Guest guest Posted January 30, 2002 Report Share Posted January 30, 2002 * SWK and List Info In Footer * ...... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... http://www.smh.com.au/news/0201/30/national/national19.html Motion in the ocean may save the whales By Andrew Darby in Hobart Japan's long disputed claim that it has to kill whales in order to study them is about to be further contested with a breakthrough by Australian scientists. They have developed a method to determine whale stomach contents for the first time by DNA testing, sifting through the giant mammals' bodily waste for their evidence. Data collected tells the scientists what prey the whales have consumed, gives an individual signature for each animal, and even shows which intestinal parasites they carry. " We will be telling the International Whaling Commission that this is a robust, non-lethal method for studying whales, " said Nick Gales, a principal research scientist at the Federal Environment Department's Antarctic Division. Despite repeated votes against Japan's whaling program at the IWC, its whalers kill more than 500 minke whales each year under a self-awarded scientific permit. In 2000 it also began catching small numbers of the larger Brydes and sperm whales. The meat is sold at fish markets. advertisement advertisement IWC permits demand consideration of whether scientists' questions can be answered using non-lethal methods, and Japan has repeatedly argued that it must kill whales to examine their stomach contents. Dr Gales said the DNA method, tested with blue whales, had found it was possible to identify in their faeces prey species such as krill, as well as nematode parasites, and even the whales' gender and individual identity. " It's going to provide some real information to put into food web models, " Dr Gales said. " If it points out that they are competing with fish stocks, then we'll have to deal with that. " He agreed that some other Japanese research questions, such as foetal growth rates, could not be answered by the new method. The breakthrough was achieved when researchers in Victoria, Western Australia, and the United States collected blue whale faeces in nets. The wastes are eliminated by the animals near the surface, as a thin brown cloud in the water. Dr Gales said the DNA in the wastes had been separated and individually identified, to be matched with known species. He said collecting data could be time-consuming, because it meant finding and staying close to surfacing whales. " But it's certainly no more time-consuming than killing whales. And it's a lot cheaper. " ======================= http://www.cleveland.com/geauga/plaindealer/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_st andard.xsl?/base/geauga/10123002181930047.xml Geauga County News Infection kills walrus at Six Flags in Aurora 01/29/02 Karen Farkas Plain Dealer Reporter Aurora - A Pacific walrus at Six Flags Worlds of Adventure has died from an infection caused by a blockage in his intestine. George, one of two male walruses at the marine side of the park, died Nov. 10, Kim Stover, a spokeswoman for the park, said yesterday. His age was unknown, although he was very young when he was rescued off the coast of Alaska when he became beached in 1987, she said. He had been at the park, the former Sea World of Ohio, since 1994. He lived at the sea lion and otter stadium and alternated in shows with the other walrus, Brutus. George, who weighed 2,000 pounds, would slowly slide onto the stage and roll on his back and wave his flippers. He would then go into the water, pull himself up on the outer Plexiglas panels and squirt streams of water at the squealing audience. The park does not announce when animals die if it occurs when the park is closed, Stover said. When trainers noticed George's appetite was off, a veterinarian who specializes in marine mammals was summoned from California. But George died shortly after Dr. Sam Dover arrived. Dover, who had worked at the Sea World park, did the necropsy, which showed a bacterial infection stemming from the intestinal blockage. Walruses suck up their food, and leaves were found in George's intestine, although it is not known if they caused the blockage, Stover said. The pools are cleaned regularly, said Laura Collins, curator of mammals and birds. The park is waiting for the official necropsy report from an outside laboratory, Stover said. The park notified the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, as required when a walrus dies. Adult Pacific walruses can reach lengths of up to 12 feet, and their life expectancy is 16 to 30 years. They eat a variety of fish, mollusks and squid, with their total food intake reaching up to 90 pounds a day, Collins said. " The vet told us it is not unusual for walruses to have objects in their intestines, such as clam shells, and it is unfortunate for George that he was unable to pass whatever the blockage