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Cetacean News Worldwide |
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2004 |
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Dolphins rescue human in the sea reported again (26 Nov 2004) |
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Japan has been reported of slaughtering dolphins again (Nov 2004) |
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Tesco ends whale meat sale in Japan (9 Nov 2004) |
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Commercial trade of Irrawaddy dolphin banned (14 Oct 2004) |
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“Friendly” Orca thrashes boats (24 Aug 2004) |
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U.S. - Trainer turned on by orca at Sea World (28 Jul 2004) |
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Rehabilitated Dolphin Toro, released back to Charlotte Harbor , Florida (5 May 2004) |
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Mystery swirls around dolphin deaths - 105 wash on beaches during March in Florida (18 Apr 2004) |
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Dolphin Satellite Tracking Trial Underway - but a controversial issue (5 Mar 2004) |
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Remaining Asian Grey Whales threatened again (8 Feb 2004) |
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The Dolphin Massacre in Japan (Jan 2004) |
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26 Nov 2004
Dolphins rescue human in the sea reported again
A group of lifeguards practicing off Ocean Beach near Whangarei on New Zealand 's North Island have recently revealed how they were protected by a pod of bottlenose dolphins.
The lifeguards reported that they had been surrounded by the dolphins for approximately 40 minutes. It is believed that this altruistic behaviour was due to the presence of a 3-metre great white shark in the area. After herding the lifeguards together, the dolphins continued to circle around them and became more agitated with tail slapping while the shark approached as close as 2 metres to the swimmers, presumably to try to deter the predator as it cruised nearby. Eventually, the dolphins managed to ward off the shark and the lifeguards swam the 100 meters safely back to shore.
The action of the dolphins to protect the lifeguards is not the first report of such an incident. There have been many stories involving dolphins aiding or rescuing humans from as far back as the 1800s.
It is hard to know why dolphins continue to aid us in this way. It is believed that their natural instinct to protect their young and others in their group may be a contributing factor.
Considering that over the centuries we have hunted whales and dolphins without pity, driving some populations to extinction, and that they still face a catalogue of man-made threats today (whaling/ captures for aquariums/ noise and chemical pollution/ entanglement in fishing nets and much more), it is deeply moving - even humbling to think that dolphins protect us in this way.
Source: WDCS |
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Nov 2004
Japan has been reported of slaughtering dolphins again
In November 2004, fishermen in Futo , Japan , slaughtered dolphins again - they have driven a pod of about 100 bottlenose dolphins into Futo harbor, and the harbor was then sealed with a net so that the dolphins couldn't escape. Divers from two Japanese aquaria arrived Futo to select between 20 and 30 “show-quality” dolphins for their facilities, while some of the remaining individuals were chopped for “scientific research”. An international conservation group, Sea Shepherd, recorded the slaughtering process and uploaded the video clip to their website. Because of the brutality, plentiful conservation groups and parties were enraged by what Japan has done.
Video clip of dolphin slaughter can be downloaded from the following link:
http://www.seashepherd.org/taiji/taiji_video.html
Sea Shepherd has held their worldwide protest against Japanese killing of dolphins on 19 November 2004, details can be seen in the link below:
http://www.seashepherd.org/events/protest041119.html |
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9 Nov 2004
Tesco ends whale meat sale in Japan Tesco PLC has announced that it has decided to stop selling all cetacean (whale, dolphin and porpoise) products in its Japanese supermarkets, following a joint campaign by Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS) , the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and Greenpeace. They called upon the UK 's leading retailer to immediately withdraw all whale meat products that were being sold in at least 45 of their supermarkets stores in the Tokyo area.
Tesco was made aware that the Japanese government sanctions the killing of more than 800 whales in the North Pacific and Antarctic, under the guise of ‘scientific research', an act which is in direct contravention of the expressed will of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and its ban on commercial whaling. More than 20,000 small whales, dolphins and porpoises are also killed in Japan 's coastal waters. A significant percentage of cetacean products on sale in Japan have been shown to be highly polluted, posing a potential health threat to consumers.
Japanese consumers are becoming more aware of the problem , and that falling prices and growing stockpiles of whale meat indicates a significant decrease in domestic demand for the products.
Japan 's so-called ‘scientific' whaling fleet will set sail for the Antarctic in November to hunt the protected minke whales in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary. Tesco's decision will help to reduce the market demand for these products within Japan , ultimately building pressure on Japan to abide by the worldwide ban on commercial whaling. WDCS believes Tesco's decision is a clear indication that this hunt is unnecessary and that decreasing demand for whale products in the Japanese market makes a mockery of Japan 's ongoing commercial whaling.
