» Whales



Humpback whales return to Hudson River estuary, New York

SFGATE.com reports, 9th June 2017: Large numbers of humpback whales have returned to New York City for the first time in a century. For the first time in 100 years, sizeable numbers of humpback whales are being spotted in the waters off NYC, and it’s thanks to years of environmental clean-up efforts, Popular Science reports. […]

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An encounter with a sperm whale

Robert Hoare relates an personal encounter with a sperm whale, The Guardian 10th September: I was born and brought up by the sea — indeed, my heavily pregnant mother nearly went into labour on a visit to a submarine in Portsmouth, and I was almost born underwater. Yet I never learned to swim. I was […]

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Sea Shepherd and Wick, Scotland, protest against Faroe Islands whale killings

The Guardian reports, 25th August 2015: Denmark’s autonomous Faroe Islands has announced that they had refused entry to a ship carrying 21 activists from the militant conservation group Sea Shepherd who were trying to disrupt traditional whale hunts. The territory’s government said in a statement that it had barred the ship, the Bob Barker, “with […]

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Scientists debate whether Antarctic krill need greater protection

Elizabeth Grossman and Ensia.com report, 7th July 2015: Barely longer than your thumb, weighing under an ounce and nearly translucent, delicate crustaceans known as krill are vital to ocean ecosystems around the world. In the waters that encircle Antarctica, krill are an essential food source for penguins, baleen and blue whales (which can eat as […]

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Norway and the food retailer Spar are selling whale meat

The Guardian, 15th July 2015, reports: Last year, Norway killed more protected whales than any other country — all for the sake of a marginal and dying industry characterised by cruelty and exploitation of an internationally protected species. Its 2014 catch of 736 minke whales was more than the combined catch of Japan and Iceland […]

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Iceland to ship whale meat to Japan

The Guardian reports, 19th May 2015: The Icelandic whaling company Hvalur HF plans to ship 1,700 tonnes of whale meat via Luanda in Angola, repeating a similar controversial delivery of 2,000 tonnes last year which sparked protests along its route. According to Icelandic daily newspaper Eyjan, the meat was loaded aboard a ship near the […]

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Legal challenge in US to deep-sea mineral mining

The Centre for Biological Diversity reports, 13th May 2015: “The Centre for Biological Diversity has commenced a lawsuit which sues the U.S. government over its first-ever approval for large-scale deep-sea mining, a destructive project between Hawaii and Mexico that would damage important habitat for whales, sharks and sea turtles and wipe out seafloor ecosystems. The […]

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China wants to increase its Antarctic krill catch by 7 fold

MercoPress reports, 30th April 2015: “Conservation groups and scientists worry that China’s push to boost its harvest of krill — a shrimp-like creature used for aquaculture feed and human supplements — may leave Antarctica’s whales, seals and penguins struggling to survive. China’s leaders say they want a seven-fold increase in krill production, according to a […]

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Japan’s Southern Ocean whaling plans rejected

The Guardian reports, 14th April 2015: “Japan’s hopes of resuming its whale hunts in the Southern Ocean have suffered a setback after International Whaling Committee experts said its latest plan offered no scientific justification for the slaughter. “The IWC panel said Japan’s revised programme, known as Newrep-A, did not contain enough information for experts to […]

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Seismic Testing impact on Pilot Whales

Over 100 distressed pilot whales have been stranded to die on New Zealand’s beaches in recent weeks following seismic testing off the New Zealand coast. Seismic testing is the first exploratory step in under seabed oil detection, performed by a ship repetitively firing off high velocity sound blasts every few seconds, day and night and […]

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Warming of the seas is changing the marine ecology of the Gulf of Maine, USA

The Guardian reports, 3rd September 2014: “Imagine Cape Cod without cod. Maine without lobster. The region’s famous rocky beaches invisible, obscured by constant high waters. It’s already starting to happen. The culprit is the warming seas — and in particular the Gulf of Maine, whose waters are heating up faster than 99% of the world’s […]

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Whales and dolphins “at risk” from sonic oil prospecting off eastern USA seaboard

The Guardian reports, 19th July 2014: “The Obama administration is reopening the eastern seaboard to offshore oil and gas exploration, approving seismic surveys using sonic cannons that can pinpoint energy deposits deep beneath the ocean floor. The announcement was the first real step towards what could be a transformation in coastal states, creating thousands of […]

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Larger whale populations could “reverse climate change and increase fisheries”

The Guardian reports, 8th July 2014: “The first success of the environmental movements of the 1960s was to save the whale. Now, with deep irony, whales may be about to save us with their poo. A new scientific report from the University of Vermont, which gathers together several decades of research, shows that the great […]

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Sea Shepherd’s Capt. Watson provides a statement on why all whaling should end now

In a Sea Shepherd statement, 7th July 2014, Captain Paul Watson states: “Sea Shepherd is dedicated to eradicating the obscenity of whaling worldwide. We equate the killing of whales with murder. Taking the life of an intelligent, self aware, wild, sentient being is murder and every fabricated justification the murderers or those who sympathize with […]

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Global Oceans Commission launches petition in support of its Report

A Global Ocean Commission press release, 3rd July 2014, states: “A week ago the Global Ocean Commission released its report and proposals for restoring ocean health. If you have not seen the report you can see it here. “As part of the Global Ocean Commission’s commitment to breathe life into its proposals it has started […]

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BBC documentary on British whaling history

The BBC has produced a television documentary about Britain’s whaling history. It is supported by a number of short video films on its website. These are: “Whale products and whaling in the 18th and 19th Century”. Click here  “Ships of the British whaling fleet in Antarctica”. Click here  “Arrival at South Georgia” — the centre […]

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Action against whalers in Europe and Southern Ocean

The Guardian reports, 24th January 2014: “German customs officials have confiscated whale meat being sold as bite-sized snacks by a Norwegian stall at a trade fair celebrating trends in food, agriculture and gardening. The stall’s supervisor, Arne Andreas Rød, said he was surprised to hear the sale of whale meat was “meant to be illegal […]

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Sea Shepherd locates whale poachers in the Southern Ocean

Sea Shepherd reports, 5th January 2014: “The Sea Shepherd Fleet has located all five vessels of the Japanese whale poaching fleet, including the Japanese factory ship, the Nisshin Maru, inside the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. The Steve Irwin, The Bob Barker and The Sam Simon are now in pursuit of the whaling fleet, driving them […]

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Australian government equivocating over the monitoring of Japanese whaling

The Guardian reports, 20th December 2013: “Greg Hunt, the Australian environment minister, appears to have missed a self-imposed deadline to send a vessel to monitor the Japanese whaling fleet, which is homing in on the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary. Hunt said the government was still committed to monitoring whaling, but that he would “have more […]

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New Antarctic marine reserve thwarted by Russian and Chinese fishing interests

The New York Times reports, 1st November 2013: “Paris, France — International negotiations aimed at creating one of the world’s largest marine reserves in the waters off Antarctica ended in failure this week in the face of resistance from Russia, China and Ukraine. In the talks, held in Hobart, Tasmania, under the auspices of the […]

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