Whales

ONE OF MY MURALS

White Whales performing

Some species of large whales are endangered as a result of commercial whaling from the eleventh century to the twentieth. For centuries large whales have been hunted for oil, meat, baleen and ambergris   more...(a perfume ingredient from the intestine of sperm whales). By the middle of the 20th century, whaling left many populations severely depleted.

Cetaceans are the mammals most fully adapted to aquatic life. Their body is fusiform (spindle-shaped). The forelimbs are modified into flippers. The tiny hindlimbs are vestigial; they do not attach to the backbone and are hidden within the body. The tail has horizontal flukes. Cetaceans are nearly hairless, and are insulated by a thick layer of blubber. As a group, they are noted for their high intelligence.

The order Cetacea contains ninety species, all marine except for four species of freshwater dolphins. The order is divided into two suborders, Mysticeti (baleen whales) and Odontoceti (toothed whales, which includes dolphins and porpoises). The species range in size from the Commerson's Dolphin and Tucuxi to the Blue Whale, the world's largest ever animal.

The International Whaling Commission introduced a six year moratorium on all commercial whaling in 1986, which has been extended to the present day. For various reasons some exceptions to this moratorium exist; current whaling nations are Norway, Iceland and Japan and the aboriginal communities of Siberia, Alaska and northern Canada.
Several species of small whales are caught as bycatch in fisheries for other species. In the tuna fishery in the Eastern Tropical Pacific thousands of dolphins were drowned in purse-seine nets, until measures to prevent this were introduced. Fishing gear and deployment modifications, and eco-labelling (dolphin-safe or dolphin-friendly brands of canned tuna), have contributed to a reduction in the mortality of dolphins by tuna fishing vessels in recent years. In many countries, small whales are still hunted for food, oil, meat or bait.

Whaling in Norway is a centuries long tradition in Northern Norway. Only Minke whaling is permitted, from a population of 107,000 animals in the North East Atlantic and is argued by proponents and government officials to be sustainable. Still it has been frequently criticized by foreigners and animal rights groups as Norway, among Iceland and Japan, is one of few countries that still allow whaling.

Norway registered an objection to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) commercial whaling moratorium, and is thus not bound by it. In 1993, Norway resumed a commercial catch, following a period of five years where a small catch was made under scientific permit. Norwegian Minke whale catches have fluctuated between 218 animals in 1995 and 646 in 2003.

Prior to the moratorium, Norway caught around 2,000 Minke whales per year. The North Atlantic hunt is divided into five areas and usually lasts from early May to late August. Norway has exported a limited amount of whale meat to the Faroes and Iceland. It has been attempting to export to Japan for several years, though this has been hampered by concerns in the Japanese domestic market about the effects of pollution in the blubber of the North Atlantic Minke whale.

In May 2004, the Norwegian Parliament passed a resolution to considerably increase the number of Minkes hunted each year. The Ministry of Fisheries also initiated a satellite tracking programme of various whale species to monitor migration patterns and diving behaviour. The tagging research program has been under way since 1999.

Since 2006, when the Norwegian whaling quota was increased by 30%, Norwegian whalers have been allowed to hunt a quota of 1,052 Minke whales a year. Since the 1993 hunt resumption the Norwegian quota has rarely been fully met  less

Two Whales

WHALES

Nearly 200 whales and several dolphins are stranded on a beach in the southern Australian island state of Tasmania, the latest in a string of beachings in recent months.

Rescuers were headed Monday to   more...Naracoopa Beach on Tasmania's King Island to try to save some of the 194 pilot whales and half a dozen bottlenose dolphins that began beaching themselves on Sunday evening.  less

READ THIS FIRST!!

For some reason the audio is crapping out. Its not as bad in high quality.

This was an interesting video to make. I used audio from the movie Dot and the Whale, since the music is not   more...available on CD. So there is some voice over and sound effects, but they work pretty well. Dot and the Whale is about a little girl named Dot, who finds a beached whale. Dot can speak to animals and the whale tells her she wants to die. She watched her family get slaughtered and she doesn't want to live. This is a kid's movie BTW. So the voice you hear is Tonga's, the whale. The first song is Mother Sea. Then the song ends, and you go into another song/video, "Why Don't They Leave Us Alone?". This is also from the movie. Dot meets the fabled Moby Dick, who is still alive, but very old. He tells her to let Tonga die if she wants to, and the song starts playing soon after. Then there is a end titles repeat of Mother Sea, again.

