June 09, 2008
Ann Novek has a New Blog
Ann Novek lives in Sweden. She was once a medical student, but quit to work as a wildlife rehabilitator. She works mostly with birds, and has a special interest in helping birds affected by oil spills.
Ann has also been a supporter of this blog, sending in wildlife photographs and also information about whaling. My favourite wildlife photograph from Ann was probably of the Arctic Fox.
Now Ann has her own blog: http://annimal.bloggsida.se
She plans to post on whaling, diseases amongst birds and wildlife accidents. I have always found Ann's 'wildlife accident photographs very distressing but it is important to be reminded of the suffering.
I wish Ann all the best with the new blog, and hope we can do some joint posts - even on wildlife accidents and even though I find the pictures distressing.
A duck with a plastic ring. Photo courtesy of Swedish Veterinary Institute.
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May 27, 2008
What is Wilderness? (Part 5)
"Absolute wilderness is those boundless places in the eye of the mind of the beholder where no human footprints can be found and for which all those enter there and become lost have no hope of rescue. Only the most reckless trapper or sibylline shaman venture into the wilderness, as a pebble falls to the bottom of the deepest pool, in the hope of returning to civilization with a fortune in furs or a secret wisdom or allegory thereof. Long before crass and foppish adventurers claimed the wilderness it had already fallen to a more mythopoeia mob for which survival was merely one of many options.
"Wilderness exists today, as always, mainly in the mind’s eye. Once long ago it was always just out there beyond the last black stump. Actually, it still is.
"Today it is called Mars or the mid-ocean ridges.
"And, humankind, as always, has little stomach for it."
Beyond Darwin, Northern Australia, Photographed October 3, 2005
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part 1 http://www.jennifermarohasy.com/blog/archives/000797.html
part 2 http://www.jennifermarohasy.com/blog/archives/003015.html
part 3 http://www.jennifermarohasy.com/blog/archives/003044.html
part 4 http://www.jennifermarohasy.com/blog/archives/003104.html
Posted by jennifer at 09:29 PM | Comments (18)
May 04, 2008
Whaling News from the North Atlantic - A Note from Ann Novek
1) News from the Icelandic Minke Whaler’s Association, 15.4.2008.
Minke whaling boat Njordur KO, will leave port in the middle of May, to start minke whale hunting that will continue to the summer.
The vessels Dröfn RE and Halldor Sigurdsson IS, will join the hunt during the summer. According to the plan, whale meat be available in the stores in the shift of May/ June, and the meat will be prepared as the previous years.
Whale meat processor Esja, will take care of the marketing and preparation of the whale meat. The minke whale hunters hope this change will increase the sales of whale meat, which they since the year 2004 , have taken care of by themselves.
2) In the Norwegian hunt, so far 5 minke whales have been killed ( Friday).
3) I haven’t mentioned this previously, but Libby Eyre was on Swedish TV, swimming with her humpbacks in Tonga. Another contributor to the blog, George McCallum, had his whale pictures featured in a Swedish traveller’s magazine on Norway “ Nordland Naturligtvis” ( Northland Naturally). A story on whale’s safaris in Norway.
4) Our old friend Rune, is now a Director for the whale meat processing plant, Lofothval, that gets Govt’s support financially.
5)Another traveller’s magazine on the Faroe Islands states: “Funky Faroes --- Whale and Gay bashing is out.”
Ann Novek
Sweden
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April 25, 2008
Norwegian Fishermen’s Union: NGOs a Threat to the World’s Food Resources - A Note From Ann Novek
“This due to their campaigns against whaling and sealing. Their campaigns are against a reasonable and sustainable harvesting of marine resources," states the Head of the Norwegian Fishermen’s Union, Reidar Nilsen, yesterday in paper, Fiskeribladet Fiskaren.
His reply was a response to WWF Norway that had made statements that the fishermen overfished the marine resources and thus were a threat to the world’s food resources, but Nilsen said the NGOs are a bigger threat to the world’s food resources through their anti whaling and anti sealing actions. According to Nilsen, it was in the fishermen’s own interest to conserve and harvest marine resources in a responsible way.
It seems as well that Mr. Nilsen’s statement has not as much to do with eating whale and seal meat but again as an “whales eat too much fish” argument. Nilson states that the whales are consuming 4 or 5 times as much fish than the fishermen are harvesting.
According to Norwegian animal welfare organisation, Dyrebeskyttelsen, It’s wrong to make scapegoats of the whales. They state, “The whales belong in the eco system, and that the fish the whales are eating are brought back to the eco system. Humans on the contrary are removing both fish and marine mammals from the system."
We have also heard that the Norwegian IWC Commissioner, Mr. Klepsvik , has stated that the Norwegians are managing their marine resources in a holistic approach, meaning if they take out fish from the seas, they must also harvest whales.
Cheers,
Ann
Sweden
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April 16, 2008
Serious Trouble Ahead for Whaling and Sealing in Norway
A new fisheries paper, Fiskeribladet, states that the Norweigan whaling and sealing industries are in serious trouble.
According to the Marine Research Institute (Havsforskningsinstituttet), the seals in the East Ice Area (off Russia) and the minkes in the North East Atlantic are consuming as much fish as the entire Norwegian fisheries fleet.
“That’s why it is important that the quotas must be filled”, states the Board for the Ship Owner’s Association (member of the High North Alliance).
They state as well that they are not satisfied with the Government’s ambitions regarding whaling and sealing.
So far, Tuesday April 15, no whaling boats have left the ports, despite higher whale meat prices.
“We believe this is as well due to bad weather conditions, it’s still almost winter,” said a spokesman for the whalers and fishermen.
Rieber Skinn AS in Bergen, a subsidiary to GC Rieber (the world’s biggest purchaser of Canadian seal pelts) will close down. They will reopen a processing factory in Canada. Does this mean that most Norwegian seal pelts will be processed in Canada?
http://www.fiskeribladetfiskaren.no/?side=101&lesmer=6951
Cheers,
Ann
Sweden
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April 09, 2008
Whalers and “Shoemakers”
The Norwegian whalers in South Georgia called the black petrel “the shoemaker”, because it reminds them of their home shoemakers in Norway, sitting in their huts and singing.
A Black Petrel, Photo courtesy of BirdLife International / Phil Hansbro
Cheers,
Ann Novek
Sweden
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April 03, 2008
Whaling: Rune has Resigned from the High North Alliance.
Our friend Rune Frövik, Secretary of the High North Alliance, has resigned according to a Norwegian newspaper, Fiskeribladet.
The charismatic Rune has had many fights with Greenpeace and participated in CITES and IWC meetings. Rune has as well been kind enough to participated here on Jen’s blog. We remember him in the hot and interesting discussion on sustainable Norwegian whaling with Dr. Peter Corkeron:
http://www.jennifermarohasy.com/blog/archives/001142.html#comments
The High North Alliance (HNA) was established in 1991 as an organisation for whalers and sealers in the North Atlantic. HNA had its “golden period” during the years when Norway wanted full scale whaling activity and possibilities to export whale meat. It’s calmer now in the office that is situated in the Lofoten Islands.
“There are still many challenges”, states the new to be Secretary, Laila Jusnes.
The paper doesn’t state the reason for Rune’s resignment , but I heard he owns a little whale meat processing factory in northern Norway.
I wish Rune good luck for the future (but not killing whales!).
Ann Novek,
Sweden
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March 25, 2008
Whaling in the North Part II 2008 and Listen to a Humpback
1) The Icelandic Minke Whaler’s Association states on its website “A conceivable agreement within the IWC?”
