres," said Lucia Di Iorio, based at the University of Zurich in Switzerland. "And the frequency band they use is exactly where the main energy of those seismic pulses is located," she told BBC News. Initially, Dr Di Iorio's group tried to persuade the Canadian university conducting the seismic survey to co-operate in the research, and to give details of where and when the underwater bangs were being produced. That attempt failing, the scientists recorded the pulses with an array of detectors mounted on the sea bed in the St Lawrence Estuary. The detectors also recorded the blue whales' calls, which are thought to be associated with feeding and socialising. Information gap….. On days with seismic surveys, the whales made two-and-half-times more calls than on days without. The ratio was the same when the recordings were analysed in blocks of 10 minutes; survey noise induced more than a doubling of calls. The researchers suggest the whales are having to "repeat information", as some of the calls are blocked or degraded by the seismic bangs. "Our research doesn't say anything about whether this increase in call rate is negative for the animals, but of course it's not positive and it may be stressful," said Dr Di Iorio. This survey was carried out using "sparkers", devices that generate a bang from an electrical discharge between two electrodes. Sparkers produce sounds quieter than the ones generated by airguns, another technique engineers use for underwater surveys. "It's used [here] because it's thought to have a lower impact on marine life," said Dr Di Iorio. "But we should definitely reconsider these things, because clearly it's not only the sound level that's important; and one thing might be not to do the test when there are lots of whales around." Gray area….. A number of recent reports have highlighted the increase in ocean noise brought about by humanity's use of the oceans, in particular shipping. One study indicated that the level of background noise from ships' propellers was doubling every decade in the Pacific Ocean. Conservation groups are raising the issue because many marine animals, including whales and dolphins, use sound to communicate and to hunt. The sharp sounds of seismic surveys are a particular concern. Engineers use very sharp, very loud bangs because these produce the clearest images of geological structures below the sea floor. The surveys are typically used to map oil and gas deposits. Earlier this year, companies involved in the Sakhalin Energy consortium agreed to suspend seismic work after seeing evidence that it was driving the critically endangered western gray whale, of which only about 130 remain, away from its summer feeding ground. more 10/11/10 Whales may get wider berth - capecodtimes.com The rare and treasured right whales that feed in waters off Cape Cod in late winter and early spring may have their protected grounds expanded as part of a federal process designed to protect populations of endangered animals. Scientific research shows that it may be necessary to expand three East Coast calving and feeding areas for North Atlantic right whales, the National Marine Fisheries Service announced this week. The decision to expand the habitat boundaries would come in the second half of 2011. Then there would be a public review of the proposal that would take several months, said Teri Frady, fisheries service spokesperson. The announcement was spawned by the efforts of four animal conservation groups that filed a petition in 2009, then a federal lawsuit in May looking to widen North Atlantic right whale habitats along the East Coast. The groups are The Humane Society, Defenders of Wildlife, Center for Biological Diversity and the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society. New technology and methodologies that track whales, such as acoustic buoys, satellite telemetry and aerial surveys, have shown the marine mammals regularly use wider swaths than the federal limits established in 1994, said Sharon Young of Sagamore Beach, the Marine Issues Field Director of The Humane Society of the United States. The three current seasonal right whale habitats are the calving grounds off Florida and Georgia and the feeding grounds in Cape Cod Bay and the Great South Channel off Massachusetts. The conservation groups want to double the size of the calving grounds, expanding them to areas off North Carolina. They want to at least triple the size of the feeding grounds, expanding them to the Canadian border. The groups also want seasonal protections for the whale's migration path along the East Coast, said Young. Cape Cod Bay, in particular, continues to be an important habitat and also a laboratory for fine-tuning management practices to protect right whales, said Regina Asmutis-Silvia of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society in Plymouth. State officials, for example, have cleaned up unattended fishing gear in the bay. "I think it's a really good template for what a habitat can be," Asmutis-Silvia said. There are estimated to be between 300 and 400 North Atlantic right whales living along the East Coast, according to federal data. The whales have been listed as endangered through the federal Endangered Species Act since the early 1970s.. Generally, whales contribute in many ways to an ocean's ecosystem, including recent research that sperm whale excrement fertilizes aquatic plants that absorb the carbon linked to greenhouse gases and global warming, said Asmutis-Silvia. "We were gratified that the agency agreed to expand the habitats," said Young. "They agreed they would be proposing new boundaries next year. We'll have to wait to see what they propose." Along the East Coast, the North Atlantic right whales have made slow population gains in the last half-dozen years, said Mason Weinrich, executive director of the Whale Center of New England in Gloucester. He attributes the gains to an increase in calves and new rules and procedures that have slowed ship speeds and helped prevent fishing line entanglements. "I'm cautiously optimistic," Weinrich said. Expanding the whales' critical habitat boundaries by itself would do very little, Weinrich said. But expansion would be an important step to ensure that future ocean projects and developments along the East Coast do no harm, based on the latest scientific evidence of where right whales truly birth and feed, he said. "One is a step to the other," Weinrich said. more 10/09/10 Culture clash over Japanese whaling - http://www.bbc.co.uk Clashes between Japanese whaling vessels and activists from the Sea Shepherd anti-whaling group have received global attention, but do not go down well in Japan, where whale meat is still considered a delicacy, as the BBC's Roland Buerk reports. There is no doubt about what is on the menu here: "Whales of the World" posters are the first thing customers see as they walk through the sliding door. Shintaro Sato is the manager, running the business his father founded 40 years ago. This evening he recommends whale sashimi [raw slices], deep-fried whale or whale stew. 'Terrorists' As for the whale penis suspended from the ceiling, that is best eaten boiled with a side order of ginger, although Mr Sato admits the taste is "a little strange". When it comes to anti-whaling activists like Peter Bethune, the Sea Shepherd captain brought to Japan and arrested by the coastguard after boarding a whaler in the Southern Ocean, he is uncompromising. "They are terrorists, I think," he says. "Their purpose is money." A group of salarymen has ordered a plate of whale sashimi to share with their glasses of sake. They have chosen the restaurant for an office night out. Like many other Japanese, Mitoshi Noguchi says he does not give whaling much of a thought. The issue is discussed on Japanese television and in newspapers less than in countries where there is opposition to whaling like Australia. But when he sees images of anti-whaling activists clashing with the Japanese fleet he is irritated. For him there is nothing wrong with eating whale, it reminds him of school lunch. "When we were growing up we didn't have ample supply of food, so this was meat for us, our protein," he says. "So when we eat it now it's very reminiscent. It's delicious." 'Reality' check Mr Noguchi is in late middle age, but on the same table is one of his much younger colleagues, Yoshitaka Takayanagi, born after the meat was phased out in Japanese schools. Few Japanese eat whale regularly these days, especially the young, and he has only eaten it twice before. "I think it's part of Japanese culture," Mr Takayanagi says. "But I haven't had that many chances to try it. If it's becoming extinct we should not eat it. So I don't totally disagree with them [anti-whaling protestors]. "If I couldn't eat it I guess I could live without it." While the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has been confronting Japanese whalers on the high seas, Greenpeace has been taking a different approach to end whaling. It is trying to turn the take-it-or-leave-it attitude to whale meat among many young Japanese into outright opposition to whaling. They have produced videos and held protests highlighting the cost to taxpayers of subsidising the annual whale hunt in the Southern Ocean, justified by Japan as scientific research. "Japanese people need to know the reality of this so-called scientific research," says Junichi Sato, a Greenpeace programme director. "Most of the people in Japan don't know that Japan is killing close to 1,000 whales a year in the Southern Ocean. "Most of the people, once they know about it, think this is not a science at all. That's a start, that's why we need to feed information." Meat trade It was to try to draw attention to whaling that Junichi Sato and another Greenpeace member intercepted a box of whale meat at a courier company depot two years ago. Crewmen, they claimed, had smuggled it from the taxpayer-subsidised whaling fleet to sell on the black market, with the connivance of the authorities. They handed their evidence, very publicly, to prosecutors. "They promised to have a proper investigation, but a month later they dropped it," says Mr Sato. "On the very same day the Tokyo Metropolitan Police arrested us. They basically didn't prosecute the corruption in the government. "They instead prosecuted the person who exposed the corruption." Mr Sato and his colleague are on trial. They hope to be cleared on the grounds they were acting in the public interest, but if convicted of theft could face up to 10 years in prison. more 10/06/10 First Genetic Evidence for Loss of Teeth in the Common Ancestor of Baleen Whales - Science Daily In contrast to a toothed whale, which retains teeth that aid in capturing prey, a living baleen whale (e.g., blue whale, fin whale, humpback, bowhead) has lost its teeth and must sift zooplankton and small fish from ocean waters with baleen or whalebone, a sieve-like structure in the upper jaw that filters food from large mouthfuls of seawater. Based on previous anatomical and fossil data studies, scientists have widely believed that both the origin of baleen and the loss of teeth occurred in the common ancestor of baleen whales about 25 million years ago. Genetic evidence for these, however, was lacking. Now biologists at the University of California, Riverside provide the first genetic evidence for the loss of mineralized teeth in the common ancestor of baleen whales. This genomic record, they argue, is fully compatible with the available fossil record showing that the origin of baleen and the loss of teeth both occurred in the common ancestor of modern baleen whales. "We show that the genetic toolkit for enamel production was inactivated in the common ancestor of baleen whales," said Mark Springer, a professor of biology, who led the research. "The loss of teeth in baleen whales marks an important transition in the evolutionary history of mammals, with the origin of baleen laying the foundation for the evolution of the largest animals on Earth." Previous studies have shown that the dental genes enamelin, ameloblastin, and amelogenin are riddled with mutations that disable normal formation of enamel, but these debilitating genetic lesions postdate the loss of teeth documented by early baleen whale fossils in the rock record. Springer's team focused on the evolution of the enamelysin gene, which is critical for enamel production in cetaceans and other mammals. Cetacea includes toothed whales (e.g., sperm whales, porpoises, dolphins) and baleen whales. They found that the enamelysin gene was inactivated in the common ancestor of living baleen whales by the insertion of a "transposable genetic element" -- a mobile piece of DNA. "Our results demonstrate that a transposable genetic element was inserted into the protein-coding region of the enamelysin gene in the common ancestor of baleen whales," Springer said. "The insertion of this transposable element disrupted the genetic blueprint that provides instructions for making the enamelysin protein. This means we now have two different records, the fossil record and the genomic record, that provide congruent support for the loss of mineralized teeth in the common ancestor of baleen whales." The study, which appeared online in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, included eight baleen whale species and representatives of all major living lineages of Cetacea. The researchers examined protein-coding regions of the enamelysin gene for molecular cavities that are shared by all baleen whales. Next, the researchers