In a recent press release posted by JiJi Press, the Japanese Whaling fleet returned back from the Southern Atlantic Ocean with a total of 267 dead whales. Of those caught and killed, 172 whales were pregnant.

When you think of it, it is at best an outrage. Japan’s press release was that it was a “successful catch,” when in truth, whale meat is being stockpiled for people who eat it only as a luxury. The fact is, less than 2% of the Japan’s population eat whale meat.

Read the rest of this entry »

Although a great family movie, the Big Miracle misses the big picture.

Although for some it is very old news, I saw the film “Big Miracle”, based on a true life story about three endangered Pacific Grey Whales trapped in Alaska and the rescue efforts to save them. The unfortunate thing is that the real message was watered down and overlooked!

As is usual with scriptwriters, the story was “much to do with Hollywood” and altered from the real story. The movie, although moving and portraying the mindsets of the people and cultures affected by the “whales plight”, did touch but touch upon the realities of current Inupiat life and the lust for power by oil barons.

The only ones not really represented or understood were the ones the story was really all about – whales! Read the rest of this entry »

A Whale of a Time?

I don’t usually post other people’s blogs, but if you are living in the L.A. area, take a ride to the Santa Monica pier and join in the festivities:

On February 18th and 19th our aquarium under the Santa Monica Pier will be hosting “A Whale of a Weekend,” celebrating the annual gray whale migration along our coast. Read the rest of this entry »

Last year, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cited SeaWorld following the death of a killer whale trainer. If a Florida court rules in favor of OSHA, employees of SeaWorld and other parks like it will no longer be able to come into direct contact with whales unless there is a barrier between them.

Although I usually write about the less aggressive whales, I by no means wish to forget Killer Whales and the ongoing saga with Sea World.

You see, Killer Whales are big business. People are drawn to intrigue and horror stories. And “Killer Whales” always draw a crowd, especially when “killers” can be shown to be playful, docile and controlled.

At least that is what you are led to believe.

But to understand it a bit more clearly, you need to separate out a couple of ideas. Ideas that confuse the issue, simply because words can border on sensational, and thus draw crowds. Crowds that pay money to see “killers”.

Killer whale jumping out of the blue water (Orcinus orca)

You see, the word “killer” usually brings into one’s mind a sinister thing, an evil thing. And from years ago, “killer” whales, were actually just that – whales that eat other whales. Recent events now show that these whales even eat sting rays and great white sharks.

The truth is, these whales are at the top of their food chain, just like we are. They eat other animals.

However, when any animal, including man, is caged and corralled, behaviors change. Men become violent. Well, so do whales, especially whales that are predators. Just like men, given the chance, they will turn against their keepers.

Tilikum is one such “killer” whale.

How would you express your rage at captivity, left to be in a room the size of a living room for the rest of your natural life?

As it turns out, Tilikum has killed two other people. But remember one thing – there are no records of wild orcas hunting and killing man in open waters. The behavior changed when forced these mammals were forced into a small enclosure.

Sea World has 25 of the 42 whales that exist in large-scale aquariums. And right now there is a move to remove trainers from being in the water with any orca. The interesting thing is that Sea World is attempting to stop this lawsuit by OSHA.

They are trying to prove that these animals can be “controlled” when the point is that having human trainers riding them are what visitors come to see every year, paying millions of dollars in entry fees and paraphernalia.

Does Sea World really care about the safety of their trainers…really?

The spark of sanity that may occur is that OSHA could win this case, denying trainers to be in the water with orcas.

People will no longer be drawn to the shows where trainers are thrown into the air, hug and ride whales.

The excitement will go.

And so will visitor attendance.

If OSHA wins their case, it means one step closer to freedom for these magnificent beings.

Today I read an article about a recently approved hunt of a Bowhead whale in Alaska.

The whale was hunted and killed, using a license issued through the Canadian Government.

The meat of the bowhead being cut up by an Inuit. Wait just a minute...is that a "Yamaha jacket" she's wearing? What about the "igloo cooler" in the background, and the Coleman stove? Wow! Tradition at it's height...PHOTO COURTESY APTN

Bowheads have not been hunted in one hundred years. The Inuits state that it is their right and part of their cultural heritage to do so. Some of the reasoning explained by members of the Inuit nation is that one whale can feed many people; the cost of normal meat or poultry is far more expensive. Besides, the Bowhead population is now at a sustainable level where at least eighteen Bowhead can be killed yearly. Read the rest of this entry »

Is it the Polar Bear's fault for the death of a young man or the fault of the program that sent him there?

This past week mourns the loss of a student in Norway who lost, what the press and a few people think was a brutal and violent murder.

Many readers and those close to the incident have mixed emotions about it, simply because of the press the media has given it. Read the rest of this entry »

In a recent article in the Huffington Post, the Faroe Vikings are at it again.

Captain Paul Watson and a few f his crew of the Sea Shepherd. Photo courtesy Fotopedia

” Paul Watson, captain and marine activist arrived in the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s vessel, The Brigitte Bardot, to Torshvan harbor earlier in the week, creating a media frenzy in the small Nordic village bound by the cruel custom of killing in the name of culture. Local villagers showed up to oppose Sea Shepherd’s presence by offering local whale meat to the little girl and bystanders. However, the youngster refused stating, “No thank you. I don’t eat my friends.”

“Later in the week, members of the Sea Shepherd crew unveiled a mass underwater dumping ground of whale carcasses, further pointing to the large amount of waste that surrounds the sporadic hunting episodes of the socially complex marine mammals, which are listed as “strictly protected” under the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats, also known as The Berne Convention. Read the rest of this entry »

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.

With Japan whalers now approaching the southern ocean, they may have some more onlookers they haven’t counted on – the New Zealand Navy!

“The Green Party today welcomed the announcement the New Zealand Government will be joining Australia as a third party intervener in their whaling case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

“The Government has made a tactical decision to support Australia’s (anti-whaling) case to the ICJ by allowing them to have an additional friendly judge hearing the case,” said Oceans spokesperson for the Green Party, Gareth Hughes. “

What this means is that the New Zealand’s Navy can act as independent observers of Japan’s Whale Hunt and will oversee the safety of the protest vessels. Additionally, if you didn’t know, Japan has added armed soldiers on to their whaling vessels. Their comment on the issue was “to protect their ships from unauthorized boarders”.

Any time you introduce firearms into any equation where there is potential human conflict, you invite trouble. The point is, Japan continues to hunt these magnificent endangered whales, with the excuse that their research tells them that what they harvest is still “sustainable”, meaning that there are still enough whales to not be endangered as a species.

My question is, how do the Japanese really know what “sustainable” means when they have already depleted their own seas? They are now in international waters, hunting whales illegally under the guise of research, when I have read and posted the facts from their own JAPAN TIMES, that they are selling the meat to villagers? Add to the fact that they are paying Iceland to hunt whales and you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know “something is rotten in Denmark!”

I am really hoping that the protest ships will be safe and also cut the amount of whaling down greatly.

I look forward to your comments on this.