Whale news from 'round about

[Guest guest]

(With comments from Winston)

 

 

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20010619a4.htm

Tuesday, June 19, 2001

ANALYSES UNCOVER LIE, MERCURY

Tainted dolphin sold as whale

 

FUKUOKA (Kyodo) A tenant in a Tokyo department store sold mercury-tainted

dolphin meat in February after falsely claiming it was whale meat,

investigations by a citizens' group showed Monday.

The meat, from striped dolphins caught off Wakayama Prefecture, was found to

contain mercury at levels roughly 170 times provisional limits set by the

government, according to the group Safety First.

 

Nanami Kurasawa of the Dolphin and Whale Action Network said she first

discovered the meat on the store shelf and thought it strange that the

product was labeled " minke whale from Wakayama, " when Japan's annual

research whaling quota for waters near the archipelago is limited to around

100 minke whales to be caught off Hokkaido and the Pacific Ocean off the

Tohoku region coast. At about 350 yen per 100 grams, it also seemed cheap

for whale meat, she added.

 

Activists then had the Institute of Cetacean Research conduct DNA analysis

of the meat they purchased from the shop in February, and found it was the

meat of a striped dolphin. Further analysis by Daiichi College of

Pharmaceutical Sciences in Fukuoka revealed that the meat was contaminated

by 67 parts per million of mercury.

 

After the ban on commercial whaling in 1987 and the subsequent decrease in

supply of whale meat, critics have been pointing out that meat from dolphins

caught along the coast of Japan has been sold as whale meat at high prices.

 

Research revealed that the tenant, who was not identified, has been selling

at department stores what has been touted as minke whale meat from Wakayama

since around last July.

 

According to the marine produce company that operates the tenant shop, the

meat it purchased from a market in Chiba Prefecture was initially labeled

" blackfish, " which is also a type of whale. The firm admitted it mistakenly

labeled it minke whale upon selling it.

 

Kurasawa said, " If meat is labeled 'whale meat at a discount price,'

consumers will buy it even if it is dolphin meat. Shops must label products

correctly. "

 

Critics say that, given the false label discovery in addition to the mercury

contamination, the relevant authorities should implement measures to better

ensure that product labeling does not mislead consumers.

 

 

The Japan Times: June 19, 2001

© All rights reserved

 

" Amazing,they are more concerned that the meat was Dolphin & Not

Whale,instead of being concerned that it was full of mercury!! "

:-) Winston.....

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http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-gen/2001/jun/18/061806103.html

 

June 18, 2001

 

Two Whales Beach Themselves Off Fla.

VERO BEACH, Fla.- The U.S. Navy is investigating whether its training

activities off the Florida Coast may have led to the deaths of two rare

whales, Navy officials said Monday.

 

Both beaked whales - an adult female and a younger male - beached themselves

and died Sunday.

 

The adult female, which was 14 feet long and about 2,000 pounds, was already

dead when marine rescue officials arrived. The male - 10 feet long and 1,500

pounds - was found alive but was euthanized because it was so ill.

 

The cause of their deaths was not immediately determined.

 

U.S. Navy officials said they are investigating to see if recent training

activities off the Florida coast may have led to the deaths.

 

" We are aware of the beachings and taking a good hard look at what, if any,

training exercises we may have had in the area, and whether these may have

caused these beachings, " said Lt. Commander John Kirby, a spokesman with the

Navy's second fleet.

 

Both whales were malnourished, said Gregory Bossart, director of marine

mammal research and conservation at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic

Institution in Fort Pierce. He said the younger whale showed signs of kidney

and liver trauma.

 

Bossart said the deaths may be linked to Navy tests of sonar equipment

conducted off the Florida coast last week. The National Marine Fisheries

Service has asked officials to be on the lookout for an increase in strandin

gs.

 

Last year, dozens of beaked whales were stranded in the Bahamas after

similar tests were conducted by the Navy near there.

 

Sonar would not have immediately killed the whales, but would have rendered

them incapable of eating, Bossart said.

 

Kirby did not disclose what kind of exercises the Navy had been conducting.

 

A National Marine Fisheries Service biologist said Monday his agency issued

the Navy a permit to carry out tests with high explosives off the coast near

Jacksonville this summer.

 

" The Navy requested permission to do something known as 'ship shock testing'

of a new guided missile destroyer, the U.S.S. Winston Churchill, " biologist

Eric Hawk said.

 

Under the permit, the Navy is required to move its tests elsewhere if

endangered sealife is spotted nearby. Hawk said the Navy was forced to move

several times during its recent tests.

 

The heads of the whales were sent to Harvard University for further testing.

Results should be available in two to three weeks, Bossart said.

 

 

 

'How many more whales have to die before they face up to the fact that

LFAS KILLS !! "

Winston

 

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Diver snaps intimate photos of whale birth

 

June 18 2001 at 05:23AM

 

http://www.iol.co.za/html/frame_news.php?click_id=143 & art_id=qw992834581117B

254

 

 

Guam - A photographer has captured remarkably intimate moments between a

giant sperm whale and her new born calf off the coast of Guam.

 

Underwater photographer Chris Bangs of the Micronesian Divers Association

saw the calf swimming alongside its mother and a pod, with parts of the

umbilical cord still attached to it. The other part of the cord was still

attached to the mother.

 

" The mother and baby were very close, but the baby did break off and swam

right to me, " he said.

 

He said the mother and calf were in a pod of at least eight whales.

 

'This was unbelievable'

" There was a whole bunch of interaction going on. "

 

While taking pictures over the weekend Bangs heard whales communicating with

one another.

 

" The most amazing thing was listening to the communication, the clicking. "

 

He said the mother nursed the calf while the new born also swam with other

adults.

 

" This was unbelievable. " - Sapa-AFP

 

 

 

 

" sorry there was NO photos of this on the web site, Hmmm, maybe he forgot to

put film in the camera "

;-D Winston

 

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Gray whales with Winston

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