Cetacean News

Compiled by William Rossiter

Corrections: In April's Whales Alive! (Vol. XII No. 2), CSI used information on New Zealand's Maui's dolphin that was incorrect, according to Mike Donoghue, Senior International Relations Manager, of New Zealand's Department of Conservation. We reported that the Maui dolphin population had declined from 1,300 in just ten years, but Mike pointed out that he was "not aware of any scientific research that indicates that the population of Maui's dolphin was ever much greater than 500 or so animals". He also pointed out that the lengths we reported for the 51 stranded whales in the Solomon Islands should have been 5-15 feet rather than meters, and that Papua New Guinea's new government has yet to follow the previous government's promise for a whale sanctuary within the nation's EEZ. We welcome and appreciate any response to Whales Alive!, but particularly to ensure we are as accurate as possible. Thanks, Mike.

How can we fix our impatience?

With every day bringing new issues and problems from all over the world, why does it take so much time for governments, agencies, and industry to implement common sense solutions? Perhaps because the problems are expressed most often in the universal human language of economics, where everything is measured by its direct value to someone, someone who is going to lose or make lots of money. Those making money at the moment usually block solutions. Even where there is an official will to explore and create fixes, too often an array of powerful political interests lunge in to deny the problems and demand tests. Nowhere is this truer than the overall platform of the current US Administration, too often backed up by Congress. Somewhere in the White House are people who look for and cull evidence or opinion that threatens administration policy.

Science is not keeping pace with the problems either. Years will pass between the first warning of a problem and sufficient documentation to enable regulators to act. Human noise in the oceans is a handy example that Whales Alive! readers have been following for eight years. The LFA is still out there, without any reasonable way to test the impact of the thing on the ocean.

Marine Mammal Conference

The XV Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals will present the leading edge of science from 14-19 December 2003 in Greensboro, North Carolina, USA. The conference web site is http://smm2003biennial.marinemammalogy.org/. Early registration postmark deadline is 19 September. For decades CSI has recognized that this major conference is important to the careers of young scientists, for allowing them to meet peers and experts, present their work, and learn the latest in their field. However, with few exceptions, these conferences are beyond the means of many students, particularly those from developing nations. The Society for Marine Mammalogy (SMM) recognizes this, and has made every effort to hold down costs while meeting the professional needs of a growing community of scientists. CSI is very pleased that the SMM also now offers small travel grants based on need, similar to CSI's well-established grant program. In fact, this year the SMM and CSI will coordinate efforts to help as many people as possible.

Thanks for Photo Gallery Images

CSI's Photo Gallery on our web site is being improved all the time, thanks to expert friends who are willing to share some of their photographs. Recently we were pleased to add images of Burmeister's porpoise, Peale's dolphin, Bryde's whale, Yangtze River dolphin, finless porpoise, and franciscana, contributed by Alisa Schulman-Janiger, Mark Fischer, and Jim Dorsey of the USA, Francisco Viddi Carrasco of Chile, Julio C. Reyes and Daniza Molina of Peru, Professor Wang Ding of China, and Miguel Iñíguez and Pablo Bordino of Argentina. More additions are always welcome, and more changes are coming soon, as we catch friends between research trips!

Thanks for Scientific Books

Dr. Ron A. Kastelein of The Netherlands has made it possible for CSI to send several valuable scientific publications to selected scientists and research libraries in Latin America. These books normally cost up to US$100 each, prohibiting access to many people. Yet every thesis, dissertation and project requires thorough references like these. Ron worked with De Spil Publishers to provide the books to CSI just for the cost of shipping to us! In turn, CSI will be sending them free to selected locations throughout Latin America, to make them accessible to as many people as possible. We may also use them as awards for superior student projects.

These are sought-after books: Sensory Systems of Aquatic Mammals, edited by R. A. Kastelein, J.A. Thomas, and P.E. Nachtigall, 1995, and The Biology of the Harbour Porpoise, edited by A.J. Read, P. R. Wiepkema, and P.E. Nachtigall, 1997. The latter book has detailed transect images of body sections of a female porpoise, with views that apply to many cetaceans.

Ron Kastelein is Director of SEAMARCO (Sea Mammal Research Company), Harderwijk, The Netherlands. SEAMARCO conducts research for the conservation of marine mammals in the wild, and to improve the well-being of marine mammals in human care. Ron also sent for CSI's loaner library: Harbour Porpoises; laboratory studies to reduce bycatch, Edited by P. E. Nachtigall, J. Lien, W. W. L. Au and A. J. Read, 1995, and Food Consumption and Growth of Marine mammals, R. A. Kastelein, PhD dissertation.

Thank you, Ron!

