GreenWatch

B. McPherson Three dead blue whales have washed ashore in Newfoundland. These behemoths died this past winter when they and six of their pod were trapped in sea ice. Usually when whales die they sink to the bottom and provide nutrients to the other ocean dwellers. These ones floated long enough to land on three different beaches. What is the problem with that? These whales are endangered and this gives everyone in the villages a rare chance to see one. The whales are massive. A fully grown blue whale can reach 30 metres(98 ft) in length and weigh 170 tonnes(190 tons). As it starts to decompose, that’s a huge amount of rotten meat. As the decomposition continues, bacteria are generating methane gas. The whales’ skin is still holding the gases in, so the whales are slowly inflating and beginning to look like the Goodyear blimp. While local children are fascinated by the procedure, adults are beginning to worry that the carcasses will explode. It is not a fantasy. A scienti...

B. McPherson This is what we stand to lose if Enbridge Northern Pipeline is completed. The feds in Ottawa have with the stroke of a pen declared that the North Pacific Humpback Whale is no longer endangered. It is now merely of “critical concern”. It was only in 2005 that the Humpback was red listed as critically endangered.   The SPLASH estimates for the combined Southeast Alaska and British Columbia feeding areas are around 3,000-5,000 (Calambokidis   et al. 2008) …No comprehensive assessment of North Pacific humpback whales has been conducted by the IWC Scientific Committee. The evidence suggests that North Pacific Humpback Whales have been increasing, following depletion by whaling, but that this recovery is not yet complete .    ICUN Red List of Endangered Species Environmentalists are crying foul at the federal government’s actions. There is a federal requirement that for critically endangered wildlife, the habitat must also be protected. Unfor...

B. McPherson Sea Shepherd, Australia and other conservationists cheer the court decision Score one for the whales in the Southern Sanctuary. The UN International Court of Justice(ICJ) has ruled that Japan’s whaling fleet is not engaging in scientific research in its forays to the Southern Ocean. Australia brought the matter of the Japanese whalers to the international court to rule whether the killing of whales – up to 1000 each season – was for scientific purposes which is allowed, or for commercial purposes which is not. The Japanese government has maintained that they need to harpoon whales for science. The selling of whale meat in the markets there is simply a by product of the activity. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has been front and centre for the past decade trying to stop the slaughter of the cetaceans. This season, the group that has been fighting, literally, the whalers have named their group Sea Shepherd Conservation Society Australia due to legal tan...

B. McPherson Japanese whalers hauling mother and baby onto factory ship. Sea Shepherd Conservation Society Australia is reporting a continuing whale slaughter in the Southern Ocean. In an area that is closed to commercial killing, the Japanese “Research Vessels” continue to kill whales. The thinly disguised whaling vessels kill and chop up the whale carcasses aboard the factory ship Nisshen Maru. The Sea Shepherd Society has attempted to stop the slaughter by blocking the slipway of the factory ship to prevent dead whales from being processed. They are sometimes successful, but find most of their success in preventing the harpoon vessels from making the kills in the first place. Sunday night the tables were turned on the Sea Shepherd vessel the Bob Barker which found itself the target of the harpoon ships. They were towing steel cables behind in order to tangle and disable the Bob Barker’ s propellers. They were unsuccessful. During the incident, the harpoon vessel...

B. McPherson  Japan continues its whale slaughter pretending this is scientific research. Japan has begun its annual whale slaughter in the Southern Ocean. Summer there marks the summer slaughter of the cetaceans. While Japan claims that their killing of whales is purely for scientific purposes and have gone so far as to mark their factory ship, the Nisshin Maru, in large letters “Scientific Research” the evidence is to the contrary. Sea Shepherd Society Australia has documented their observation of the whaling fleet since they left Japan on December 7, 2013. A horrific description of finding three Minke whales still alive, bleeding and being pumped full of air lying on the factory ship. From the Society’s helicopter an observer reported watching the Japanese crew hacking the carcass of another whale into marketable pieces. The observer, Tim Watters, described the grisly scene and I won’t attempt to paraphrase him. Go to the Society’s page if you have a strong stomach. ...

B. McPherson Sea Shepherd Conservation Society Outwits, Outsmarts Bart Simpson will be sailing in spirit with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society this season. His creator, Sam Simon, has donated money to purchase a new ship, and not just any ship. It’s formerly owned by the Japanese government. The ice-strengthened ship was built for the Japanese Meterological Agency in 1993 and retired in 2010. It had done real work in the north Pacific in support of the whale hunts there. The ship was purchased through agents that did not disclose the names of the ultimate buyers. The Japanese whaling ships have left Japan and are expected in the Southern Ocean later this month. The Sea Shepherd crews will be trying to dog the wake of the factory ship, the Nisshin Maru , to prevent it from receiving any dead whales. This year’s anti-whaling campaign is called Operation Zero Tolerance and the crews are aiming at a zero kill this year. With the psychological clout of a former as...

Operation Divine Wind has successfully curtailed whale slaughter in the Southern Ocean. While they could not stop all the whale kills, they drastically reduced the number of deaths. The Japanese have announced that they killed 266 minke and one fin whale. There stated quota was 1000. The Sea Shepherd Conservation society had dogged the whaling fleet during its incursion into the Antarctic Ocean seeking to kill whales for ‘research’. There is no commercial whaling allowed in the sanctuary, but the Japanese maintain they are conducting research and even paint “Research” on the sides of their vessels. The Australian government along with many others doesn’t buy that story and has banned the harpooners from their territorial waters. The whale wars continued until the last with the two harpoon vessels turning on the Bob Barker and steaming toward it trying to blind the bridge. The Sea Shepherd vessel retaliated with laser lights and distress flares. Since the beginnin...

B. McPherson If you have ever participated in a Swim With the Dolphins or Dolphin Show, you have an obligation to watch this brutal video. It will open your eyes to what is happening to these intelligent and social animals. The Sea Shepherd Society received a big boost to their funding today with a donation of 900 000 Euros (about 1.2 million USD) for their anti-poaching campaigns. The Dutch National Postcode Lottery funds many different environmental and humanitarian groups. Since its start in 1989 the lottery has donated the equivalent of 4.6 billion US dollars to these groups. Currently the Sea Shepherd society is fighting whale poaching in the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary. There are three harpoon vessels and a factory ship in the Antarctic area. Using a loophole in the language, Japanese whalers seek to kill about 1000 whales each hunting season under the guise of scientific research. Good news regarding activist Erwin Vermeulen who was found not guilty of assa...