plan to piece together the complete evolutionary history of a variety of different tooth genes in baleen whales to provide an integrated record of the macroevolutionary transition from ancestral baleen whales that captured individual prey items with their teeth to present-day behemoths that entrap entire schools of minute prey with their toothless jaws. Springer was joined in the study by UC Riverside's Robert W. Meredith, a postdoctoral associate and the first author of the paper; John Gatesy, a professor of biology; and Joyce Cheng, an undergraduate researcher. The National Science Foundation supported the study through grants to Springer and Gatesy. more 10/04/10 Researchers have developed a new tool to study endangered whales -- autonomous hydrophones - Science Daily Researchers have developed a new tool to help them study endangered whales -- autonomous hydrophones that can be deployed in the ocean to record the unique clicks, pulses and calls of different whale species. Those efforts are leading to some surprising findings, including the discovery by a team of researchers of rare right whales swimming in the Gulf of Alaska. "There has been only one confirmed sighting of a right whale in the Gulf of Alaska since 1980, so discovering them is not only surprising, it is fairly significant," said David K. Mellinger, an assistant professor at Oregon State University's Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport. "We picked up the sounds of one whale off Kodiak Island, and several others in deep water, which is also something of a surprise, since most right whale sightings have been near-shore." Results of these and five years of studies have been published in the January 2006 issue of the journal BioScience. Mellinger said scientists have been able to use the hydrophones to distinguish sounds made by different whale species. And some species, he added, have different "dialects" depending on where they are from. Blue whales off the Pacific Northwest sound different than populations of blue whales that live in the western Pacific Ocean, and those sound different from populations of blue whales off Antarctica. And they all sound different than the blue whales off Chile. "The whales in the eastern Pacific have a very low-pitched pulsed sound, followed by a tone," Mellinger said. "Other populations use different combinations of pulses, tones and pitches. The difference is really striking, but we don't know if it is tied to genetics, or some other reason. "There are also some hybrid sounds that are rare," he added. "We don't know if they are part of a common 'language' that different populations of whales use to communicate with each other, or if they come from a confused juvenile who hasn't completely learned the complexities of communicating." Scientists began hearing whale sounds several years ago on a U.S. Navy hydrophone network. The hydrophone system -- called the Sound Surveillance System, or SOSUS -- was used by the Navy during the Cold War to monitor submarine activity in the northern Pacific Ocean. As the Cold War ebbed, these and other military assets were offered to civilian researchers performing environmental studies. Another Oregon State researcher, Christopher Fox, first received permission from the Navy to use the hydrophones at his laboratory at OSU's Hatfield Marine Science Center to listen for undersea earthquakes -- a program now directed by Robert Dziak. While listening for earthquakes, the OSU researchers begin picking up sounds of ships, marine landslides -- and whales. An engineer at the center, Haru Matsumoto, then developed an autonomous hydrophone that can be deployed independently and Mellinger's colleagues placed seven of these instruments in the Gulf of Alaska about five years ago. The hydrophones can pick up right whale sounds from about 40 kilometers away -- and even farther, if the waters are shallow and the terrain even. Using those hydrophones, Mellinger discovered a number of sperm whales living in the Gulf of Alaska in the winter. The hydrophones picked up almost half as many whale sounds as in the summer -- indicating a surprisingly robust "off-season" population. "There are a handful of records of people spotting sperm whales in the region -- and they're all in the summer," Mellinger said. "Likewise, all of the historic whaling records are from the summer. The Gulf of Alaska is not a place you want to be in the winter. But apparently, sperm whales don't mind." Other researchers participating in the study include Sue Moore, NOAA's Alaska Fisheries Center in Seattle; Kathleen M. Stafford, an OSU graduate now at the University of Washington; and John A. Hildebrand, Scripps Institution of Oceanography. This spring, the researchers plan to deploy three more hydrophones in the Bering Sea next to a series of long-duration NOAA moorings. They will analyze possible connections between the appearance of the whales and ocean conditions. "We'll look at water temperature, salinity and even chlorophyll growth," Mellinger said. "Ultimately, what we hope is to be able to identify a certain water mass and know that it will lead to chlorophyll growth and an abundance of plankton, and that the whales will soon appear." more 10/03/10 Scientists use hovering zeppelin to film whales - capecodtimes.com Washington state.... Pilot Katharine Board often sees pods of blue, gray and killer whales as she flies along the California coast. Compared to other pilots, however, she has a unique vantage point - low and slow - from the only operational zeppelin in the United States. Board's airship, a modern model of an aircraft that is a throwback to the 1930s era of aviation, gives her a clear and steady view of the sea giants. "The great thing about moving slowly and low - we fly 1,000 feet above the ground and our cruising speed is 40 miles per hour - is that you really get to see the world, you really do get to see the places you're in," Board said. This past month California-based Airship Ventures, the company that owns the zeppelin, donated a day of flying to a group of scientists so they could film and photograph an orca pod in Washington's Puget Sound. Usually the zeppelin - christened "Eureka" - offers commercial sightseeing flights along the West Coast for up to 12 passengers per flight, with prices ranging from $200 to $1,000 per person. Many associate zeppelin flight with the tragedy of the German passenger airship Hindenburg, which exploded into flames at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey on May 6, 1937, killing 36 people. Since then, there's been many safety improvements with zeppelins, including a key difference: zeppelins no longer employ highly flammable hydrogen as lifting gas. The Eureka uses helium. The Eureka also uses a computerized wire system to steer the ship, and its structure is made of carbonfiber material. While visually similar, zeppelins are different from the blimps often seen at sporting events. Blimps are much smaller and don't have the rigid structure. "It's a balance between business and doing things that are really special," said Brian Hall, owner of Airship Ventures. "There are so many cool things we've done before with this platform." Hall's airship has gone on research flights to examine biota in salt ponds, harmful algal blooms, and to seek out pipeline gas leak evidence. Hall, who made his fortune in Silicon Valley, purchased his airship in 2006 after flying in a zeppelin during a trip to Germany. Eureka began flying in 2008, after months of negotiating permits to allow a zeppelin to fly again in American air space. Eureka arrived in a cargo ship from Europe and was flown from Texas to its base in California. Hall said it took three days to cruise above Texas alone. Hall was aboard for the whale research flight. After a few hours delay due to cloudy weather, the 246-feet long zeppelin took off from an airfield in Everett, Wash., and hovered to the American-Canadian border - an hour's flight away. Scouting boats had tracked the orca pod, as the zeppelin floated aloft. Known as the southern resident killer whales, this group was designated as endangered in 2005. They live permanently in the Puget Sound, hunting salmon and other fish. Scientists for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration mounted high definition cameras on the bottom of the zeppelin. A researcher for the Center for Whale Research also took pictures to calculate body measurements. Whales move at about 3 miles per hour, NOAA biologist Brad Hanson said, which made the zeppelin's hovering pace even more useful for observations. The researchers were able to observe about two dozen whales from the zeppelin. They watched the whales swim in tight groups, roll around each other and "spy hop," moving with their heads above water. They were able to catch glimpses of the way whales behave and move under water, something they can't observe from boats, Hanson said. Weather curtailed the observation after an hour, but the scientists were still wowed. "I get to see whales every day from a boat, and I get to see them closer than most people do," said researcher Erin Heydenreich. "But seeing them from the air is just a completely different picture...watching the way they move together under water is just incredible. That's something you definitely don't see and can't very much capture from a perpendicular photograph." more 09/29/10 Russia's action man premier pens ode to whale watching - http://news.malaysia.com Russia's strongman prime minister, who recently returned from a visit to the Pacific, wrote an ode to whale watching, extolling encounters with wildlife but complaining of the Prime Minister Vladimir Putin gave a breathless account of a trip he took this summer chasing a rare grey whale in the Russian Pacific Ocean, in a column for a monthly magazine. "This work was probably my most interesting assignment with fauna, so to speak," Putin wrote in the column for Russian Pioneer magazine, a copy of which was acquired by AFP on Wednesday. "And it does not compare with any diplomatic protocol." Putin was shown on television in August firing a crossbow at the whale to obtain a skin sample and tossing in an inflatable raft amid high seas off the remote Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia's Far East. In the column he confessed that he feared capsizing amid three-metre (ten-foot) high waves, but enjoyed taking risks. "I decide what I do and how and when, and the people who answer for security think about how to ensure it," Putin said. "A person needs new sensations, maybe that is the most important thing." Putin spent the summer in macho encounters with animals, also watching a brown bear at close quarters. The camera-friendly stunts prompted speculation that he plans to stand for a third presidental term in 2012. Putin wrote that he had "great respect" for scientists, calling them "decent people ... who are doing something big and serious and don't beg for anything for themselves." He also resorted to toilet humour, joking that the whale's breath smelled so foul that "we looked at each other in the boat and wondered, did someone have an accident?" The column was Putin's second venture into journalism. Last year, he wrote a column for Russian Pioneer about how to fire people. It is unclear whether he has a ghost writer. The magazine's founding editor is the Kremlin correspondent for Kommersant business daily, Andrei Kolesnikov. more 09/17/10 Former whale trainers criticize SeaWorld safety proposal - http://www.orlandosentinel.com/ A group of former SeaWorld killer-whale trainers is urging federal regulators to oppose a new safety feature that SeaWorld is developing in hopes of clearing the way for its trainers to re-enter the water during orca performances. The concept calls for small oxygen supplies — often dubbed "spare air" — that could be embedded in SeaWorld trainers' wetsuits and serve as an emergency source of air if a trainer is pulled underwater by a killer whale. SeaWorld is researching spare-air systems as part of an exhaustive trainer-safety review the company launched after the Feb. 24 death of SeaWorld Orlando trainer Dawn Brancheau, killed by a 6-ton orca named Tilikum. The company has said it will not reinstitute "water work" between its trainers and killer whales until it finalizes its review and makes procedural and equipment changes, though it remains uncertain when that will happen. In addition, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which investigated the death and last month fined SeaWorld $75,000, mentioned oxygen-supply systems as a mechanism SeaWorld could use to reduce the risks involved in swimming with killer whales. But four former SeaWorld trainers — who worked for the company in the late 1980s and early 1990s — have recently reached out to OSHA criticizing the effectiveness of spare air, according to written statements obtained by the Orlando Sentinel. Get the Sunday Sentinel delivered to your home for only $.80 a week! In the statements, and in subsequent interviews with the newspaper, the trainers said an oxygen-supply system would present new hazards for trainers. More importantly, they said, access to oxygen would not have saved Brancheau, who was badly battered by Tilikum — the largest killer whale in SeaWorld's collection — and died from a combination of drowning and multiple traumatic injuries. Jeffrey Ventre, a SeaWorld Orlando trainer from 1987 to 1995, called spare air "a phony solution." "In theory, spare air might be useful in limited circumstances, such as when a killer whale is holding