was, " Stover said. " George was very special to a lot of people, " said the spokeswoman for the park. Collins said George may be replaced. Pacific walruses are not endangered. The park is seeking permission to import two killer whales. Some critics contend wild animals kept in captivity have a shorter life span. ================ http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/134396846_orcas29m.html Tuesday, January 29, 2002 - 03:15 p.m. Pacific Once-trapped orca seems to be doing well By Eric Sorensen Seattle Times staff reporter E-mail this article Print this article Search web archive The male orca trapped behind Dungeness Spit earlier this month and towed to safer waters appears to have weathered the ordeal just fine. Joe Barton of Shelton, Mason County, was beachcombing near Ocean Shores last week and chanced upon a time-depth recording tag that had been attached to the male orca in Sequim. Data on the device showed the orca had been traveling at 2 to 3 mph, regularly diving between 50 and 80 feet, then surfacing for about a dozen breaths before diving again. All of which suggests he was doing well. The orca could have been headed south to join fellow transient orcas off California, scientists said. Transient orcas, or killer whales, range widely, feeding on marine mammals, while residents frequent a specific region and feed mostly on fish. " Pretty typical of a healthy, robust, normal killer whale, " said Brian Gorman, a spokesman for the National Marine Fisheries Service in Seattle. " Hats off to everybody involved in saving that whale, " said Ken Balcomb, senior scientist and executive director of the Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. " It worked. " Brad Hanson, a wildlife biologist for the fisheries service, said he plans to look more closely at the data for temperature changes that will suggest when the whale left the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The data may also show how far off the coast the orca swam, contributing to a dearth of information on transient killer whales. " We've put tags on transients before, but we have very little data on them, " Hanson said. Scientists are still awaiting further tests on a female orca that turned up dead near where the male had been trapped Jan. 2. Early tests show some heavy-metal contamination but in amounts often found in healthy orcas, Gorman said. The female orca's heart had old scarring but not enough to be a problem. It had eaten seals about three to five days earlier. " This whale, both on gross inspection and close inspection, looked very normal, " Gorman said. Further tests will include examining its 900-pound head, now in a freezer in Seattle. Meanwhile, Canadian scientists have tentatively identified a young male orca seen in recent weeks off Vashon Island. John Ford, a marine-mammal scientist for Fisheries and Oceans Canada, said the orca appears to be from the northern residents that frequent the northern part of Vancouver Island. If that supposition is correct, the whale's appearance here is unusual in two respects, said Ford: Northern residents usually don't travel this far south in Puget Sound, and resident orcas are rarely seen alone. Some scientists had speculated that the whale, which appears to be healthy, was the third whale from an unconfirmed report of three whales seen near Sequim when the other two transients beached. =================== http://www.canada.com/halifax/news/story.asp?id={0B902A2E-8BC1-49AB-933C-708 E02F4C7C9} Endangered whales have baby boom By PETER McLAUGHLIN The Daily News It looks like it may be another good year for the world's last herd of endangered North Atlantic right whales. The number of rare ocean-going giants, which summer in the Bay of Fundy, has grown by eight since calving started two months ago off the coast of Florida. And with the calving just reaching its peak, there's hope that number will double by March. " I think we'll all be very happy if we can just get to half of what we had last year. It would be better than average and it would indicate that maybe this small population is holding its own,'' said Christopher Slay, a whale researcher with the New England Aquarium. Last year, the herd, which numbers just 300 animals, experienced a dramatic baby boom, birthing a record 31 calves - the healthiest boost in population in years. That came after three years of dismally poor seasons where barely a handful of mothers gave birth. In 1999, the herd gave birth to only one calf. The year before, it was five. Slay, who is monitoring the herd daily from the calving grounds, said it will be immensely encouraging if the whales can pull off good back-to-back calving seasons. But he said it will take more than fertile females. The future of the herd depends on reducing the deadly impact of humans. " I don't want to paint too rosy a picture of this,'' Slay said yesterday. " This population - for the lack of a better