Iceland’s being condemned for recently approving the killing of hundreds whales over the next five years. The International Whaling Commission (IWC) banned commercial whaling in 1986, but like Japan, Iceland continued to use the scientific whaling loophole. After leaving the IWC in the 1990s in protest and returning in 2002, Iceland resumed scientific whaling in […]
When they followed vultures into the rainforest on Marajó Island in Brazil, near the mouth of the Amazon River officials with the state health, sanitation and environment department made a surprising discovery. The birds were feeding on the carcass of a 10-ton, 26-foot-long humpback whale calf. The calf, about a year old, was in an […]
A researcher studying humpback whales off the coast of Maui was treated to a rare surprise after spotting a newborn humpback whale who was barely moments old. It’s the closest Lars Bejder has been to a live birth of a humpback whale in 25 years, and lucky for us he captured it on footage. Bejder, […]
A fleet of Japanese ships is currently hunting minke whales in the Southern Ocean. It is a politically incendiary practice: the waters around Antarctica were long ago declared a whale sanctuary, but the designation has not halted Japan’s whalers, who are continuing a tradition of catching whales “for scientific research” in the region. In the […]
The past two years have been tough going for the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. A big part of its mission since 2005 has been to intercept and stop Japanese ships from hunting whales. Every such outing costs Sea Shepherd about $4 million. In the years when they found success and actually foiled Japan’s whalers, that […]
As I headed out on a pelagic wildlife watching trip out of Sydney with Halicat I was really keen to see a new species of whale. Which wasn’t not too much to ask for, given that the only whale species I have seen are Humpbacks, Right whales and a pod of Pygmy Killer Whales. The […]
The waters of the mid-Atlantic are alive with sound. The snaps, squeaks, bubbles, pops, and whistles of marine life ring through the water, interspersed with the low calls of North Atlantic right whales. But this chorus of sound may soon be drowned out. Already the right whales’ calls are few and far between. The North […]
The Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) has been making somewhat of a comeback since it was banned from being hunted in 1966. Over 90% of it’s population had been hunted out and it is only in the past few years that its numbers have increased to an estimated global population of 80,000. Now that is something […]