a trainer underwater but not otherwise brutalizing the trainer. But reality is another matter," said Ventre, now a medical doctor in New Orleans. "Spare air is not a real solution to the physical thrashing trainers often receive when killer whales break from training." Fred Jacobs, a spokesman for Orlando-based SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, said the reserve-oxygen plan is still "very early" in research and development and that the company has yet to determine whether the technology is feasible. He said SeaWorld is incorporating input from its current orca trainers at its three U.S. marine parks into the development process. "Our trainers will assist in establishing the design criteria for onboard air, should it prove feasible," Jacobs said. "The safety of our trainers is our highest priority, and … an onboard air system won't be deployed until we're satisfied that it improves the safety of our staff." SeaWorld has studied spare air in the past, even looking into systems used by Navy SEALs. The concept involves oxygen supplies akin to those used by scuba divers but much smaller; one of the biggest obstacles for SeaWorld has been developing a system tiny enough to be practical for trainers who must maneuver in close contact with the company's whales. But the former trainers who have contacted OSHA said there are more intractable problems than size. For instance, the main show pool at SeaWorld Orlando's Shamu Stadium is nearly 40 feet deep. As a result, the pressure at the bottom of the tank is about twice as high as at the surface. Someone who took a breath at the bottom of the pool would have to exhale slowly while rising through the water to avoid rupturing the lungs — which might not be possible amid an incident with a killer whale, said Carol Ray, who spent three years as a trainer at SeaWorld Orlando from 1987 to 1990. "When whales refuse control — and trainers are at their mercy — it is far more likely that the whale will be moving at high speeds, attempting to ram, mouth and/or otherwise submerge or thrash the trainer," said Ray, now a Seattle-area speech-language pathologist. "In this more realistic case, with spare air, that trainer would more likely be harmed or killed by lung overexpansion." In addition, an oxygen system could give a killer whale another appendage to grab, said Samantha Berg, who worked for SeaWorld Orlando from 1990 to 1993 and spent one year as a killer-whale trainer. She noted that SeaWorld officials have said Tilikum used Brancheau's long ponytail to pull the trainer underwater. "If a whale wanted to grab a trainer, do you think it would matter to the whale if it was an attached air hose versus an arm, leg or ponytail?" said Berg, who runs an acupuncture clinic in Palmer, Alaska. What's more, she added, "A system that is designed to break away if the whale grabs it would endanger the whale because the animal could potentially swallow some of the scuba gear." There are other concerns as well. The ex-trainers said hoses that might flop or squeak in the water or regulators that make noise while in use could agitate an orca, especially if already in an unstable situation. And they question whether a trainer would even be able to access the equipment while being bumped or thrashed by a killer whale. John Jett, a SeaWorld trainer from 1992 to 1996 who is now a visiting research professor at Stetson University, called spare air a public-relations ploy. "What SeaWorld is doing is trying to create the illusion that they have fixed a problem which they have no real control over," Jett said. "That is, whales do what they want sometimes, without human consent, and in ways immune to man-made interventions." However, some other former SeaWorld trainers think spare air could help improve safety. The ability to access oxygen in an emergency could outweigh the risks in some circumstances, said Mark Simmons, a SeaWorld trainer from 1987 to 1996 who now works at an Orlando marine-park consulting business. Thad Lacinak, a former trainer, at one point oversaw all animal training in SeaWorld and Busch Gardens theme parks. Lacinak said he studied spare-air concepts during his tenure, but the technology at the time was not small enough. "I would think that it would be something that could help you if you could make it practical," said Lacinak, who retired in 2008 after 35 years with SeaWorld. "It's all going to depend on what the situation is." SeaWorld said the spare-air technology it is researching "differs significantly" from models it has studied in the past. And the company said concerns such as lung expansion and grabbing risks will be taken into consideration during development. "We are researching onboard air systems, but that is by no means the only improvement we're examining," added Jacobs, the SeaWorld spokesman. "If an onboard air system is implemented for our killer-whale trainers, it will be part of a much larger program of safety enhancements." more 09/15/10 Hi-tech look-out could save whales' lives - http://www.bbc.co.uk After decades of protection, you might think that the world's whale population is safe. You would be wrong, at least in part. According to the WWF wildlife charity, seven out of the 13 great whale species are still endangered or vulnerable. Commercial whaling is one of the challenges they face, with an estimated 1,000 whales a year killed for the market, says the WWF. Other hazards include toxic contamination and the effects of climate change. But a more recent danger has arisen, in the form of collisions with ships. Doubling of death rates Nowhere is this phenomenon clearer than in the Mediterranean. It is now estimated that around 20% of whales found dead in the Mediterranean had collided with a ship. Dead whale after collision with a ship About 20% of whales found dead in the Mediterranean had collided with ships When you consider that vessels weighing more than 100 tons cross the Mediterranean around 220,000 times each year, it becomes a little easier to understand why. This stretch of water has become the maritime equivalent of London's Piccadilly Circus, without the traffic lights. One of the species particularly at risk is the fin whale. These graceful creatures, measuring up to 24m (78ft) swim the Mediterranean's blue waters in a number of areas, but often gather in pods in the northern region between Italy and France to feed. One recent study published in 2006 by the Marine Pollution Bulletin estimated that there are around 3,500 fin whales in the Mediterranean. But according to the same report, the numbers dying after collisions has doubled since the 1970s. "They simply can't get out of the way of the great cruise liners and other vessels," says Marco Costantini, from the WWF in Italy. 'Battering ram' And the cruise line market has been growing fast. According to Cruise Industry News, in European waters alone, passenger numbers have risen from 3.7 million in 2007 to 4.5 million this year. A further 16 large vessels are on order for the European market, each one capable of carrying at least 5,000 passengers and crew. All that extra traffic is potentially bad news for the whales. The biggest obstacle to them is what is known as the ship's "bulb", the protruding section of the bow. Its purpose is to direct the waves around the ship to lessen their impact on it, giving passengers a smoother ride. But when the ship is at sea this extension careers through the water, under the surface, like a huge battering ram. The whales do not stand a chance. But now, thanks to a unique venture between one cruise company, WWF, and a number of other technology firms, help is at hand. Four vessels, including the Costa Pacifica, owned by Costa Cruises, one of the biggest operators in the business, have been fitted with a software system called Repcet. Repcet allows ships to share real-time information on the location of the whales. Once a ship spots a whale, the co-ordinates are entered into the system. They are sent, via a satellite connection, to a server in France. The server then centralises the data and sends out an alert to equipped vessels that are likely to be affected. The alerts are displayed on a dedicated screen located on the ship's bridge and it all happens in seconds. In addition to accurately positioning the whale sightings, the system calculates and displays the associated risk zones. These are displayed as grey circles on the screen. 'Commercial sense' The system allows alarms to be programmed in, helping crew members to anticipate potential encounters, thereby avoiding the necessity of continuously watching the mapping screen. Captain Massimo Pennisi Capt Pennisi says the new system is good for ships as well as whales The area covered by Repcet is about 90,000 sq km. Massimo Pennisi, the captain of the Costa Pacifica, says he sees a whale "about once a month". "This new tracking system works very well. We can adjust speed and direction immediately," he says, adding that it is also useful for avoiding the giant metal containers that can fall off ships in storms. "Hitting a whale or a container at a speed of 20-plus knots could be bad news for the ship, so Repcet makes commercial as well as environmental sense," he adds. To be truly effective many more vessels will need to join the project. "It's a start," says Marco Costantini from WWF. "It's also a new direction for a non-governmental organisation like ours to work so closely with the private sector in order to protect wildlife," he says. The idea is to eventually expand the system to be applied in any areas where collisions are a known issue, such as the North Atlantic, Japan, and the Canary Islands. Conservation and commerce are sometimes rivals on the high seas, but now they are setting a common course for the mutual benefit of those both above and below the waves. more 09/10/10 Blue whales off L.A. trying to feed amid a people frenzy - http://www.petethomasoutdoors.com The presence of so many blue whales within easy viewing range off Southern California has been one of the big outdoor stories of the summer. Earth's largest creatures -- blue whales can reach 90 feet and weigh 150 tons -- have been lured to nearshore waters off L.A. and Orange counties by dense blooms of shrimp-like krill. The mammals are so focused on feeding that they've allowed for uncommonly close encounters. But contrary to some reports the whales are not here in record numbers. They're simply distributed differently and are more accessible than in previous summers, so only the sightings have vastly increased. And while this represents a boon for local whale-watching operations, and a treat for marine mammal enthusiasts, it's not necessarily good for the whales, who are trying to feed in a busy shipping zone and amid bustling small-boat traffic. A particularly dense concentration of these majestic leviathans -- perhaps as many as 50 -- is just beyond Los Angeles Harbor, off the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Scientists have seen whales with fresh wounds and have witnessed close calls between whales and boats. IMG_9651 "I would say there's a potential risk to the whales because of the fact that we have these concentrations in some of the busiest waters almost anywhere," said John Calambokidis, a co-founder of the Olympia, Wash.-based Cascadia Research collective and a leading authority on blue whales. Calambokidis is among several researchers studying blue whales off Southern California. One study will document how the cetaceans react to ship noise, so steps might be taken to mitigate the risk of vessel strikes. Blue whales are endangered. There are about 10,000 worldwide and about 2,000 that utilize California waters during the summer. This latter group is believed to spend the winter at a remote seamount west of Central America, called the Costa Rica Dome. These whales migrate into California waters specifically to fatten up on krill, which flourishes in cool, nutrient-rich water. Though whale sightings occur off Orange and Los Angeles counties, the thickest concentrations of blue whales --where the densest concentrations of krill typically exist -- are generally off Santa Barbara and points north. IMG_9620 This summer, unseasonably cool water off Southern California has resulted in more krill and, thus, longer-lasting whale visits. "I don't know of a previous occurrence of this many whales in this particular area," said Calambokidis, referring to an area between Newport Beach and Los Angeles. He said at least 50 different whales are in this area but added, "It's conceivable that there are a couple of hundred." It remains unclear how many, if any, have been struck by boats. One or two blue whales are known to be killed by vessel strikes off California annually. Many more collisions, unseen and undocumented, are believed to occur. A Monterey Bay whale-watching boat struck a blue whale a month ago off that Central California port. More recently, a 75-foot blue whale carcass washed ashore on San Miguel Island off Santa Barbara. Scientists have yet to inspect the mammal to determine the cause of death. Unfortunately, Calambokidis said, blue whales do not seem to be making an effort to avoid approaching ships, and they might actually spend more time at the surface when ships are close by. The scientist added that blue whales tend to spend more time close to the surface after dark, "making them vulnerable ship strikes, particularly at night." Given all this, Southern California ship captains and boaters are urged to exercise caution for as long as the whales are present. They've