Fewer than 340 North Atlantic right whales remain and vessel strikes are among the biggest threats to the species
Vessels off the US east coast must slow down more often to help save a vanishing species of whale from extinction, the federal government said.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration made the announcement via new proposed rules designed to prevent ships colliding with North Atlantic right whales.
Continue reading...Not long ago, the humpback was almost wiped out, now its numbers are booming in what conservationists say is a ‘wonderful success story’
People across Australia’s east coast are catching an earlier than expected first glimpse of breaching humpback whales as they migrate north, and scientists say the reason why is a conservation success story.
Whale watchers were treated to a spectacular show in Sydney on Monday as two humpback whales surged from the water metres from their boat. Dr Wally Franklin, director of the Oceania Project, said sightings have also been reported off the coast of Merimbula, Byron Bay, Tweed Heads, the Gold Coast and Hervey Bay, as the whales journey north from the Antarctic to the Great Barrier Reef.
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Continue reading...A drone emitting orca sounds will be used in attempt to guide the animal, whose health is fast deteriorating
An orca lost in France’s River Seine is to be guided back to sea using sounds made by the species under a last-ditch plan to save the animal’s life.
The local prefecture said it would monitor the animal, also known as a killer whale, from a distance with a drone while emitting orca communications in an attempt to guide it back to the sea, following a meeting with national and international scientists, including marine mammal specialists.
Continue reading...Conservationists and Inuit community relieved at decision on Canadian iron mine that threatened ‘extirpation’ of cetacean
The expansion of an iron ore mine in the Arctic that would have increased shipping and led to the “complete extirpation of narwhal” from the region has been blocked.
After four years of consultations and deliberations, the Nunavut Impact Review Board rejected a request from Baffinland Iron Mines Corp asking to significantly increase mining on the northern tip of Baffin Island in Nunavut, Canada. The area is home to one of the world’s richest iron ore deposits, and the densest narwhal population in the world.
Continue reading...Footage shows five-year-old humpback in Canadian waters stalking and ambushing group more used to role of attackers
An aggressive humpback whale appeared to turn the tables on a pod of orcas off the Canadian coast, stalking then ambushing the group that more usually would have been attacking it.
The rare occurrence took place on the Salish Sea between British Columbia and Washington state and was witnessed and recorded by enthralled tourists on a whale-watching trip.
Continue reading...While cause remains unconfirmed, green groups fear the three whales could be the ‘tip of iceberg’ with many more animals hurt
Environmental groups have linked the beaching of three whales in Corfu to seismic testing for oil and gas in the waters off the Greek island.
Two Cuvier’s beaked whales were found stranded at Arillas and Agios Gordios beaches on the west of the island on 20 February. A third beaked whale ran ashore on Agios Gordios beach the day after.
Continue reading...A scientific experiment hopes to restore vital nutrients to the ocean by using fake excrement that would once have been produced by the endangered mammal
In a few weeks an international group of scientists will launch an unusual marine research project. They will dust the surface of the Indian Ocean with artificial whale faeces.
The aim of this excremental experiment is straightforward. It is to determine if it is possible to reboot marine ecosystems that have been starved of nutrients and in the process restore dwindling fish populations. It is also hoped the project will help in the battle against the climate crisis.
Continue reading...Sussan Ley says number of humpback whales in Australian waters has grown from 1,500 at height of the commercial whaling industry to estimated 40,000
Humpback whales have been removed from the threatened species list after a significant increase in numbers in the 60 years since they were first protected, but green groups warn populations could decline again as oceans warm.
Global heating is predicted to have a significant impact on krill populations in Antarctica, a major feeding ground for humpback whales.
Continue reading...Female was receiving intensive care for multiple health issues but died early Friday morning, and a male beluga died in August
The second of five whales brought from Canada to Connecticut’s Mystic aquarium last year for research purposes has died.
The aquarium announced on its website that the female had been receiving intensive care for the past several months for multiple health issues but died early Friday morning. A necropsy was to be performed to determine the cause of death.
Continue reading...Japan’s return to commercial whaling in 2019 has left few buyers for Iceland’s meat
Iceland, one of the only countries that still hunts whales commercially, along with Norway and Japan, plans to end whaling from 2024 as demand dwindles, the fisheries minister has said.
“There are few justifications to authorise the whale hunt beyond 2024,” when current quotas expire, Svandis Svavarsdóttir, a member of the Left Green party, wrote in Morgunblaðið newspaper.
Continue reading...Research is first to document coordinated female-led pods ramming world’s largest animal and eating its tongue before it dies
From snatching sea lions off beaches to stunning fish with a strike of their tails, orcas are renowned for their highly specialised hunting techniques passed down over generations. Now, for the first time, killer whales have been recorded hunting the planet’s largest animal – the blue whale – in coordinated and brutal attacks.
Female-led pods of killer whales, also known as orcas, have been recorded killing and eating blue whales in three separate attacks off the coast of Australia since 2019, according to a paper published in Marine Mammal Science.
