Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda get captive Killer Whales to perform for the "Today" Show.

Sometimes I get links to something downright bizarre stuff about whales

But this link was, for me, a bit shocking. Kathie Lee Gifford and her TV comrades performing whale commands to a family of Killer Whales held in a very small tank.

Four Killer Whales. And the ‘cheerleaders’ Gifford and Hoda, demonstrating a “learned behavior” – whales jumping out of the water or whales doing twirls…

Kinda made me sick.

Read the rest of this entry »

There are fewer than 130 Western Gray whales in existence

Just this past week, Russian officials have argued for sustainable fishing of whitefish. In one sense that is a big move. But not a big move for whales.

But oil is another thing. As long as countries are now being forced into discovering their own resources for their own energy crisis, I believe such arguments will fall on deaf ears. That does not make it right, especially when recent studies now show food chains being turned upside down with whales being killed. There is now a direct correlation of krill populations and fish populations linked to living whales.

But when you have a country forced into the energy game by world banks and nations at war those environmental concerns go out the door, when honestly, those concerns should be first. Whales fall somewhere dead last.

Where are the minds that can create alternative fuel resources? We have been lead to believe whales are nothing but fish or food, when scientists are now discovering whales have their own language and social orders. They even use quantum physics in their songs. And where non-threatened actually interact with man in quite profound ways. So if we have been lied to at that level, why are we all so quick to jump on the energy band wagon, tearing up our natural resources?

It boils down to the fact that those in charge of the acceptable energy methods “have the gold” and they won’t wean us off of oil until they have “had their fill” of all men’s pockets.

And it is not just the oil companies. Notice how you suddenly get more fuel efficient cars – and yet suddenly oil prices escalate?

Well, there is no such thing as a reality TV show (it’s all scripted), so why should it be any different on the outside?

Think about it.

The fascinating thing I find about “whalescience” is that there have originated some epiphanies regarding whales and by scientific men, believe it or not!

There comes a time, for example, in a cellular physiologist’s life where he/she faces the fact that he/she can tell you that a cell does this or that, what it does, but not WHY it does it, or how it knows how to do it.

It is the same with whales. Scientists have begun, in earnest, to study whales. And I agree that there is a big tendency of anthropomorphizing the whales’ activity as that is the way man does things. He compares actions and activities to himself and his feelings and attitudes with WHY a creature (other than a human) does things “similar” to man. Read the rest of this entry »

What do Gray Whales, Japanese & US PR, and killer whales have in common?

Before I answer that question, let’s look at a bit of background “current events”.

Recently the California Gray Whale Coalition put together and extensive report /petition (with the aid of the Mexican government) of documented evidence that the number of Gray Whale calves have been downtrending for at least the past ten years.

What does that  mean?

Well, for one, it means that the Gray Whale population is actually decreasing in size.

The truth is, of the populations studied throughout the world, the only Gray Whale population promoted by the US and Japan as healthy and thriving is the Pacific Gray Whale.

First of all, actual “counts” are speculations at best. It is like looking into a large crowd and then writing that over ten thousand people attended, when in fact it was actually half that number. What the Mexican government and scientists have discovered is that the whales are far thinner and have less calves. And this is documented by several independent creditable sources.

Second of all, Sea Shepherd is actually creating an impact on Japan’s illegal whaling in Antarctica.

And I say illegal, because even Japan’s newspaper columnists state the fact that whales are killed through a loophole for research, while the meat is sold on the open Japanese market. In recent weeks it was exposed by Wikileaks that Japan was telling the U.S. that the Sea Shepherd was actually interfering with their whaling in the Southern Seas.  Japan’s hunt for whales may be curtailed in the next years because of the tremendous ship, manpower and fuel costs which are not turning a profit.

So where would Japan go for more whales? For one, Iceland. But also the Pacific Ocean.

US PR has stated that Gray Whales are on the rise in the Pacific and took them off the Endangered Species list. The above petition was submitted to the US Marine Services and it was denied, even though independent resources advised the USMR to consider the claims as real! Is there a connection? What do you think?

Then it comes to Killer Whales. As if Gray Whales do not have enough problems staying healthy (krill counts are way down throughout the world) their calves are sought after by Killer Whales. This is a natural thing. However it means that Gray Whales have no respite from man or another species.

