8th
September
Hi
all,
Firstly, many thanks to all those who assisted at the North Devon
Marine Mammal Medic course yesterday ( 7th ). Your help was invaluable.
Here's an item of interest.
Cheers,
Tony.
Exmouth BDMLR Rescue/Training Co-ordinator
BDMLR OnLine
Young
humpback whale freed from fishing gear - Canada
8th September
A
young humpback whale entangled in potentially deadly fishing gear
in the Bay of Fundy has been released relatively unharmed. 
The struggling whale was noticed Sunday afternoon by a whale-watching
tour in the bay, located between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia,
said Jerry Conway, marine mammals adviser for the federal Department
of Fisheries and Oceans.
Just
over three hours after calling the coast guard, the surprisingly
docile mammal was freed from the gill netting by a group of volunteers
using jackknives and buoys about six kilometres east of Grand Manan.
"It
was fairly severely tangled. There was quite a bit of gear on it
around the tail," Conway said in an interview late Sunday.
The
whale is the third to be successfully disentangled in the bay this
summer.
"Humpbacks
though not considered an endangered species in Canada, are considered
to be of special concern," he said.
"The
fact that we were able to respond and get the gear off is significant.
Ultimately, this whale would have died."
Mackie
Green, a volunteer rescuer and owner of a nearby whale-watching
business, said the whale was breathing hard and "tired out"
when they first approached it in a rigid-hulled inflatable boat.
Three
other boats were also at the scene.
The
whale stayed near the surface under their boat and didn't fight
them during the delicate procedure.
"It
was really amazing. It was like he knew we were there to help,"
said Green, who has rescued one other whale already this summer.
"It
was a textbook case. It was the first time I've ever seen one that
went that well."
Chris
Slay, a whale biologist with the Center for Coastal Studies, said
the whale made the situation easy.
"The
right whales that we're used to working with are like mad buffaloes
when they're entangled in line," he said from Lubeck, Me.
"They're
really difficult to work -- just ornery. This animal just lay at
the surface and really wouldn't let us get away from it."
Afterwards,
they watched the whale swim away for about an hour towards a group
of other humpbacks feeding in the area, Slay said.
He
said he isn't worried about the whale despite the abrasions and
cuts it had from the netting around its mouth, and said its chances
are good for surviving the ordeal.
Green
is one of the first volunteers in the Maritimes to be trained in
disentanglements by the Center for Coastal Studies, based in Provincetown,
Mass.
The
non-profit organization is seen as a world leader in the dangerous
and highly specialized field of freeing the gigantic mammals from
fishing gear that can saw deeply into the animal's flesh and cause
infections, which can be fatal if not treated.
Last
month, the centre inked a deal with DFO to provide training and
gear to help streamline international efforts to rescue entangled
whales.
Humpbacks
and right whales travel each summer to the Bay of Fundy to dine
on the area's rich supply of plankton.
Aside
from getting caught in webs of floating ropes and gear, the other
big killer of whales along the eastern seaboard are ship strikes.
(
source : www.ctv.ca )
BDMLR
Tayforth Thank Kingspark School in Dundee
9th
September
BDMLR
Tayforth would like to express sincere thanks to the teachers and
staff at Kingspark School, Gillburn Road in Dundee for their donation
of old towels/ sheets and blankets. Teaching Care Assistant Lynn
Bell organised posters and distributed them around the school asking
for donations of towels, etc which can be used by medics when handling
seals and cetaceans. Lynn has also donated two mountain bikes which
are in great second hand condition these bikes will be sold at our
next car boot sale and monies raised used to purchase rescue equipment
for the area. Thanks again Lynn for your continued support.
BDMLR Tayforth Group
Whale
Strands Itself Near Pier - Florida Keys
14th September
An
adult pygmy sperm whale stranded itself off a pier in Key West early
Saturday and is being treated by marine mammal researchers.
The
whale, about 7 feet long, seems to be in good condition, said Denise
Jackson, director of the Florida Keys Marine Mammal Rescue Team.
It was discovered by a passer-by, who called 911 to report the stranding.
"The
whale seems strong and appears to be in good health," said
Dr. Lisa Bramson, a Key West veterinarian. "Still, we classify
any stranded animal as being in guarded condition."
Jackson
said a lagoon at Keys Energy Services, the local electric utility,
was being prepared to receive the whale for further treatment. The
transfer will most likely be made today, she added.
The
pygmy sperm whale stranding is the 52nd this year in the southeast
region, covering coastal areas from Texas through North Carolina,
said Laura Engleby, a biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration Fisheries Services.
