whales

Humane World for Animals: A migrating humpback whale is entangled in a shark net off Greenmount Beach at Coolangatta, Gold Coast, marking the first entanglement of the whale migration season.  The trauma this whale is experiencing is on the Crisafulli Government’s head for ignoring scientific advice to remove shark nets for the winter. Even if freed from the net, there is every chance the whale will die from exhaustion and trauma.

Whale Poop Pumps Up Ocean Health

New research in the Southern Ocean has revealed that the excretion of nutrient-rich poo from whales boosts the growth of plankton in the ocean, which helps to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.  The increased population of plankton bolsters the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

University of Vermont whale biologist, Joe Roman and his colleague James McCarthy from Harvard University have discovered that most whales actually deposit waste that floats at the surface of the ocean as a "very liquidy, a flocculent plume."

Image: Humpback whale poop
Source: courtesy of Jennifer Kennedy at About.com Marine Life
 
 
 
 

Whale poop doesn't sink to the bottom of the ocean. The Harvard studies have shown that whales play an important role in transporting nutrients from where they feed, in deep waters, up to the surface, where they  fertilize tiny, floating plants called phytoplankton.

Research in the Southern Ocean has revealed that the excretion of nutrient-rich poop from whales boosts the growth of plankton in the ocean, and this bolsters the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Australian biologists estimated that 12,000 sperm whales in the Southern Ocean each defecate about 50 tonnes of iron into the sea every year after digesting the fish and squid they hunt.

The iron is a terrific food for phytoplankton - marine plants that live near the ocean surface and which suck up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis.

The ability of the Southern Ocean to act as a carbon sink may have been diminished by large-scale removal of sperm whales during industrial whaling.

Clearly, it is erroneous to claim, as the three whaling countries tout, that whales compete with their commercial fisheries.  Rather, they enhance them.

Whale Fall

Living whales can provide as much, if not more, valuable scientific information to aid their conservation than dead ones.  Even dead on the ocean floor ("whale fall"), their bodies support a myriad of marine species for decades.

Image: whale fall Wikimedia commons.
 
 
 
 

Oceanographer Craig Smith of the University of Hawaii has been studying the remarkable afterlife of whale corpses ("whale fall") and has shown that their remains last for decades and must dot the ocean bottom everywhere as they are natural stepping stones between hot vents and cold seeps, supporting a myriad of species.

A San Diego biotechnology company is working with Smith to develop a cold-water detergent containing an enzyme found in bacteria growing on whale bones. Such a detergent may have the potential to yield substantial energy savings on a national scale. Understanding what happens to organic-rich matter in the deep sea--like a 35 ton whale--is another area of broad ecological interest.

Some scientists say the self-awareness, suffering and a social culture, along with high mental abilities, are a hallmark of cetaceans.  There are so many values associated with whales and dolphins that it is criminal to reduce their value to that of livestock, or simply "meat"!

If Japan is justifying their illegal whale slaughter under the smoke-screen of "scientific research", then their junk science must be exposed to enforce their removal.

Japanese contempt for whales, dolphins and sharks has highlihghted to the world the backward culture of this part of traditional Japanese society. Japanese whalers and fishing corporations have made Japan the pariah of the world's oceans. The Japanese lie of scientific whaling has become a cliched euphemism. Now the science has been officially confirmed as a fraud, as if we didn't already know.

The following article has just been published in the online Science Daily:

JAPANESE LOVE SLAUGHTERING DOLPHINS TOO

Each year at a cove near Taiji on the south east cost of central Japan, thousands of bottlenose dolphins and pilot whales are slaughtered by the Japanese. The cull is endorsed by the Japanese goivernment to commence on 1st September every year.

Bottlenose Dolphin, confimed as one of the most intelligent animals on the planet

Typically, over six months the town's fishermen will catch over 2,000 of Japan's annual quota of 20,000 dolphins.

CALL TO BOYCOTT JAPANESE RESTAURANTS

This slaughter of whales, dolphins and endangered fish such as Bluefin and sharks confirms the barbaric backwardness of traditional cultures in east Asia. Japan clearly is making a point to highlight its backwardness.

Around the world, including in Australia, Japanese restaurants continue to serve up Bluefin Tuna and Shark Fin soup and probably 'scientific' whale meat and dolphin. It is a disgrace!

Bluefin is critically endangered and both the scalloped hammerhead shark and whitetip shark "have seen their numbers drop dramatically since the 1980s, due to rising demand for shark fin soup especially among China's nouveau rich and for fish and chips in Europe. Surging demand for shark fin soup among Asia's booming middle classes is driving many species of these big fish to the brink of extinction."
[Source: 'Sharks threatened by Asian consumers, says Group' Michael Casey, AP, 16 March 2010]

In this March 8, 2010 photo, a woman walks past shark fins displayed in a glass case at a dried seafood shop in Hong Kong. [AP].

The following example Japanese restaurants in Australia sell Bluefin and shark fin. It is time Australians boycotted such trades perpetuating wildlife extinctions.

