Whale Dive - Conservation

*Humpback Whales..* An Article by Ron Hunter, 2005 Migration: Southern Hemisphere Humpback Whales spend around eight months of each year in Antarctica. It is here that they feed on krill, small prawn like critters, and shoals of herrings. Humpbacks are baleen whales and they feed by taking massive mouthfuls of these feed stocks together with around two tonnes of water, they then sieve this water out through their baleen filter by pushing with their tongue, leaving behind the krill and herrings.
			An adult female Humpback Whale can grow up to 18 metres (60 feet) in length and weigh as much as 50 tonnes. Adult males are slightly smaller. A Humpback Whale calf at birth is around 3 metres in length and weighs around one tonne (ouch!). Humpback Whales migrate annually from Antarctic oceans to warm tropical waters. This migration starts as early May and finishes late November. During their time in tropical waters they generally do not feed, relying on their stored body fat to see them through the period. They will, however, opportunistically feed if they come upon a school of herrings or pilchards. The Whales will co-operate by encircling a school of small fish with a "bubble ring" and then in turn they swim up through the school, taking huge mouthfuls.
The Humpback Whale calves feed from their mothers by getting really close to one of mum's nipples, she then squirts a rich stream of yoghurt like milk into the calf's mouth. Humpback Whale calves put on one kilogram per hour in weight and they weigh around three tonnes when they are ready to travel to Antarctica with their returning mothers.
This is a perilous journey for the young whales as in their southward migration they can fall prey to the oceans' ultimate predator, Killer Whales (Orca Orcinus). The Killer Whales will harass a mother and calf until the mother is so exhausted she can no longer defend her young, who then are easy prey for a pod of Orcas. The calves will stay with their mother for a full two years, eventually being weened and finally driven away by mum during their third time in tropical waters.					"Humpback Whales were mercilessly hunted almost to extinction."
Whaling (as at 2005): Humpback Whales were mercilessly hunted almost to extinction. Technology, faster, wider ranging ships, explosive harpoon heads all pushed them to the brink. In one season of slaughter alone, 1959, the Russian whaling fleet hunting in waters south of New Zealand and Tonga slaughtered 11,945 Humpback Whales. The Humpbacks were finally protected in 1978 by most countries, with whaling nations including Australia making at the time what was an easy decision to make, as there were so few Humpbacks left, it was not commercially viable to hunt them anyway. The worldwide Humpback Whale population, both northern and southern hemispheres is currently estimated at around 40,000, which represents about 8% of their original population. At one stage worldwide Humpback Whale numbers were thought to have plummeted as low as 3,000 to 5,000.
The largest animal to ever roam our planet is the Blue Whale. Thirty metres long, weighing up to 240 tonnes their population is "critically endangered", one step away from extinction. Blue Whale numbers in 2004 are estimated to be only 1,500 which represents 0.5% - that is ½% of their original population numbers. The Humpback Whale populations are recovering but they still need our protection. The Japanese whaling fleet continues to hunt and slaughter Minke Whales for "scientific research". This "scientific research" is supposedly to determine what the Whales' diet is made up of. This is of course a blatant sham. Australian scientists have been able to positively identify diet and whale species by examining faeces in Antarctic waters for a number of years now.
Japan has been undertaking a program of influencing and brainwashing the Japanese public into accepting whale meat more in their diet and into supporting their continuation of whaling. Japanese children receive state sponsored school lunches daily. They are now receiving whale meat in their free school lunches.
"This "scientific research" is supposedly to determine what the Whales' diet is made up of. This is of course a blatant sham."		Japanese television shows graphic film footage of slaughtered Minke Whales with their stomachs split open, spilling out fish with accompanying information portraying Minke Whales as the villains of piece for having the temerity to eat fish and in so doing depriving the Japanese population of food. They do not show footage of any Minke Whale, which has not fed and has an empty stomach.
The Japanese are also buying up votes at the IWC (International Whaling Conference) from any obscure country in the world. Lavish trips, entertainment and gifts are available for politicians from these tiny countries in exchange for their country's vote at the IWC in support of Japan. The latest country to be so influenced is the tiny Island of Tuvalu, which is just about to be inundated by the ocean due to global warming and rising seas. Most of the population of Tuvalu lives in Australia and New Zealand as these two countries have offered them residency due to their island home gradually disappearing. Why are they buying all of these votes? We are reliably informed that Japan wants within two years to start once again hunting and slaughtering Humpback Whales for "scientific purposes". The Japanese government and/or Whaling lobby are the most cynical, manipulative despicable pack of bastards that you could ever imagine.
"The Japanese government and/or Whaling lobby are the most cynical, manipulative despicable pack of bastards that you could ever imagine."	In Australia we have the West Coast and East Coast populations of Humpbacks. The DNA of these two groups is very close and it is apparent that there is a crossing over between the two groups. The Australian population of Humpbacks is staging a very good recovery after being nearly hunted to extinction by whalers. Population growth of the Australian groups is estimated to running at so much as 10% per annum. This population recovery is thought to be due to the fact that the Australian continent is such a huge landmass. Orphaned calves, juveniles and adolescents could still bump into Australia without the guidance of the mature adult pathfinders.
The smaller land masses of the Pacific Islands of New Caledonia, Tonga, Niue and Tahiti are a lot harder to "bump" into, and consequently the Humpback Whale "family" populations of these islands is experiencing only a 3% to 5% increase per annum at best. Fiji, another tiny dot in the ocean will probably never regain its' Humpback Whale population. In 1920 a scientific count of Humpback Whales passing one clifftops vantage point had the Fiji Humpback Whale family population at 720. In 2003 this scientific count was replicated and the count this time was 3 (Yes, THREE) solitary Whales.
Humpback Whale behaviour: Humpback Whales display a range of surface behaviours that has thrilled observers over the years. Amongst these are: Breaching: This is the most spectacular display of all. It takes just two strokes of an adult Humpback Whale's tail to launch up to 50 tonnes of critter completely clear of the water. It has been generally thought that this breaching is done for the sheer fun of it. And there certainly does appear to a joy quotient in the breaching, but this behaviour is undertaken to dislodge barnacles from the Whale's body and fins. Whilst in Antarctic waters three types of cold water barnacles attach themselves to the Whales, once the Whales travel to tropical waters, the warmer waters there kill the barnacles. The breaching behaviour dislodges these dead barnacles and if were not for this the Whales would be so fouled and weighed down with barnacle growth that they would not be able to swim.