( source : www.theledger.com )
Faroes'
controversial whale hunt
14th September
Faroe islanders have been hunting for pilot whales for centuries,
giving them valuable food stocks for the winter. But to animal rights
activists, the kill is cruel and unnecessary. The BBC's Nick Haslam
witnessed a whale hunt.
As
we crested the hill, the mist cleared and there below lay the sea
and the rooftops of Torshavn, the capital of the Faroes.
Earlier
that day, only two battered Russian trawlers lay at anchor in the
bay. Now, countless small boats, in a crescent-shaped curve, were
motoring towards a beach below the town.
In
front of them, the sea heaved and boiled, the occasional black shape
emerging from the water. 
Samal,
the driver, knew immediately what was happening. "The whales
have come at last," he said.
For
centuries the people of the Faroes, an isolated archipelago halfway
between Scotland and Iceland, have hunted the pilot whale.
Highly
social animals, the whales travel in pods of up to 200, following
their favourite prey of squid, whiting and mackerel.
Once
a group is sighted in the narrow channels and fjords of the Faroes,
islanders drop whatever they are doing and rush to their boats to
encircle the whales and drive them onto a beach.
Carcasses
Here,
in the shallows, men dispatch the animals in a welter of blood and
spray by severing their spinal cords with sharp knives in a spectacle
strictly not for the squeamish.
We
drove on down to the shore where the sea was already bright pink
with whale blood.
Lying
along the edge of the beach were rows of black carcasses, some more
than five metres long and each with a gaping wound just behind the
head.
Crowds
of people looked on, small children climbing onto the dead whales,
which had grinning mouths lined with small sharp teeth.
There
was a sudden flurry of activity, and a black tail arched up - amidst
a group of men standing up to their waists in the freezing water
- to splash back finally into the sea with a spray of bloody foam.
The
last whale of the pod had been killed and now, surprisingly quickly,
the corpses were tied to boats to be towed to the harbour of Torshavn.
The
crowd, looking slightly subdued I thought, dispersed, wending their
way home in the soft summer twilight of the high northern latitudes.
One
man looked at my camera and asked suspiciously: "You're not
from Greenpeace are you?"
Animal
rights activists have called for Faroese whaling to be banned, and
make frequent attempts to disrupt the hunt.
Shared
Next
morning at 0600, more than 1,000 people gathered on the quay where
the whales lay in rows, each now numbered neatly with Roman numerals
cut into the thick blubber.
Whale
meat is never sold on the Faroes, for the catch is divided out amongst
people in the community and any surplus given to hospitals and old
people's homes.
Working
in small family groups, the grisly process of butchering the whales
began, the black skin and white blubber peeling away to reveal dark
red meat which steamed in the chill air.
In
less than three hours, 138 whales, from babies to mature adults,
were neatly dissected. Then bulldozers arrived to remove the bones
left on the quay.
There
was very little waste, one man told me as he stacked his share into
a pickup, for more than 90% of each animal was consumed.
He
was, he said, going to dry his portion of whale meat in the traditional
way so it could be eaten by his family over the winter.
That
night I sat with Faroese friends and tried some dried whale meat
from a previous hunt. It was almost black and very chewy with a
slight oily after-taste.
What,
I wondered, did they think of the attempts by animal rights activists
to ban whale hunting outright?
Contaminated
They
had no doubts. With 800,000 pilot whales in the North Atlantic and
with rarely more than 2,000 a year taken in the Faroes, the whale
population was not under threat.
Had
I, they asked pointedly, ever gone to an abattoir in my country
and seen the industrial daily slaughter of thousands of farm animals?
Ironically,
rights activists and Faroese do agree on one thing.
The
recent discovery of high levels of mercury, insecticides and other
toxins in pilot whales means that whale meat consumption may have
to be reduced. Pregnant mothers on the islands have been counselled
not to eat it.
Surely,
my friends pointed out, rather than attempting to block a traditional
and sustainable harvest, environmentalists would better focus their
energies on preventing the slow poisoning of the seas, which in
the long run pose a far greater threat to the whales, and to us
all.
(
source : www.news.bbc.co.uk )
Entangled
humpback whale freed off New Brunswick, Canada.
13th September
A
tour boat operator watched helplessly Saturday as a young humpback
whale dived into fishing gear, becoming so entangled it was tethered
to the bottom of the Bay of Fundy.
The
two-year-old had gill netting wrapped around and through its mouth
and along his back, said Jerry Conway, marine mammals adviser for
the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans. The tail of the
struggling 7.5-metre-long whale was tied up in an anchor rope, effectively
trapping it near a group of islands off Grand Manan, he said.
"It's
very likely the whale would have died . . . because it couldn't
raise its tail," he said in an interview. "It could just
get its head out of the water."