Source: WDCS |
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14 Oct 2004
Commercial trade of Irrawaddy Dolphin banned On the final day of its 2004 meeting in Thailand, CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, has ratified decisions to enlist the Irrawaddy dolphin from CITES Appendix II (which permits regulated international commercial trade) to Appendix I (prohibits trade for primarily commercial purposes).
Irrawaddy dolphin is a freshwater species native to Southeast Asia and northern Australia . Small and fragmented populations of Irrawaddy dolphins in SE Asia are already threatened by accidental killing in fishing nets and habitat destruction. Experts, including the International Whaling Commission, fear that catching a few individuals could drive some critically endangered populations to extinction.
The species meets the trade criteria for an Appendix I listing under CITES because of the potential for an increase in demand for live specimens. Just nine Asian countries already represent over 35% of the international market for live captive dolphins, with over 80 dolphinaria already in existence in the region and at least 13 more planned. Irrawaddy dolphins have not bred successfully in captivity and demand is expected to increase to stock and restock Asian facilities. Thailand fears that the recent explosion of demand in Asia for captive dolphins will provide an incentive for more people to capture wild Irrawaddy dolphins.
Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS) believes that CITES has taken a responsible and laudable decision. A full ban on international trade is essential to protect these critically endangered animals from the demands of the captivity industry.
Source: WDCS |
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24 Aug 2004
"Friendly" Orca thrashes boats A juvenile male orca (killer whale), nicknamed Luna, has made frequent contact with people and boats in waters off Vancouver Island , since he began frequenting the waters around Vancouver Island , British Columbia almost three years ago.
As a member of the Southern resident community of orcas, Luna's presence in the area is noteworthy since he has been separated from his natal pod for three years, during which he has lived in solitary but has increased contact - and sometimes conflict - with humans in the area. Seeking companionship and interaction, Luna has 'played' with boats, overturning a few and nipping off the fish-finders on others. Such behaviour has raised the ire and concern of people, and Luna's presence is unfortunately now considered not only as a ‘nuisance' by some, but also a danger to the humans that seek to interact with Luna, or merely travel through shared waters. Luna himself risks injury from human through intentional or unintentional contact.
In the past, human had caused the problem by coming down to the dock to see Luna, who used to snoop around docks and boat propellers. One of them even tried to brush Luna's teeth. The problem would not have been so serious if human had kept a distance from Luna.
Although healthy and able to feed on his own, orca experts and management authorities conclude that it is in Luna's best interest to bring him back to his pod. After several years of public education, restricting the increasingly dangerous interactions with the orca, as well as in consideration of the 'genetic' value of Luna to the dwindling and threatened Southern Resident orca community, the management had come up with such a decision. Furthermore, the previous successful reintroduction of Springer (another solitary orca reunited with her northern resident family in July 2002) has provided a favourable motivation in this escalating saga.
All orcas in the Southern Resident population have been identified and tracked for the last decade. Based on this identification system, Luna is also known as L98, indicating his specific birth position and matrilineal line within the pod. Luna's mother is still living, and the chances for a successful relocation and integration into his pod are very high.
Source: WDCS |
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28 Jul 2004
U.S. - Trainer turned on by orca at Sea World During the “Shamu Adventure” show at Sea World San Antonio in Texas on 26 July, one of the orcas suddenly turned on its trainer. Thousands of Sea World spectators watched in horror for several minutes as the orca, named Ky, kept trying to dive under the water and hit its trainer. At one point, the orca even tried to take a bite out of the trainer.
It was said that the trainer would see the orca coming and he would go under before the orca actually hit him. He tried hard to stay afloat and tried to calm the orca down, according to one of the spectators. Sea World officials tried to calm the situation by playing soothing music, but every watcher remained stunned and shocked. The incident ended when the trainer was able to jump on the orca's back and leap to safety. The Shamu Adventure was then cancelled for the rest of the day. Veterinarians in Sea World believe Ky is near its breeding age, and somehow felt threatened and showed aggressive behaviors.
Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, WDCS, notes that aggressive behavior displayed by orcas towards humans in the wild was not recorded, but there are several documented cases of captive orcas attacking their pool mates and humans. The two most serious cases resulted in fatalities to the people involved.
Scientific evidence indicates that cetaceans in captivity suffer extreme mental and physical stress, which is revealed in aggression between themselves and towards humans, boredom, and a lower life expectancy and higher infant mortality than in the wild.
