Bill: Cetacea

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 23:15:32 GMT

Time to rock the boat on Japanese whaling, report says. A new report has urged the Australian Government to take a whole new approach to stop Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean. [ABC News: Breaking Stories]

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 09:36:37 GMT

Stranded humpback whale may have to be euthanised. A juvenile humpback whale is stranded inside the Two Rocks harbour, north of Perth. [ABC News: Breaking Stories]

Garrett wants end to commercial whaling

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 10:09:15 GMT

Environment Minister Peter Garrett has called on Iceland and Norway to respect the international global moratorium on commercial whaling. The call follows reports Iceland is considering issuing commercial whaling quotas for 2008, on the back of Norway's recent decision to approve a quota. "Whale protection requires binding rules that apply to all countries," Mr Garrett said in a statement. [Source: SMH]

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 05:35:58 GMT

Sea Shepherd to set sail for whaling intervention. The Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin will leave Melbourne for the Antarctica tonight, to follow the Japanese whaling fleet. [ABC News: Breaking Stories]

Japan agrees to halt humpback hunt: US ambassador

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 10:40:01 GMT

Japan has apparently agreed not to kill humpback whales during its current Antarctic hunt, the US ambassador to Tokyo says.

The move would help ease criticism of its controversial whaling program.

Japan's whaling fleet set sail last month with plans to catch more than 1,000 whales, including 50 humpbacks, which are popular among whale watchers for their distinctive silhouettes and acrobatic leaps, before returning to port early next year.

[Source: ABC News]

Navy allowed to use Sonar in tests

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 01:53:22 GMT

The Money Times reports:

The U.S. navy has some cause to smile now, after a federal court of appeals overturned an earlier stay on its use of high-powered sonar in training exercises off the Southern California coast. Though temporary, the reprieve is being welcomed by officials in the Navy. The high energy sonar is used to track down enemy submarines in a conflict situation, and the efficacy of this method can now be determined. Earlier, a Los Angeles court had ruled such sonar use invalid, as it posed grave environmental risks. Earlier, scientists have found links between the use of high powered sonar and whale deaths. Studies have indicated even mid-frequency sonar can cause whales to be stranded and display panicky behavior. The decision to allow the navy to proceed with its use of high powered sonar came after a panel of judges voted 2-1 for it. The earlier decision preventing the use of such sonar was handed down by U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper keeping in mind the environmental aspect.

Link: Navy Allowed t use Sonar

US Navy sonar ban to save whales

Thu, 09 Aug 2007 06:35:49 GMT

THE United States navy has been banned from using a type of sonar that wildlife supporters say harms whales. The injunction issued by a federal court outlaws use of the sonars in exercises off the California coast. It is a victory for environmental group Natural Resources Defence Council (NRDC), which filed a lawsuit in March claiming the navy did not do enough environmental testing of the equipment.

Wed, 08 Aug 2007 10:50:44 GMT

Rare Yangtze River dolphin probably extinct: study (Reuters).

Reuters - The long-threatened Yangtze River dolphin in China is probably extinct, according to an international team of researchers who said this would mark the first whale or dolphin to be wiped out due to human activity.

[Yahoo! News: Top Stories]

Wed, 30 May 2007 06:16:04 GMT

Australia backs humpback whaling - in Caribbean. Australia has backed a plan by St Vincent and the Grenadines to hunt humpbacks as part of its subsistence whaling quota. [ABC News: Breaking Stories]

Wed, 14 Mar 2007 21:49:35 GMT

World ocean forum online event. On February 27-28th, 2007, The World Ocean Observatory presents a unique opportunity for secondary students to participate in a global online webcast exploring the issue of High Seas Fisheries. Attendees of this 45 minute event will participate in real time in an interactive presentation and discussion with leading world experts. [School Education Headlines] [Central Ranges LLEN CEO Library]

Sun, 25 Feb 2007 03:51:00 GMT

Crippled Japanese whaler restarts engines, leaves Antarctica. The crew of a Japanese whaler, which has been stranded off the Antarctica coast for 10 days, have managed to restart the ship's engines and sail from the area. [ABC News: Breaking Stories]

Thu, 22 Feb 2007 22:32:49 GMT

Climate campaign targets offsets. Climate campaigners occupy one of Britain's leading carbon managment companies in a protest about offsetting. [BBC News | Science/Nature | World Edition]

Mon, 19 Feb 2007 05:06:18 GMT

Japanese whaling ship on fire off Antarctica. CANBERRA (Reuters) - A Japanese whaling ship is on fire and one crew member is missing off the coast of Antarctica after a blaze broke out below decks, New Zealand maritime authorities said on Thursday. [Reuters: World]

