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Showing posts from April, 2018

A blue whale spotted in Tasmanian waters - only the eighth sighting in six years

There have only been eight blue whale sightings in southeast Tasmanian waters in the last six years so the Marine Conservation Program was naturally a little bit excited this week.

An increase in the number of irrawaddy dolphins in the Mekong

Some good news this week about the Irrawaddy dolphins of the Mekong River. A joint report from the Cambodian government and the World Wildlife Foundation tells how,  following decades of seemingly irreversible decline, the population is increasing. They report the number of dolphins in the region has risen from 80 to 92 in the past two years—the first increase since scientists began keeping records more than twenty years ago. The first official census in 1997 estimated that there were 200 Irrawaddy dolphins in the Mekong, a figure that fell steadily due to bycatch and habitat loss. By 2015, only 80 dolphins remained. The recent census showed that more dolphins are surviving into adulthood, and there’s been a significant drop in overall deaths. Nine calves were born this year, raising the number of dolphins born in the past three years to 32. Seng Teak, Country Director of WWF Cambodia, said the census had positive implications for the Greater Mekong region, wher...

The hazards threatening doom for the North Atlantic right whales

The Washington Post  has today reported on the hazards threatening the critically endangered North Atlantic right whales. The report says: "... lately the imperiled animals have acted in strange and disturbing ways. They are having fewer calves; not a single newborn was seen this year. The whales are skipping favored feeding grounds and showing up in unusual places. And in the past 11 months, 18 whales have been found floating, dead — the worst mortality event since scientists began keeping records decades ago."

At Taiji they kill the whales then hold a memorial service

The whale killing season has just ended so what do the hunters of Taiji do? They hold a memorial service for the hunted whales. The Mainichi newspaper reports that around 100 people including fishermen attended the service on Sunday and offered incense in front of a monument shaped like a whale in a park in the town in Wakayama Prefecture. The memorial service is held every year in the park on a hill where an old whaling watchtower used to stand. "We will pass on the long history of the town connected with whaling to future generations," Taiji Mayor Kazutaka Sangen said in a message read on his behalf by town official Hironobu Ryono. ( From Wikipedia ) Taiji has drawn international criticism for its traditional drive hunting of dolphins and small whales. The open season on cetacean drive hunting, in which the animals are herded into a bay and killed, starts on Sept. 1 in Taiji. The season for drive hunting of dolphins lasts until the end of February, and the hunti...

The struggle to protect the endangered vaquita porpoise

Bloomberg Environment reports that while Mexico is increasing its efforts to protect the highly endangered vaquita porpoise by expanding its protected habitat, it still struggles to enforce fishing bans meant to keep the species alive. The push to expand the vaquita refuge area in the Gulf of California, which the Environmental Ministry announced April 20, is a last-ditch effort to save the rapidly disappearing porpoise, whose numbers have been reduced to about 30 mammals. The illegal capture of vaquitas is a side consequence of the poaching of another endangered fish—the totoaba—in the same waters. Totoaba are caught illegally with wide-sweeping gill net, which also sweep up vaquitas. Totoaba bladders command top prices in China because of their supposed medicinal properties

Removing shark nets to save whales

THE sighting of a humpback whale off the coast last week has sparked calls for the immediate removal of shark nets from our beaches, the Northern Star reports . Tweed Seasports owner Peter Comerford snapped a photo of the humpback last Thursday during a dive trip at Nine Mile Reef east of Fingal Head. Following the sighting Sea Shepherd has ramped up its calls for an end to the shark meshing program.

Feeding the killer whales

The San Juan Islander reports that half a million healthy juvenile Chinook salmon were released into the Salish Sea as part of the South Vancouver Island Anglers Coalition (SVIAC) and the Pacific Whale Watch Association (PWWA)'s "Feeding Our Endangered Orcas Initiative." The fish were delivered to Sooke, B.C. This multi-year program is intended to significantly increase large adult Chinook salmon in the Juan de Fuca Strait during the key pre-winter feeding time of local killer whales. The Southern Resident Killer Whales - J, K and L pods are endangered. Lack of food is one of the issues believed responsible for their declining numbers. Pollutants and noise from vessels are other top reasons for their decline according to NOAA. Last year 225,000 healthy Chinook salmon smolts were successfully released from their temporary holding enclosure in the Sooke Basin and are expected to return as large adults in 2020. In the future, increased quantities of Chinook smolts will ...