got a lot of fattening up to do -- a single blue whale can consume four tons of krill per day -- and it must be hard to eat with all those people watching. more 08/29/10 Blue whale season one of best ever off Southern California - http://www.petethomasoutdoors.com Blue whales, graceful and gargantuan, are so abundant off Southern California that it seems the entire population has taken up residence between Santa Barbara and Dana Point. That's not true, of course. About 2,000 blue whales utilize California waters each summer -- part of a global population of about 10,000 -- and not all of them are in Southland waters. But there are perhaps hundreds of the world's largest mammals gorging on shrimp-like krill in what represents the most impressive local showing of the great leviathans in recent history. Alisa Schulman-Janiger, an American Cetacean Society researcher, said blue whales are being spotted in unusually large numbers from the Palos Verdes Peninsula. On Wednesday one of her whale-watching volunteers told her she saw the tall blows of at least 30 blue whales from White Point on the peninsula. "She was hysterical," recalled Schulman-Janiger, who arrived at the point at dusk and saw 10 blue whales before sunset. (Schulman-Janiger will be part of a three-hour excursion Sunday beginning at 9 a.m. aboard the 90-foot Spirit out of San Pedro. She says those interested in joining the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium trip, for $30, can reserve a spot by calling 310-548-7562.) Passengers aboard whale-watch boats out of Long Beach, Newport Beach and Dana Point have experienced close encounters with the mammals as they feed at or close to the surface on krill, which abounds in dense concentrations thanks partly to the unusually cold water off the Southland coast. (A single blue whale can consume four tons of krill per day.) Passengers aboard the Christopher out of Harbor Cruises in Long Beach on Wednesday saw 28 blue whales on the morning trip and 33 on the afternoon excursion. Such numbers are hard to believe but they're true. Dana Wharf Whale-watching logged a count of 64 blue whales last week, along with 12 fin whales and two minke whales. Since Monday passengers from the Dana Point landing have seen 17 blue whales and five fin whales. The Dana Wharf operation is one of only a few Southland sportfishing businesses devoting some of its effort to full-time whale-watching. With fishing so poor and blue whales having become regular summertime visitors to Southland waters these past few years, it's a wonder more landings aren't following suit. more 08/25/10 Massive artificial reef grows like wild - http://www.signonsandiego.com/news A major initiative to boost sea life appears to be paying off in the coastal waters near San Clemente, where power companies spent $46 million to build what is touted as the nation’s largest artificial reef. Large beds of giant brown kelp are thriving in the artificial reef built off the coast of San Clemente north of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. Growth of the kelp forest at the Wheeler North Reef is a sign that the artificial reef is thriving. Large beds of giant brown kelp are thriving in the artificial reef built off the coast of San Clemente north of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. Independent monitoring by scientists at the University of California Santa Barbara shows that the reef reached nine of 14 benchmarks during its first year of operations. Power company officials said Wednesday they are poised to meet the other standards, perhaps this year. The Wheeler North Reef is part of a piecemeal strategy by ocean advocates for using artificial reefs to boost habitat for marine creatures, improve fishing and provide more opportunities for divers. It was required by the California Coastal Commission to make up for the ecological damage done by the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in North County, which is owned by Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric Co. and Riverside. On Wednesday, Edison showed off the giant kelp forest that has grown over the past several months and highlighted the first UCSB monitoring report. Kelp forests sometimes are called the “rain forests of the sea” because they support hundreds of species of marine life. “We are really well on the way to having duplicated a very complex ecosystem on a large scale,” said David Kay, head of environmental projects for the company. “You look offshore and you see this massive area of kelp canopy floating on the surface. … This is an amazing accomplishment.” As he talked, the 174-acre reef spread out below a company helicopter for about two miles south of the San Clemente pier. From the air, it’s obvious where Edison placed boulders at depths of about 30 feet because wavy tendrils of brown kelp — anchored to the rocks below — carpet the ocean’s surface like giant strands of hair. A few fishing boats bobbed in the gentle swells at the edge of the shimmering marine forest while seabirds rested and fed on the matted kelp. Before the artificial reef was constructed, “Nothing was there,” Kay said. “You don’t have to be a scientist to say kelp density turned out pretty good.” Ecologist Stephen Schroeter of UCSB’s Marine Science Institute was more reserved, but his assessment was upbeat. “They have done a really nice job,” said Schroeter, part of the reef monitoring team that regularly dives at the site. “It looks like it’s on a hopeful trajectory.” He said some of the unmet benchmarks may prove challenging, particularly one that sets the amount of fish in the reef by weight. The goal is 28 tons; only 16 tons were observed in the first year. Despite the positive trendline, Schroeter urged caution about the widespread use of a similar approach. “There may in fact be other places where artificial reefs may be a very useful mitigation measure, and we are learning important lessons about how you might want to go about doing that,” he said. “But I don’t think it’s a recipe for making kelp up and down the coast.” The roots of the Wheeler North Reef go back to 1974 when the California Coastal Commission issued a development permit for units 2 and 3 of the nuclear plant. Years of monitoring led to new permit conditions to make up for ecological harm done by the plant. They include restoration of the San Dieguito marsh, financing of a marine fish hatchery and construction of an artificial reef to replace kelp beds harmed by the plant. The reactors are cooled by a system that each day takes in the volume of seawater equal to one square mile 14 feet deep, according to a UCSB analysis. The water is heated by the plant and released through pipes in the ocean. The discharge plume has redistributed sediment, decreasing the amount of light that reaches the kelp growing directly offshore of the plant. UCSB researchers said cloudy water offshore caused a substantial reduction in the kelp forest, resulting in losses of fish and invertebrates. The new reef is north of the nuclear plant near San Clemente. It started in 1999 as a 22.4-acre experimental project designed to guide construction of a larger reef. “We don’t want to have to go back and redo things,” said Kay at Edison. The rocks, quarried at Catalina Island, are roughly the size of medicine balls and scattered in a single layer on the sand, not piled on top of each other. Kay said the goal was to create a dynamic ecosystem in which the boulders are jostled during storms so they can clear out patches of old-growth kelp and create a natural mosaic. “To get giant kelp coming back generation after generation, there always needs to be bare rock on the reef, and you are only going to get that if you have an unstable reef,” he said. So far, the rocks have performed as Kay hoped. The first of UCSB’s annual reports said the rocks were not sinking into the sand — a possible threat to the reef. It also said that fish abundance and diversity at Wheeler North was similar to or greater than natural reefs nearby. The study team didn’t find evidence of invasive species harming the reef. “Generally, things are going well,” said Susan Hansch, chief deputy director at the Coastal Commission. “The kelp is flourishing.” She warned that Edison is not in the clear yet. “They are going to be monitoring and responsible for these mitigation sites for a long time,” she said. Kay is hopeful that the reef will meet all its performance targets this year without additional intervention by Edison. The company is responsible for the reef for at least 40 years, though Kay expects it to last for centuries. “It goes on its own at this point,” he said. “We are just watching it grow.” more 08/22/10 White whale Migaloo spotted off Cairns Australia - http://www.cairns.com.au Migaloo was spotted on Saturday about 2km from Green Island slowly travelling south. The famous whale enjoyed clear skies and low winds and dived repeatedly into the blue depths before surfacing every 10 to 15 minutes GBR Helicopter Group director Deborah Ross said the footage taken by cinematographer David Farmer and pilot Chris Rose, of Chris Rose Flying Films, would be given to the BBC, which is producing a documentary on Migaloo. "We’ve made it a professional goal to make sure we get Migaloo recorded so we can help protect him because he is so precious," she said. "This is the first time Migaloo has been filmed anywhere professionally in the world. "It’s about Migaloo and it’s all about the fact we were able to get the footage in Cairns on the Great Barrier Reef." Ms Ross, who has worked in the tourism industry for 28 years, said the day was a career milestone for her. "I cried. I was so happy," she said. "He was at play in the tropical waters. He was just rolling around having a lovely time." About 70 Reef Magic Cruises passengers were treated to the rare sight. Reef Magic Cruises owner Tim North said its whale watching vessel spent about five hours with Migaloo on Saturday. "It makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up when you’re with him," he said. Reef Magic worker Jenna Marino was thrilled to see her first whale. "He was pure snow white," she said. "People were amazed. They thought they were the luckiest people alive." For more information visit..... http://www.migaloowhale.org/ more 08/20/10 WHOI finds Gulf of Mexico oil plume - capecodtimes.com The BP oil well blowout created a plume of oil deep below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution said yesterday. In June, the Cape scientists' state-of-the-art mapping, tracking and analysis defined a plume that was at least 22 miles long and more than 3,000 feet below the Gulf's surface, according to research they published in the Aug. 19 issue of the journal Science, The research makes such undersea plumes a reality rather than a theory, the scientists said, and also rules out that the plume came from natural seeping of oil from the Gulf's seafloor. "There's very little known about oil in the subsurface," Christopher Reddy, a WHOI marine geochemist, oil spill expert and study co-author, said during a teleconference yesterday. "If you had asked me if I would see oil below the surface, I would have said, 'No, doesn't oil float?'" The 10-day WHOI research expedition started June 19, two months after BP's Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded, killing 11 workers. After the explosion, oil billowed from the ocean floor for three months before the well was capped a month ago. The blowout created the largest offshore oil spill in history, the WHOI researchers said in their article. The discovery of the plume, which is 1.2 miles wide and 650 feet high, shows oil from the spill "is persisting for longer periods than we would have expected," Richard Camilli, chief scientist of the expedition and lead author of the Science article, said in a WHOI press release. "Many people speculated that subsurface oil droplets were being easily biodegraded. Well, we didn't find that. We found it was still there." The WHOI research adds solid, tantalizing but as yet inconclusive data to an ongoing dispute over where the spilled oil is now and potential long-term effects on marine life. In yesterday's teleconference, the WHOI scientists repeatedly refused to be drawn into the dispute. Until more of WHOI's water samples are analyzed, "We can't say much about (the oil's) bioactivity or toxicity," Camilli said, adding that the research goal was simply to try to find a plume and define its behavior. In their article, the WHOI researchers wrote it may be many months before deep-sea microbes use up enough oxygen as they feed on the oil to threaten Gulf fisheries. That jibes with what some wildlife officials told The Associated Press this week. Since it's unclear how much oil might still be in the Gulf, the wildlife officials warned that significant problems could surface later. How much oil is in the gulf? Wednesday, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief Jane Lubchenco said she stands by the conclusions of a government report that found 74 percent of the oil had been captured, burned, skimmed, evaporated, dissolved or dispersed. Government researchers believe the rest is on or just below the surface of the Gulf, has washed ashore or is buried in the sand, according to The Associated Press. Lubchenco did add a caveat: "We know that oil is out there. It is diluted. Dilute and dispersed does not mean benign." So far, wildlife rescuer workers say sea turtle and bird populations have suffered less damage than originally projected. Since April 30, rescuers have