A rough translation:
“There has been an intersessional IWC meeting in London in March. According to the Icelandic IWC Commissioner, Stefan Asmundsson, there are no proposals that the IWC will start to regulate commercial whaling, even if such hints/ rumours have circulated in the Icelandic media.
However, there is a will within the IWC for a change, as it is obvious that the current system doesn’t work in a satisfactory way.
The IWC was funded to manage whale hunting, through the Committee. There have been disagreements in the Scientific Committee, for example on humpback whaling, that has been banned since the 60’s.
The SC has however been united in many issues , for example re the minke whale stock around Iceland. The stock is robust and can be managed for whale hunting. The question is how large should the quota be.
The IWC must reach a compromise. It must start working in accordance with the original Convention it was based on. Otherwise the whaling nations must withdraw from the IWC and depend on its own scientists.
Listen to a humpback whale
2) The Norwegians are currently in the Southern Oceans conducting research on krill on the survey
ship “ the G.O Sars”. The Norwegians are one of the big actors in this field, with factory ships in the Southern Oceans.
To study the krill, platforms, sonar, hydrofons were launched. One of these platforms were visited by a curious humpback whale.
The humpbacks were very curious and approached the survey ship. It seemed according to the crew that
The Southern Hemisphere humpbacks did dare to come closer to the vessel than humpbacks in northern seas.
The SH humpbacks are as well bigger than the NH ones, and can reach 18 meter.
Listen to the humpback through the hydrofon ( scroll down to “ LYDKLIPP : KLICK FOR Å HORE! “ and click on the text! Amazing sounds that Libby might interpret?
Humpbacks dominate
3) As has been mentioned above, the survey or research ship , G.O Sars, is currently in the Southern Oceans, between Cape Town and the Antarctica.
They have observed lots of humpback whales, about 103 animals. The pods are about 2-4 whales, usually adults together with calves. The humpbacks are usually observed near the ice, where they consume krill. They can easily eat 500 kg in a short while / “ in a gulp”. Krill is the primary food during the summer season.
The humpbacks are also very curious about the research ship. The ship has observed sperm whales, minkes, humpbacks and Fins, according to the ships diary, states Norwegian fisheries paper, Fiskeribladet.
Cheers,
Ann Novek
Sweden
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March 14, 2008
Whaling in the North Part 1, 2008 - A Note from Ann Novek
Norwegian fisheries paper, Fiskeribladet, stated on March 13th, with the headline “ Scaling down whale purchase," that Norway’s largest whale meat processing factory, Ellingsens, will scale down its purchase of whale meat.
The owner, Ulf Ellingsen stated, “Maybe we will buy whale meat, maybe not, but anyway it will be much less than previous years.”
Ellingsens factory runs mainly selling salmon. According to the paper, they are concerned that the whale hunt will finally die out, with fewer actors in every field.
“Whaling is in a downward spiral,” said the owner.
BBC stated on March 13th “Iceland whaling go-ahead likely.”
The Icelandic Minke Whalers Head said to BBC that the whaling industry is asking for a quota of about 100 minkes and some Fin whales.
Excerpt from BBC:
Stefan Asmundsson, a senior official in Iceland's fisheries ministry and its commissioner to the International Whaling Commission (IWC), confirmed that the hunt was likely to go ahead.
"We are not expecting any big quotas, but we are likely to see in the relatively near future some quotas for minke whales.”
The Fisheries Minister is likely to make the final announcement within a month.
Cheers,
Ann Novek
Sweden
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March 02, 2008
Some Whaling News from Around the World - A Note from Ann Novek
1) As we already have heard countless times, whaling nations have blamed the whales for depleting fish stocks.
The Icelandic Minke Whaler’s Association states on their website dramatically with the headline, Whales or Life! on 21.02.2008. The following statement can be read (a rough translation):
Minke whales or life!
Now when the size of the cod stock is reduced, and when the capelin fishing is cancelled , one must start to look more closely what impact the minke whale feeding habits have here around Iceland.
According to the Marine Research Institute’s website:
the minkes consume 2 million tons of food each year. Of this, krill accounts for 37%, capelin 23%, cod 6 % and sandeel 33%.
During a NAMMCO meeting, that was held in Iceland 2005, facts were presented , that made one believe that the size/proportion of cod in the minke whale diet was larger than previously believed.
This is also in accordance with the samples of stomach content in minkes, which have been carried out during the last years.
Anyway , it’s certain, that the minkes have a big impact on the fish stocks and the marine ecosystem, now and in the future.
Last autumn the scientific hunt ended. Next spring, the whalers estimate to use maxim um 3 whaling ships for the hunt.
2) More problems for critically endangered Northern Right Whales in US waters:
Damaging delay to protect the North Atlantic Right Whale
We discussed the fate of the North Atlantic Right Whale back at the thread :
http://www.jennifermarohasy.com/blog/archives/001741.html#comments
One would have guessed that the situation would have improved for this species radically one year later, since the loss of even one right whale per year could mean to push the species towards extinction. According to WDCS, at least nine right whales have died since 2004 through vessel strikes.
“A damaging year-long delay to release vessel speed rules is impacting the survival chances of critically endangered right whales off the East coast of the USA. “ :
According to IFAW, an estimated 4 Right Whales are killed by ships annually.
“One year ago, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) approved a policy requiring ships to slow to 10 knots in whale populated waters, a speed which has been shown to significantly reduce the risk of injury and death to whales. Unfortunately, White House politics and the shipping industry have blocked this policy from becoming law”
Even if much money and resources have been poured into saving the North Atlantic Right Whales, mighty shipping and fishing interests seem to take overhand as usual when trying to protect a critically endangered species .
3) Another critically endangered whales, the Western Gray Whales ( Okhotsk –Korean Whales), are threatened by oil contamination : Oil in the diet of Sahkalin Whales.
4) Excellent BBC reporter, Richard Black, writes article, “ Small signs of whaling compromise” from a seminar in Tokyo organised by the Pew Charitable Trust. Excerpt from the article:
“There were hints from Japanese officials that a further downsizing of the Antarctic hunt might, perhaps, be offered one day.”
“Ending the whaling standoff will not be as easy as some in Tokyo suggested; for many people, it is anything but a trivial issue, more emotive than climate change, and a more potent indicator of the human attitude to nature than the global loss of biodiversity.”
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January 16, 2008
South Koreans Eat Illegal Whale Meat: A Note from Libby Eyre
An illegal whale meat operation was recently exposed in South Korea seizing over 50 tonnes of minke whale meat. Accidentally caught cetaceans can be legally sold in South Korean restaurants (located in Ulsan, Busan and Pohang) as long as this death is reported to the Maritime Police.
South Korea is a migratory corridor for a number of cetacean species, including the highly endangered Western Gray Whale. Only about 121 individuals survive, with entanglement and other anthropogenic threats undermining their comeback from over-exploitation during commercial whaling days. Local populations of species also exist around the Peninsula, such as the tiny finless porpoise.
The marine mammal by-catch problem has been labelled “marine bushmeat” (1), and presents many of the same issues as terrestrial bushmeat, including loss of biodiversity and threatening endangered populations. In a recent paper (2), researchers used techniques to identify the species and origins of cetacean meat sold in South Korean markets. A total of 289 minke whale samples were obtained during 12 surveys of South Korean markets from 1999-2003. Mitochondrial haplotype, sex and microsatellite-based genotyping was used, revealing products originated from 205 individuals. A capture-recapture technique then estimated that 827 minkes passed through the markets during this 5-year period. This number is somewhat larger than the 458 South Korea reported to the IWC for the same period. This technique also provided an estimate of the “half-life” of market products on sale during the survey (about 1.8 months), illustrating that markets should be monitored regularly for accurate results to be obtained.
