Record numbers of humpback whales spotted near Antarctica

by Kraig Becker on

For many travelers, whale-spotting is a moving, and sometimes life altering, experience. Those massive, yet graceful, creatures are unlike anything else on Earth, and getting the opportunity to see one up close is an experience that shouldn’t be missed. One of the more common species, the humpback whale, have recently been spotted in record numbers off the coast of Antarctica, in a display that has even left scientists speechless.

Humpbacks, like most whales, are migratory in nature, traveling as much as 16,000 miles each year. During the summer months, they’ll typically move into the colder polar regions in search of krill, tiny shrimp like creatures that are their favorite meals. Researchers often travel to those regions as well in hopes of getting the opportunity to study the creatures in their natural habitat.

Over the course of the past two years, scientists have been visiting the Southern Ocean with the hope of spotting humpbacks and observing their behavior. In both May of 2009 and 2010, they recorded record numbers of whales there, at a time when the giant mammals should have been heading for warmer waters. In fact, in one instance, they counted, 306 humpback whales in the Wilhelmina Bay, a small body of water that falls on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula.

While seeing that many whales in one place is indeed a stunning sight, and a fantastic research opportunity, researchers warn that it could mean dire consequences for the ecosystem around Antarctica, which is one of the bellweather locations for climate change. As the region around the Antarctic continent warms up, the sea ice is retreating very quickly. The krill use that sea ice as a nursery for their young, and without it they aren’t shielded from the massive predators that eat them by the ton. That could mean that the whales could potentially decimate the krill population, leaving themselves little to eat in the future.

But for now, it seems that the humpback population is not only healthy, but thriving, and travelers to Antarctica may have unprecedented opportunities to see them up close.

[Photo courtesy Whit Welles via WikiMedia]

107 whales die on New Zealand beach

by Chris Owen on

Over 100 pilot whales are dead after a stranding on Stewart Island in New Zealand. Discovered by tourists Saturday about half the beached whales were already dead. New Zealand Department of Conservation staff euthanized the rest.

“About half of the whales were still alive when we arrived,” said biodiversity manager Brent Beaven.

The group (pod) of whales were the latest to die in a series of mass-strandings in the area. Strandings (sometimes called “beachings”) occur when whales swim into shalow water and end up stranding themselves on beaches.

In this case, about half the pod of 107 whales were dead when conservation staff members arrived on the scene. Given enough time and manpower, they would have attempted to re-float the whales.

“With just five people currently on site and the tide on its way out, we saw little hope of keeping the animals alive until enough rescuers could be flown in to assist,” Beaven said

Concerned about a storm warning, endangering the lives of staff and volunteers who would be at least 10 to 12 hours away, the decision was made to euthanize the remaining whales.

“Euthanasia is a difficult decision but is made purely for the welfare of the animal involved. To prevent it from prolonged suffering” Beaven concluded. “Sadly 48 whales had to be put down”

Whale strandings are common in New Zealand. Just last month, 24 whales stranded and in 2009 over 100 whales died in separate strandings.

While the cause of strandings is unknown, some theories suggest that a single whale may strand itself due to illness or injury. When large pods of whales strand, scientists believe it is because of their highly social nature. Healthy whales refuse to abandon sick or injured pod members, causing them to strand.

Photo: The Southland Times


Eating whale in Greenland

by Andrew Evans on


Don’t hate me but I ate whale meat. More than once and from more than one species (cringe).

I didn’t do it for the sake of boasting–I’ve eaten whale before in other countries. I did it because when you get invited over for dinner at somebody’s house in Greenland and they serve you whale, you just eat it and smile and say, “Qujanaq”(thank you).

As a guest in Greenland, I was first served a tender whale steak smothered in caramelized onions, and honestly-it was good. I still felt uneasy about eating it, though–I was indoctrinated by the Save the Whales campaigns of the 1980s and still believe that commercial whaling is fundamentally unnecessary.