found 522 turtles dead, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and they have recovered 444 oiled turtles found alive, according to The Associated Press. The marine reptiles are being rehabilitated and returned to unpolluted waters. The unparalleled chance to study an oil spill of this magnitude attracted three National Science Foundation grants, which were approved in two days, for the WHOI expedition in June. The foundation's research vessel Endeavor, operated by the University of Rhode Island, was the ship used in the expedition. Many questions remain New scientific tools made studying the plume in detail possible, the researchers said. They used a special mass spectrometer — small enough to fit into a shoebox — that could identify minute amounts of petroleum chemical compounds in sea water instantly, which helped to outline the plume. The mass spectrometer was carried by an autonomous underwater vehicle, dubbed Sentry, that zigzagged through the plume, which looked like clear spring water, Reddy said. The WHOI scientists acknowledge there are many unanswered questions about underwater oil plumes in the Gulf. Researchers still don't know why the plume discovered in June was stable — hanging in the water at that specific depth. It may have to do with the chemical dispersants used at the ruptured well-head or the water temperature at that depth. The scientists don't know whether there are other large plumes, or even what happened to the plume discovered in June. They also found no "dead zones," as other scientists predicted, where there was so little oxygen that almost no marine life could survive. WHOI geochemist Benjamin Van Mooy said if oxygen samples don't show that microbes are rapidly consuming the oil, the hydrocarbons could persist for some time and be carried for considerable distances. more 08/18/10 Underwater Oil in Gulf Poses Threats - DiscoveryNews Marine scientists are disputing claims by government officials that the Gulf oil spill is diminishing and does not pose a risk to Florida and the rest of the East Coast. They believe the oil may have been pushed underwater -- and still poses a serious and lurking threat to fish and other marine life. "Just because you don't see it on the surface or on the coast, it doesn't mean there isn't a problem," said Felicia Coleman, director of the coastal marine laboratory at Florida State University. "I want to know what's happening with dispersants and dispersed oil. If there are large plumes of oil underwater we might not be able to see for some time." On July 27, NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco released a statement that "the coast remains clear" for southern Florida, the Florida Keys and the Eastern Seaboard. "With the flow stopped and the loop current a considerable distance away, the light sheen remaining on the Gulf's surface will continue to biodegrade and disperse, but will not travel far," Lubchenco said. State officials have re-opened some coastal fishing grounds, and BP has also started redeploying some of its boom along the Gulf coast, raising fears among some local officials that it is abandoning the clean-up effort. But other ocean scientists say it's too early to declare victory. They point to new estimates that the BP well actually spewed out 206 million gallons of oil since April 20, making it larger than the previous biggest spill, the Ixtoc I blowout in 1979 that resulted in 135 million gallons. In fact, Larry McKinney knows from experience that oil can resurface when you least expect it. That's what happened when he was a young scientist working on the Ixtoc spill. "There are so many parallels," said McKinney, now director of the Harte Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M, Corpus Christi. McKinney said that similar dispersants were used to break up the Ixtoc oil, which later washed ashore onto Texas beaches. Now, McKinney says he worries that the BP oil could bind with sediment particles and sink to the sea floor. That will make it tougher for microbes to decompose the oil. "It's a race," McKinney said. "Can the microbial activity eat up the oil before it mixes with sediments and sinks?" McKinney is concerned that there could be a significant amount of oil coating the continental shelf. McKinney said he believes that as a result, the oil spill may have increased the size of the so-called "dead zone" of oxygen-starved water off the coast of Louisiana and Texas. Much of the dead zone -- which is toxic to all marine life -- is caused by agricultural runoff from Midwest farms flowing out the Mississippi River. Researchers at the Louisiana Marine Consortium announced Monday that the annual zone now is the size of the state of Massachusetts and is the largest in 25 years. Consortium researchers were hesitant to blame the BP spill, but McKinney and others say the oil increased microbial activity, and robbed the ocean of oxygen. "BP used a lot of dispersant and the oil went someplace," McKinney said. "If you have that going on, there's no way that you cannot reduce oxygen levels as the result of that activity." Paul Anastas, assistant administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, defended BP's use of dispersants. While there may be negative effects underwater, the goal was to protect coastal wetlands. "Once it makes it to shore," Anastas said Monday, "there's more of an impact on sensitive ecosystems that is extremely difficult to clean up." more 08/13/10 Blue Whales Align the Pitch of Their Songs With Extreme Accuracy, Study Finds - Science Daily Blue whales are able to synchronize the pitch of their calls with an extremely high level of accuracy, and a very slim margin of error from call to call, according to a new study of the blue whale population in the eastern North Pacific. Results were published in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. The authors suggest that the uniform pitch used by blue whale populations could allow individual whales to locate potential mates by swimming toward them or away from them. "Blue whales in a given population have been observed to align their pitch to a common value, but we have now been able to determine just how accurately they are able to do so," said Roger Bland, professor of physics at San Francisco State University. Bland and colleagues analyzed recordings of 4,378 blue whale songs, off the California coast, and focused on the whales' B calls -- the long, sad moan that typically forms the second half of the blue whale song that is specific to the eastern North Pacific population. They found that the whales all produce the B call at the same pitch, at a frequency of 16.02 Hz, exactly four octaves below middle C. "We found that blue whales are capable of very fine control over the pitch of their call -- both in reproducing their call at the same pitch every time and in synchronizing their pitch with others," Bland said. The study found a remarkably small variation in pitch from call to call. In musical terms, the half-tone change of pitch between the notes C and C Sharp is a 6 percent increase in pitch, whereas the variation observed between the blue whale's B calls was a 0.5 percent change in pitch. The authors suggest that there may be an adaptive advantage to the whales tuning into a common pitch. "If whales are so super accurate in always calling at the exact same pitch, then it's possible that they could be able to detect tiny shifts in other whales' calls caused by the Doppler shift," Bland said. The Doppler shift is the apparent increase or decrease in pitch that is heard when the source of sound is moving toward or away from an individual, for example the change in pitch heard when a vehicle with a siren passes by. Previous research has suggested that the blue whale song is produced only by males, and appears to be sung when the whales are traveling. "Given that blue whales can travel up to 5 meters per second, it's feasible that females could locate calling males by listening for the changes in the male's pitch," Bland said. Underwater recordings were captured at the Pioneer Seamount Underwater Observatory, 50 miles off the California coast, over a three-month period in 2001. The study's results are consistent with recent research suggesting that blue whales across the world have decreased their pitch over the last few decades. "We found the frequency of the B call to be 16 Hz in 2001, which fits well with the downward trending curve that has been observed in previous research." Bland co-authored the paper with Michael D. Hoffman, a former student at SF State, and Newell Garfield, professor of geosciences and director of the Romberg Tiburon Center for Environmental Studies at SF State. more 08/09/10 Species Spotter for Whale Watch trips - Stellwagen Bank Sanctuary Marine Mammals: The following species have been known to make appearances in sanctuary waters. Some are more regularly seen than others. All of these baleen whales, except the Minke, are listed as endangered. Baleen Whales: • Fin whale • North Atlantic Right Whale • Humpback Whale • Sei Whale • Minke Whale Tooth Whales • Atlantic White sided dolphin • Common dolphin • Harbor porpoise • Long finned piolet whale Pinnipeds • Gray seal • Harbor Seal Fishes Although many of the sanctuary’s fish are found close to the sea floor, several species occasionally swim at or near the surface. • American Sand Lance • Atlantic Bluefin Tuna • Basking Shark • Ocean Sunfish Sea Turtles These reptiles are usually seen during the summer and early fall in the sanctuary, moving to warmer waters during the winter. If waters cool too soon or the turtles migrate too slowly they may become hypothermic. Cold- shocked turtles often wash up on Cape Cod beaches. • Kemp’s Ridley • Leatherback • Loggerhead Seabirds Numerous seabirds come to the sanctuary to feast on the rich supply of zooplankton and fish. Some visit Stellwagen Bank in the summer and head south in the winter months; others spend winters here and return to northern climates in the summer; and some us the area as a stopover point on their migrations. This list contains birds that might be encountered dring the summer. • Great Shearwater • Manx Shearwater • Sooty Shearwater • Wilsons Storm Petrel • Northern Gannet • Red Phalarope • Red necked Phalarope • Double Crested Cormorant • Great Black backed gull • Herring Gull • Laughing Gull • Common Tern • Least Tern • Roseate Tern • Northern Fulmar • Parasitic Jaeger • Pomarine Jaeger more 08/08/10 Endangered North Atlantic right whale population rising as ship strikes drop - Canadaeast HALIFAX - Measures meant to stem the demise of one of the world's most endangered marine mammals appear to be working as the population of North Atlantic right whales rises slightly and deaths linked to ship strikes level off. A scientist who studies the large, lumbering animals says preliminary numbers suggest initiatives in the United States and Canada that divert ships around areas where the mammals have been spotted could be slowing their decline. "I think the ship-strike problem has been reduced," said Amy Knowlton, a research scientist at the New England Aquarium in Boston. "Certainly they're much better protected from ship strikes than they ever have been, so we're hopeful that the number of mortalities from that sort of thing will reduce." Knowlton, who will study the whales for the next two months in the Bay of Fundy, said they could be seeing signs that regulations on speed and ship routing are having a beneficial effect. In the U.S., a federal rule introduced in late 2008 forced ships of a certain size to slow down as they pass through areas along the eastern seaboard that are part of the migratory route of the whales. The initiative, which was 10 years in the making, requires ships to reduce their speeds to about 19 kilometres an hour at certain times of the year when the whales are heading south to breed or north to feed. It's estimated about two are killed every year when they are hit by boats that cruise through their transit route, which stretches from breeding grounds off Florida and Georgia and up to the Bay of Fundy, where many feed in the summer months. The creatures, which can measure up to 18 metres in length, travel slowly and close to the surface, putting the world's remaining 430 right whales at risk of being rammed by large container ships. In 2003, Canada re-routed some shipping lanes around the animal's migratory path and, in 2008, implemented a voluntary area to be avoided near the Roseway Basin south of Nova Scotia. Knowlton said there has been one fatality linked to a ship strike since 2008, a reduction that could signal new hope for the species. "It seems like something could have shifted," she said. "We're looking at the numbers of right whales and other large whale species to see if there has been a reduction in the number of animals that are ship struck." But while scientists are cautiously optimistic the ship measures are helping, they say whales are still dying from entanglements in fishing line. Michael Moore, a research scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts, said one of two whales found dead last month in U.S. waters appears to have died months after becoming entangled in fishing gear. Moore did a necropsy on the adult male that had rope wrapped around its flippers and head, which can cause a painful death up to five months after the initial entanglement. "In terms of the animal welfare aspect, it's a pretty brutal way to go," he said. Several humpback whales were spotted with fishing gear on them weeks ago off Cape