Canton Rangers, Colleen Weiler, Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC), Voyage with the Ocean River Institute, Become a Blue Green Sustainer, A Whale Of A Week, Not Whale Food, Diving humpback whale!
| ||||||
|
| ||||||
| ||||||
| ||||||
|
| ||||||
| ||||||
Stop ship strikes killing sperm whales. One hundred forty odd miles southeast of Nantucket, the cod-gray seas of Georges Bank turned to Mediterranean blue. We had left the continental shelf and were motoring out over one of the deep sea canyons. The first sperm whale we came upon was floating dead in the water. Likely killed by a ship strike. We went on that day to find two very alive sperm whales blowing and diving.
That day, many years ago, I was angry about how we mistreat whales and the state of our oceans. I acted. In 2003, I was founding chairperson of Ocean Champions. In 2007, I founded the Ocean River Institute. In 2016, at the urging of the above mentioned and many other organizations, President Obama created the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument protecting the year-round home waters of sperm whales.
And now the real work begins. Separate from the vagrancies of government, we must work together to protect the whales, deep water coldwater corals, benthic and pelagic marine life, plankton, nexton, and neuston of the NE Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument.
I invite you to join the Deep Sea Canyon Rangers and Seamount Guardians. A wondrous ocean place awaits your discovery and involvement. Why? Click here for the answers.
North Atlantic right whale, with only head showing can be difficult to see. Photo: R Moir
A Most Tragic Summer for North Atlantic Right Whales. Regina Asmutis-Silvia, the Executive Director and Senior Biologist for Whale and Dolphin Conservation- North America, spoke with Rob about North Atlantic Right Whales. Once a critically endangered mammal with a population of less than 300 individual whales, the North Atlantic Right Whale has slowly built its numbers up over the last four decades. Until 2013, when the population reached 476 whales. Then fewer whales were seen in the Gulf of Maine. In 2015 and 2016 forty to forty-five right whales were found far north in the Gulf of the St. Lawrence.
Last summer, 2017, a hundred right whales were counted north of Prince Edward Island. Unfortunately, 12 twelve right whales were found dead in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Regina explains what happened, why so many whale deaths, and what is being done to make the tragic summer a onetime event and lost for right whales. Regina invites listeners to act in defense of right whales and for healthier ocean ecosystems.
Regina Asmutis-Silvia is the Executive Director and Senior Biologist for Whale and Dolphin Conservation- North America. She has undergraduate degrees in biology and chemistry and a graduate degree in biology. She has been active in whale research, conservation and education since 1990. Regina currently sits on the federally appointed Atlantic Large Whale, Harbor Porpoise, and Atlantic Trawl Gear Take Reduction Teams. Click here for Rob's Internet Talk Radio Broadcast.
Orcas of different ecotypes and what's distinctive with populations. Colleen Weiler, Rekos Fellow for Ocean Conservation at Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC), spoke with Rob about her research and experiences with orcas on the Pacific Coast. Colleen is based out of Oregon and is most familiar with the orcas of Puget Sound. While all orcas belong to one species of whale, they have very distinct types called "ecotypes" and unique populations.
Colleen steps us through fish-eating populations: Southern, Northern, and Alaskan residents. These groups tend to stay close to preferred runs of salmon and other fish. California waters typically see Transient or Bigg's orcas. These are marine-mammal-eating orcas that range further in search of dolphins, seals, sea lions, and even the calves of other whales. Colleen tells of witnessing a humpback whale intercede between orcas and a Steller sea lion. Much less is known of orca populations found in warmer waters, like the Gulf of Mexico.
WDC (us.whales.org) is working to save orcas by urging people to be selective when eating salmon. Chinook salmon is preferred by orcas, probably because it is the largest and fattiest. Chinook are also threatened - leave the Chinook for orcas. Toxins are a big problem, especially those like PCBs and DDT that bio-accumulate in fat tissues and are transferred from mother to calves. Colleen urges us not to pollute by spreading too much fertilizer, pesticides and herbicides on lands that are in watersheds. Tune in to Moir's Environmental Dialogues, Internet Talk Radio
- Revenue from offshore drilling is redirected to coerce reluctant governments and certain coastal states (VA, NC, SC, GA, and Alaska) to accept the risks of drilling accidents and routine pollution off their coasts. The closer the rig to your place the more money promised.
- Open Alaska's permanently-protected Bristol Bay to offshore oil and gas leasing threatening the sustainably harvested and richest Sockeye Salmon fishing grounds on the planet and then closing one of Alaska's most important employment sectors - fishing.
- Eliminate regional planning and give the Secretary of Interior broad authority to ignore the adopted Five-Year OCS Leasing Program and instead to lease drilling anywhere at his sole discretion without consideration of the environmental, social and fiscal safeguards in that law.
- Ban the creation of National Marine Monuments by any future President, requiring instead an act of Congress.
- Rescind the critical "Arctic Rule," enacted to help protect the biological integrity of the Arctic Ocean if and when offshore drilling happens.
- Undo the lessons learned from Deepwater Horizon oil spill by likely recombining the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), and streamlining the combined agency.
For more information you may watch the hearing here: https://naturalresources.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=403026
Voyage with the Ocean River Institute. Get savvy, speak out, be heard, and inform decision-makers. Click here to home page to sign up for EAlerts.