Perhaps more disturbing was seeing humpback whale on a plate, which I also tasted and felt guilty about. Hunting humpbacks is banned by the International Whaling Commission (IWC), and the species is still listed as endangered under the United States’ Endangered Species Act. However, the IWC does include an “aboriginal subsistence whaling” clause that recognizes tradition and allows indigenous hunting communities to take enough for their own consumption, as long as its done “sustainably”, meaning within the limits of internationally-recognized quotas.

The Inuit of Greenland have been whaling for a few thousand years and that won’t change any time soon. While visiting the southern town of Qaqortoq, a minke whale was hunted and butchered right down in the harbor. What followed was an odd blend of ancient tradition and 21st century technology: cell phones buzzed around town to spread the news, and all the old folks gathered around to chat and linger. It was a big event–whole families walked in to look over the meat, people brought their own bags and carefully picked out the morsel they wanted. For a few minutes, I was able to suspend judgment and just witness the way life is lived in Greenland.And life in Greenland includes eating whale. Not all the time-whale meat is rare and not eaten everyday. Also, whale isn’t cheap. In the supermarket, a pound of narwhal costs around $40. Smoked salmon is far more abundant and much cheaper, as is musk ox and reindeer (also tasty). But whale is the delicacy people love and the way Greenlanders talk about it is not unlike Americans raving about KFC-it’s oh so wrong, but it just tastes so good.

At some point, all travelers have to find that balance between personal beliefs (“But I’m a vegetarian!”) and simple respect towards the place they are visiting. For me, that meant eating tiny chunks of whale blubber as an appetizer at a cocktail party in Narsarsuaq.%Gallery-103128%

Cruise ship hits whale off Alaska

by Kraig Becker on

For the third time in the past decade a Princess Cruises luxury ship has struck and killed a whale in the waters off the coast of Alaska. That latest incident occurred last Tuesday evening just south of Juneau, where the ship the Sapphire Princess apparently hit the creature, whose corpse was discovered attached to the hull on Wednesday morning. Last year, the same ship arrived in Vancouver following a routine voyage, with a fin whale stuck to its hull.

This current whale was an adult female humpback that measured more than 43 feet in length. Humpbacks are found in waters all over the world, but in the summer months they tend to feed in colder, polar waters. The species is an endangered one and the giant mammals are protected under U.S. law, with stiff fines levied against those who do them harm. It is unclear at this time whether or not Carnival Corp., the parent company of Princess Cruises, will face any fines for this latest incident. They paid out a settlement of $750,000 for a similar incident that occurred in 2001.

On Friday, investigators were still studying the whale’s carcass to determine the exact cause of death. They have not ruled out the possibility that the beast was already dead when the ship struck it, and that the Sapphire Princess played no role in killing it.

[Photo credit: D. Gordon E. Robertson via WikiMedia Commons]

Confused whale nearly sinks whale-watching boat

by Jeremy Kressmann on

The goal of a whale watching trip is self-explanatory: you’re hoping to get up close and personal with some whales. But that isn’t always a good thing. Sometimes whale watchers get more than they bargained for – like when a confused whale leaps out of the water and falls directly onto your boat. That’s exactly what happened to Paloma Werner on a recent whale watching trip near Cape Town, South Africa.

Ms. Werner and her partner Ralph Mothes were in the midst of a pleasant whale watching cruise, floating alongside a nearby Right Whale for nearly an hour. Suddenly the whale surfaced dangerously close to their boat, its huge bulk breaching the surface, and leapt directly onto their small yacht, cracking the ship’s mast before sliding back into the water. Though the whale caused over $10,000 in damages to the ship, it remained seaworthy, and the crippled whale watching vessel used its small engine to taxi back to shore. Ms. Werner and Mr. Mothes were startled but unharmed by the incident.

Is it possible the normally gentle whale had malicious intent? It sounds like it was simply having a bad day. As Paloma speculated in interview following the incident, it’s possible the beast simply made a navigation error. Whatever the reason, Ms. Werner refuses to blame her watery assailant for her misfortune. As she told her interviewers, “I still like whales.”

[Photo credit: Shayan (USA)/Flickr]