Vegan celebrity urges protection for a rare type of vaquita porpoise

Livekindly reports that vegan celebrity, Kat Von D, is to support the international resistance, Animal Liberation Front, on stage in New York. The make-up artist and musician will be performing in the city alongside Iamx on April 21, 22, and 23. "Kat Von D took to Instagram today, urging her 6.5 million followers to pay attention to the vaquita, a porpoise species that is critically endangered, largely due to illegal fishing practices in the Gulf of California. “I can’t believe there are only approximately 12 of these beautiful sea creatures left alive! 😢 ,” Kat Von D wrote. “Like many other sea animals who unintentionally get caught in fishing nets, the Vaquita has fallen victim and is now on the verge of going extinct because of fishing. It crushes my heart and feels completely helpless at this point – and all I can do is strongly urge my friends and followers to please consider leaving fish off your plate. It’s the most effective form of activism one could do. #savethevaquit...

Dolphins in the bycatch

Horrified whale watchers film a squid fishing boat in Monterey Bay this week trap 3 Risso's Dolphins & 30 Sea Lions as bycatch in their purse seine net. The fishermen responded to the shouts from the whale watchers and the Risso's were removed from the net & returned to the ocean pic.twitter.com/wVUmhuC97Q — Quad Finn (@Quad_Finn) April 27, 2018

Bottlenose dolphins move north

The  paper in the journal Marine Biodiversity Records   says that On 29 July 2017, a group of approximately 200 common bottlenose dolphins were observed together with approximately 70 false killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens) in waters of 16.5° C at 50° N during a pelagic seabird and marine mammal survey off the west coast of northern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. " This sighting represents the only occurrence of common bottlenose dolphins recorded in Canadian Pacific waters and, to our knowledge, is the most northerly record for this species in the eastern North Pacific. It is also the first sighting record of false killer whales in non-coastal waters in British Columbia, Canada. The occurrence of both species may be associated with a prolonged period of warming in offshore regions of the eastern North Pacific."

A killer whale emergency

The Southern Resident killer whales are critically endangered and need our help. We are requesting that the federal government issue an emergency order to protect this endangered population of whales. #bcpoli #killerwhale #conservation https://t.co/3qBRSEWe7z — Raincoast Foundation (@Raincoast) April 19, 2018 The Southern Resident killer whales were recognized as endangered under Canada’s Species at Risk Act (SARA) in 2002. Despite this, and understanding why they’re endangered, the Federal Government has taken no action to date to reduce their threats. After a suite of deaths in recent years and no successful calves since 2015, only 76 Southern Resident killer whales remain. We are requesting an emergency order under SARA that outlines specific actions around two primary objectives: Increase the abundance of Chinook Salmon, (the Southern Residents’ primary food), through a suite of measures that include restricting the harvest of Chinook. Limit the noise and disturbanc...

The sounds of orcas

Listen to the beautiful calls of these Norwegian orcas. Orca vocalizations are of three basic types: clicks, whistles & burst-pulsed signals. Clicks are used for navigation & object identification while whistles and burst-pulsed sounds are used primarily as communication signals. pic.twitter.com/wKd0ReNnCq — Quad Finn (@Quad_Finn) April 19, 2018

Iceland is back in the whale hunt but are the hunted getting cleverer?

Icelandic whaling company Hvalur in June will get back into the hunt for fin whales after a two year suspension. The company stopped fin whaling when the Japanese stopped taking the catch because of new standards to measure levels of chemical pollutant PCB in whale meat. "We are going to resume commercial whaling because the Japanese bureaucracy seems to have loosened up and the Japanese authorities have listened to us," Hvalur chief executive Kristjan Loftsson told AFP. In addition, Hvalur said it plans to collaborate with researchers from the University of Iceland to develop medicinal products made of whale meat aimed at combatting iron deficiency—a condition that affects almost 30 percent of the global population, or two billion people, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Iceland's whaling season opens on June 10. Whalers this year have a quota of 161 fin whales, compared to 150 in 2017. In addition, Hvalur is entitled to use 20 percent of its...