When the figure of 827 South Korean J-Stock minkes is added to the reported Japanese incidental take of 390 from the Sea of Japan during 1999-2003 (assuming no under-reporting), over 1,200 whales were taken from this protected stock during this period (3). Some models suggest the minke J-stock cannot sustain this rate of loss. In fact previous research has suggested that in order to avoid further depletion, an annual loss of less than 50 J-stock minkes is required, and for the stock to recover, “incidental or illegal directed takes must be reduced to levels approaching zero” (4). The results of this 2000 model were originally rejected by Japan and South Korea as being “implausibly high”, but it now appears the model relied on under-reporting of South Korean by-catch and must be rejected as “implausibly low”.
Minke whales are frequently cited as being anything other than endangered, but genetically distinct populations of minkes are recognised. The J-stock is found in Korea’s East Sea. Due to declining catch per unit effort, in 1983 the IWC Scientific Committee concluded that the J-stock was depleted and should be classified as a protected stock. In the light of past commercial hunting, ongoing by-catch and low abundance estimates from recent surveys, the Committee has repeatedly expressed concern for the further depletion or even extinction of this stock. This stock may also make up some of the 100 minkes killed annually in Japan’s JARPN II hunt.
In 2005, a ‘whale treatment facility’ planned by the Ulsan Metropolitan City, was to provide a “check point for dealing with whale carcasses in an environmentally-friendly and sanitary manner” (Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, 2005). South Korea’s policies are “designed to promote the rational and scientific conservation and sustainable use of whales and dolphins” (MOMAF, 2005), but with a mooted whale meat processing factory, no mitigation measures to reduce by-catch levels and an adult minke fetching an estimated US $100, 000, the incentive is to increase rather than reduce cetacean by-catch in these waters. The legal sale of such incidental catch may also provide the cover for directed illegal hunting and even intentional net whaling.
Japan views market monitoring as outside the IWC’s jurisdiction, but inspection procedures and sustainable stocks are required under the Revised Management Scheme before commercial whaling is to resume. Clapham and Van Waerebeek (2007) write “Market monitoring may be the only way to assess the full toll of by-catch, poaching and legal whaling.” Japan and Norway have DNA registries for material from legally killed whales, but have “resisted independent international oversight of these databases.”
Molecular analysis can provide tools for assessing the extent of illegal trade in animals, but it can also highlight genetically-isolated and unique populations. As Palumbi (2007) writes: “The larger oceanic population might be able to sustain a catch of 200 animals a year, but the structure of the whale population is sometimes so local that small and isolated populations such as the J-stock cannot support a loss rate that may seem minor on the whole-ocean scale”.
________________________________________________________________________
Many thanks to Jennifer and Ann for providing the links.
(1) Clapham, P and Van Waerebeek, K. (2007) Bushmeat and Bycatch: the sum of parts. Molecular Ecology, 16, 2607-2609.
(2) Baker, C. S. et al. (2007) Estimating the number of whales entering trade using DNA profiling and capture-recapture analysis of market products. Molecular Ecology, 16, 2617-2626.
(3) Palumbi, S. (2007) In the market for minke whales. Nature. Vol 447, 267-268.
(4) Baker, C. S. et al (2000) Predicted decline of protected whales based on molecular genetic monitoring of Japanese and Korean markets. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B, 267, 1191-1199.
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November 19, 2007
Japanese Whalers to Target Humpbacks
The Japanese whaling fleet set sail yesterday in defiance of international condemnation with plans to land what could be the biggest catch of minke and humpback whales since the 1960s.
As it has for more than two decades, the Japanese Government referred to the expedition as “scientific”. It is a description that infuriates anti-whaling activists. Whale meat harvested on the expeditions is sold on to the Japanese market and the profits used to fund “future research”.
From The Times: 'Japanese whalers raise stakes by targeting vulnerable humpbacks'
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November 13, 2007
Update on Whaling in Iceland - A Note from Ann Novek
International media reported back in August that Iceland will not issue new whaling permits for commercial whaling next season due to a “ lack of markets and demand”. Unfortunately for the whales , the Icelandic Government did a turn –around some weeks later and extended the commercial whaling season to November 1st , allowing whalers to kill the 23 minkes from last years quota.
It’s unclear what caused the turn-around , but according to the Foreign Minister “ whaling is a matter of compromises” . The Foreign Minister is herself opposed to whaling.
According to the Minke Whaler’s Association ,
The hunting did go well and the purchase of whale meat has never gone better since the resumption of whaling in 2003. All meat from the 45 minkes that have been killed during 2007 has been sold out and no more whale meat will not be available in the stores until next spring when commercial whaling starts again. ( Note this is VERY surprising that the Whaler’s Association states that commercial whaling will resume again next season).
Icelandic export market to Japan
In an article that has been published on mbl.is , is an agreement on export of whale meat from Iceland to Japan soon finished. Probably it’s about whale meat from last year’s hunt as well as from future hunts. This announcement comes from an interview with the Icelandic Fisheries Minister and a Japanese news agency.
According to the Whaler’s Association “ one should welcome the decision that Iceland and Japan have agreed on to resume trade in whale products , as there seems to be a market in Japan. In this interview it’s again stated that whaling permits will be issued for the next season, which resumes in the middle of of next year. However, the quotas will only be issued if there is a market.
Tourist industry
The Icelandic tourist numbers increased despite worries that commercial whaling should have a negative impact on numbers. From a report from the Icelandic Tourist Council , has never so many tourists visited Iceland as this summer. Despite of threats from NGOs.
In the first 9 months of this year, 379 000 tourists arrived to Keflavik Airport. This is an increase with 16,5 %. This is contrary to the prognosis that the tourist industry and the NGOs made. So it seems like commercial whaling has had no negative impact on tourism?
The Icelandic Minke Whaler’s Association makes finally this statement , “ they who claim that we sacrify bigger interests ( whale watching, my note) for lesser( whaling) , must now reconsider their arguments. Whalers claim as well that whaling has made Iceland more familiar and famous? for tourists , that’s why there has been an increase in numbers of tourists.
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January 12, 2007
If, how or why biodiversity matters?
The ever-changeable stalwart, La Pantera Rosa asked if I was game to open a new thread on 'if, how or why biodiversity matters'?
Certainly, the challenge has been begging in many threads across a variety of subject categories. Quite recently I posted that a two-week old cassowary chick was savaged to death by marauding pig-dogs. At the same time, future prospects of the polar bear were under discussion. The former is a federally listed endangered keystone species with fewer individuals in its remaining population than there are Giant Panda in the wild; the latter, has purportedly 20,000 to 25,000 animals remaining.
Quite apart from the context of the two issues, not one comment was received concerning the cassowary, whereas the PB is still enjoying lively debate. Why is one species of greater interest than another in its conservation importance and what are the implications of these predilections for preferential concern?