* SYDNEY: Blue Fin Seafood Restaurant, Brighton-Le-Sands Amateur Fishermans Club, Bestic St
Brighton-Le-Sands NSW 2216

* MELBOURNE: Blue Fin, 342 Brunswick St, Fitzroy VIC 3065

* BRISBANE: Oishii Sushi Bar Shop2/70 Pinelands Rd Sunnybank Hills Brisbane

Whale fall:

Whale fall is the term used for a whale carcass that has fallen to the ocean floor. When a whale dies in shallow water, its carcass is typically devoured by scavengers over a relatively short period of time—within several months. The carcass can provide sustenance for a complex localized ecosystem over periods of decades. Many whales die when female whales or newborns, stressed by the process of birth, make their annual migration.

In 1987, a manned submersible called Alvin was making a routine dive along the muddy plains of the deep sea when its pilot spotted what he thought was the fossilized remains of a dinosaur. Instead of an exotic underwater beast, it turned out to be the 21-metre-long skeleton of a blue whale. Just as windfalls deliver a sudden bounty of ripened fruit, whale falls see the death of a whale bring a host of nutrients to the sea floor.

The falls are few and far between, and difficult to track and study, but researchers are learning ever more — sometimes through extreme measures — about the new species to be found among the remains.

Scientists now estimate that a whale-fall community can survive for up to a century by sucking the fats and sulphides from these bones. In fact, one cadaver offers the same amount of nutrients that normally sinks from the surface to the sea floor in 2000 years, and this is of great benefit to innumerable species.

Dr Craig Smith:

For almost 20 years, Craig Smith, a biological oceanographer at the University of Hawaii, has studied whale carcasses after they have sunk to the seafloor. Such research has unveiled a number of strange creatures. The prize find so far is a newly described worm genus, Osedax2 — Latin for 'bone-devourer'. With no mouth, stomach or eyes, Osedax has evolved a root system to excavate the fat out of whale bones. Osedax evolved roughly 40 million years ago, about the same time scientists believe many whale species arose.

Whaling is threatening newly-discovered deep-sea creatures with extinction, according to research by Craig Smith. He is sounding the alarm that whaling continues to be a threat to these ecosystems. His research, based on models and reported last week at the Deep-Sea Biology Symposium in England, suggests that extinctions may have already occurred in the North Atlantic where 13 species of great whales were decimated in the 1800s. Extinction may also be ongoing in the Southern Ocean, where intense whaling persisted until the 1970s.

One whale fall can provide up to 160 tons of organic material, as much as thousands of years of marine snow, the organic debris that drifts down from surface waters.

'The possibility that whaling has caused species extinctions at the remote deep-sea floor gives us new appreciation for the scale of human impacts on the ocean,' said Smith. 'We must recognise that the oceans consist of a group of tightly connected ecosystems – over-fishing or pollution in surface waters is bound to cause problems hundreds of metres below.'

Smith estimates that about one-third of whale fall specialists may have already been wiped out. “Removal of whales from the ocean will cause the extinction not only of whales, but likely dozens to possibly hundreds of deep-sea species that appear to rely on whale fall communities to complete their life cycle,” explains Smith.

As exotic and diverse as whale fall communities are proving to be, whaling in the 1800s and 1900s may have drastically reduced the number of carcasses that sank. “The decimation of whales during the last century also has consequences for an entire community of decomposer animals that live at the bottom of the ocean,” says Monterey Bay Aquarium evolutionary biologist Bob Vrijenhoek.

Whale populations and commercial whaling:

After many hundreds of years of unregulated commercial whaling some whale populations were so depleted - such as that of the blue whale, which has never recovered - that they were at serious risk of extinction. Whale populations have not sufficiently recovered enough to sustain hunting, especially given the other threats they currently face.

Threats to whales:

These threats include toxic pollutants such as DDT, dioxins, PCBs (organochlorines used in industry) and mercury. They suffer from deadly high intensity sounds produced by military sonar and air guns, and by-catch, with some 300,000 dolphins and whales drowned every year after they become entangled in fishing nets or other fishing gear.

There is also over-fishing of prey species, ship strikes, climate change affecting habitat, migration routes and prey species availability and habitat destruction. The threats on the oceans today are increasing.

Destruction of marine ecosystems:

“The systematic destruction of the great whales was a stupendous act of modern ecological folly...” Jeremy Jackson of Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego writes in a recent paper in Whales, Whaling and Ocean Ecosystems. He argues that the new findings on the past profusion of whales show our conventional view of marine food chains is upside down. Modern oceans are dominated by small and lowly creatures. They comprise most of the biomass, with larger species further up the food chain comprising ever less biomass. Jackson offers a startling new picture of life on Earth, a world in which giants ruled, and ruled in huge numbers. And if Jackson is right, then even the most “recovered” of today’s whale populations are only a tiny fraction of their former numbers.

In 1998 a group of scientists published a study about the impact of whaling on the environment. The study showed that a 1% change in the diet of killer whales was enough to cause significant declines in marine mammal populations. In the last 30 years, the population of sea lions has decreased by over 80 percent.

