Wild Cetacean News

Has Piecemeal Destruction of Endangered Killer whale habitat violated the law?

Southern Resident Killer Whales are severely endangered and human actions have fueled this decline. At what point does such degradation cross the legal threshold into destruction, introducing our own legal obligation to respond in accordance with the Endangered Species Act?

Has Piecemeal Destruction of Endangered Killer Whale Habitat Violated the Law? — SeaDoc Society

 

‘Outer Coast’ Killer Whales Found in Monterey Bay Feast on Big Marine Mammals

Swimming deep in the Pacific Ocean, a group of little-known killer whales that eat large sea mammals including gray whale calves has been found, researchers say.

In a recently-published catalog, researchers from the University of British Columbia examined 13 years of photo-identification data and more than 100,000 photographs taken off North America’s western coastlines. What they encountered was a group of what they referred to as “outer coast” transient whales, which rarely traveled close to California’s coast and hunt massive elephant seals or sea lions.

'Outer Coast' Killer Whales Found in Monterey Bay Feast on Big Marine Mammals

 

Critically Endangered North Atlantic Right Whale Population Drops to Estimated 336

Today, the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium announced that the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale’s population continued its decade-long decline, dropping from 366 in 2019 to 336 in 2020—an 8% decline. The species’ population has plummeted by 30% in the last decade, down from 481 in 2011. The latest estimate represents the whale’s lowest population estimate in nearly 20 years.

Critically Endangered North Atlantic Right Whale Population Drops to Estimated 336

 

Restoring whales to their pre-hunted numbers could capture 1.7 billion tonnes of CO2 a year

There’s no doubt that whales are one of the most extraordinary animals on our planet, but did you know that they’re also helping to lighten the load of climate change?

https://www-euronews-com.cdn.amppro...could-capture-1-7-billion-tonnes-of-co2-a-yea

 

Whales eat three times more than previously thought

The blue whale, the world's largest animal, can consume up to 16 tons of plankton daily, which has major implications for ocean health.

Whales eat three times more than previously thought

 

Encouraging sign: First right whale calf of the season spotted off South Carolina

The first North Atlantic right whale calf of the new calving season was spotted last week just north of the entrance to the harbor in Charleston, South Carolina.

Philip Hamilton, a senior scientist at New England Aquarium's Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life, confirmed that a video shot by people on a sailboat Nov. 10 shows a mother/calf right whale pair. Hamilton, who manages the right whale photo identification catalogue at the aquarium's Kraus Marine Mammal Conservation Program, said the video was shot at a distance too great to determine the identity of the mother.

The sighting was an optimistic start to the calving season, which runs from December to May, typically in the ocean off Georgia and Florida.

Endangered right whale calf seen off South Carolina, first for 2021

 

Why do baby orcas look orange?

Every time a southern resident calf is born, orca lovers all around the world sigh in relief. The critically endangered population is struggling to stay healthy in an environment full of stressors, including noise, chemical pollution, and a serious lack of food. You might have come across baby orca photos in the news. Have you ever noticed that the calves look orange compared to their moms and other pod members? Why are baby orcas orange? And are there any other orcas that are not completely black and white? Find out in this post.

Why do baby orcas look orange? – Whale Scientists

 

El Niño takes a toll on southern right whales in the Atlantic Ocean

• Southern right whale populations near Argentina have suffered surprising losses during recent El Niño years.

• Intense warmings in 1997-98 and 2015-16 each killed 4 to 5 percent of right whales in the southwest Atlantic Ocean, researchers estimate.
• If El Niño events worsen, models suggest the encouraging recovery of southern right whales could stall or even reverse.

Southern right whales, one of the most historically hunted whales globally, have recovered nicely since the whaling era. But a new analysis has shown that El Niño events, which warm the seas near South America, made right whale populations dive to a shocking degree in those years, researchers reported recently in Science Advances.