Agenda 21 – Chapter 15.2: Our planet's essential goods and services depend on the variety and variability of genes, species, populations and ecosystems. Biological resources feed and clothe us and provide housing, medicines and spiritual nourishment. The natural ecosystems of forests, savannahs, pastures and rangelands, deserts, tundras, rivers, lakes and seas contain most of the Earth's biodiversity. Farmers' fields and gardens are also of great importance as repositories, while gene banks, botanical gardens, zoos and other germplasm repositories make a small but significant contribution. The current decline in biodiversity is largely the result of human activity and represents a serious threat to human development.15.3. Despite mounting efforts over the past 20 years, the loss of the world's biological diversity, mainly from habitat destruction, over-harvesting, pollution and the inappropriate introduction of foreign plants and animals, has continued. Biological resources constitute a capital asset with great potential for yielding sustainable benefits. Urgent and decisive action is needed to conserve and maintain genes, species and ecosystems, with a view to the sustainable management and use of biological resources. Capacities for the assessment, study and systematic observation and evaluation of biodiversity need to be reinforced at national and international levels. Effective national action and international cooperation is required for the in situ protection of ecosystems, for the ex situ conservation of biological and genetic resources and for the enhancement of ecosystem functions. The participation and support of local communities are elements essential to the success of such an approach. Recent advances in biotechnology have pointed up the likely potential for agriculture, health and welfare and for the environmental purposes of the genetic material contained in plants, animals and micro-organisms. At the same time, it is particularly important in this context to stress that States have the sovereign right to exploit their own biological resources pursuant to their environmental policies, as well as the responsibility to conserve their biodiversity and use their biological resources sustainably, and to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the biological diversity of other States or of areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction.
Australia ratified the Convention on Biological Diversity on 18 June 1993. The National Strategy for the Conservation of Australia’s Biological Diversity aims to bridge the gap between current activities and the effective identification, conservation and management of Australia’s biological diversity.
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Barred frogs discovered on the brink
Northern Barred frogs (Mixophyes schevilli) from Cooper Creek Wilderness
According to Brendon O’Keefe of the Australian, two new north Queensland frog species have been discovered on or near the mountaintops of the Carbine Tableland. They have been identified as Barred Frogs; Mixophyes carbinensis and coggeri.
Conservation biologist Michael Mahony of the University of Newcastle, expressed concern that the frog(s) faced two associated threats in the form of global warming and also the frog-killing chytrid fungus, which would flourish in increased temperatures.
However, Nomination of Wet Tropical Rainforests of North-east Australia by the Government of Australia for inclusion in the World Heritage List, argued the Australian frog family, Myobatrachidae is believed to have had Gondwanan origins (Duellman & Trueb, 1986; White 1984), with primitive species within these families found in the Wet Tropics bioregion in the genera Mixophyes.
So, have the two identified species distinguished themselves from ancestral stock through recent speciation or have they persevered undetected to science from their Gondwanan origins. Surely the distinction would have implications for their survival prospects through climate variation.
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January 08, 2007
Amethystine Python
When I learnt that previous owners of our Daintree rainforest property had lost a baby to an Amethystine Python, I was indelibly impressed.
From the night of arrival of each of my three children and for the first two weeks of each of their lives, a six-metre python menaced at the periphery of our dwelling.
In the Daintree, visitor expectations prioritise the observation of unique wildlife in natural habitat. The Amethystine Python has a more profound impact on nightwalkers than almost any other species. Sustainable management of freehold World Heritage estate relies on visitor-willingness to distinguish themselves from the popularity of subsidised public-access facilities.
My paternalistic concern for my newborn children was judiciously moderated by my presentation enthusiasms of such predictable and awe-inspiring sightings. At the same time, our newborn children were never left alone for a moment.
A couple of months ago, a neighbouring twelve-year-old was attacked in his bed by a four-metre python. His screams awoke his household and the snake was hurled out into the night. Undeterred, it attacked the boy again the following night and was summarily executed.
It appears that departing members of the local community had given their cat to the boy, which he shared his bed with. In all probability, the python was attracted to the cat and the boy rolled onto the snake, two nights in succession.
I don’t imagine that there would be many who would begrudge the father for killing the python to protect his son, but it is almost inevitable that some would argue that the family had put themselves at risk by residing in python habitat.
I have spent that last thirteen years, on an almost nightly basis, scouring the nocturnal landscape of the Daintree rainforest for pythons, amongst a multitude of other species. They are unpredictable and over the course of the year I might see one per fortnight.
Quite recently, a three-and-a-half metre female has been behaving in an unexpected and innovative manner. It discretely positions itself amongst the branches of an exotic custard-apple called soursop. Patiently it awaits to ambush the spectacled flying-fox, which finds the fruit irresistible. If the strike is unsuccessful and the fruit falls to the ground, the python repositions in readiness to ambush one of two species of bandicoot, which are similarly attracted to the fruit.
During an animated discussion about the perceived improbability of a python-sighting, a night-walk client promised to send me a copy of a book he’d recently read that would reinforce, in his opinion, my stated belief that pheromones were largely at play. Jacobson’s Organ is one of the most enjoyable and thought-provoking books I’ve read over the past few years.
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January 06, 2007
Bird-dropping Spider
Not a picture of immediate beauty, but consider its design a little more closely. The spider has laid down a foundation of very white silk, resembling the character of a bird-dropping and has positioned itself centrally, with glossy-white carapace and strategically-darkened fore-legs, creating a marvellous depiction of that which both repels predators and attracts prey.
As with so many lessons that can be learnt from nature, this evolutionary model of competitive success can be seen in human behaviours, where offensive conduct repels and quite possibly by intent.
The weblog rules explain that properly monitoring comments would be a full time job. Given the growing readership and concern from some readers, comments that are spam, abusive, defamatory, off-topic or repetitive may be deleted. We are advised that it won't always be fair and asked that if we want to make more than five posts in any given 24 hour period, it would be great if we really had something new, important and informative to say that sixth, seventh and eighth time.
As a gathering place for a great many people with a common interest in politics and the environment, we might strive for tolerance and respect … even when a comment is akin to bird-droppings.
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January 04, 2007
Polar Bear Facts: Part 1, Numbers Have Increased Dramatically Over Last 30 Years
I am no expert on polar bears. In fact I have never been to the Arctic. But I do have an interest in animal conservation, that scientific findings are reported honestly and accurately, and that the general public is not mislead on environmental issues.
Over the Christmas holidays Australians were repeatedly told through news broadcasts that polar bears are already a species in serious decline, in particular that they are seriously threated by global warming.
Earlier in 2006 I spent some time reading technical reports about the relationship between the decline in the extent of sea ice in the Arctic and polar bear ecology. I was surprised to discover as part of this research that polar bear numbers have actually increased over the last 30 years.
The more I read the more it became apparent that polar bear researchers were down playing this good news and promoting any finding that could be interpreted as a "decline" in any population of polar bears. It was also clear that global warming campaigners were keen to sieze on this information, extrapolate and exaggerate a bit more, and then parade it as evidence for a claimed overall decline in polar bear numbers.
Just last week I posted a piece at this blog stating that despite claims in the popular press and scientific literature to the contrary, polar bear numbers are actually increasing. I wrote that numbers have increased from about 5,000 to 25,000 over the last 30 years.
The piece has generated much discussion at this blog, and I have received many ‘hate emails’. I have been accused of all sorts of things, including showing a complete disregard for the hard work of experts in the field. But interestingly no-one has disputed my principle claim: that polar bear numbers have more than doubled over the last 30 years.
A key criticism appears to be that I have not acknowledged that polar bear numbers have been predicted by experts to decline dramatically in the future.
The reasoning from the most shrill of the self-proclaimed experts has been that because there is a likelihood the situation might deteriorate into the future, we can’t acknowledge the good news now.
I completely reject the notion that any scientist, researcher, campaigner, or self-proclaimed expert has a right to withhold good news on an environmental issue of intense public interest because of what may or may not happen in the future.
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In the next installment/next blog post on this subject (Part 2) I will explain why I am skeptical of the claims that polar bear numbers will decline dramatically over the next 50-100 years.
I am happy to publish guest posts that put an alternative perspective, for example, that provide information supporting the contension that polar bears are a truly threatened species, email to jennifermarohasy@jennifermarohasy.com .