Continue reading...The resumption of killing whales for profit for the first time in over 30 years is offering little cause for celebration
You don’t have to look far to find evidence of Wada’s centuries-old connection to whaling. Visitors to the town on Japan’s Pacific coast are greeted by a replica skeleton of a blue whale before entering a museum devoted to the behemoths of the ocean.
At a local restaurant, diners eat deep-fried whale cutlet and buy cetacean-themed gifts at a neighbouring gift shop. At the edge of the water stands a wooden deck where harpooned whales are butchered before being sold to wholesalers and restaurants.
Continue reading...Judgment rules company can blast sound waves in search for oil along South Africa’s eastern coastline
Royal Dutch Shell will move ahead with seismic tests to explore for oil in vital whale breeding grounds along South Africa’s eastern coastline after a court dismissed an 11th-hour legal challenge by environmental groups.
The judgment, by a South African high court, allows Shell to begin firing within days extremely loud sound waves through the relatively untouched marine environment of the Wild Coast, which is home to whales, dolphins and seals.
Continue reading...Type of whale immortalised in Moby-Dick has only been spotted handful of times this century
It is the most mythic animal in the ocean: a white sperm whale, filmed on Monday by Leo van Toly, watching from a Dutch merchant ship off Jamaica. Moving gracefully, outrageously pale against the blue waters of the Caribbean, for any fans of Moby-Dick, Herman Melville’s book of 1851, this vision is a CGI animation come to life.
Sperm whales are generally grey, black or even brown in appearance. Hal Whitehead, an expert on the species, told the Guardian: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a fully white sperm whale. I have seen ones with quite a lot of white on them, usually in patches on and near the belly.”
Continue reading...A rare encounter was caught on video at Puerto Madryn, Argentina when a southern rIght whale seemingly plays with a woman on a paddleboard and pushes the board gently forward, observing its movement as it swims directly beneath it.
"They are rare moments, it is something that is prohibited," said Oscar Comes, a local water-sports tourism operator. "It isn't like you can go in a kayak, standup board, a boat, or whatever, to look for the animal."
Continue reading...For those aboard a recent whale watching cruise off Cape Cod, the decomposing carcass of a year-old humpback calf floating in the waters of the Stellwagen Bank national marine sanctuary made for a heartbreaking sight.
Related: Experience: I was attacked by two sharks at once
Continue reading...A satellite tag which unexpectedly kept working for a year has followed one whale’s 15,000km journey across three oceans
A loud bang shatters the winter calm of Port Ross, in New Zealand’s remote Auckland Islands, and the small inflatable boat is rocked by the swirl of a 40-ton whale being swallowed up by the cold, dark water.
When it resurfaces, the team of scientists are happy to see their US$3,200 satellite tag securely fixed to his side. The whale, whom they have nicknamed “Bill”, slips away into the ocean, the tag transmitting his movements. A few days later, researchers watch as he starts heading west towards Australia.
Continue reading...Some experts fear climate crisis is leading creatures back to area where they were hunted almost to extinction
Blue whales, the world’s largest mammals, are returning to Spain’s Atlantic coast after an absence of more than 40 years.
The first one was spotted off the coast of Galicia in north-west Spain in 2017 by Bruno Díaz, a marine biologist who is head of the Bottlenose Dolphin Research Institute in O Grove, Galicia.
Continue reading...The MSC’s coveted blue tick is the world’s biggest, and some say best, fishery ecolabel. So why is it in the headlines – and does it really do what it says on the tin?
This month, two right whales in the Gulf of St Lawrence were found entangled in fishing gear. One, a female, was first spotted entangled off Cape Cod last year, but rescuers were not able to fully free her; the other, a male, is believed to have become entangled in the Gulf.
Hunted to near extinction before a partial whaling ban in 1935, North Atlantic right whales are once more critically endangered, with only 356 left. The main threat remains human contact: entanglement in fishing gear, and ship strikes. Fatal encounters, caused in part by the whales’ migratory shift into Canada’s snow crab grounds, have soared: more than a tenth of the population died or were seriously injured between 2017 and 2021, mostly in Canada and New England.
Continue reading...When people learned he vocalized at a much higher pitch than other whales, they wondered: could other whales hear him? Was he plaintively calling, never hearing a reply? Was he lonely?
The loneliest whale in the world lives in the north Pacific. Scientists have been tracking him on and off for more than 30 years – listening to his vocalizations as he swims back and forth across his patch of ocean, calling into the void and waiting for a reply that never comes. That’s the story, anyway. The makers of a new documentary set out to find the truth – and the whale – but what they discovered is that a whale struggling to be heard may not be that unusual at all.
The tale has its origins in the cold war, when the US military deployed a network of hydrophones across the ocean floor to listen for Soviet submarines. In the process, operators also picked up unexpected background noises, including a series of strange, low-frequency moans initially attributed to an unknown “Jezebel Monster” but later identified as the deep, rumbling calls of blue and fin whales. By the end of the 1980s, with the cold war spluttering to an end, the Pentagon made the network available to whale researchers. Among them was William Watkins, a pioneer in identifying and tracking marine mammals by the sounds they make.
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