Cod. Knowlton said the calving rates are also raising hopes for the species, which was almost hunted to extinction centuries ago. Nineteen calves were born this year compared to the average of 11 in the 1980s and '90s. But, she says the species is known to have fluctuating pregnancy rates and the numbers could fall again. more 07/30/10 Stellwagen decline began long ago - capecodtimes.com Early explorers marveled at the abundance of marine life in Cape waters, but a new report released yesterday paints a picture of the decline of many species over hundreds of years in Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, just a few miles to the north. Scientists Stefan H. Claesson and Andrew A. Rosenberg mined ancient accounts, along with fishermen logbooks, fishermen interviews, recorded landings, research cruises and other historical documents for the report of the sanctuary, which covers 842 square miles of ocean from the waters north of Province­town up to Cape Ann. Key findings * Halibut, swordfish and other top predators were overfished to commercial extinction in the late 19th and 20th centuries. * Landings of important commercial species declined by nearly 50 percent over the past 100 years. * Nearshore fish and those inhabiting smaller geological outcrops were significantly deteriorated by around 1800. * Diversity of bottom-dwelling species in the western Gulf of Maine appears to have declined significantly over past 100 years. * To view the report go to: http://stellwagen.noaa.gov/library/pdfs/sbnms_mhe_report.pdf After three years of research, the report assesses the relative health and historical conditions of Stellwagen, designated a national marine sanctuary in 1992. Produced by the Gulf of Maine Cod Project at the University of New Hampshire, the report depicts a vastly depleted resource. "We are (fishing) on the remnants. A fraction of the previous population," said Rosenberg, former director of the National Marine Fisheries Service Northeast Region. What the report also showed was the amazing resilience of marine species, said Craig MacDonald, the superintendent of Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. "The conclusions they draw reverberate across the Gulf of Maine, that things have changed dramatically," MacDonald said yesterday. "But the report also offers hope for recovery that goes beyond current expectations. There's a very good chance (Stellwagen Bank) can become more than we think it can. That's the positive message of this report." Although Stellwagen Bank supports a rich diversity of life including 22 species of marine mammals, 53 species of seabirds, more than 80 species of fishes and hundreds of species of marine invertebrates, the report shows that the range of species and their numbers were much greater centuries ago than today. "In five or six hours "» we had pestered our ship so with Cod fish, that we threw numbers of them over-board again" wrote English explorer John Brereton in 1602. In 1614, John Smith, on his way to Virginia, echoed his countryman's praise, noting that cod, cusk, halibut, mackerel, skate and other fish were plentiful close to shore and in relatively shallow water. A fleet of sailing vessels using only hooks caught 70,000 metric tons of cod in the Gulf of Maine in one year in the 1800s, Rosenberg pointed out, while a highly mechanized modern fleet using sophisticated technology catches just 3,000 metric tons today. But the rapid recovery of haddock and sea scallop stocks after large-scale Georges Bank closures in 1994 also gave researchers hope, Rosenberg said. The sanctuary recently released its first management plan since 1993 that sets up action plans to identify threats, research needs and look for ways to develop consensus. They may have a tough go with fishermen who previously have painted attempts to restrict or ban fishing from Stellwagen as reneging on a promise made to them when the sanctuary was created. MacDonald doesn't see the need for a total ban on fishing to help restore sanctuary resources. He believes that adapting fishing practices to be more environmentally responsible is the way to go. He would like to set aside portions of the sanctuary as no-fishing zones to help determine how long it takes marine habitats to recover from damage incurred by dragging nets and heavy scallop dredges. The NMFS has already closed 22 percent of the sanctuary to all fishing as part of the Western Gulf of Maine Closure Area. But that area is not as diverse in habitat types as the bank itself. He noted that the relatively simple cobble type of rocky habitat has taken seven years to develop the type of flora and fauna that offers some shelter for marine species. Recovery for more fragile habitats could take decades, he said. MacDonald said the sanctuary has already begun the process of building some consensus on protections. Assistant Superintendent Benjamin Cowie-Haskell sits on several key New England Fishery Management Council habitat committees. more 07/28/10 NOAA AGENCES ADRESSING ISSUE OF OCEAN ACIDIFICATION IN LOCAL WATERS - NOAA You’ve probably heard about the issue of global warming, but do you know about the other carbon problem? The steadily increasing volume of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is not only exacerbating the greenhouse effect and raising global temperatures, but it’s also increasing ocean acidity. This change in the acidity of seawater may have far-reaching effects on life in the ocean – and by extension, the entire planet. To better understand what is happening in our waters, Congress passed the Federal Oceanic Acidification Research and Monitoring Act in early 2009. Three agencies have been tasked with implementing this act – NOAA, NASA, and the National Science Foundation (NSF). NOAA’s role is to: 1. Establish a long-term monitoring program, 2. Develop strategies to adapt to these changes, 3. Provide education and outreach programs, and 4. Support research that studies ocean acidification effects on ecosystems and the impacts these changes will have on society and the economy. The major idea is that if we can expect certain changes, we can prepare for them and not be blind-sided. If an ecosystem becomes more acidic, perhaps other stressors like extra nutrients or pollution can be reduced to help ease the impact. If acidity levels vary over time and space, human uses, such as shellfish farming, may have to accommodate these new natural cycles. The sanctuary is now working with NOAA’s Fisheries Service northeast office in the development of a regional plan. One key element for the sanctuary is the establishment of Stellwagen Bank as a sentinel site in the monitoring program. Ocean Chemistry 101 There’s an old chemistry class adage that says, “Do as you ought’ a, add acid to water.” That slogan was intended to keep students safe from splashes and acid burns. Today the slogan could be revised to fit a new global safety issue –“Do as we ought’ a, reduce CO2 in seawater.” This reduction is necessary to slow the process of Ocean acidification. Ocean Acidification Chemical Reactions CO2 (atmos) – CO2 (aqueous) H2O (water) + CO2 (carbon dioxide) --H2CO3 (carbonic acid) H2CO3 --H+ + HCO3 (bicarbonate) H+ + HCO3 ---2H+ + CO3 (carbonate) Ca + CO3 ---CaCO3 (calcium carbonate) Over the past century and a half, a vast amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere has entered the ocean. On average, the ocean absorbs about 25% of all the carbon dioxide we emit from the burning of fossil fuels and land use changes, such as burning and decay. A recent article in the journal Nature claims 2.3 billion tons of CO2 were absorbed in 2008 alone. The chemical reaction that CO2 undergoes in the ocean is detailed above. Carbon dioxide moves from the atmosphere into the water at the ocean’s surface. As the CO2 concentration increases in seawater, it reacts quickly with water to form carbonic acid. The acid dissociates to form a hydrogen ion and bicarbonate Ion. Most of the resulting hydrogen ions react with carbonate ions to produce more bicarbonate ions. As a result, more CO2 in the water increases the amount of hydrogen ions; thereby increasing acidity and decreasing the number of carbonate ions. Scientific measurements show that since the mid-1800s (the start of the Industrial Revolution) Ocean acidity has increased by 30%. Recent changes are even more rapid. This rate of change in ocean acidity is many times faster than any changes discovered over the last 55 million years. The reduction in carbonate ions can have detrimental Effects for many animals, such as clams, mussels and oysters and many forms of zooplankton and phytoplankton. The calcium carbonate that makes up the shells and skeletons is formed by a reaction of calcium and carbonate ions. Delicate coral reefs, now under so many pressures, ranging from warming waters to pollution, would be at significant risk. These harmful Effects can be likened to a marine version of osteoporosis. Not only would shells not grow, but also with increasing acidity some may start to dissolve. The ramifications of more acidic ocean water in the Stellwagen Bank sanctuary are still unknown. The projected change in pH (acidity) is a big question. Researchers believe that ocean acidification may be heightened in the higher latitudes – the Polar Regions – and upwelling areas, some of the areas with the most productive fisheries. Denser, colder water is more efficient at absorbing carbon dioxide. More acidic waters may show changes in sound transmission, thereby affecting whales and other vocalizing animals, or it may affect the ways predators find their prey. The only given is that ocean acidification is presently happening and the marine science community is very concerned. How Acidic is the Ocean? Scientists use the pH scale to measure how acid or basic a solution is - 7 are neutral, more than 7 is basic and less than 7 is acidic. It may seem counter-intuitive, but if more hydrogen ions are in solution, the pH goes down and the solution is more acidic. Since the pH scale is logarithmic, a one-point drop means a 10-fold increase in acidity. The ocean is basically basic (pH 8.0-8.3). Ocean acidity varies from place to place depending on upwelling and other inputs. Fresh water is neutral at 7. The more acidic a solution is the lower it’s number, e.g., milk (6), tomato (4), lemon juice (2), battery acid (0). In reverse, the more basic an item, the higher its number, e.g., baking soda (9), ammonia (11), oven cleaner (13), and sodium hydroxide (14). Historically, ocean water has been slightly basic, but relatively constant over millions of years. Monitoring has shown that seawater pH has gotten more acidic since the start of the industrial revolution more 07/24/10 Horseshoe crab decline 'alarming' - capecodtimes.com WELLFLEET — University of Massachusetts graduate student Sarah Martinez is careful about drawing non-scientific conclusions about her horseshoe crab research. But, after four years doing population surveys on these dinosaur-age survivors, Martinez, who hails from Yarmouth, can't help herself. "We both grew up on Cape Cod," Martinez said of herself and fellow graduate student Katherine Terkanian, who is from Wellfleet. "I remember there being more as a kid." Dan McKiernan, deputy director of the state Division of Marine Fisheries, said state officials believe the combined evidence of spawning surveys such as those conducted by Martinez and Terkanian, as well as trawling surveys, are showing a decline in the state's horseshoe crab population. When spawning surveys turned up few or no crabs at some known spawning sites, McKiernan said state officials worried that they may be managing crabs the wrong way — that it may be just as important where fishermen harvest horseshoe crabs as how many they catch. "On known spawning beaches, some of these findings appeared to be alarming," McKiernan said. Largely ignored by both fishery managers and the public for decades, horseshoe crabs hit the news in 1998, when birders worried that a vital link in the ocean food chain was being severed by fishermen harvesting horseshoe crabs for use as bait. Migrating shorebirds, particularly in the Delaware Bay area, depended on crab eggs for nourishment in their long South American migration. Conservation efforts By 2000, both the Cape Cod National Seashore and the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge in Chatham banned the harvest of horseshoe crabs for bait and medical use. Horseshoe crab blood produces a vital medical product that can detect contamination in medical devices such as surgical implants. The Division of Marine Fisheries also set strict limits on how many of the crabs could be caught. This year, the agency instituted new regulations to guard against localized depletion by protecting spawning crabs that gather in large groups on beaches around the full moon in late April through early July. Fishermen catching crabs for bait and for the medical industry, by taking advantage of these natural aggregations, could, in theory, wipe out a local population. There has already been some research showing that there may be at least four genetically distinct horseshoe crab populations from Maine to the Gulf of Mexico. The Division of Marine Fisheries co-sponsored some of Martinez and Terkanian's research at the Massachusetts Audubon Society's Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. The pair has used radio tracking of individual crabs and analysis of genetic samples to determine whether there are even more genetically distinct crab populations in smaller