Whales began to eat sea lions when the seal population declined. Once sea lions became rare, sea otters became a part of the whales' diet.

Whales the scapegoats:

The whaling countries, Japan, Iceland and Norway increasingly argue that whales need to be culled to protect fisheries. What is certain is that marine mammals like whales and seals make convenient and profitable scapegoats, when in fact; it is human over-fishing and other destructive fisheries practices, and their impact on commercial fish stocks, which need to be curtailed.
photo: Antarctic Krill - under threat.

Climate change:

There is growing evidence that global climate change has led to a reduction of ice algae, the main food source of krill. When the ice forms too late the production lessens impacting on zooplankton populations like krill that graze under the ice surface on ice algae. ”The ice edge is an absolutely critical habitat, a nursery for larval krill.” says Scott Gallager, a marine biologist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (Woods Hole, Massachusetts, United States).
Krill is believed to be a key factor in the reproductive success rate of the whales but a deep understanding of their role and affect on predator populations when climate temperatures rise has yet to be understood.

The resumption of whaling may not necessarily be an option anymore. Recent scientific researches have revealed that whaling is not ‘harvesting a sustainable resource.’ There is no such thing as sustainable whaling.

(Photo from Wikepedia commons - share permit)

During the 20th century Russia and the United States carried out many military manoeuvres with dolphins, who acted as underwater couriers for the Navy. Generally, the dolphins’ missions were affixing bombs to enemy ships! In October 2000, Russian retired most of their dolphins. These Russian Navy dolphins now swim with sick children to help them recover from their illnesses. Recent studies have shown that dolphins have remarkably curing powers, especially with small children.

Some researchers think that dolphins are perhaps as smart as a seven-year-old! Dolphins are some of the most interesting and intelligent creatures on our planet. They are considered very friendly and are amongst the most wonderful animals on earth due to their intelligence and easy mingling with the humans.

Dolphins can make a unique signature whistle that may help individual dolphins recognize each other or perform any other kind of communication still unknown. They seem to speak a language unknown to humans.

Some people think that these friendly creatures can understand human thoughts and moods. They are gentle and playful when humans swim with them. It has also been observed that dolphins frequently stroke each other with their flippers, hence, indicating that they require physical contact much like humans. A dolphin's skin is extremely delicate and easily injured by rough surfaces--very similar to human skin.

Dolphins love to look at themselves if a mirror is nearby. They will have a look of disgust at any imperfection on their bodies, such as a black circle. Dolphins are social creatures, not only because they like people, but also because they like to swim together.

Off the western coast of Australia, bottlenose dolphins place sponges over their snouts, which protect them from the spines of stonefish and stingrays as they forage over shallow seabeds.

Dolphins are quick learners. Calves stay with their mothers for several years, allowing the time and opportunity for extensive learning to take place, particularly through imitation.

In Ancient Rome and Greece, scholars thought that dolphins had special healing powers and were good omens if they appeared during the launch of an ocean voyage.

According to Dolphin Human Therapy of Key Largo, Florida, and its founder, Dr. David Nathanson, an innovator in this type of treatment, many illnesses and disabilities are receptive to interactions with dolphins. While it is not known exactly what mechanism is at work, the success rate with many illnesses is a positive result of this alternative therapy. Because they are hyper-sensitive to vibrations, dolphins are touted by alternative healers as excellent therapists. Supporters of dolphin therapy claim that the compassion the dolphin displays improves your self-confidence. The improved self-confidence can develop social and academic skills.

Dolphin activist Ric O'Barry partly blames the International Whaling Commission for ignoring the suffering of dolphins and porpoises. They haven't stop Japan's fake "scientific research" whale killings in the Whale Sanctuary either! Even conservation organisations dismiss the dolphin and other wildlife massacres as unfortunate and cruel, but "sustainable"! Surely we could also dismiss human mass tragedies and natural disasters if we ignore individual suffering and just consider surviving numbers?

Japan's defence is the existence of our abattoirs. For the Japanese, the slaughter of dolphins is no more inhumane or inherently wicked than the slaughter of sheep or cows! At least livestock have the privilege of stunning and are not hacked to death in agony. However, our "management" of kangaroos would point out our hypocrisy even more!

According to Ric O'Barry, the dolphin meat is loaded with mercury. If the mercury poison doesn’t stop this horrific atrocity, let’s hope the shame brought by the film The Cove does!

While animal rights arguments against the hunt have fallen on deaf ears in Japan, the threat of mercury contamination perhaps will strikes a chord in a country where food safety is rapidly becoming a paramount public concern.

Maybe lack of empathy with non-human creatures is a human evolutionary failure. The Cove's revelation of Japan’s annual obscene dolphin massacre hopefully will stop the horrific blood-bath.

Save Japan's Dolphins site

The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society Australian website has information and action items. You can visit the site and click on "The Cove" button and view what is online:

Send an e-protest to the Ambassador Mr Takaaki Kojima (Japanese Ambassador in Australia)