The ethics of swimming with dolphins

A recent interview with the @travelchannel on my thoughts on swimming with Hawaiian spinner dolphins: Animals Up Close: A Guide To Ethical Dolphin Tourism https://t.co/7PS8VdB60a pic.twitter.com/oblaL7y1dA — Lars Bejder (@lbejder) April 15, 2018 Animals Up Close: A Guide To Ethical Dolphin Tourism Swimming with the dolphins in Hawaii is often of a big part of the traveler’s paradise dream, but is the practice really safe for animals? ...It’s important to understand that spinner dolphins, the kind found off the coast of Hawaii, have a very special routine. According to Bejder, they can find it distressing when their very particular schedules are disrupted. Much like humans, spinners have designated times and particular spaces for activities like eating, sleeping and socializing. Tourists who are unaware could accidentally barge into the wrong place at the wrong time inside the dolphin habitat, which could cause major stress for the entire pod. "What we're finding ...

Rare pictures of a female dolphin giving birth

The Mandurah Dolphin Rescue group this week were able to capture the 1.5 hour labour, the birth of the calf, the newborns first breaths and interactions between a dolphin mother and baby. Martin Van Aswegen from Murdoch University, part of a team working on the Mandurah Dolphin Research Project said, "In the wild, it is extremely rare to witness a free-ranging dolphin give birth, as the mothers will typically avoid humans and distance themselves, given the sensitive nature of the event and the vulnerability of the mother and calf." The mother is a well known dolphin to Mandurah researchers, who've named her "Squarecut". Researchers say her familiarity with the boats meant she was comfortable enough to give birth as both the researchers and cruisers watched on.  

The drift nets killing dolphins

Driftnets are banned in many countries and in international waters by the United Nations. California is the only state that still permits driftnet fishing. For every Swordfish caught in California waters with driftnets, 7 other marine animals are caught as bycatch. pic.twitter.com/C5Z2QRc8u0 — Quad Finn (@Quad_Finn) April 11, 2018 Horrific new video secretly filmed aboard a fishing boat off the coast of California reveals how marine animals, including protected species such as Dolphins & Sea Lions, are routinely trapped & killed as bycatch in driftnets. Driftnets are used by California's Swordfish fishery. pic.twitter.com/VD0lod2c3K — Quad Finn (@Quad_Finn) April 11, 2018

Recording sperm whale calls

A news release from the Australian Antarctic Division explains how scientists using underwater listening devices have made the first long-term recordings of sperm whale calls off East Antarctica, as the marine mammals hunt their prey. Division acoustician, Dr Brian Miller, and consulting ecologist Dr Elanor Miller, used custom-designed and built acoustic moorings to record the whale vocalisations over six years. They discovered thousands of hours of loud ‘usual clicks’, which have a regular beat that the whales use to echolocate prey such as fish and squid. “This is the first study to directly measure the seasonal presence and daily behaviour of sperm whales in Antarctica,” Dr Brian Miller said. “The recordings show that adult male sperm whales forage in Antarctic waters in summer and autumn, and depart the region once heavy sea ice sets in over winter. “We also found the whales predominantly foraged during daylight hours and were silent at night, possibly due to the ava...

The whales seeking revenge

Japanese lore: Bakekujira are the fused specters of all the killed whales returning from the dead to seek revenge. Once sighted, it brings famine, plague, fire, & disaster to the villages it hits. It is always followed by a host of eerie birds & strange fish. #FolkloreThursday pic.twitter.com/Dcrd37uvXs — AZ.i. Heron (@AziHeron) April 5, 2018 百物語怪談会 Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai Translated Japanese Ghost Stories and Tales of the Weird and the Strange The Tale of the Bakekujira One rainy night, something massive and white appeared off the coast of Okino Island, Shimane prefecture. Fishermen from the village watched it get closer and closer, and finally decided to take a rowboat out and see what it was. From its size, they knew it must be some sort of whale, but no one had seen a whale like that before. As they rowed out their boat, they saw the waters of the ocean glimmer with thousands upon thousands of fish, the likes of which they had never seen. As they neared the wh...