Source: WDCS, CTV.ca |
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5 May 2004
Rehabilitated Dolphin Toro, released back to Charlotte Harbor, Flordia The low-lying skiff sped through Charlotte Harbor in Florida with such urgency Tuesday morning (4 May) that it cut a long, white, foamy gash across the calm aquamarine water. As the small craft slid to rest in Bull Bay , a small cove sheltered from the Gulf by a series of mangrove-carpeted islands, wetsuit-clad men and a woman moved quickly to unload the perishable cargo: a juvenile dolphin.
Nearly two months earlier, on March 9, boats assembled near the same spot to capture her. A group of more than two dozen veterinarians, biologists and trained volunteers from Mote, which holds permits to monitor and treat marine mammals, netted the dolphin in the shallows of Bull Bay.
The 2-year-old Atlantic bottlenose, later named Toro, had become entangled in nylon fishing line and was in bad shape. The fishing line had cut halfway through her dorsal fin. More seriously, monofilament line had wrapped tightly around her right pectoral fin, slicing through skin, blubber and muscle all the way to the bone.
"She would have perhaps lost the flipper and her life if we didn't provide the treatment we did," said Deborah Fauquier, deputy manager of Mote Marine Laboratory's stranding program.
That treatment included three surgeries to remove dead tissue from the wound. After two months of rehabilitation at Mote's Dolphin and Whale Hospital in Sarasota , the animal's raw wound had healed.
On Tuesday, Mote researchers moved quickly to release the dolphin. The seven men and women lifted Toro from the open-backed boat on a stretcher and lowered her into the chest-deep water. With a flip of the tail, the dolphin disappeared beneath the water.
Toro is the first dolphin Mote has captured and brought to the hospital for treatment. "It's our preference not to bring them in out of the wild," said Randall Wells, director of Mote's center for marine mammal and sea turtle research. "We only did it because the wounds were so severe that it probably would have died."
Mote scientists believe that the dolphin had lingered near boats, enticed by the prospect of an easy meal. This close contact may have led to its entanglement, Wells said. "People that feed dolphins in the wild are essentially dolphin trainers, but they are teaching behaviors that are detrimental to their (dolphins') survival," Wells said.
Later Tuesday morning and early that afternoon Mote staff observed Toro cavorting about Charlotte Harbor with another dolphin, leaping into the air and chasing fish. "She seems to have readapted very well and rather quickly," Wells said.
Mote staff plan to monitor the dolphin, one of about 400 to 500 around Charlotte Harbor , over the next three to four weeks, but for now, "we're very pleased with how she's doing," Wells said.
Fishing line entanglements are becoming common in Florida 's waters. Marine creatures such as dolphins, manatees, whales and sea turtles are victims.
The Florida Marine Research Institute rescued two manatees last week from a marina in Titusville . One of the animals had lost a flipper during an earlier entanglement and was in danger of losing the other. The other animal's flipper had been cut so deeply by fishing line that it was hanging on by a flap of skin; the flipper fell off during its capture. The agency is trying to catch three other animals in that same marina that have also become entangled.
"But that is just the tip of the iceberg for us," Ann Spellman, a marine mammal biologist with the agency, said. "There are probably several dozen more around the state that are entangled, but they aren't reported right away because unless someone sees a mangled flipper they would never know there's a problem. The line is basically invisible. "In Southwest Florida , a handful of dolphins have died in recent years from entanglements, or from ingesting fishing line. Based on anecdotal evidence, entanglements appear to be on the rise, said Wells.
In November, Mote scientists and volunteers removed fishing line from a dolphin calf found near Placida. Another dolphin was spotted near Pine Island wrapped in fishing line, but not seen again. "There have been more of these cases than I can ever recall in the past," said Wells, a dolphin researcher for 34 years.
Agencies including the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission have started an effort to educate the public about the problems of discarded fishing line and are providing fishing line recycling receptacles at tackle shops and boat launches.
Source: Herald Tribune
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18 Apr 2004
Mystery swirls around dolphin deaths - 105 wash on beaches during March in Flordia The suspects: Red tide toxin , a toxin produced by several species of diatom (a type of single-celled alga) which had killed 149 manatees in Southwest Florida from March 5 to April 27, 1996 . It contin ues to plague area waters.
Atlantic bottlenose dolphins were first found washed up to the beaches of Panhandle on March 11. By the end of the month, the carcass count had reached 105. What's strange about the stranding is that the dolphins bore no outward sign of disease or injury. They simply looked as if they were healthy animals, except that they were dead.