Posted by jennifer at 11:46 AM | Comments (202) | TrackBack
January 03, 2007
Melomies in the Daintree: A Note from Neil Hewett
Hi Jennifer,
Temperatures in 2006 in the midst of the Daintree rainforest were uncharacteristically moderate.
It was, however, exceptionally wet with a total of 6242.5 mm over 237 rainy days; 14 of which exceeded 100 mm.
Last year was the first year Cooper Creek Wilderness had broadband satellite and rainfall, despite its quantity, never once interfered with the network.
On New Year's day a two-week old cassowary chick was savaged to death by marauding pig-dogs.
On the same day I captured this photograph of fawn-footed melomies:
All the best for 2007.
Posted by jennifer at 09:55 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
December 30, 2006
Ice Shelf Becomes Sea Ice: Perhaps Good News for Polar Bears?
Two days ago the mainstream media was lamenting that polar bears should be listed as threatened with extinction because of disappearing sea ice all a consequence of global warming.
Today the media is reporting that a giant ice shelf the size of 11,000 football fields has snapped free from Canada's Arctic and has formed an ice island. Furthermore, this ice island is likely to end up as sea ice in the very places scientists are complaining there is not enough of the stuff for the big bears...
"Within days, the floating ice shelf had drifted a few kilometres offshore. It travelled west for 50 kilometres until it finally froze into the sea ice in the early northern winter... Prevailing winds could then send the ice island southwards, deep into the Beaufort Sea."
Well isn't this good news for polar bears?
It could be, if there was any truth to the story that polar bears are threatened with extinction from a reduced area of sea ice.
But the whole "disappearing sea ice threatens polar bear's survival" story is in reality a farce.
While the area of sea ice has been declining over the last couple of decades, the number of polar bears has actually been increasing. That's right increasing!
So it is very wrong for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation to uncritically report that: "The World Wide Fund for Nature says the declining number of polar bears is a major warning on the impact of climate change."
There were only about 5,000 polar bears in 1970, numbers depressed by hunting. There are now about 25,000 polar bears. The increase a consequence of agreements to restrict hunting under quota systems.
The biggest threat to discrete populations of polar bears continues to be illegal hunting in places like the Chukchi sea and Greenland's failure to agree to the quota system.
If the extent of sea ice continues to decline in places like Hudson Bay and the Beaufort Sea, these populations of polar bears can move north to where there is more sea ice with ringed seals, or they might simply switch to hunting seals that prefer warmer weather.
As I have previously written, the two polar bears living happily at Sea World, on Queensland's Gold Coast, enjoying watermelons and museli bars, are evidence of the capacity of this big bear to adapt, including to warm weather.
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The mass of ice fell away 16 months ago but scientists have ony just realised because it all happened at a remote locality off the coast of Ellesmere Island which is about 800 kilometres south of the North Pole.
The issue of environmentalists and scientists taking advantage of the popularity of polar bears and drawing rediculous conclusions from the available data all to progress their global warming agenda is reviewed in a piece I wrote for the IPA Review earlier this year entitled 'Polar Bear Politics: Underestimating the survival capacity of one popular bear'.
There is an old blog post from 25th October 2005 here (Polar Bears on Thin Ice) and another from 3rd May 2006 here ( 16,119 Species Threatened with Extinction?) and I also wrote something on 30th May 2006 here (Polar Bear Politcs: Misrepresenting the Nature of One Smart Bear).
Posted by jennifer at 02:28 PM | Comments (97) | TrackBack
December 28, 2006
Swimming with Whales: A Note from Libby
Hi Russell,
Going back to your points about sentient beings and our perception of other life forms. As you say, there is debate about how intelligent certain species are, how to measure that intelligence, whether they can feel emotions, what this all means. Being human, although we may try to be objective in assessing the cognitive abilities of other species, we are still limited by our own perceptions and interpretations.
I guess you would have come across certain situations with all manner of different species that have amazed you and made you re-evaluate your idea of how these organisms perceive their world. Most people who have pets, domestic animals or who have worked with wild animals can tell you interestng stories of certain encounters, but of course interpreting this into something that will not be labelled anthropomorphising is very hard. Often I think that our shame of anthropomorphising animals means we miss a lot of interesting details.
With regards to whales, I am sure that George, Ann and Peter can related stories that would suggest cetaceans are sentient beings and can feel fear as well as other emotions, and there is literature out there on studies into cetacean 'intelligence' and perception. For myself, I have had a few encounters that suggest to me that cetaceans are most definately sentient beings . One was with a southern right whale female I was cautiously observing in the water. I was careful to maintain my distance from her, but she kept positioning herself right next to me. If I would swim away she would follow. When I got tired and was treading water at one stage, she came up underneath me so that I was supported on her back. When I returned to the small boat and placed my hand in the water to say 'goodbye', she apporached the boat and lifted it up so that she could touch my hand with her back. Another encounter was observing a mother and calf humpback The mother was snoozing on the reef, but all of a sudden the calf looked up at me, left her side, swam straight up and put me on his belly, before casually rolling over and returning back to mum.
Why did these two animals choose to interact with me the way they did? Was I just a weird looking cetacean, or was I something quite different but that could obviously provide some tactile stimuli as well as perhaps 'entertainment'? As I said, people who are close to pets and so on would have countless stories of special interactions with them.
Our preception of other species is also as you mentioned dependent upon cultural and religious beliefs. Whether we see ourselves as the pinnacle of all life and thus the ones to control it and dominant it depends often on these factors.
For me, I believe that as animals that can feel empathy, and have an awareness of themselves and others, we have a responsibility to ensure that our actions are not unnecessarily harming those others. Our relationships with animals should be humane and with careful thought for the past, present and future. Humans nowadays divorce themseves from the natural world, but in the end we are animals and part of that natural world, and could do well to remember that.
Cheers Libby.
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This note was originally posted as a comment here: http://www.jennifermarohasy.com/blog/archives/001806.html .
Posted by jennifer at 12:40 PM | Comments (88)
December 18, 2006
The Burnett River Tortoise: A Note from Russell
Hi Jennifer,
Any Australians looking for an example of an endangered or vulnerable freshwater species to focus a campaign on might look no further than the Burnett River tortoise.
This species is under threat due to changes in flow regimes on the Burnett, as it lives primarily in riffle habitats and these are disappearing as a consequence of damming the river.
The species was the subject of some controversy during the Paradise Dam proposal and construction. The dam proponents escaped the endangered species label for this tortoise by pointing out it also occurs in the Fitzroy and the Mary and so how could it be endangered if the Dam was built on the Burnett? Of course there was little discussion of the impact of existing and proposed modifications of habitat for this species on those two other river systems. But as one of the leading engineers for the consulting company that prepared the Enironmental Impact Assessment (and the director of their environmental group) said to me at the time:
...what is the fate of a tortoise, compared to the need to provide table grapes to Brisbane?
What indeed, I had to ask myself? After all, it is nothing more than a rather ugly looking reptile.
What possible moral or ethical dilemma could there be in making a decision not to proceed with a development simply because it might extinguish a species that had moved itself foolishly up an adaptive peak?
Clearly those who eventually made the decision to proceed were motivated by a much loftier sense of duty; the need to provide grapes to Brisbane.
I might also point out they were so motivated by that lofty moral position they had no qualms about changing what I had written in the Environmental Impact Assessment to tone down the quite legitimate concerns about the future of that species.
My point in raising this example, is that some here seem to imply that the fate of the Baiji might have been different if it had been Australians that were making the local decisions.