Young calves are taught by their mothers how to breach and they definitely take great joy in it. In 2004 we observed one calf gambolling in the warm tropical waters of Vava'u in Tonga, who breached constantly for over 2 hours, executing over four hundred breaches in a display that left us all in awe. Other unique Humpback Whale behaviour includes pectoral slapping, tail lobbing, and spy hopping.				"A mother Humpback will balance her calf on her massive nose and gently push the calf sideways through the water to the stationery snorkellers, proudly showing off her precious baby."
Swimming with Humpback Whales: The best place on Planet Ocean to observe and interact with Humpback Whales is in Vava'u the northernmost island group of the Tonga archipelago. It is here that snorkellers are able to get in the water with the Humpback Whales. Mother Humpbacks will introduce their calves to groups of snorkellers once the calves are around four weeks old. A mother Humpback will balance her calf on her massive nose and gently push the calf sideways through the water to the stationery snorkellers, proudly showing off her precious baby. This is an experience that defies belief let alone description. Dive Forster at Fisherman's Wharf takes fully escorted tours to Vava'u in Tonga. These tours include enjoying the superb SCUBA diving to be found in Vava'u as well as spending whole days "Swimming with the Humpback Whales" The tours depart Sydney August thru September and are accompanied by world-renowned shark, dolphin and Whale experts Ron Hunter and David Hinshelwood.
Also, please browse to Dive Forster at Fisherman's Wharf's primary website which includes other conservation information including details about our Save the Grey Nurse Shark campaigns, here: www.diveforster.com.au
*June 2005 Western Australia Whale Rescue..* News Article: Successful Rescue of 120 Stranded False Killer Whales! It has been fantastic to see the recent reports and footage of stranded whales successfully herded back out to sea! WEST BUSSLETON, Australia, June 3, 2005 - A successful rescue of 120 false killer whales began Thursday morning on the west coast of Australia when 15 whales were found stranded at the Dolphin Bay Boat Ramp in Geographe Bay, West Bussleton. They were returned to the water and reunited with up to another 20 whales offshore, the aim was to herd the pod about 600 meters, or a little more than one-third of a mile, northeast to the site of another stranding of about 60 whales between Earnshaw and Bower Streets. Then attempts were made to manoeuvre those whales back into the Bay, reform the original pod and herd as many as possible back into open water, even with anticipated bad weather and rough sea conditions. "The more animals we can keep together, the better their chances of not returning to the beach." - Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM)'s Blackwood District Manager Greg Mair. But more whales soon beached themselves too, and CALM officials called for volunteer help. "We are desperate for more volunteers to come down here," Mair pleaded as 20 CALM officers and about 20 volunteers struggled to keep the whales wet and upright and facing the beach. Local people responded quickly and by afternoon over 1,500 people were at Geographe Bay. The main pod has split into four groups," said Mair. "One pod is close to the Dolphin Bay Boat Ramp. There's about 100 animals in that pod - of those, about 60 have stranded themselves, he said. Slightly to the west of the ramp, there's another 30-40 stranded and there's another two smaller strandings involving about 20 animals, one kilometre (.6 mile) further westward again." We're also trying to keep the whales calm and discourage them from moving further along the beach and breaking up the main pod even further. Local vets are on site to assess their health and well-being," said Mair. Mair said one whale died late Thursday morning and many of the others were showing signs of distress. Our long-term strategy is to try and herd them out to sea, depending on weather conditions. We will try and regroup the whales as one pod using boats and vehicles, depending on the experts' advice, he said. By five Thursday afternoon, the pod had been turned around and was swimming strongly out to sea. Mair said reports from several boats monitoring the mammals say they were five kilometres off the coast at that time and were travelling at a steady five knots per hour. They are behaving like whales. Even one particular whale that was looking quite ill is swimming well, he said. Officials re-estimated the number of whales involved in the stranding at about 120. Mair said all 40 CALM officers involved in the rescue operation were overwhelmed at the community response. The speed of the rescue and the sheer size of the rescue we have never seen anything like it," he said. "But while things are looking good, we have no guarantee that the whales won't head back to land and re-strand. Mair said false killer whales were well known for travelling in pods and it is not uncommon for this species to strand. False killer whales, Pseudorca crassidens, are black with a grey chest, and the sides of the head are sometimes light grey. A large male will be 5.4 meters (17 feet) long and weigh up two tons. Females are generally smaller, and calves weigh 80 kilos (175 pounds) at birth. CALM deployed a spotter plane to undertake aerial surveillance at first light this morning. The plane covered the area between Peppermint Beach in Busselton down to Hamelin Bay and found no signs of the pod of whales. The plane will undertake further surveillance this afternoon when the weather clears. "The rescue of 120 whales stranded near Busselton is a strong message to Japan that people do not want commercial whale harvesting." While governments can attempt to persuade Japan to drop it's whaling operations under the pretence of science at a political level, the people involved in yesterday's rescue have sent an even more potent message. Yesterday's effort is a clear message to the world - JAPAN, STOP THE SLAUGHTER.

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