"Part of the reason biotoxin was suspected is that the dolphins were all healthy looking," said Alex Costidis, a marine mammal biologist at the state's Marine Mammal Pathobiology Laboratory in St. Petersburg . "They had healthy fat storage; there was a pregnant female, and everything looked great. It was a wide range of healthy-looking animals. Whatever killed them, killed them quickly."
Other evidence pointed to biotoxin
High concentrations of brevetoxin, which is produced by the red-tide organism Karenia brevis, and low levels of domoic acid, produced by the diatom Pseudo-nitzschia, were found in the stomachs and blood of some of the dead dolphins. A leading theory is that the dolphins died after eating fish that had accumulated the toxins in their tissues.
But the cause-and-effect relationship is not complete
Water samples taken off Panhandle by scientists during the die-off showed little or no K. brevis and Pseudo-nitzschia.
So, brevetoxin or domoic acid or both might be the culprits, but scientists don't know how the dolphins were exposed.
A senior research scientist Cynthia Heil said, "My first guess is that it's a big ocean. It could have been an offshore bloom; the K. brevis could have been trapped at the bottom; or it might have been a quick event that we missed."
Stomach clues
Another clue could come from the dead dolphins' stomach contents. Early in the die-off, scientists examined the stomachs of eight dead dolphins, five of which were packed with menhaden . Nelio Barros, manager of Mote Marine Laboratory's Stranding Investigations Program said, "Menhaden have been implicated in other mortality events," Barros said. "They're filter-feeding fishes, so they accumulate the toxin. It's the co mbined effect that does them in.”
The menhaden were eaten just a few hours before the dolphins died.
"As we understand the mechanism, the toxins have to be released from the fishes. So what we'd expect is not absolutely fresh consumed prey. It has to be in there long enough for the digestive process to release the toxin."
Inconclusive tests
This is however, no positive proof that brevetoxin-laced menhaden killed the dolphins. In fact, scientists don't know how much brevetoxin constitutes a lethal dose for dolphins.
When red tide toxin kills manatees, the animals show specific symptoms, such as runny blood, lungs congested and heavy with thick, ropy, blood-tinged mucous, and enlarged kidneys and livers. The dead Panhandle dolphins didn't show the same set of symptoms. Tests on dolphin tissue indicate that neither virus nor disease caused the die-off, although more tests are being done.
Two weeks after the dying stopped, investigators have a pair of likely suspects in the Panhandle dolphin case, but till now, the mystery remains unsolved.
Source: Florida Today |
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5 Mar 2004
Dolphin Satellite Tracking Trial Underway - but a controversial issue
One of the world's most endangered dolphins is the unwitting subject of a major scientific and conservation row in New Zealand , as satellite tagging of a number of Hector's dolphins commences this week. Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS) is concerned about the welfare of the dolphins and the effectiveness of the research.
New Zealand is home to one of the world's smallest and rarest dolphins - the Hector's dolphin. Hector's are very inquisitive, cute and graceful, and found nowhere else in the world. But at 1.4 metres long, they are also very subject to entanglement in fishing nets.
Following the drowning of almost 800 Hectors' dolphins in the mid 1980s, the New Zealand Government declared one of their key areas, the Banks Peninsula , a Marine Sanctuary. However, they, and their even more endangered cousin, the Maui dolphin, remain at risk from fishing in other parts of New Zealand 's coast.
In an attempt to find out just how much risk the 100-150 remaining Maui dolphins face from trawl fishing net entanglements, the NZ Government is planning to tag some Maui's. But in order to test whether the tagging will be effective in gathering such information, the more numerous Hector's are about to be tagged in a 'test run'.
This is a highly controversial plan. Conservationists agree that it is necessary to obtain more information on the range of these dolphins, so that any connection between this fishery and possible bycatch of these critically endangered dolphins can be established.
However, WDCS is concerned both about how effective the tagging will be in collecting the information, and about the significant welfare issues that tagging of small animals presents. WDCS considers that other methods, which have been successfully used in the past to collect valuable data on the Hector's and Maui 's dolphins, such as aerial and boat surveys, or acoustic surveys, should be the first choice of the New Zealand Government.