Add to the fact several other points. One is that Gray Whales used to exist in the millions and now in about 20 thousand (I suspect the actual reporting counts).  Another point is that Killer Whales are not hunted by any country, and so it’s population is actually on a dramatic increase. So more calves are eaten. And with less of a whale population, the species dwindles toward extinction.

Third point. I mentioned earlier that scientists around the world have discovered huge decreases in krill.

That is due to man’s overfishing and of a lesser known fact: whale feces.

You see, when then whales were a larger population (millions), their feces fed plankton, which in turn fed small crustaceans including krill.

Less whales, less plankton, less krill. And you thought you had to be a rocket scientist to figure that out.

Go to the head of the class.

Finally, Japan has expressed an interest in hunting the Pacific Gray Whales, as they are a “sustainable species”.

Well, if you have read my earlier blogs, I believe the Japanese are tremendous “wordmeisters”. They use words that appear correct, but their actual definition use is different. In this case I believe it refers to how much whale meat they can keep reasonably full in their refrigerators. The word “sustainable” actually has nothing to do with a species surviving. It is the same with “research”. In this case research might mean “to find out how much whale meat we can get into our food lockers before the world gets wise to us.” That definition works for me. How about you?

In the not to distant future we will see the Gray Whale population (for that matter all whales) with less than 1,000 throughout the world, our seas barren of fish, recognize that they have been in jeopardy by governments who turn a blind eye for diplomatic or financial favors.

And at that time, as with the lion, the rhino and the panda, the meat, skin, horns and teeth will be more valuable to people than the live creature. Poachers will kill the remaining creatures. It is happening today.

And our children will only see them in videos and hear their songs from a digital recording.

There is a very real danger that will destroy the marine eco system

Some call it global warming. Pro Whalers are saying it is Whales.

I call it whale poop.

Yes, whale poop, believe it or not. Now, I am not saying “whale poop” as a metaphoric comment like “boulderdash” or “nonsense.” It is the real thing.

Whale poop.

Now before you consider me crazy, please bear with me. This is not a “whale of a tale” by any stretch of the imagination although a few will say “I am full of it”. And if you follow my logic and read the supporting links, you will see that we are imminently killing our seas.

You see, there are already physical universe indicators that the marine environment is dying. Scientists and researchers have noted that normal fishing areas are being depleted, causing foreign countries, like Japan to go to other waters near other countries and continue to fish.

It is actually silly, that a blogger like myself figured this out.

It is a known fact that the once plentiful Sea of Japan is no longer a source for fisherman. It has been discovered that fish migrations have moved their feeding grounds further north or south. One of the prime food sources for fish at the lower end of the food chain is krill. However, recent studies have shown dwindling krill populations. Pro-whalers contend that dwindling krill levels are due to the massive consumption of krill by whales. The main contenders to this theory is Japan and Iceland.

Krill feed on plankton. Plankton feed on nitrogen rich particulate matter found in sea water.

It has recently been discovered and reported that whale poop (feces) when released by a whale, has converted the krill it has eaten into energy. However the waste byproduct is a nitrogen rich particulate matter. This particulate matter is eaten by plankton, which in turn feeds not only the krill, but the rest of the marine food chain.

Killing whales, who are a major source of nitrogen rich particulate matter (rather big poop and lots of it!), reduces the amount of food once available for the microscopic food chain. When one considers that the entire whale population once numbered in millions about 100 years ago but now is in the tens of thousands, that extinction of whales severely threatens the entire marine food chain.

The result is less fish. And guess what? We are already depleting the seas of large fish and whales. Additionally there is a new fad, taking the world by storm.

Omega 3 krill oil.

Not only is the oil extracted from fish but from krill. So we are now depleting that resource from the marine environment.

It is ironic that the fate of the marine environment depends on whale poop. One can even laugh and joke about it. Yet it is honestly far from funny.

What man has done is replace nitrogen with toxic pollutants such as mercury. In the above link as commented in the TOKYO METROPOLIS, Japan has greatly assisted in the polluting of our waters. And the result is that higher levels of mercury are found in many fish species including whales. It is mans contribution to the sea.

Allowing whaling on large scale is and has been over time depleting our seas at microscopic levels we are only beginning to uncover. Now it becomes even more critical that more take a stand and protect our seas and our whales, before it is too late.

And as technologically advanced we think we are on this planet, whales have us beat in balancing the environment.