Wild Cetacean News

 
Tracking Orcas with Tech: ‘The Images Took Our Breath Away’

UBC (University of British Columbia) scientists attached cameras to drones, and the whales themselves. Here's the result.

Late last summer, a team of scientists from the University of British Columbia tracked southern and northern resident killer whales off the B.C. coast using cutting-edge technology that opened a new window into the lives of these charismatic creatures.

The array of high-tech tools included aerial drones, electronic fish finders and data loggers equipped with satellite telemetry, a gyroscope, hydrophone and an underwater camera. Attached to the killer whales with suction cups, these devices allowed the scientists to record what the whales see and hear, as well as their movements in the water, and their diving and hunting behaviour.

The video clips, collected from above and below the water, samples of which can be viewed here were arresting. “Some of the images took our breath away,” says team leader Andrew Trites, a professor at the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries Department of Zoology and the director of the Marine Mammal Research Unit at UBC. “It was amazing to watch the whales rolling through the water and moving in three-dimensions.”

Take a ride, for example, as if on the back of an orca, swimming among dolphin companions:

Tracking Orcas with Tech: ‘The Images Took Our Breath Away’ | The Tyee
 
Melting ice in Arctic linked to bowhead whales holding off annual migration

Researchers in Canada find that population did not make the 6,000km roundtrip in 2018-2019


As the ice melts at pace in the Arctic, the mining and shipping industry has carved itself an opportunity out of the crisis. Meanwhile, the marine ecosystem is left to coping with the heat, noise, pollution and the cascade of other changes that come with the upheaval of the environment.

Now researchers have found a whale species that typically migrates away from solid sea ice each autumn and returns every summer to feast on tiny crustaceans did not make the 6,000km (3,700-mile) roundtrip in 2018-2019.

https://amp-theguardian-com.cdn.amp...o-bowhead-whales-holding-off-annual-migration
 
Dams drove an Asian dolphin extinct. They could do the same in the Amazon

The tucuxi (Sotalia fluviatilis), a river dolphin endemic to the Amazon, has been declared endangered on the IUCN Red List, meaning all the world’s freshwater dolphins are now at threat of extinction.

The species faces the same threats as another Amazonian cetacean, the pink river dolphin (Inia geoffrensis), ranging from hydropower dams, to bycatch, to mercury poisoning.

Researchers warn that if these threats intensify, the Amazon’s dolphins could go the way of the baiji (Lipotes vexillifer) in China, which is now considered extinct following a dam-building spree along the Yangtze.

Researchers across South America are collaborating through the River Dolphins Dashboard to share 20 years of data and help inform conservation and development policies.

For decades it was the only freshwater dolphin species in the world not considered threatened by human activity. The tucuxi of the Amazon held out even as similar species in South America and Asia were dammed in, poisoned, or killed as bycatch; one is considered to have gone extinct.

https://news-mongabay-com.cdn.amppr...nct-they-could-do-the-same-in-the-amazon/amp/
 
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Killer whales spotted near Cornwall coast in rare UK sighting
Two killer whales have been spotted off the Cornish coast.

Sighting of two of UK’s resident orcas is ‘proof of the value of our coastal seas’, says expert

Experts believe this is the first sighting of the UK’s only resident population of killer whales travelling this far south.

They were spotted on Wednesday by members of Cornwall Wildlife Trust off the west coast, near the Minack Theatre.

Killer whales spotted near Cornwall coast in rare UK sighting
 
Groups File Petition to Save the Gulf of Mexico Whale from Ship Strikes

Petitioners urge Biden administration to establish mandatory vessel speed limits within core habitat of severely endangered whale

“The Gulf of Mexico whale already faces an uphill battle for survival—one that becomes increasingly steep each day that ships continue to tear through its habitat. This speed limit is a safety measure with clear benefits. We urge NOAA Fisheries to act before it’s too late.”

- Elizabeth Neville, Senior Gulf Coast Representative at Defender's of Wildlife

Defenders of Wildlife and partners filed a petition today with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) to establish a year-round mandatory 10-knot speed limit and other vessel-related regulations within the core habitat of the Gulf of Mexico whale, south of the Florida panhandle.

With an estimated 50 individuals remaining, the immediate adoption of these measures is critical to the whales’ survival.

Groups File Petition to Save the Gulf of Mexico Whale from Ship Strikes
 
Study confirms sightings of endangered blue whale in Philippine waters
  • For years, a group of scientists have been tracking a mysterious whale that they initially labeled as belonging to another blue whale subspecies.
  • Their decade-long efforts resulted in a new study that confirms the species as an endangered pygmy blue whale — an animal last recorded in Philippine waters in the 19th century.
  • Researchers call the pygmy blue whale “Bughaw,” a Filipino word for the color blue.
  • They say Bughaw’s presence could help establish Philippine waters as part of the extended migration path of the Indo-Australian population of pygmy blue whales.
A solitary whale frequently spotted in the Bohol Sea in the southern Philippines has long had a nickname: Bughaw, or “blue.” Now, thanks to recently published research, the whale also has a confirmed species and subspecies, knowledge that could shift understanding about the distribution of whale populations throughout the southern Pacific.

https://news-mongabay-com.cdn.amppr...dangered-blue-whale-in-philippine-waters/amp/
 
Newborn orca calf seen swimming with mum off coast of Scotland

A rare newborn orca calf has been spotted playing with her mum off the coast of Scotland.

The baby, with an orange-tint on its belly, was accompanied by four older killer whales in the Moray Firth, near Duncansbayhead, Caithness.

Wildlife photographer Karen Munro, 44, snapped the whales on one of her travels around Scotland from her home in Thurso, Highlands.