My personal experience suggests there would be no difference.
Russell.
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This is a slightly edited version of a comment first posted by Russell at the very long thread that began with a blog post entitled 'The Loss of the Baiji'.
Posted by jennifer at 05:33 PM | Comments (34) | TrackBack
December 15, 2006
The Loss of the Baiji
It seems the most endangered mammal on earth, a species of freshwater dolphin from the Yangtze River in China, is now extinct. That's the conclusion from a group of specialists who recently spent six weeks searching for the dolphin, also known as the baiji, along the Yangtze.
The extinction of the baiji has taken place at a time of unprecedented interest and concern for their large relative, the minke whale. We have know for some time that there are probably over a million minke whales, but perhaps no more than a dozen baiji. Yet so much money has been spent campaigning to "save the minke whale". Where are our priorities when it comes to conservation? I wrote on this issue in the last IPA Review in a piece entitled, "The Loss of the Baiji'.
This picture is from www.baiji.org.
Click here and you can listen to a recording of the baiji's whistle.
So beautiful.
Posted by jennifer at 10:14 PM | Comments (128) | TrackBack
December 06, 2006
New Picture Book on Buyat Bay
Buyat Bay on the Island of Sulawesi, Indonesia, is perhaps best known as the place where Canadian mining giant Newmont dumped tailing from a gold mine allegedly polluting the bay and poisioning the local villagers.
Increasingly it appears the poisonings were a fabrication. I summarized the allegations brought against the company's President Richard Ness and against the mining company in a recent piece for On Line Opinion entitled 'The Campaign Against Mining'.
A little blue fish swimming in Buyat Bay.
Several senior mining executives were thrown in jail, accused of deliberately poisoning the bay. Once out of jail one of them set about photographing the corals and associated biodiversity of Buyat Bay. A book in Indonesian was published earlier in the year. Now there is an english version and Richard Ness's son has had it uploaded to his website.
Here's a note from Eric:
"A book entitled An Underwater Guide To Buyat Bay and Surrounding Areas North Sulawesi was just published by the South Minahasa & North Sulawesi Tourism Office. I got permission to post the entire book on the site. I would like to invite you to take a look at this because one, the photography is extremely beautiful showing a wide variety of marine life and two, I see this as additional evidence of how ridiculous the charges are against my father.This book was written by Jerry Kojansow, David Sompie, Laurentius Th. X Lalamentik, Msc and Djonline Emor, Msi. The beautiful photographs where provided by Jerry Kojansow and Robert Humberson.
The irony in this is that two of the authors, David Sompie and Jerry Konjansow – who I have partly dedicated this web site to - were two of Dad’s staff who were declared suspects and spent 32 day unjustly detained early on in the same cells with terrorist involved in the Australian Embassy bombing. Even after such treatment, these fine individuals still performed their civic duty (in collaboration with dedicated people from the marine department of the local University and the provincial government) doing their part in promoting tourism and sharing the natural beauty of Northern Sulawesi and Buyat Bay for all the world to see. They did not do so for money or personal fame, they did so to try and correct the damaged image caused by baseless allegations of pollution in what is truly a non-polluted pristine marine environment. It is the image of North Sulawesi that they are trying to preserve.
Check out the book: http://richardness.org/media/buyatbay/"
The photographs are spectacular. Once uploaded you can 'turn the page' by clicking on the top right corner of the image. Click here to get started.
Richard Ness was in court again yesterday. But I've no news as to how it all went. A final judgement is expected in January.
Posted by jennifer at 08:23 AM | Comments (10)
December 03, 2006
Stranded Pilot Whales Moved on Donated Mattresses
Almost thirty long-finned pilot whales were stranded on Strahan's Ocean Beach, Tasmania, on Friday. Five animals were saved.
According to the Sunday Tasmanian:
"Rough surf made it impossible to return the whales to the water in the same place they were stranded, so a massive rescue mission was launched early yesterday morning to transport them by trailer to Macquarie Harbour.
The whales -- the biggest weighing about two tonnes -- were each lifted by an army of 10 people on to the back of a trailer, which was lined with mattresses donated by a local hotel.
The whales were then driven 11km away from Ocean Beach -- a well-known spot for whale strandings -- and returned to the water in Macquarie Harbour in an operation that took almost six hours."
Bravo to the volunteers.
See some pictures of the whales here: http://www.news.com.au/mercury/story/0,22884,20862210-3462,00.html
Posted by jennifer at 06:32 PM | Comments (22) | TrackBack
November 26, 2006
More Than One Striped Possum: A Note from Neil Hewett
Hi Jennifer,
I photographed this striped possum (Dactylopsila trivirgata) at Cooper Creek Wilderness on the 21st October, 2006, and I was very pleased to see that this photograph of a striped possum, was in fact, two.
Sparsely distributed throughout the wet tropics and along the east coast of Cape York (Australia), the species is spectacularly acrobatic and most frequently found after hearing it crash into overhead vegetation.
Striped possum carrying young, Cooper Creek Wilderness, 21st October 2006
It forages by welting rotten tree material and listening carefully for beetle larvae, which it extricates with its specialised elongate fourth digit on the front feet.
At Cooper Creek Wilderness we are hoping for the onslaught of the heavy wet in the not too distant future, when the sounds of striped possums will be overwhelmed by a menagerie of treefrogs and insects.
Posted by jennifer at 08:36 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack
November 25, 2006
Why Greenpeace No-longer Battles Norwegian Whaler on the High Seas: A Note from George McCallum
Hi Jennifer,
Since 1999 Greenpeace has not conducted an anti-whaling campaign at sea against Norwegian whalers.
According to Greenpeace, such campaigns are now considered "counter productive".
One has to wonder then, why Greenpeace considers actions against Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean "productive"?
With this season's Greenpeace anti-whaling campaign in the Southern Ocean almost upon us, I thought I´d look at a couple of the previous actions against Norweigan whalers.
In 1994 Greenpeace activists boarded Norweigan whaling ship the Senet and obstructed the vessel. Here's a photograph of the Senet and Greenpeace's Solo.
A Greenpeace activist cut loose a dying minke whale, before the whaling crew could deliver the coup de grace. Eva Egeberg, a veterinary surgeon and state inspector on board, commented, "What the activists actually achieved was to prolong the animal’s suffering”.
Greenpeace said that the cutting of the line to the minke whale was an individual action by one of the demonstrators and "not in accordance with the principles by which Greenpeace carry out their demonstrations".
Greenpeace was sentenced in 1995 to pay 17,000 UK pounds (UKP) in damages and 11,000 UKP to cover the legal expenses of the whaling vessel skipper. The Senet continued whaling during the 1994 season and eventually took their full quota.
Whales saved = 0.
In 1999 Greenpeace conducts actions against the whaling vessels Vilduen and Kato.
During a coast guard chase of the Greenpeace rubber duckies, Greenpeace activist Mark Hardingham is seriously injured during a collision, resulting in serious breaks to one arm, a fractured pelvis and serious back injuries.
The Greenpeace ship MV Sirius is arrested by the Norwegian coast guard and towed into Stavanger harbour. A Norwegian court imposes a fine of US$35,000 dollars and a US$2000 fine for each of the activists in a rubber ducky attempting to cut loose a not yet dead minke whale next to the Kato. The whaler attempting to deliver a coup de grace to the dying Minke fires a number of shots into the head of the Minke, and a Greenpeace rubber ducky is struck by at least one of the shots.
Total value of fines and confiscations (three rubber duckies) was US$130,000. Greenpeace contest the judgements.