cliche - is on the brink of extinction. And if we don't change our current pattern of human-caused mortality in the next 20 years, this species is gone.'' Right now, reproduction is unsteady, owing to a number of environmental factors, including pollution, deaths as a result of entanglements in fishing gear and collisions with ships, as well as a dwindling food supply. Deborah Tobin, co-ordinator of East Coast Eco-Systems in Freeport, Digby Co., said it's a struggle for the whale. " We really need to see a lot more years of really good calving before anyone is going to say this whale is out of trouble,'' she said. © Copyright 2002 The Daily News ====== http://dailynews./h/wjxt/20020128/lo/1062038_1.html Monday January 28 04:22 PM EST Right Whale Search Continues In Coastal Waters The only place in the world to see northern right whales giving birth is the coastal waters of northeast Florida and southeast Georgia. The mammals calf during the winter months 5 to 20 miles offshore because of the warm and shallow ocean waters in the area. " This area here off Amelia Island is one of the most important areas to the survival of this species, " Chris Slay of the New England Aquarium said. Slay comes to Fernandina Beach every year to study the right whale during the winter calving season. He told Channel 4's Dan Evans that almost every living right whale was born in this area and spends the first weeks of its life in these coastal waters. Slay and his team use planes and boats to make daily surveys of the whales in the three major shipping channels from Jacksonville to Savannah, Ga. " The idea is to find every whale in the calving ground, make sure that the operators of large vessels know where these whales are, hopefully to avoid them, " Slay said. Researchers have documented that collisions with large ships are the No. 1 cause of right whale deaths ... a big risk to a population of -- at most -- 340 whales. Slay said they're making progress toward keeping this calving ground safe, but it takes a lot of work and a lot of time watching the horizon, and that concerned members of the public can help the effort. Even people who don't have a boat or a plane can help track the mammals by scouting the water from shore -- especially from Ponte Vedra Beach and south -- where the animals come closer to shore. " You can never have too many people looking, " Slay said. " It allows us to keep track of how many calves are born ... who's successfully reproducing, how many animals make it out of the calving ground alive. " Biologists then check out the sightings and use photos to identify each animal. Anyone who would like to volunteer with the Marineland Right Whale Survey Project may call (904) 471-1111. ============= http://dailynews./h/wews/20020128/lo/1061907_1.html Monday January 28 07:05 PM EST Six Flags Wants To Bring Back Killer Whales There's a " whale of a fight " brewing in Aurora. NewsChannel5 reported that Six Flags Ohio wants to bring back two killer whales to its water park. Animal rights advocates said that the whales belong in their natural environment. Six Flags moved Shamu and another whale to San Diego last year when it bought Sea World of Ohio. Performing dolphins replaced the popular whales. Six Flags officials said that it was obvious by attendance that park-goers missed the killer whales. The park has already applied for permits to import two whales. ============ http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-000006495jan26.story?coll=la%2Dheadline s%2Dcalifornia They're Late, but Who's Complaining? The California gray whale's migration, finally underway, is an inspiration to many. By KENNETH R. WEISS, TIMES STAFF WRITER ABOARD THE PRINCESS OF WHALES -- With a heaving sigh, two plumes of spray shot a dozen feet in the air, forming the shape of a heart. A barnacled back emerged from the blue water, arched and began to roll back into the ocean followed by an enormous tail. The fluke fanned the air for a long moment before slipping from view. The display brought a chorus of oohs and ahs from a boatload of whale watchers. It's prime time again for one of the greatest shows in the marine world: the California gray whale's migration from its feeding grounds in the frigid Bering Sea to the balmy lagoons of Baja California, where mothers give birth. The southbound parade of these leviathans is running a bit late this year, scientists and whale watchers note. The grays seem to be lingering in the nutrient-rich waters of the north, presumably to fatten up before making the round trip of up to 12,000 miles--the longest annual migration of any mammal. The late migration has been hard on at least one female who bore her calf too soon, about 1,000 miles too soon. " The mother was swimming beneath the calf, lifting it up to help it breathe, " said Steph Dutton, who owns Sanctuary Cruises in Moss Landing, Calif., with his wife, Heidi Tiura. So far this year, he has spotted