Green Options

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On Friday, the International Whaling Commission’s annual meeting came to a close with a whimper. This year’s gathering was held in Chile, and the meeting’s chairperson, United States delegate William Hogarth, made a gutsy and stupid decision. Hogarth wanted to avoid confrontations at this year’s meeting, with the hope of creating good will among countries. He pontificated that this good will could be used to find solutions in the future (not now). Translation: he pleaded for member countries not to vote on or discuss important issues that concern whales. Based on what happened (or more accurately, did not happen), the meeting was very unsuccessful.

Starting things off with a bang, Chile declared a permanent ban on whaling on the opening day of the International Whaling Commission’s annual meeting. The Pacific Ocean-bordering country is playing host to the conference, where tensions are running high. One goal of the conference is to get enough countries to vote affirmatively to create a new whale sanctuary in the South Atlantic Ocean. But this plan might be stymied by the meeting’s own chair person.

In an effort to build consensus, the chair person of the conference urged for there to be little debate and no voting at the meeting this year. The goal is to “pay it forward,” and use any additional good will that is created this year at next year’s meeting with the hope that more can be accomplished. Many environmentalists find the chairman’s plan to be intolerable, as they claim that Japan is using “scientific research” as an excuse to hunt approximately 1,000 whales each year. But Japan isn’t the only country ignoring a 1986 ban on commercial whaling that was agreed upon by the commission.

Approximately 1 million people paid for tickets to go on whale watching cruises off the coast of Massachusetts and Maine in 2006. These sales generated around $21 million dollars for the companies who operate the boats: no small change. While the public might have been enjoying the experience of seeing and learning more about endangered whales and other animals that sometimes use the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration were concerned that perhaps the tours were affecting the whales negatively. Using spies armed with GPS receivers and high-tech binoculars, they set out to see if whale watch tour companies were upholding what are commonly referred to as “voluntary conservation agreements.”

Scientific research is a tough business, and it is always tough to find the right evidence for your research. Gaining access to archaeological sites, genetic testing in animals, evidentiary samples; it’s a tough gig. So when a scientific endeavor falls short, it’s always sad.

Usually.

New Jersey Institute of Technology professor David Rothenberg has released a new musical CD that features the songs of whales in the wild interwoven with his own performances on the bass clarinet.

Whale Music (also available at iTunes or ThousandMileSong) features the sounds of beluga, killer and humpback whales, as well as a newly recorded Pete Seeger song, “The World’s Last Whale.”

U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper ordered the Navy to refrain from using the powerful submarine-hunting sonar within 12 miles of the California coast, thus protecting migrating gray whales, dolphins and other marine mammals.  The Navy must spend an hour before any sonar training missions searching for marine mammals, and  use shipboard observers and aircraft to monitor for whales and dolphins while the sonar is in use.  If any marine mammals are spotted [...]

It’s true, lemons often turn into lemonade. It happened to me, and I gotta tell the story.

Awhile ago I got to write on the new initiative by Greenpeace, entitled the Great Whale Trail. It was initiated in direct response to Japan’s strongly held views that they must kill numerous whales each year for what they called “scientific research.”

Greenpeace, rightfully so, disagreed hotly with this theory, and went about setting twenty satellite tags on humpbacks migrating out of New Caledonia and the Cook Islands. They worked in conjunction with scientists in the area, from the [...]

I love getting the chance to write about topics like this, and when I get to see Greenpeace making a stand, I’m even happier. The conservation group is out to prove to Japan – and the rest of the world – that death is not a necessary part of animal research.

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If you thought the biofuel debate was hot now… things just got a whole lot hotter.

WASHINGTON - At 08:04 AM this morning, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) announced the end of a 21-year moratorium on commercial whaling:

The IWC has joined forces with the international community to support the development alternative fuel," said spokesman Phillip Alloway. "Due to increasing domestic oil prices and the serious implications of global warming, we understand the necessity of

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