Wild Whales

The World Conservation Union (IUCN) Cetaceans Specialist Group Final Report on the current vulnerabilities of cetaceans was issued in June. Besides listing problems, the report gives 57 recommendations for helping to save several species by 2010. The IUCN's Red List, the most respected databank on global biodiversity, ranks several species as "critically endangered". These are defined as species that have been reduced by more than 80 percent over the past 10 years or three generations, whichever is longer. There is a "very high risk" that a species in this category will vanish in the wild within a decade. The many threats to cetaceans the IUCN report lists include: industrialized trawling, habitat degradation from coastal development, dam construction and pollution, hunting of some species, either for food or predator control, and high levels of chemical contaminants in the tissues of cetaceans that may affect their immune and reproductive systems. The report specifies that "ship noise, seismic operations, drilling and other acoustic inputs to the marine environment have expanded to encompass the likelihood that new types of military sonar can cause lethal trauma to deep-diving cetaceans." The full report is online at http://iucn.org/.

Luna, the young orca also known as L98, will not be repatriated forcibly by Canadian and U.S. scientists. Luna was separated somehow from his Southern Resident family pod sometime before June of 2001, and has lived alone in remote Nootka Sound, Canada ever since. The late May decision acknowledged that Luna is healthy and can survive on his own. Luna's biggest problem is people; he has developed an "unnatural interest" in humans and often approaches boats. Evading an ever-vigilant crew trying to protect him, people have done all sorts of stupid things to attract his attention. He has explored areas where other orcas might be found, fueling hopes that he will be accepted by a passing orca pod. Officials warned there would be increased enforcement in Nootka Sound this summer to keep boaters from interfering with the animal, which is a criminal offence punishable by a fine of up to C$100,000 (US$73,000). A Gold River woman was fined C$100 in May after she admitted petting the animal, and a judge warned future infractions would bring stiffer penalties.

Whale Watching

Right whales have recently been seen on Icelandic whale watches! In late June a trip from the Snaefellsnes Peninsula found right whales while successfully looking for blue whales. Right whales were last hunted off Iceland in 1902, last seen over 20 years ago during a survey by the Marine Research Institute of Iceland, and now number around 300 in the entire North Atlantic. Could this whale have been a survivor from the remnant eastern Atlantic population? CSI thanks Asbjorn (Abbi) Bjorgvinsson, Manager of the Husavik Whale Center and recipient of the United Nations Environmental Programme's Global 500 Award, not only for his ever-enthusiastic report, but for making Icelandic whale watching one of the world's fastest growing industries.

Captivity

Dolphin Assisted Therapy (DAT) is a growth industry worldwide, but most often little more than a scam that relies on lax enforcement and preys on people's hopes. Senegalese police in May arrested two Spaniards for capturing protected dolphins in April, three of which subsequently died. The Spanish suspects at first claimed to have a special permit signed by the fishing minister to capture four dolphins for use in therapy with sick children, notably in the treatment of autism. They were arrested after failing to pay a fine. The fifth dolphin was a calf captured with its mother, but the mother and two other females died soon after the dolphins were brought to a tourist camp at Palmarin. A third Spaniard, said to be the expert, was allowed to stay and tend the surviving dolphins, with a vague view to releasing them back into the wild. In various ways this scenario is happening again and again, all over the world. Unsuspecting people desperate to try anything for their loved ones are also abused by this sham, but never as much as the dolphins. CSI knows of no clinical or peer reviewed proof that DAT provides long-term solutions to human ailments.

A Taiwanese boat captain in June was sentenced by a Chinese court to eight months in jail, after he captured and killed five protected dolphins in January. The crew was sentenced to seven months in jail, which inexplicably was suspended for three years.

Strandings

Dominic Acid poisoning again has stranded record numbers of dolphins, sea lions and pelicans along sections of California's southern coast. The nerve toxin is produced by a certain species of microscopic algae. Scientists speculate that the algae may be thriving on nutrients from agricultural runoff or sewage, or benefit from recent weather changes. Between April and early June five dolphins, 148 California sea lions and many pelicans were found stranded on beaches. Shellfish and small fish feed on the toxin-laced algae, and are then eaten by larger predators. Last year an outbreak of the toxin resulted in more than 1000 marine mammals found stranded or dead on state beaches, along with hundreds of pelicans, grebes, and loons.

Stranded Pygmy and dwarf sperm whales in Florida have been found to suffer from dilated cardiomyopathy. The disease causes an enlarged and weakened heart, and can leave whales more susceptible to environmental stresses and death. A June workshop hosted by Florida's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution brought together cetacean experts and human heart specialists, seeking some understanding of the causes of the disease. Both species are stranding more often; normally the stranding network expects 12 per year, but at least 20 had stranded in southeast Florida between January and March, most suffering from the disease. The Marine Mammal Research and Conservation Division at Harbor Branch now offers a "Protect Florida Whales" license plate to help fund research at the Institute, including building the world's first marine mammal teaching hospital and rehabilitation center on Harbor Branch's campus.