The
whale could still breathe when it bobbed above the water's surface,
but would have quickly weakened from the exertion, Conway said.
The
whale-watching tour operator alerted the coast guard, which called
in a group of trained whale rescuers in the area.
They
managed to free the mammal - the fourth such rescue this summer
in the bay, located between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
"The
whale was pretty stressed when we first went out," said Mackie
Greene, one of the whale rescuers from New Brunswick.
Working
from a rigid-hulled inflatable boat, Greene and his team managed
to cut off much of the line but couldn't haul the rest of it off
by hand.
Instead,
he called the fisherman who owned the gill netting. The man rushed
out in his larger boat and slowly, mechanically spooled the rest
of the material off.
But
the young humpback didn't leave.
"The
whale was absolutely spent and it just laid at the surface for a
while after it was cut free," said Chris Slay, a whale biologist
from Lubeck, Maine.
"I'm
not sure it realized it was liberated."
One
of the men had to use a five-metre-long boat hook to gingerly lift
the whale's tail up to show the puzzled creature it was finally
free, Greene said.
About
five minutes later, the whale swam away and wasn't believed to have
been seriously injured.
Last
weekend, Slay and Greene also helped free another young humpback
in the same area.
Green
is one of the first people in the Maritimes to be trained in disentanglements
by the Center for Coastal Studies, based in Provincetown, Mass.
The
non-profit organization is seen as a world leader in the dangerous
and highly specialized field of freeing the giant mammals.
Fishing
gear can saw deeply into the animal's flesh and cause infections,
which can be fatal if not treated.
Last
month, the centre inked a deal with DFO to provide training and
gear to help streamline international efforts to rescue entangled
whales.
Humpbacks
and right whales travel each summer to the Bay of Fundy to dine
on the area's rich supply of plankton.
Aside
from getting caught in webs of floating ropes and gear, the other
big killer of whales along the eastern seaboard are ship strikes.
Conway
said the humpbacks should be moving out of the bay within the next
four weeks, but said they could stay as late as November if their
food supply remains abundant.
Humpbacks,
which aren't on the endangered list, can travel as far south as
Cuba to spend the winter.
(
source : www.cnews.canoe.ca )
Rescued
whale recovers from setback, gains strength
13th September
A
melon-headed whale rescued off Hau'ula three weeks ago remains in
guarded but stable condition after a setback last weekend. Volunteers
continue a round-the-clock vigil.
The
whale seemed close to death Sunday, but has improved steadily since,
said Marlee Breese, research associate with the University of Hawai'i
Marine Mammal Research Program.
"He
has a strong will to live," Breese said. "Even more, he
has a great appetite, and that's the best thing he has going for
him."
Last
weekend, the whale's condition started to decline. The animal looked
so sick Sunday that the group caring for it began thinking about
whether it should be kept alive, Breese said. But the animal did
not appear to be suffering, so it was decided to let nature take
its course.
The
whale had improved by Monday, and has gotten better ever since,
Breese said.
The
whale is one of two rescued Aug 19 off Hau'ula by U.S. Marines,
the Hawaiian Islands Stranding and Response Group and the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Fisheries
Service.
Breese
said that when the whale arrived at Marine Corps Base Hawai'i three
weeks ago, it was resting with a slight tilt to the left, but its
resting position had since straightened out.
Over
the weekend, the whale began to tilt again as its health worsened,
but it is upright again, Breese said.
If
the animal continues to improve, it will be moved to a bigger pen
to swim, she said. Right now the whale is in an ocean pen about
30 feet by 20 feet that is protected from the sun's burning rays.
Along
with 10 pounds of squid and 5 pounds of smelt that it is fed daily,
the whale receives antibiotics, vitamins, minerals and something
to coat the stomach, a precaution to ensure that caregivers aren't
exacerbating any ulcers. Breese said the other stranded whale had
an ulcer.
If
they don't die immediately, Breese said, stranded animals typically
survive only five to seven days. This one has lived three weeks.
"I
think it is amazing," she said. "I'd never guess he'd
go to three weeks, but I'm the official voice of doom and gloom.
I've done so many of these (rescues) and none of them lived."
(
source : www.the.honoluluadvertiser.com )
Bonnie
the manatee released again - Florida
12th
September
She’s
well known for getting tangled in monofilament
After
six months of recovery and rehabilitation after getting ensnarled
in fishing line, a manatee named Bonnie, familiar to many Keys residents,
returned to Florida Keys waters Tuesday.
Personnel
from the Dolphin Research Center’s Manatee Rescue Team, the
state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Miami Seaquarium,
Save the Manatee Club and Wildlife Trust carried the manatee –
which seems to have nine lives, like a cat – from a transport
truck in a stretcher down a boat ramp at Calusa Campground, mile
marker 101 bayside.