water bodies such as Wellfleet Harbor and the Nauset estuary system. Looking for answers With $50,000 in federal Sea Grant funding, the graduate students fixed radio transmitters on 75 horseshoe crabs this spring in Chatham waters around Stage Harbor, Monomoy and South Beach. They then placed 22 thermos-sized radio receivers moored in large tubs of cement around the area. Each transmitter emits a distinct signal that is caught by the receivers on the crabs and stored. Researchers then go out and download information from the receivers to a laptop computer to study the crabs' movements. One goal of the research is to determine whether the crabs in each locality mix, or remain separated, during the two-year lifespan of the batteries powering the transmitters. This kind of research helps the Division of Marine Fisheries determine whether the agency needs to craft regulations to protect groups of crabs that stay in one particular area, or whether crabs from other areas just move in and replace those that fishermen catch. Terkanian is collecting genetic samples from crabs in Wellfleet, Stage Harbor, Duxbury Bay, the Nauset estuary, and Pleasant Bay to determine whether there is any interbreeding. She is still looking for funding to complete the analysis of genetic samples that could show that discrete groups don't intermingle. more 07/22/10 Whale meat restaurants top 100 in Ulsan, Korea - Korea Times Ulsan is the place to be if you are craving a plate of whale meat. The number of restaurants offering the dish in the southeastern metropolitan city has increased sharply over the past year, exceeding 100, the city government said Sunday. The figure is up nearly four times from a year earlier and the highest since the International Whaling Commission adopted a worldwide moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986. City officials say minke whale is the main item on the market. Catching whales for commercial purposes is banned around the world unless they are caught accidentally in fishing nets. Korea is one of the countries strictly prohibiting the catching of the endangered species for profit. However, whale meat is a traditional local delicacy for people living in the city. A 6-meter-long whale usually sells for 25 million won ($21,000) when demand is high and supply is short. An illegally caught one sells for about 16 million won on the black market. Illegal trading of the endangered species is the reason behind the mushrooming restaurants selling whale meat. As a result, environmental groups are calling for the government to monitor illegal hunting and trading more tightly. more 07/19/10 Protecting Whales Focus of NOAA, Industry Program for Tour Boat Operators - NOAA Recognizing businesses that discourage the harassment of whales in the wild and promote good stewardship is one of the goals of Whale SENSE, a voluntary education and recognition program that encourages whale-watch tour operators from Maine to Virginia to practice responsible viewing. The program was developed last year by NOAA Fisheries Service, Northeast Region and NOAA’s Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary in partnership with the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society and several New England commercial whale watching companies. The United States has the largest whale watching industry in the world, and whale watch vessels often play important roles in reporting and standing by injured, sick, and entangled animals or those struck by ships until help arrives. All whales are protected under federal laws, including the Marine Mammal Protection Act, that safeguard them from being injured, killed, or harassed and having their natural behaviors interrupted. The public wants to view these animals in their natural habitat, and will find tour companies that value education and responsible whale watching very attractive," said Allison Rosner, a biologist with NOAA Fisheries Service’s Office of Protected Resources and the Whale SENSE program coordinator for NOAA. "Whale SENSE highlights those companies operating in an environmentally responsible manner and are role models for the rest of the fleet," said Craig MacDonald, Superintendent of the Sanctuary. According to a report from the International Fund for Animal Welfare, the whale watching industry contributed nearly $1 billion to the nation's economy in 2008. "With the threat of commercial whaling once again a reality, it is critically important to show the world that whale watching, not whaling, is the best future for us, and for the whales," said Regina Asmutis-Silvia, senior biologist for the Whale & Dolphin Conservation Society. Companies participating in Whale SENSE agree to minimize negative impacts of whales by engaging in responsible viewing practices, by providing customers with a high standard of education, and by promoting ocean stewardship and conservation. To become a Whale SENSE participant, company vessel operators and the naturalists who narrate tours are required to attend annual training on safe operations and whale ecology. Through these workshops, companies learn more about passenger education, whale watching guidelines and regulations, and good marine stewardship practices. Once a participant company has completed the program, it is granted full use of the Whale SENSE logo and becomes listed on the Whale SENSE website. “Dolphin Fleet is proud to be a part in the Whale SENSE program, so we can show our staff’s commitment to educating the public while safely navigating around the marine life we visit,” said Steve Miliken of Dolphin Fleet Whale Watch in Provincetown, Mass. “Participating in this program helps us to improve awareness of the whale watching guidelines within the Northeast whale watching community and give our patrons the opportunity to understand the importance of protecting the whales we see.” Massachusetts-based Hyannis Whale Watcher Cruises, Dolphin Fleet, Captain John Boats and Massachusetts Bay Lines are among those companies participating in Whale SENSE. The Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center in Virginia Beach is also a participant. “We hope participation will grow as the whale-watching community recognizes the value of engaging in education, conservation and stewardship,” Rosner said. “It’s a win-win situation for the companies, for the public, and most of all, for the whales.” # # # NOAA Fisheries Service is dedicated to protecting and preserving our nation’s living marine resources and their habitat through scientific research, management and enforcement. NOAA Fisheries Service provides effective stewardship of these resources for the benefit of the nation, supporting coastal communities that depend upon them, and helping to provide safe and healthy seafood to consumers and recreational opportunities for the American public. 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. Visit us at http://www.noaa.gov or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/noaa.lubchenco. more 07/15/10 Ship tracking system helps protect vessels, whales. - Stellwagen Bank Sanctuary Ship identification and tracking system, intended to improve ship safety and national security has a new role in helping to protect great whales through the efforts of sanctuary staff. Called the automatic identification system or AIS the safety program is administered by the US coast guard in this nation and by the international Maritime organization globally. Most large ships greater than 300 gross tons are required to use this technology. In this system, shipboard transponders send continuously updated tracking data, allowing receiving stations and other AIS equipped ships to identify local conservation programs to protect endangered whales. Warnings about the presence of North Atlantic right whales are now sent via AIS to liquid national gas tankers and NOAA is working to expand this program to other large ships. If you have visited the Cape Cod National Seashore province lands Visitor center or the tower at halibut point state park in Rockport, you may have seen one of these AIS antennae. A third antennae sits atop the sanctuaries head quarters building in situate. Together they provide full VHF coverage for Boston Harbor, Massachusetts and Cape Cod Bays the sanctuary and beyond. Ship tracking system helps protect vessels, whales. Ship identification and tracking system, intended to improve ship safety and national security has a new role in helping to protect great whales through the efforts of sanctuary staff. Called the automatic identification system or AIS the safety program is administered by the US coast guard in this nation and by the international Maritime organization globally. Most large ships greater than 300 gross tons are required to use this technology. In this system, shipboard transponders send continuously updated tracking data, allowing receiving stations and other AIS equipped ships to identify local conservation programs to protect endangered whales. Warnings about the presence of North Atlantic right whales are now sent via AIS to liquid national gas tankers and NOAA is working to expand this program to other large ships. If you have visited the Cape Cod National Seashore province lands Visitor center or the tower at halibut point state park in Rockport, you may have seen one of these AIS antennae. A third antennae sits atop the sanctuaries head quarters building in situate. Together they provide full VHF coverage for Boston Harbor, Massachusetts and Cape Cod Bays the sanctuary and beyond. Ship tracking system helps protect vessels, whales. Ship identification and tracking system, intended to improve ship safety and national security has a new role in helping to protect great whales through the efforts of sanctuary staff. Called the automatic identification system or AIS the safety program is administered by the US coast guard in this nation and by the international Maritime organization globally. Most large ships greater than 300 gross tons are required to use this technology. In this system, shipboard transponders send continuously updated tracking data, allowing receiving stations and other AIS equipped ships to identify local conservation programs to protect endangered whales. Warnings about the presence of North Atlantic right whales are now sent via AIS to liquid national gas tankers and NOAA is working to expand this program to other large ships. If you have visited the Cape Cod National Seashore province lands Visitor center or the tower at halibut point state park in Rockport, you may have seen one of these AIS antennae. A third antennae sits atop the sanctuaries head quarters building in situate. Together they provide full VHF coverage for Boston Harbor, Massachusetts and Cape Cod Bays the sanctuary and beyond. more 07/13/10 Listening to Soundings in the Sanctuary. . Stellwagen Bank - Stellwagen Bank Sanctuary A research team studies a noisy sea Sailors, whalers, fisherman and scientists have long known that animals in the ocean make sounds. In the dim aquatic environment where vision doesn’t get you very far marine mammals have come to rely on their voices as a means of navigating, finding food, looking for mates and maintaining contact. These sounds range from very low frequency of blue whales to extremely rapid and high frequency clicks of harbor porpoises and everything in between. One species, the humpback whale, produces long complex songs that rival the calls of land-based songbirds in beauty and complexity. Those songs can be heard for miles. Some fish species like codfish and haddock make short grunt like sounds that are only audible to their neighbors. Humans also generate sound in the ocean. The rumbles of ship engines, the pings of fish finders and the blasts of seismic exploration are making the ocean an extremely noisy place. This cacophony has become worrisome to a lot of marine biologists who believe that the noise produced by human activities has the potential to interfere with marine animal communication. With its diverse array of human activities and animals, Stellwagen Bank national marine sanctuary has become a prime site for marine acoustic studies. Scientists have opportunities to both see and listen in on our aquatic neighbors as well as to measure the noise produced by humans. For the past several years’ sanctuary scientists have been engaged in collaborative research project to map low frequency noise throughout sanctuary waters and to quantify both the sources of anthropogenic or man made noise as well as the vocal behavior of local animals. Recordings are collected using specialized devices called autonomous acoustic recording units developed by Cornell University. These instruments can record sounds continuously for several months at a time. The sanctuary research team has been deploying on them and around Stellwagen Bank year round since 2006. The data from these recorders are yielding some interesting results. Scientists have been able to measure the noise levels produced large commercial vessels and can estimate ranges over which the sound travels. The recorders have yielded information about the distribution and vocal behavior of right, humpback fin and minke whales within sanctuary waters and researchers are listening in on fish as well. A collaborative team ahs started estimating the rangers over which different species of marine mammals can communicate with one and other and how these may change during human activities. BY combining all of this information scientists are starting to paint a picture of the sounds cape of the Stellwagen