Scientists examined an archive of photo identifications of more than 4,000 southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) to track 1,380 individuals off of Peninsula Valdés, Argentina—the largest calving ground in the Southwest Atlantic Ocean. The identifications revealed that intense El Niño events in 1997-98 and 2015-16 may have killed about 4 percent and 5 percent of the adult females near Argentina in those years, respectively. In most other years, mortality in this population averages just 1 percent.

https://news-mongabay-com.cdn.amppr...thern-right-whales-in-the-atlantic-ocean/amp/

 

Feds Ask Ships off NYC Coast to Slow Down to Protect Rare Whales

The U.S. government has enacted a voluntary protected zone off the coast of New York City in order to protect critically endangered North Atlantic right whales as they make their way south for the winter.

The protected zone is designed to slow down ships, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is encouraging ships to avoid the area altogether.

Feds Ask Ships off NYC Coast to Slow Down to Protect Rare Whales - EcoWatch

 

DFO closely monitoring North Atlantic right whales off Newfoundland

Marine mammal scientist says sightings still rare, but numbers could eventually impact fishing, shipping

A Canadian marine mammal scientist says North Atlantic right whales are increasingly being spotted in waters off northern Newfoundland.

He says sightings are still relatively rare, but the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans is keeping a close eye on the whales to better protect them and manage their impact on fishing and shipping.

"I suspect that these whales have been here before and just probably not seen or identified as such in our waters," said Jack Lawson, who is with DFO in St. John's.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6275350

 

Protecting whales in Scotland – how we’re working with Scottish fishers to save lives

Whale and dolphin entanglement in fishing gear (or bycatch) is a massive issue all around the UK killing more than 1,000 individuals every year. But in Scotland we have a particular problem with whales getting tangled up in the ropes used to join and haul up the baskets (known as ‘creels’) that are set on the seabed to catch wildlife such as crabs, lobsters and prawns.

In an effort to tackle this we joined up with five other organisations to establish the Scottish Entanglement Alliance (SEA) back in 2018. We brought together fishing industry representatives, conservation and welfare charities, and researchers to get a better understanding of the scale and the impact of these entanglements and to encourage fishers to report incidents.

Protecting whales in Scotland – how we’re working with Scottish fishers to save lives - Whale and Dolphin Conservation

 

Entangled humpback whale’s sad fate has researchers calling for action on fishing nets

Animal lacking dorsal fin last seen in Antarctic labouring to swim and considered unlikely to survive

A juvenile humpback whale has been spotted in the Antarctic entangled in fishing gear, leading to calls from conservationists for better protections along migration corridors.

The sighting last Wednesday by scientists aboard the Crystal Endeavour occurred at Mikkelsen Harbour on Trinity Island, on the western side of the Antarctic peninsula.

The researchers from the Colombian Antarctic program, PhD candidate Logan Pallin and Dr Natalia Botero-Acosta, approached the small whale to take a skin biopsy to help determine its genetic origin, sex, cortisol levels and diet

https://amp-theguardian-com.cdn.amp...esearchers-calling-for-action-on-fishing-nets

 

Lawsuit Aims to Protect Pacific Humpbacks From Deadly Fishing Gear

West Coast Pot Fishery Unlawfully Entangles Endangered Whales

The Center for Biological Diversity sued the National Marine Fisheries Service today for failing to protect endangered Pacific humpback whales from deadly entanglements in sablefish pot gear off the coasts of California, Oregon and Washington.

Today’s lawsuit challenges the federal permit given to the fishery in December to kill and injure endangered humpback whales without any changes to avoid harming whales. Fishing gear entanglements are a leading threat to endangered humpbacks that migrate along the West Coast, where 48,521 square nautical miles were designated as critical habitat in April.

Lawsuit Aims to Protect Pacific Humpbacks From Deadly Fishing Gear

 

Sounds from Human Activity Highly Disruptive to ‘Unicorns of the Sea’

The Arctic is a vast expanse of blue and white that holds still in perpetual hushed simplicity. This frozen universe, mostly undisturbed by humans for thousands of years, has retained the pristine quietness of Earth when it was born. After millennia of natural protection by virtue of its extreme climate, the Arctic has the majesty of still peaks, remote places where humans rarely go. Its grandeur is illustrated by the creatures who have been protected for so long from our tumultuous and destructive wake.

