A Newborn Whale

Beluga whale born at Shedd Aquarium: " A Beluga whale named Puiji gave birth to a male calf on Monday. Mother and calf are doing well."

Happy (Belated) Birthday!

- Gary

A Call To New Zealander's

Wanted: Whale spotters of the right stuff:

"A southern right whale spotted off Mahia on Monday afternoon could be part of a "homegrown" population.

The Department of Conservation has asked people to report any sightings of southern right whales - which will be near the coast as they breed from June to September - so staff can collect DNA samples and record details that identify individual animals. More information was needed to confirm the theory of a population separate to that in Australia and the subantarctic Auckland Islands."

Get in on part of the action, help them determine if it really is a separate population... you still can go whale watching and help out!

What a great excuse to go to the ocean and go whale watching!

You can have great time, some fun and help scientists figure out how well the whale populations are doing.

The Best,
Gary

The Freed Whale

Rescuers free whale entangled in rope : "A humpback whale that was entangled in marine gear off the coast of Mount Desert Island for at least 20 hours was cut free just after noon Sunday. "

Here's a nice little article, about a whale that was saved from being entangled in marine gear off of the coast of Maine. It made note that they don't bother disentangling whales unless it's life threatening. Not only is it a danger for the whale, it is also a danger to boaters and the rescuers. It took a whole 20 hours in part because of a dense fog reducing visibility to about 100 feet.

Get the complete story through the link.

- Gary

It's Time

Well, it certainly has been a long time since I last wrote... I've been extremely busy, but that's no excuse.

There really wasn't a whole lot that really happened the last part of the winter and spring. Just the few stories of Japanese whalers and Japan's efforts to lift the moratorium on whaling.... of which I can recall that there was vote in the IWC to lift it and about half of the countries voted in favor of lifting the moratorium for whaling - which means that Japan may eventually get it's way, but 2/3 of the countries need to vote in favor for it to be lifted!

However, on a more positive note off of the coast of California the whale populations were found to have increased over the last season.

I thought a while back that I might've seen an article on a whale species that was thought to have been extinct discovered... somewhere maybe in the Atlantic?.. I'm not too sure because I can't find the article or anything, leave a comment if you've seen it!

- Gary