bank sanctuary. Listening to Soundings in the Sanctuary A research team studies a noisy sea Sailors, whalers, fisherman and scientists have long known that animals in the ocean make sounds. In the dim aquatic environment where vision doesn’t get you very far marine mammals have come to rely on their voices as a means of navigating, finding food, looking for mates and maintaining contact. These sounds range from very low frequency of blue whales to extremely rapid and high frequency clicks of harbor porpoises and everything in between. One species, the humpback whale, produces long complex songs that rival the calls of land-based songbirds in beauty and complexity. Those songs can be heard for miles. Some fish species like codfish and haddock make short grunt like sounds that are only audible to their neighbors. Humans also generate sound in the ocean. The rumbles of ship engines, the pings of fish finders and the blasts of seismic exploration are making the ocean an extremely noisy place. This cacophony has become worrisome to a lot of marine biologists who believe that the noise produced by human activities has the potential to interfere with marine animal communication. With its diverse array of human activities and animals, Stellwagen Bank national marine sanctuary has become a prime site for marine acoustic studies. Scientists have opportunities to both see and listen in on our aquatic neighbors as well as to measure the noise produced by humans. For the past several years’ sanctuary scientists have been engaged in collaborative research project to map low frequency noise throughout sanctuary waters and to quantify both the sources of anthropogenic or man made noise as well as the vocal behavior of local animals. Recordings are collected using specialized devices called autonomous acoustic recording units developed by Cornell University. These instruments can record sounds continuously for several months at a time. The sanctuary research team has been deploying on them and around Stellwagen Bank year round since 2006. The data from these recorders are yielding some interesting results. Scientists have been able to measure the noise levels produced large commercial vessels and can estimate ranges over which the sound travels. The recorders have yielded information about the distribution and vocal behavior of right, humpback fin and minke whales within sanctuary waters and researchers are listening in on fish as well. A collaborative team ahs started estimating the rangers over which different species of marine mammals can communicate with one and other and how these may change during human activities. BY combining all of this information scientists are starting to paint a picture of the sounds cape of the Stellwagen bank sanctuary. more 07/11/10 Giant Whale-Eating Whale Found - DiscoveryNews The massive skull and jaw of a 13-million-year-old sperm whale has been discovered eroding from the windblown sands of a coastal desert of Peru. The extinct cousin of the modern sperm whale is the first fossil to rival modern sperm whales in size -- although this is a very different beast, say whale evolution experts. "We could see it from very far," said paleontologist Olivier Lambert of the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, France, who led the team which found the fossil. The giant 3-meter (10-foot) skull of what's been dubbed Leviathan melvillei (in honor of the author of "Moby Dick") was found with teeth in its top and bottom jaws up to 36 centimeters (14 inches) long. The discovery is reported in the July 1 issue of the journal Nature. Living sperm whales have teeth only in their lower jaws and are specialized to feed on giant squid, Lambert explained. They suck down squid like large spaghetti noodles rather than catch the prey with their teeth. The much toothier fossil sperm whales, however, may have eaten more like a outsized-orca, or killer whale: chomping great big bites out of its prey. "These are very unusual attributes," said cetacea evolution expert Ewan Fordyce of the University of Otago in New Zealand. "It's remarkably big. That is unexpected." Another sign that this ancient whale had a killer bite is the large hole in the skull to accommodate a large jaw muscle. "This was a hunting predator that took chunks out of prey," said Fordyce. It most likely fed on baleen whales, Lambert and his colleagues report, and lived in the same waters as the monster-sized shark called Carcharocles megalodon. To learn more about its eating habits, Fordyce said it would be useful to look at the microscopic wear patterns on the teeth. If the wear lines are horizontal, it probably sucked in prey like today's whales. But if the wear lines are vertical, it would suggest a biter, like the orca. "Many fossil sperm whales have been found in the past," said Lambert. "Most have been much smaller than modern sperm whales." There have also been discoveries of isolated large sperm whale teeth fossils before, said Lambert. Those made it clear to researchers there was a bigger animal out there waiting to be found. And now they have found it. "I think it's a great advance," said Fordyce of the discovery. The fossil appears to also be a distant relative of today's sperm whales, said Fordyce, rather than a direct ancestor. more 07/07/10 Smallest Whale Population Identified - DiscoveryNews Only 30 eastern North Pacific right whales are left on the planet, making it the world’s smallest population of whales, according to a paper published in this week’s Royal Society Biology Letters. Scientists believe 19th century whaling and recent illegal catches by the USSR led to this whale’s dramatic downfall. Reports from the mid 1800’s suggest that these whales once numbered at least 23,000 from North America to the Okhotsk Sea and Japan. Surveys now suggest that only around eight female and 20-22 male eastern North Pacific right whales are left. “With such small numbers, and so few females, we cannot predict whether this population will increase or decrease,” lead author Paul Wade told Discovery News. “It could go either way. Under ideal conditions, a right whale population could increase by at least a few percent per year, but probably not such a small population like this.” These whales are very large marine mammals, with some growing to 60 feet in length. They mostly feed on small crustaceans known as copepods. Due to the whale’s size and other considerations, humans cannot breed them and other big baleen species. Wade, a research biologist at the National Marine Mammal Laboratory at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, and his colleagues used several different methods, including DNA analysis and photo-identification surveys, to count the eastern North Pacific right whales. The estimates all came to very similar conclusions, all pointing to around 30. The whale’s precarious status today, according to the authors, “is a direct consequence of uncontrolled and illegal whaling, and highlights the past failure of international management to prevent such abuses.” Wade added that the whales were “pushed to the brink of extinction by illegal Soviet catches in the 1960’s, and that this was a failure of monitoring and enforcement under the IWC (International Whaling Commission).” This year’s IWC annual meeting in Paris has failed to conclude with a new deal that could further protect many species. Wade and his team believe that “any negotiation needs to include strict monitoring, including independent genetic sampling of markets, to prove the meat being sold comes from legitimate sources.” Ship strikes, disturbance from seismic activities and entanglement in fishing gear further threaten the eastern North Pacific right whales. Howard Rosenbaum, a researcher for the Wildlife Conservation Society and the American Museum of Natural History, believes the North Pacific right whale is “one of the most endangered of all great whale species.” Five years ago, Rosenbaum and others conducted DNA studies that proved right whales consist of three genetically distinct populations: North Pacific right whales, for which the eastern group is a subset; North Atlantic right whales; and Southern right whales. Western North Pacific right whales are also at risk of extinction, but there is no reliable estimate of their numbers now. The second smallest whale population may be the critically endangered western population of grey whales. They are estimated to be at about 100. Wade and his team think the eastern North Pacific right whales “may be on par with other relict populations decimated by whaling for which there is a similar rarity of sightings, such as bowhead whales near Svalbard, right whales in the eastern North Atlantic or right whales in Chile and Peru.” One additional problem faced by the eastern North Pacific right whale is lack of public exposure. The few that are still alive live in a remote area, so they are out of human sight, and therefore out of mind in terms of a push to save them. “So public attention of the plight of this population has not occurred at least partially due to that, which we think is too bad,” Wade said from a ship in the central Aleutian Islands, where he is conducting more whale surveys. more 07/04/10 The Mathematics of Menopause, WHales and Humans - Sarah Reed Among long-lived animals, scientists have found only three species that undergo menopause: humans, short-finned pilot whales, and resident killer whales. What makes these species so special? A new study finds that it all comes down to their unique social structures. Menopause occurs when the ovaries are depleted of eggs, marking the end of female fertility. But evolution favors the production of offspring, so why would some species abandon reproduction? Some researchers have argued for the "grandmother hypothesis." The idea is that an older woman who devotes herself to caring for her grandchildren benefits from the survival of her genes more than she would if she continued to bear children. If she continued reproducing in old age, then she would risk dying during childbirth or while young offspring are still dependent on her. Human beings are more disposed toward menopause than are other species. That's because, according to a recent study by evolutionary biologists Rufus Johnstone of the University of Cambridge and Michael Cant of the University of Exeter, both in the United Kingdom, women have historically left their family groups after marrying. This placed them in a new family, meaning it was beneficial to care for their own children at first (because they were more genetically related to them than they were to the rest of the family) and to care for their grandchildren later (when more of their genes made it into the family group). But this scenario can't explain why short-finned pilot whales and resident killer whales are also menopausal, as neither gender leaves the family group to join a mate. Instead, males and females return to their respective family pods after mating with whales from other pods—an arrangement unique in the mammalian kingdom. In the new study, Johnstone and Cant used a mathematical model to analyze the kinship dynamics in a population with this mating pattern. They found that this unusual mating scenario led to an increase in the number of individuals that a female is related to in her group as she ages—a trend that favors younger breeders and older child-rearing helpers. And that sets the stage for menopause to evolve, the team will report online tomorrow in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. The researchers saw the same trend when they applied the model to the mating pattern of humans societies in which a female leaves home to join her husband's family. This is also an unusual social structure, as in most other social mammals it is the male who leaves home. Evolutionary biologist Thomas Kirkwood of Newcastle University in the United Kingdom isn't convinced that strong conclusions about the evolution of menopause can be drawn from a mathematical model that predicts relatedness within a species. "It doesn't show how the presence or absence of the menopause affects Darwinian fitness," how successful an individual is in passing on his or her genes to future generations, "which is the all-important evolutionary yardstick." more 06/26/10 IWC debates scrapping ineffective ban on whaling - brisbanetimes.com.au The International Whaling Commission began its most important meeting in decades debating whether to scrap an ineffective 25-year ban on commercial hunting and instead allow for limited whaling under a more enforceable regime. Though environmental groups say the 1986 moratorium has been one of the most successful animal conservation measures in history, it has failed to prevent Japan, Norway and Iceland from killing hundreds of whales each year in defiance of the commission. A proposal before the 88-member commission would allow the three countries limited whaling in exchange for removing their rogue status and imposing a 10-year period of international monitoring. Advertisement: Story continues below The proposal's author, IWC Chairman Cristian Maquieira, has said it would save about 5000 whales over 10 years, though he was not attending this week's meeting due to illness. Allowing for limited hunting might also reduce the harassment by conservationists trying to disrupt whale hunts - sometimes leading to violent clashes at sea. Within minutes of opening the annual conference on Monday, the commission's deputy chairman, Anthony Liverpool, adjourned the open sessions for two days to give