four calves born prematurely. Dutton and Tiura said they watched other pairs that seemed to be struggling through Monterey Bay and yet appeared determined to press on to the warmer, saltier and thus more buoyant waters in Baja California's lagoons and bays. The modern saga of the California gray whale has been a success story. Hunted nearly to extinction in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the gray whale has rebounded to a population of about 26,000, according to the last census. Surviving gray whales inspired an eco-tourism industry. Whale watching originated in California in the 1950s. Now boats depart from nearly every harbor along the state's 1,100-mile coastline. Many are sportfishing vessels that double as whale-watching boats when fishing is slow. As an industry, whale watching has been growing about 12% a year and has spread to countries around the globe, according to a report issued last year by the International Fund for Animal Welfare. Counting related travel and lodging revenue, it has become a $1-billion a year industry, attracting 9 million participants in 87 countries and territories, the report says. California remains an industry leader, attracting tourists from Europe and across the United States to see grays in winter, blues and humpbacks in summer. And Monterey Bay, former home of an old whaling station, is still a favorite site for tracking gray whales as they swim south for the winter and return north in the spring. " Remember our motto, " Tiura shouts to the passengers. " 'Whales are for lookin', not for cookin'. " Unlike the boat owners who move from sportfishing to whale watching, Tiura and Dutton came three years ago from the ranks of whale-loving activists. They had spent three years following the gray whales in kayaks as naturalists for their own organization, In the Path of Giants. But in 1998, they tried to coax Washington state's Makah Indian tribe to abandon its plan to resume whale hunting after a 70-year lapse. They were ordered off the reservation in a controversy that ultimately cost them their research funding. They found themselves trying to scratch out a living in the whale-watching business. Both of their boats, a 65-foot power catamaran called the Princess of Whales, and the 45-foot Sanctuary, were packed on a recent weekend. Besides the whales, the attraction was a featured speaker, author Dick Russell, who chronicled the clash with the Makah, along with nearly every other struggle over gray whales in his 688-page tome, " Eye of the Whale: Epic Passage from Baja to Siberia. " Russell talked about Japan's desire to resume commercial whaling and other threats. " We need to talk to our kids about our incredible oceans and how we need to protect them, " he told the passengers. Whale watching can be hit or miss. Some days, the creatures seem to surface everywhere, putting on impressive displays, spouting and breaching for the cameras. Other days they are nowhere to be found. Last Saturday was one of those days. Yet the boat caught up with a pod of perhaps 500 dolphins, all churning up the sea. At any one time, 100 or more of the two-tone gray and cream dolphins leaped in unison, snatching a breath in midair and plunging back into the sea. Some gamboled ahead of the boat; others hung back and drafted in the boat's wake. Sunday was altogether different. The co-captains, who spent years tracking whales in their kayaks, easily guided the boat into the path of the 35-ton mammals. With Dutton at the helm, Tiura scampered to the highest spot on the boat--the roof of the bridge--to look for whales. " You are not our passengers, you are our cohorts in adventure, " Dutton told all aboard through the public address system. " So scan the horizon, and if you see a blow, give us a yell. " It didn't take long for the shouts to begin. " Straight ahead, 12 o'clock, " Tiura said. Dutton nosed the boat toward a couple of telltale spouts on the horizon. Soon the boat was surrounded by dozens of whales. Passengers raced from rail to rail, trying to keep up with the sightings. Carole Adams, a middle-aged woman in a white canvas hat, started jumping. " I get so excited when I see the whales, " she said. She became " addicted " to the big lugs, she said, when she visited San Ignacio Lagoon in Baja and got to kiss a baby gray. Suddenly, a whale surfaced next to the boat. Both the passengers and the whale seemed surprised. It arched its back and dived, its massive fluke the last thing to slip into the sea. " If you aren't getting goose bumps, then you are dead, " Tiura shouted from the roof. For Tiura and Dutton, whale-watching trips (www.sanctuarycruises.com) are the latest stage of an evolving activism. Now they are building support for the gentle giants, one passenger at a time. " We just get people out near the grays, " Tiura said, " and then let the magic of the whales do the rest. 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