Whales

1) The Icelandic Minke Whaler’s Association states on its website “A conceivable agreement within the IWC?”

A rough translation:

“There has been an intersessional IWC meeting in London in March. According to the Icelandic IWC Commissioner, Stefan Asmundsson, there are no proposals that the IWC will start to regulate commercial whaling, even if such hints/ rumours have circulated in the Icelandic media.

However, there is a will within the IWC for a change, as it is obvious that the current system doesn’t work in a satisfactory way.

The IWC was funded to manage whale hunting, through the Committee. There have been disagreements in the Scientific Committee, for example on humpback whaling, that has been banned since the 60’s.

The SC has however been united in many issues , for example re the minke whale stock around Iceland. The stock is robust and can be managed for whale hunting. The question is how large should the quota be.

The IWC must reach a compromise. It must start working in accordance with the original Convention it was based on. Otherwise the whaling nations must withdraw from the IWC and depend on its own scientists.

Listen to a humpback whale

2) The Norwegians are currently in the Southern Oceans conducting research on krill on the survey
ship “ the G.O Sars”. The Norwegians are one of the big actors in this field, with factory ships in the Southern Oceans.

To study the krill, platforms, sonar, hydrofons were launched. One of these platforms were visited by a curious humpback whale.

The humpbacks were very curious and approached the survey ship. It seemed according to the crew that
The Southern Hemisphere humpbacks did dare to come closer to the vessel than humpbacks in northern seas.

The SH humpbacks are as well bigger than the NH ones, and can reach 18 meter.

Listen to the humpback through the hydrofon ( scroll down to “ LYDKLIPP : KLICK FOR Å HORE! “ and click on the text! Amazing sounds that Libby might interpret?

Humpbacks dominate

3) As has been mentioned above, the survey or research ship , G.O Sars, is currently in the Southern Oceans, between Cape Town and the Antarctica.

They have observed lots of humpback whales, about 103 animals. The pods are about 2-4 whales, usually adults together with calves. The humpbacks are usually observed near the ice, where they consume krill. They can easily eat 500 kg in a short while / “ in a gulp”. Krill is the primary food during the summer season.

The humpbacks are also very curious about the research ship. The ship has observed sperm whales, minkes, humpbacks and Fins, according to the ships diary, states Norwegian fisheries paper, Fiskeribladet.

Cheers,
Ann Novek
Sweden

When the new Rudd government was elected in Australia late last year all sorts of promises were made about ending Japanese whaling in the Antarctic including monitoring the whaling fleet. But according to a recent article in the The Australian the government’s stated intention have gotten stuck in neutral:

“A docked Australian ship supposedly monitoring Japanese whaling vessels may have missed observing half of Japan’s annual whale cull.

“Revelations that the Customs Ship Oceanic Viking was still in Fremantle has prompted the Coalition to claim that the Rudd Government was asleep at the wheel and had gone into holiday mode.

“Opposition environment spokesman Greg Hunt this morning called on the Government to stop partying and going to the cricket, and get back to the job of government.”

And when the Australian government does decide to start monitoring, it will be keeping the Japanese whaling fleet’s location secret, and this is a betrayal of public trust according to an article in The Sydney Morning Herald:

“THE anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd has condemned the Federal Government’s decision to keep the location of the Japanese whaling fleet secret.

“‘The move was a betrayal that would withhold vital information from anti-whaling groups,’ Paul Watson, of Sea Shepherd, said.

“‘Once again the cards are stacked against us, as governments continue to co-operate with each other to maintain the status quo,’ he said, adding the Government owed it to the Australian public to say where the fleet was.

Links and text from JG Moebus in California