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 00:51:36 GMT

Dolphin watch fact sheets. Information provided in conjunction with Macquarie University on the Humpback Whale and Dolphins of Jervis Bay, NSW. This organisation is also available for excursions. [Recent Items]

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 00:15:04 GMT

ttn Dolphin story. A short film from Network Ten (ttn) showing South Australian students on an excursion to the Port River to see and learn about Dolphins. [Recent Items]

Tue, 26 Sep 2006 05:40:49 GMT

Dolphin to Get Prosthetic Tail. Florida marine biologists are working on a new tail for a baby dolphin that lost its old one after getting caught in a buoy line. In Bodyhack. [Wired News: Top Stories]

Australian fossil find changes whales' evolutionary history

Sun, 20 Aug 2006 11:02:42 GMT

Australian researchers have found evidence that modern baleen whales - now docile filter-feeders - derived from a beast with razor sharp teeth and ferocious eating habits. The findings are based on research of a 25-million year old fossil skull uncovered among cliffs in Southern Australia. The specimen, called Janjucetus hunderi was unveiled at the Melbourne Museum this week. [Source: Discovery Channel]

Whalesongs are Kaleidoscopes....

Tue, 01 Aug 2006 10:35:55 GMT

The New York Times reports:.. What do whale songs and wavelets have in common? Quite a bit, and the wavelets have nothing to do with water. Mark Fischer found a mathematical tool to translate the subtlety and nuance of whale and dolphin sounds into these mandala-like images. In a Northern California studio, Mark Fischer, an engineer by training, uses wavelets [~] a technique for processing digital signals [~] to transform the haunting calls of ocean mammals into movies that visually represent the songs and still images that look like electronic mandalas. (His art can be found at aguasonic.com.) Mr. Fischer learned about acoustics by developing software for Navy sonar and the telecommunications industry. Years later, a serendipitous brush with whale researchers in Baja California led him to take a closer look at whales and the diversity of their intricate underwater communication. 'I don[base ']t think anyone has ever spent even a little time around a whale and not been amazed by it,' Mr. Fischer said in an interview. Mr. Fischer creates visual art from sound using wavelets. Once relatively obscure, wavelets are being used in applications as diverse as JPEG image compression, high definition television and earthquake research, said Gilbert Strang, a math professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an expert on wavelets. They are popular now in part because they can capture intricate detail without losing the bigger picture, and when presented in circular form (using a cylindrical coordinate system), repeated patterns are even more evident. By stringing successive images together, Mr. Fischer transforms still images into animated audio files that bring the sound to life. Among whales, certain sounds and patterns are unique to different species, and even individuals in a group [~] something like an auditory fingerprint, Mr. Fischer said. 'To anyone who doesn[base ']t listen to it on a regular basis it sounds like a bunch of clicks,' he said. 'But if you[base ']re a whale [~] or someone who studies whales [~] it becomes clear that they have their own dialects.' Wavelets are capable of picking up those distinctions, Mr. Fischer said, nuances that may be missed by the human ear or less detailed visualization methods. 'You can pick out any one of those movies and I[base ']ll tell you what it is without hearing a thing,[per thou] he said. 'The differences are that dramatic.' He envisions a day when researchers may be able to use images generated using wavelets to identify and track individual whales. Peter Tyack agrees that the technique has potential not only as art, but as a scientific research tool. A senior scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Dr. Tyack studies the way humpback whales communicate, trying to show that the repetitions in whale songs follow grammatical rules similar to those of human language. 'Looking at those figures, it looked like you could see a lot of repeated units,' Dr. Tyack said of the images. 'It looks like he[base ']s visualizing some of the points that we made in the paper about humpback song.' Despite having analyzed recordings from at least 16 species of whales, Mr. Fischer said he had just scratched the surface. 'It[base ']s still a wide-open world out there,' he said. 'You think you[base ']re in the 21st century and we have the means to get anything, but when it concerns the deep ocean there is still quite a bit of mystery.' In the meantime, Mr. Fischer hopes that by merging science and art, he will inspire a greater appreciation of whales among both marine biologists and the public, as he gives many people a glimpse of a world they would otherwise never experience. 'It[base ']s a very rare opportunity to be in the water listening to a whale,' he said. A picture, on the other hand, is something you can hang on your wall and look at every day. 'When you see what whales are doing with sound, or begin to see what they are capable of, it is clear that humans are not the only artists on the planet,' he said.