Kato skipper Ole Mindor Myklebust commented, "The Greenpeace inflatable then placed itself right into the side of our boat, with its bow close to the whale.
"Putting human safety first, I confirmed that nobody was close to the whale's head. Nobody was sitting in the bow of the inflatable. I was only a few metres away from the animal when I fired three shots at it with the rifle. One bullet apparently made a hole in the bow of the Greenpeace boat because it was so close to the whale.
There is a very good reason for having a safety zone.
"This is a killing zone, not a playing zone. We are killing big animals, using heavy weaponry like explosive penthrite grenades and high-calibre rifles intended to kill Minke whales weighing up to 10 tonnes as quickly as possible."
Whales saved = 0.
Will it take someone to be seriously injured or even worse killed in the Southern Ocean this winter before Greenpeace re-evaluates it position on battling the Japanese at sea?
Cheers, George McCallum
Greenpeace Ship Esperanza at dock in Tromso, Norway
Posted by jennifer at 04:41 PM | Comments (131) | TrackBack
November 19, 2006
Has Bad Weather Saved Right Whales from Lobster Fishermen?
I received a note from a reader of this blog, Lamna nasus, last Wednesday in which he suggested that the critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whales are currently threatened by the start of the commercial lobster fishing season in the Bay of Fundy in Canada. He repeated this concern in a recent comment and that we should be more concerned about Right Whales than minke whales.
The commercial lobster season was scheduled to start in the Bay of Fundy last Monday, and about 50 right whales were yet to leave the area as part of their annual migration. It was feared the whales would become entangled in lobster fishing gear.
But by the time I received the note from Lamna, it appeared the start of the lobster season had already been delayed, not by the whales, but by bad weather. It also appeared that the Canadian fisheries department was well aware of the situation and was keeping an eye on the whales.
I agree with Lamna that North Atlantic Right whales are more deserving of our attention and a concerted conservaton effort, than the very common minke whale which captures our attention every year because Greenpeace likes battling the Japanese on the high seas. There are perhaps just 350 Right whales in the North Atlantic while there are perhaps more than a million minke whales in the earth's oceans.
Boat strikes seem as much a problem for Right whales as fishing gear. So what is the future for this species of whale?
Posted by jennifer at 01:24 PM | Comments (99) | TrackBack
November 18, 2006
Japan Begins Annual Whale Hunt: A Note from Ann Novek
Hi Jennifer,
Six Japanese whaling ships have set sail for their annual hunt in south Atlantic. Japan's fisheries agency says the fleet has a target of 850 minke whales and 10 fin whales.
As usual we are waiting for the annual outcry from anti-whaling countries against this hunt in the Southern Oceans Sanctuary.
So why does Japan support whaling? Here's an analysis from a Japanese political scientist: http://www.csun.edu/~kh246690/whaling.pdf .
Best regards,
PS. We have a heatwave in Sweden this weekend, temperaure about 10C.
Posted by jennifer at 10:24 AM | Comments (49) | TrackBack
November 14, 2006
A Rare Rainforest Rhinoceros
Rhinoceros are usually associated with the African savannah, but interestingly there are species which also occur in rainforests in Indonesia. The one-horned Java Rhino and the two-horned Sumatran Rhino are the rarest rhinos on earth.
Here's a picture of a rainforest rhinoceros from one of the many camera traps Richard Ness has had set:
There are only a few hundred Java and Sumatran rhinos remaining in the wild.
Interestingly in Africa, white rhino numbers increased from about 200 individuals in 1904 to over 11,000 in 2004 thanks to conservation programs. In contrast, black rhino numbers dropped from perhaps 60,000 sometime before 1970 to may be 15,000 in 2004 no thanks to poaching.
Posted by jennifer at 10:24 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
November 09, 2006
Coffee Cats & Clouded Leopards
I was fascinated to read last Friday in the Courier-Mail that the Herveys Range Heritage Tea Rooms in North Queensland have started selling $50 a cup Kopi Luwak coffee.
The coffee is expensive because the coffee beans are retrieved from the poo of the luwak, or common palm civet, Paradoxurus hermaphroditus. These cat-like creatures are apparently found in the jungles of Sumatra, Java and Sulawesi in Indonesia.
The luwak eat ripe coffee berries but the inner bean is not digested, and can be retrieved from the animal’s poo while the stomach enzymes add to the coffee's flavor.
I gave up drinking coffee when I gave up smoking cigarettes about 18 years ago, so I will probably never know whether this poo brew is worth the effort and expense. But I thought it was a great potential example of conservation through sustainable use as promoted by Michael Archer at the AEF conference.
I was a bit keen to see more pictures of coffee cats in the wild and get a picture for this blog, so I emailed Richard Ness in the hope he might have some photographs from the many camera traps he has had set in Indonesian jungle. [Remember that magnificent picture of the Sumatran tiger.]
Anyway instead of a Kopi Luwak, he has sent me this magnificent picture of a Macan dahan or clouded leopard, Neofelis nebulosa.
While the coffee cats are apparently quite common, this species, like the Sumatran tiger, is threatened by hunting for body parts including for meat, fur, teeth as well as bones.
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Thanks Richard Ness for the great photograph of the clouded leopard. If you have a picture of an endangered animal that you would like to share with other readers of this blog, please send it to jennifermarohasy@jennifermarohasy.com .
Posted by jennifer at 09:36 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
November 04, 2006
Elephants Arrive Safely in Sydney
Four elephants have arrived safely in Sydney after two years of court battles and months in quarantine. They are from Thailand and probably destined to spend the rest of their lives behind bars at Taronga Park Zoo. But judging from these seven photographs, so far they are enjoying it.
Posted by jennifer at 12:34 PM | Comments (16) | TrackBack
October 29, 2006
A Sumatran Tiger
Sustainable use for conservation has been a focus of two recent articles at BBC News. Eugune Lapointe put the argument for commercial trade in ivory in a piece entitled 'Hunting for Conservation Solutions' and a second piece by Eli Leadbeater entitled 'Hunting has Conservation Role' had a similar message ending with comment that, "In the future, the fate of many animals may well depend on the extent to which the public around the world starts to accept the idea of utilising wildlife in a sustainable way."
The argument makes sense for African elephants, where well managed herds in places like South Africa need to be periodically culled. But I have trouble extending the argument to include, for example, tigers.
Sumatran Tiger in the wild, photograph from Richard Ness.*
The Asian tiger appears to be in trouble with skins and body parts in demand in China. Mihir Srivastava explains that most of this demand is being met from India in a recent piece at On Line Opinion entitled 'Indian Tiger Falls Prey to Chinese Aggression'.
There are apparently only 4-500 tigers remaining in Sumatra, in Indonesia. According to Wild Tiger, a website dedicated to the survival of Sumatra's tigers, forest clearing for new large-scale oil-palm plantations is a real threat to this subspecies of tiger. Is demand for biodiesel in Europe fueling the demand for palm oil?
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Thanks to David@Tokyo for alerting me to the two BBC articles.
* Note from Richard Ness: "The picture was taken by a camera trap. All you do is set a digital camera along the trail and it takes a picture of any animal or human that walks by. We had requested the tiger foundation to assist in base line studies on wild life in an area in Sumatra. This photo was taken by a camera trap set by Dr. Neil Franklin from the Tiger Foundation. We had a separate group for Orangutans. We did find is a very unique area where the Aceh bio diversity overlapped with the North/Central Sumatra bio diversity. Ended up working with US AID and conservation international to try and have it protected. This work is still on going. What I also learned is that tigers are very interesting. I am not sure the cutting of primary forest for logging or plantations is a real issue for them. They may do just as well in secondary growth. The main problem is humans hunting them for parts... same goes for orangutans."