I didn't feel like splitting it up into 3 separate videos. But I think it works well like this.  less

a critical look at whaling - not for the squeemish

The grenade harpoons in use today haven't been around for such a long time. In the old days, whalers used harpoons with black-powder grenades, but these   more...unreliable devices weren't well-suited to catching the relatively small minke whale. Starting in the 1920s, Norwegian whalers abandoned the black powder in favor of a harpoon with an empty grenade casing—called a "cold grenade harpoon." Later, they replaced the empty grenade with a simple iron head—the "cold harpoon." The use of non-explosive (cold) weapons tended to prolong the whale's agony, and hunters would have to resort to other, more cumbersome methods to complete the kill.

In the 1980s, the Norwegians developed a new kind of grenade harpoon using a more dependable explosive called penthrite. The cold harpoons were banned, and penthrite grenades became the standard method for killing whales. Minke whalers in Greenland switched over from cold harpoons to penthrite grenades around 1990. The nations that have "scientific whaling" programs—Iceland and Japan—also support the use of explosive grenade harpoons. (Some Japanese whalers still use hand-held harpoons rather than the mounted cannon.)

Whale hunts in other parts of the world make use of more traditional methods. Faroe Islanders continue to hunt pilot whales by surrounding them with boats and driving them toward land. Some of the whales beach themselves, while others get stranded in shallow water. The whalers then use a metal hook to drag the animal onto the shore, where they slice through its spinal cord and main artery, one hand's width behind the blowhole. (In recent years they've switched over from pointed hooks to dull ones, which can be inserted into the vestibular air sacs without causing much tissue damage.) Traditional whalers in the United States use hand-held harpoons to ensnare whales, and then kill them with high-powered rifles. They have also used penthrite bombs and black powder.  less

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Discovery Channel whale special - SPOOF

Killer whales caught on tape chillin

A slide show with whales

Greenpeace video shows that anyone can make a difference.

Will we be able to breathe underwater once we have ascended?

What can you tell us about the whales and their wide-scale hunting that is taking place?


The collective consciousness of NIne come forward, through   more...Magenta Pixie, to answer these two questions from subscribers.

Music by Kevin Macleod.  less

How Dolphins Play

I’m always fascinated at the ease and grace with which whales and dolphins swim, so it’s always a joy to watch them. Beluga Whales weigh between 3,000 and 3,300 pounds and grow to be between 10 and 15   more...feet long. Unlike the more popular dolphins and killer whales, the Beluga Whales have no dorsal fins, primarily because the beluga whales spend so much of their time in their natural habitat swimming very close to the ice sheets over their heads, as the whales look for breathing holes in the ice, so there’s no evolutionary advantage for Beluga Whales to have dorsal fins.

The song I chose is “Ordinary Miracle” by Sarah McLachlan.  less

We love taking people out whale watching and dolphin watching on our Sailing catamarans all year round. We see Gray Whales, Blue Whales, Fin Whales and pods of dolphin as large as 5,000. You can call   more...us 949 488 2828 or visit us at WWW.DOLPHINSAFARI.com  less

Save the Whales is a documentary that shows some of the action that Sea Shepherd does to defend Whales from the Japanese 'research' hunter-killer harpoon ships. Killing Whales is murder. Help to defend   more...Whales from their enemy by supporting Sea Shepherd's activities via:

www.seashepherd.org Visit NOW! the Whales need your help, help Sea Shepherd do more now!  less

http://www.EstaraWeb.com, Whales are the Record keepers, whale song,
sound healing, global pulse, frequency patterns
http://www.EstaraWeb.com

Pod of orcas hunt down a pair of Grey Whales.

In case you were wondering why killer whales are called killer whales...

Dolphins & Killer Whales splashing visitors!

The song is "Vertigo" by U2

The incredible grace and beauty of these amazing mammals in slow motion . . .

The song I chose is "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley . . . it's not in ANY way germane to the topic of the video LOL .   more.... I just LOVE that SONG!! (I modified the song intro, so that's why that part won't sound familiar to those who know the song :) )  less