Mass whale deaths tied to U.S. Navy sonar

Sun, 16 Apr 2006 01:37:35 GMT

The Yomiuri Shimbun The U.S. Navy's deployment of active sonar to detect submarine activity is believed to have been responsible for at least six incidents of mass death and unusual behavior among pods of whales in the last 10 years, according to a recent U.S. Congressional Research Service report. In one of the most serious incidents, 150 to 200 melon-headed whales were observed milling in Hanalei Bay of Hawaii's Kauai Island during a Rim of the Pacific Exercise on July 3, 2004, after midfrequency sonar was used, the CRS report said. Known as RIMPAC, the naval exercise included the participation of Japan and other U.S. allies in Asia and the Pacific. The CRS report also listed five other incidents in which smaller whales, such as goose-beaked whales, harbor porpoises and killer whales, were found beached and dead in groups of a few to nearly 20. Many of the dead mammals had damaged hearing organs, and all five incidents coincided with U.S. naval exercises in the areas, the report said. The potential impact of active military sonar on marine mammals, whose hearing is critical for their survival, has long been a concern. Even the deployment of low-frequency active sonar is said to cause a roaring sound comparable to that of a twin-engine jet fighter, while the midfrequency sound is believed to equal that of a rocket. Experts have warned that the sound could critically damage the mammals' hearing organs. The CRS report comes amid a growing number of reports of whales colliding with ships. In the latest incident, more than 100 people were injured Sunday when a hydrofoil collided with an object believed to be a whale off Cape Sata in Kagoshima Prefecture. The full article can be found by following the link in the title..

Mon, 06 Mar 2006 07:32:09 GMT

Gliders Tracking Whale Calls, Ocean Waves (AP).

AP - Ocean scientists can now plunge into the middle of the sea without leaving their offices. Six-foot, 100-pound underwater gliders are swimming the oceans of the world and dutifully sending data home on everything from whale calls to the massive waves produced by hurricanes.

[Yahoo! News: Most Recommended]

Tue, 25 Oct 2005 09:05:29 GMT

Few whales saved after mass stranding. Rescuers have saved a few survivors of a mass whale stranding in Tasmania. [ABC News: Breaking Stories]

Sun, 28 Aug 2005 02:31:21 GMT

Dolphin deaths close factory. news.com.au - Thu, 25 Aug 2005 06:23:50 GMT [Source: All Headline News - australia news and headlines]

Help for Stranded Whales in W.A.

Sat, 13 Aug 2005 01:01:14 GMT

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported in Juine this year that hundreds of volunteers went to Busselton to help free stranded whales.

In the early hours of the morning, a pod of false killer whales beached themselves in Geographe Bay, not far from the town of Busselton. As they have several times in the recent past, volunteers quickly headed for the beach to assist in the rescue. Under the supervision of the Department of Conservation and Land Management, the volunteers first quietened the whales, before floating them off the beach. Finally, at the time of posting, the whales had been herded back out to sea and were swimming away.

Video iof the event can be viewed from the ABC Web SIte.

( Video in RealMedia format ) | Requires RealPlayer
Scenes on the beach. The video has images of a dead whale which may upset younger viewers.

[Source: ABC South West W.A]

Thu, 14 Jul 2005 22:14:56 GMT

Researchers Tail Whale Sharks Beyond Ningaloo. The whale shark is the world's largest fish. Its global population status is listed as vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Scientists studying the little known whale sharks that gather at Ningaloo Reef off Western Australia have tagged six animals with new satellite-tracking technology, making it the most successful tagging season yet. [Source: EdNA Home Page]

A 'whale of a day' for Cetacean news...

Sat, 28 May 2005 03:47:16 GMT

A 'whale of a day' for Cetacean news...

The Courier mail reports that a POD of humpback whales was spotted playing off the Gold Coast yesterday as a Sydney judge ruled that environmentalists should not be allowed to fight for them in the Federal Court.

Simon Benson from The Telegraph reports; Japanese victory: the whale hunt is on!

Benson says:

JAPANESE whalers have been given the green light to hunt whales in Australian waters after the Federal Court ruled they could not be prosecuted under Australian law.

Justice James Allsop said his decision was based on a Federal Government submission which warned of diplomatic repercussions if the case was allowed to be heard.

The decision means a resumption of whaling – including endangered humpback whales – is free to go ahead in a matter of weeks, and in Australian waters.

The Humane Society International (HSI) applied to the court last year to have a case heard which would seek to prosecute Japanese whaling company Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha for whaling in Australian waters near Antarctica.

News.com reports on the court ruling here and JAPAN TODAY leads with the story here

The 'Kiwis' are joing the battle here.

Underwater, no-one can hear you scream!