By Dave Harcourt •
October 9, 2009
A donation of three tons of grapes has been converted, via wine, into funds for the World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) project to save endangered dolphins endemic to New Zealand.
A Hector’s Dolphin showing the characteristic round dorsal fin.
The Wine
It started with Gemma McGrath who had moved from a job on Whale Watch boats to a barmaid in the small Otago village of Bannockburn which is about as far away from the sea as one can get in New Zealand.
Missing the dolphins and concerned by the steady decrease in their numbers, she spoke of them so passionately and persistently that she eventually got a farmer in the area to donate 3 tons of Pinot Gris grapes.
By Daniel Hohler •
September 8, 2009
Last Tuesday, EcoWorldly Staff Writer Bryan Nelson wrote an article on the suspension of dolphin slaughter in Taiji, Japan. The suspension came off of Japanese local media swarming on Taiji, after the award winning documentary film “The Cove” put the spotlight on the small Japanese village that slaughters thousands of dolphins every year.
Ric O’Barry, the dolphin trainer and activist who brought the location to the attention of filmmakers, returned to the site of the slaughter this week, just as the annual “hunt” would normally begin. However, this time with all of the media attention, no dolphins were killed in the first 2 days of the season.
By Dave Harcourt •
August 22, 2009
The Greatest Shoal on Earth, less prosaically known at the Sardine Run, has been an annual event along the east coast of South Africa for decades. What was simply a natural resource that provided an easily accessible protein source for local inhabitants and an income for fisherman has become a tourist event, classified with the Serengeti Migration and Iceland Atlantic Puffins as “Must See Nature Sites“.
The Sardines
The sardines, which are more correctly known as the Southern African Pilchard (Sardinops sagaxis), are the most fished species in South African waters, although not the most valuable industry. The pilchards are harvested on the Agulhas Bank, a broad, shallow part of the continental shelf which extends 250 kilometres (160 miles) south of Cape Agulhas, the southern most tip of Africa. The meeting of the warm Indian and cold Atlantic oceans fuels the nutrient cycle for marine life, resulting in one of the best fishing grounds in South Africa.
By Andrew Williams •
July 27, 2009
A New Zealand woman was rescued freezing and exhausted from the sea yesterday after a playful dolphin prevented her return to shore.
Eyewitnesses at the town of Mahia noticed the woman was at sea with the dolphin, known locally as Moko, for some time late yesterday afternoon, before she began screaming for help.
Speaking about the incident, Juanita Symes the manager of a local bar said, “My uncle Ian was down at the beach getting some salt water and he heard her screaming. He came running into the restaurant and said to me ‘there’s a girl stuck on the buoy and Moko won’t let her come back in.”
“At first I thought he was joking. Then another guy ran in from the beach and said we needed to get help.”
By Alex Felsinger •
March 4, 2009
Canadian wildlife conservation group the Lifeforce Foundation wrote letter to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans to ask that Daisy the porpoise be released from the four-foot-deep wading pool that she has been held inside for the last six months.
The harbor porpoise was rescued in August after she washed up on a beach. Experts gave her only a 10 percent chance of survival, but she beat the odds and was given a clean bill of health three months ago. Now Lifeforce’s Peter Hamilton wants her freed.
By Andrew Williams •
December 19, 2008
The Brazilian government has today signed a federal decree establishing the Brazilian Whale and Dolphin Sanctuary, which will drastically increase protection for all cetacean species along the country’s entire 5,000 mile long coast.
According to José Truda Palazzo, Jr., Brazilian Commissioner to the International Whaling Commission, “the initiative sends a clear and powerful message to the international community in relation to Brazil’s commitment towards whale conservation, and also reinforces our campaign for a South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary to be established in the entire oceanic basin.”