Posted by jennifer at 06:05 PM | Comments (33)
October 18, 2006
Iceland to Resume Commercial Whaling: A Note & Pictures from George McCallum
The Icelandic Fisheries Ministry has declared that Iceland will resume commercial whaling with a catch of 30 minke whales and 9 Fin whales. George McCallum explains the implications both nationally and internationally:
"Iceland will become only the second country to openly conduct commercial whaling under International Whaling Commission (IWC) objection and this may very well lead to further nations following suit.Obviously, Iceland may very well wish to open up international trade in the whale products obtained, but it remains to be seen if they will be able to achieve this. Iceland currently exports small amounts of whale meat to the Faroe Islands ( The Faroe islands are a self-governing region of Denmark). The Danish Foreign Ministry wrote in 2003 that the "CITES Convention does not apply to the Faroes for the time being."
Surfacing Minke whale. One of the two species Iceland will begin to commercially hunt. For wildlife photographs visit www.whalephoto.com.Iceland's whaling commissioner Stefan Asmundsson also stated that "There is free trade within that area and whale products are simply one item therein."
The Fisheries ministry also noted " Any international trade in Icelandic whale products will be conducted in accordance with Iceland’s obligations under international law."
The decision is certain to raise the hackles of anti-whaling countries and anti-whaling NGO's, indeed, the first reactions to the decision have already been publicised on anti whaling NGO websites.
One such comment from Greenpeace states:
"Iceland has no market for whale meat, but they do have a huge and far more valuable market for whale watching, " said Greenpeace campaigner Frode Pleym.
"Instead of investing in a one-man campaign to rejuvenate an outdated, unnecessary industry, that can only damage the reputation of the country internationally, Iceland should be capitalising on the value of a growing industry of watching and studying whales."
Claims that the hunt is sustainable cannot not be credible, since nine of the 39 whales that are to be targeted are endangered Fin whales."
Surfacing fin whales. One of the two species Iceland will begin to commercially hunt. For wildlife photographs visit www.whalephoto.com.Greenpeace omit to note that the population of fin whales in the central Atlantic is estimated at 25,800 fin whales and that by any stretch of the imagination, a catch of 9 fin whales is not going to effect the sustainability of the central Atlantic population.
When Iceland re-joined the IWC in 2001 with an objection to the moratorium, they stated "As a part of the reservation, Iceland committed itself not to authorise commercial whaling before 2006. Thereafter such whaling would not be authorised while progress was being made in negotiations regarding the IWC’s Revised Management Scheme (RMS)."
They also note, " At the IWC’s Annual Meeting in 2005 Iceland warned that no progress was being made in the RMS discussions. No objection was raised at the Annual Meeting to Iceland’s statement. At this year’s IWC Annual Meeting, Iceland’s understanding was reconfirmed as the IWC generally agreed that talks on an RMS had reached an impasse. Therefore, the two limitations attached to Iceland’s reservation with respect to the so-called moratorium no longer apply.
Accordingly, Iceland’s reservation is now in effect and Iceland has the legal right to resume sustainable whaling. This puts Iceland in the same position as other IWC members that are not bound by the so-called moratorium, such as Norway."
The covers will come off the harpoon guns on Icelandic whaling vessels (image from a Norwegian vessel). For photographs visit www.whalephoto.com.The chickens are finally coming home to roost in regards to the RMS "game playing" within the political plenary arm of the International Whaling commission. Iceland's decision to resume commercial whaling may very well force anti-whaling governments to finally come to the table to deal with any genuine compromise proposals as to the real world implementation of the RMP and RMS."
There was also comment from Japan with the Director of International Negotiations for the Fisheries Agency of Japan, Mr Morishita, congratulating Iceland for taking a bold and courageous step in the advancement of sensible management for marine living resources.
“This should come as no surprise to the world. When Iceland joined the IWC in 2001, it said it would resume sustainable commercial whaling if there were no progress on an international management regime for sustainable whaling. There has been no progress at all in that time and this has led Iceland to take unilateral action,” he said.
Posted by jennifer at 10:17 PM | Comments (131) | TrackBack
October 13, 2006
Norwegian Whaling Boat: Picture & Note from George
Here's a typical Norwegian coastal whaling boat leaving harbour. The boat is 25m long. A typical quota for a boat this size would be 15-20 minkie whales.
For photographs: www.whalephoto.com.
Posted by jennifer at 09:39 PM | Comments (48) | TrackBack
October 01, 2006
The Head of a Blue Whale
The head of a Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus, just below the surface. Part of a group of three photographed off Spitsbergen in the Norwegian arctic three weeks ago by George McCallum.
For wildlife photographs visit: whalephoto.com.
Posted by jennifer at 10:54 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
September 17, 2006
Hong Kong's Pink Dolphins
I went dolphin watching on Friday not far from Hong Kong in the South China Sea and saw perhaps 30 pink dolphins. That's right they were really pink - as pink as a pig!
When they came up for a breath and jumped out of the water it wasn't for long and I didn't manage to get any good photographs but this is what they looked like:
Photo scanned (with permission) from a Hong Kong Dolphinwatch Ltd. postcard, visit http://www.hkdolphinwatch.com.
On Friday the water didn't look so blue. It was a murky green and our guide told us full of pollution from the Pearl River. I didn't have any equipment for testing water quality, but the air quality was poor. This trawler emerged like a ghost ship from the smog-haze hanging over us at 11am in the morning:
The pink dolphins belong to the species Sousa chinensis also known as Indo-Pacific Humpback dolphins with a range extending throughout south east Asia and also northern Australia. Through most of its range the species is the more usual grey colour.
These Hong Kong dolphins are born grey, but mature to the pretty pink colour. Here's a picture of a mother with its greyish baby:
Photo scanned (with permission) from a Hong Kong Dolphinwatch Ltd. postcard, visit http://www.hkdolphinwatch.com.
The dolphins suckle their young for about 3 years.
Our guide suggested there were about 1,000 of these pink dolphins off Hong Kong when they were last surveyed in 1997. She indicated that there had been no survey since but that she feared numbers were declining her biggest concern water pollution from mainland China.
The dolphins first became a conservation issue with the construction of the new airport and associated dynamiting and land reclamation at Chek Lap Kok. According to Hong Kong Dolphinwatch Ltd the next big project is a proposed 42 kilometre mega bridge linking Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai.
I can't image the bridge and associated traffic will do anything but exacerbate the already poor air quality.
Photo scanned (with permission) from a Hong Kong Dolphinwatch Ltd. postcard, visit http://www.hkdolphinwatch.com.
Thanks to Hong Kong Dolphinwatch Ltd for a great day out.
Posted by jennifer at 12:15 PM | Comments (25)
September 07, 2006
Crikey! Burn Habitat To Save Endangered Snake
Many people thought Steve Irwin knew more about snakes than anyone else in Australia. But according to ABC TV Science program Catalyst Professor Rick Shine knows more about them than anyone else and like Steve he's been passionate about snakes since he was a small boy.
Right now Shine is on a campaign to save the endangered Broad-headed Snake in south eastern New South Wales. It is thought there are only about 700 remaining in the wild with their habitat reduced by vegetation encroachment.
That's right too many trees!
According to a paper published last year in research journal Copeia*, over the last two centuries European fire suppression practices have produced increases in vegetation density and canopy cover in many landscapes.
The researchers Jonathan Webb, Richard Shine and Robert Pringle hypothesized that this was negatively affecting populations of nocturnal reptiles that use sun-exposed shelters for diurnal thermoregulation including the Broad-h