As the Arctic becomes more habitable due to global warming, it also becomes more vulnerable. The region has been invaded by equipment to conduct seismic surveys and blasts from mining operations, not to mention cruise ships, and with them new sounds have been introduced — foreign sounds in a pristine world. And for some creatures, sound is everything.

Sounds from Human Activity Highly Disruptive to 'Unicorns of the Sea' - EcoWatch

 

Return of river dolphins to Narayani

It’s the best possible New Year’s present. A local nature guide in Nepal, Tek Mahato took several photos of a Ganges river dolphin in the Narayani River — the first time there’s been photographic evidence of a dolphin in the river for years.

One of the country’s four largest rivers, the Narayani crosses the border into India and used to be part of the species’ traditional range, which has dwindled considerably in recent decades.

Ganges river dolphins are now rare throughout Nepal. In 2016, the Department of Wildlife Conservation and National Parks estimated the river dolphin population in the country at 52 individuals— 43 in the Karnali River and its tributaries and 9 in the Koshi River. None were believed to still live in the Narayani River.

Return of river dolphins to Narayani

 

Seeing 1,000 glorious fin whales back from near extinction is a rare glimmer of hope

Good news doesn’t get any more in-your-face than this. One thousand fin whales, one of the world’s biggest animals, were seen last week swimming in the same seas in which they were driven to near-extinction last century due to whaling. It’s like humans never happened.

This vast assembly was spread over a five-mile-wide area between the South Orkney islands and the Antarctic Peninsula. A single whale is stupendous; imagine 1,000 of them, their misty forest of spouts, as tall as pine trees, the plosive sound of their blows, their hot breath condensing in the icy air. Their sharp dorsal fins and steel-grey bodies slide through the waves like a whale ballet, choreographed at the extreme south of our planet.

The sight has left whale scientists slack-jawed and frankly green-eyed in envy of Conor Ryan, who observed it from the polar cruiser, National Geographic Endurance. Messaging from the ship on a tricky connection, Ryan, an experienced zoologist and photographer, says this may be “one of the largest aggregations of fin whales ever documented”. His estimate of 1,000 animals is a conservative one, he says.

https://amp-theguardian-com.cdn.amp...n-whales-extinction-hope-antarctic-peninsular

 

Rescue team searching for humpback whale trapped in debris off Hawaii

Officials are searching for a humpback whale that was entangled in heavy-gauge line near Hawaii on Sunday and is apparently still weighed down by some debris, reports Kauai newspaper The Garden Island.

The whale was reportedly first discovered by Koloa resident Graham Talaber while he filmed sea turtles at Brennecke's Beach using a drone camera.

"I noticed the rope and a dark spot at the end of the rope," Talaber told The Garden Island. "I hovered there for 10 or 15 minutes before it finally surfaced. My worries were confirmed when I saw the humpback at the end of the big net."

Talaber and his father called the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which responded within 30 minutes.

https://thehill-com.cdn.ampproject....-for-humpback-whale-trapped-in-debris-off?amp

 

Russian naval exercises off Irish coast threaten whales and dolphins

Military exercises planned by the Russian navy 150 miles off the south-west coast of Ireland next month raise the very real prospect of whales and dolphins washing up dead on Irish beaches, if active sonar are involved.

This part of the ocean is known to be important for marine mammals, and particularly for vulnerable beaked whales, and any military activity involving powerful underwater sonar and explosions could result in many whales and dolphins stranding on the shoreline.

Russian naval exercises off Irish coast threaten whales and dolphins - Whale and Dolphin Conservation

 

Orcas recorded killing and feeding on blue whales in brutal attacks

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.

https://amp-theguardian-com.cdn.amp...-feeding-on-blue-whales-in-brutal-attacks-aoe

 

Newly discovered "oral plug" keeps whales from drowning as they dine

Whales are famous for feeding by gulping down huge amounts of water to capture tiny krill. But how do they do this without drowning themselves with every mouthful? Researchers have now discovered an “oral plug” in the throats of some species that blocks either their airways or esophagus as needed.

https://newatlas-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/newatlas.com/biology/oral-plug-whales-choke/?amp=true