Satellite tagging of whales and dolphins is a highly invasive procedure that involves catching the dolphin, taking it out of the water, handling it for at least 30 minutes while a satellite tag is attached and then placing the animal back in the water, with the hope that the dolphin will return to its normal behaviour. The method of attachment that is proposed in this trial is one of the most invasive surgical techniques that a wild dolphin is likely to undergo. The attachment procedure will involve cutting holes in the dorsal fin and inserting bolts through the holes in order that the tag can be attached.
Despite the controversy, the satellite tracking of the Hector's dolphin trial was completed. So far, three Hector's dolphins in Banks Peninsular, including two females and one male, have already been tagged and tracked by a research team of the Department of Conservation for over 24 hours.
It was reported that the dolphins showed little reaction to the attachment of the tags, and swam off to join other dolphins in their pod after release.
Some samples like blood and skin have been taken from the dolphins. The samples are already sent to the Lincoln University for analysis, which help scientists learn more about the dolphins' health and genetics. The tagged dolphins will be tracked over the next three months, after which the two fastenings on each tag will release. It is believed that the results of the satellite tracking work will be available later this year, with the final evaluation of the trial completed next year.
Source: WDCS and www.scoop.co.nz |
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8 Feb 2004
Remaining Asian Grey Whales threatened again
The Asian population of grey whales was thought extinct - eradicated from the planet after being hunted by Japanese whalers. But then a small pod of grey whales was rediscovered 30 years ago in remote seas close to Russia 's Far East coast.
Protected by conservationists, the number of the Asian grey whale has slowly risen to around 100 today. This population of grey whales has been classified by the IUCN Red List as “Critically Endangered”. But now another threat is facing this fragile population.
Near the feeding grounds of the grey whales, there found a massive sources of oil and gas in recent years. All the world's largest oil companies flooded into the region with plans to drill and build oil and gas platforms and pipelines. Conservationists are worried that the feeding grounds would be destroyed by the development plans, and the population will decline to extinction.
This race for natural resources took place at an area just off Russia 's Far East coast near the remote Island Sakhalin. Every year when ice breaks in May, the grey whales return here from their winter breeding grounds for foraging. The whales have used this migration route for centuries. The proposed expansion of oil exploitation would involve installing a new production platform at the seaward edge of the feeding ground, and routing four pipelines near and directly through the feeding ground. It is believed that this would disrupt the bottom-feeding grey whales from accessing and using the feeding grounds. Also the whales might be harmed and even killed by collisions with the increased vessel traffic and underwater noises during seismic survey and construction.
Shell is the major enterprise that hopes to make profit from it - to export the natural resources to the growing economies of Asia . It is believed that this will give the company an important foothold in the region. Currently the conservation groups are urging the British government to act to protect the whales in that they only approve loan guarantees to help finance the project only if Shell promises that the pipelines and construction work will not take place in the feeding grounds of grey whales. |
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Jan 2004
The Dolphin Massacre in Japan Japan has long been notorious for hunting dolphins and whales. Tens of thousands of dolphins are slaughtered by the Japanese every year. Not only do Japanese love to consume the flesh of whales and dolphins, they kill the animals in a very brutal way, outraging environmental groups and animal right activists worldwide.
The Bloody Cove
On 6 October 2003 , an organization for marine conservation in the United States , the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS), first videotaped and photographed Japanese fishermen slaughtering dolphins in Taiji Cove, the process of which astounded the whole world. Victims of the kill are mostly Striped Dolphins; some are adults while some are just calves. It can be clearly seen from the video that fishermen were driving dolphins into the harbour with their boats, and captured them using fishing nets. The dolphins were then pulled up to the boat, and killed one by one. One photo even shows the horrifying scene of the Taiji Cove stained bloody red with the blood of dolphins.
Slaughter Connived
The fishermen reported to the local police at once when they realized that their shameful behaviour was being recorded. The most annoying thing was, even the Japanese Police covered up for the fishermen. Not only did they force the Sea Shepherd crew to leave, the Police also seized their cameras and video recorders in order to stop them from filming the bloody evidence. On 18 November, two Sea Shepherd volunteers could no longer stand the on-going slaughter and swam to one of the pens to release 15 captured dolphins. They were arrested by the Japanese Police and were detained till December.
Nowadays, Japan is one of the few countries in the world which still captures and slays dolphins for their meat. Every year, over two hundred thousand dolphins are slaughtered to death in Taiji Cove. Although the massacred dolphins do not belong to any endangered species, the fishermen do not realize that this kind of operation is not sustainable at all, which will consequently push the dolphins to the brink of extinction.
For more information concerning the massacre, please visit the following website of the Sea Shephered
www.seashepherd.org/taiji.shtml |
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