Newborn orca calf seen swimming with mum off coast of Scotland – Metro
 
Right whale protection: conservation group calls for mandatory speed limits for ships

A conservation group trying to prevent ships from striking endangered whales in the Gulf of St. Lawrence says new satellite data indicates that vessels transiting the Cabot Strait are routinely ignoring voluntary speed limits.

Oceana Canada released the figures Thursday and called on Ottawa to impose mandatory speed limits to protect the dwindling number of North Atlantic right whales, which started arriving in the gulf last month as part of their spring migration.

But the federal Transport Department and a group that represents the shipping industry are challenging the numbers, saying they don’t reflect what is really happening on the water.

Right whale protection: conservation group calls for mandatory speed limits for ships
 
Saving the Indus River Dolphins

The Indus River dolphin is the second most endangered freshwater dolphin in the world. In 2001, WWF-Pakistan conducted the first Indus River dolphin survey where only 1,200 individuals were counted. What followed were concerted efforts by WWF-Pakistan, provincial wildlife departments, and communities to protect the dolphins. Almost fifteen years later, the latest population survey shows that these conservation efforts were successful, and close to 2,000 dolphins were counted, showing a population increase for the first time.

Saving the Indus River Dolphins
 
Cook Inlet belugas are declining fast, but why?

Last week, a stranded beluga whale was found dead in the mudflats near Potter Marsh, according to the Anchorage Daily News. This news underlines the lingering mystery – why are belugas continuing to decline?

Even NOAA Fisheries officials in 2017 acknowledged that they did not know why the Cook Inlet population has not recovered.

What we do know is that there are likely many factors contributing to the decline of these endangered whales, such as climate change, prey availability, coastal development and pollution, which are understudied.

https://www.adn.com/opinions/2021/0...e-declining-fast-but-why/?outputType=amp-type
 
Whales Face New and Emerging Threats

We’ve made a lot of strides in whale conservation, but climate change, plastic pollution and other dangers have emerged.

Humans and whales have a complex relationship.

We’ve hunted whales for food for centuries, celebrated them in our art and culture, admired their familial relationships and songs, and even worshipped them as gods.

But at the same time, we’ve overhunted multiple whale species to the brink of extinction, overfished their prey, poisoned their bodies and habitats, and scarred or killed them with our oceanic vessels.

Whales Face New and Emerging Threats • The Revelator
 
Killer Whale Research and Conservation Program

The Killer Whale Research and Conservation Program supports efforts to advance the knowledge and conservation of killer whales with a primary focus on activities that aid in the recovery of the Southern Resident killer whale Distinct Population Segment. The program may also support catalytic projects in other killer whale populations.

Killer Whale Research and Conservation Program
 
New population of blue whales discovered with help of bomb detectors

Blue whales may be the biggest animals in the world, but they're also some of the hardest to find.

Not only are they rare (it's estimated that less than 0.15 percent of blue whales in the Southern Hemisphere survived whaling), they're also reclusive by nature and can cover vast areas of ocean.

But now, a team of scientists led by UNSW Sydney are confident they've discovered a new population of pygmy blue whales, the smallest subspecies of blue whales, in the Indian Ocean.

And it was the whales' powerful singing—recorded by underwater bomb detectors—that gave them away.

New population of blue whales discovered with help of bomb detectors
 
A Group Of Gray Whales Survives Die-Off With An Annual Detour To Puget Sound

If you take a beach walk in springtime around Whidbey or Camano Island, north of Seattle, there's a good chance you could spot a 40-foot-long gray whale, feeding in the shallows just offshore. Or you might just see a fin or part of one's tail bobbing along the waterline.

It's a risky maneuver, done at high tide.

"They roll on their side and they come into water that is sometimes no deeper than they are thick," says Howard Garrett, a co-founder of the Orca Network and the Langley Whale Center on Whidbey Island.

"So, when they're on their side, their flukes and their pectoral fins are out in the air," he says, adding that there's a danger of stranding if they don't time it right with the tides. Garrett says this intriguing behavior is unique to a small group of gray whales that scientists and locals have dubbed "the Sounders."

A Group Of Gray Whales Survives Die-Off With An Annual Detour To Puget Sound
 
Whale that travelled halfway around the world sets migration record

Between May and July of 2013, a single grey whale (Eschrichtius robustus) was spotted off the coast of Namibia. This was odd, as while there have been rare sightings of this species in the Atlantic Ocean, they are usually confined to the northern hemisphere.

It turns out the animal had travelled at least 20,000 kilometres – halfway around the planet – setting a record for a migration of any mammal, barring humans.

Rus Hoelzel at Durham University in the UK and his colleagues used tissue samples collected from the whale’s skin and analysed its DNA to trace its origins.

https://www-newscientist-com.cdn.am...y-around-the-world-sets-migration-record/amp/
 
UngulateNerd92 said:
Whale that travelled halfway around the world sets migration record

Between May and July of 2013, a single grey whale (Eschrichtius robustus) was spotted off the coast of Namibia. This was odd, as while there have been rare sightings of this species in the Atlantic Ocean, they are usually confined to the northern hemisphere.

It turns out the animal had travelled at least 20,000 kilometres – halfway around the planet – setting a record for a migration of any mammal, barring humans.

Rus Hoelzel at Durham University in the UK and his colleagues used tissue samples collected from the whale’s skin and analysed its DNA to trace its origins.

https://www-newscientist-com.cdn.am...y-around-the-world-sets-migration-record/amp/
Click to expand...
Maybe this means that Gray Whales can return to the Atlantic?
 
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