With
a satellite tag that will help trackers monitor her movements bobbing
along behind her, the 1,005-pound animal swam away to the cheers
and applause of onlookers.
Bonnie
has been caught in fishing line at least four times since 1999 and
needed rehab three of those times. Another manatee familiar in the
Keys, Dually, has been caught in monofilament at least five times
since 1997, and needed rehab at least three of those times.
Both
manatees are known by marine-mammal experts as serial entanglers.
Prior
to her Tuesday release, Bonnie was marked with a freeze-brand so
she can easily be identified. Residents who see a manatee with a
brand mark, or one outfitted with a can-like tag, should call the
Conservation Commission at (888) 404-3922 and report the time, location
and condition of the animal. The satellite tag is shaped somewhat
like a long, large can.
Bonnie
was rescued March 25 in South Lake, mile marker 98 bayside, by staff
from the Conservation Commission and Dolphin Research Center.
She
was suffering from an injured right pectoral flipper, severely entangled
in monofilament. The tightly wrapped line had cut far into her flesh
and the flipper was swollen to roughly the size of a football.
Government
officials considered the injury life-threatening and determined
that Bonnie required treatment and recovery at Miami Seaquarium.
The injury required amputation of the flipper. Following surgery,
Bonnie was treated with antibiotics.
Still,
officials say they are confident she is able to navigate and survive
quite well.
Bonnie’s
return to the ocean is a positive result in ongoing efforts to help
the endangered Florida manatee. However, her story, like Dually’s,
underscores the chronic problem of discarded monofilament and other
marine debris in Keys waters.
Throughout
the year, marine officials receive numerous calls about other manatees
entangled in fishing line, as well. It shows the need to collect
all fishing line, ropes and other material, and dispose of it properly
instead of letting it get into the ocean, where it threatens marine
life.
Keys
residents and visitors should call the Conservation Commission at
the number listed above if they see a sick, injured, entangled or
orphaned manatee. For their safety and that of the animal, they
should not attempt to help on their own. Making the call is the
first step to launching a trained response.
(source
: www.keynoter.com )
REVOLUTIONARY
DEVICE HELPS SAVE DOLPHINS - U.K.
6th September
A
Westcountry wildlife expert is becoming overwhelmed with orders,
particularly from Europe, for a revolutionary new device that he
has invented which is designed to help save dolphins.
Nick
Tregenza, who set up the Cornwall Dolphin group, has designed an
acoustic device that makes the cetacean switch on its sonar and
so become aware of fishing nets close-by.
He
believes it is a better solution to the rising tide of deaths than
the "pinger" device being trialled by Defra - and he has
so far sold 200 of them.
"I've
got a kind of global monopoly," he says, explaining that he
didn't really appreciate his position until he got a call from a
German company wanting to order his porpoise and dolphin detection
unit, called a T-pod.
"The
caller said: 'Is that Chelonia Ltd?' and I said: 'No. It's not limited.
It's just me'.
"And,
he said: 'Are you ready for this? We've all got to use your equipment',"
said Nick.
The
German environment ministry had apparently decreed that Chelonia's
T-pods must be used to monitor the impact of offshore construction
on dolphins and porpoises.
"There
is nothing else like my pod on the market," said Nick, who
assembles them in one of his bedrooms in his cottage at Mount's
Bay. The components are made in various parts of Cornwall and Devon.
Many
of the 200 so far sold have gone for environmental impact study
work in Europe involving offshore wind farms, where there is a huge
construction programme. A group studying the Baltic porpoise population
also uses them.
T-pods
are also tracking bottle nose dolphins in the Mediterranean - a
huge problem as militant fishermen want to rid the seas of dolphins
because of the damage they do to their nets.
In
the Shetlands, T-pods monitor the behaviour of dolphins and porpoises
to tidal power generators.
His
T-pods have even found their way to the Amazon where they monitor
the river dolphin, Boto. They are also being used in Africa and
the Far East.
Nick
describes his invention as "a self-contained submersible computer
and hydrophone that recognises and logs echo-location clicks from
porpoises and dolphins".
Nick
says he never set out to create a "global monopoly", but
simply wanted to learn more about dolphins and porpoises.
He
started off in 1989 by setting up the Cornwall Dolphin Group through
the Cornwall Wildife Trust - the first of its kind in the UK.
Volunteer
observers reported sightings of these marine mammals and they were
entered into a data base. In 1993, following the strandings and
deaths of hundreds of these small cetaceans, he set up a programme
which put observers on fishing boats to see if cetaceans getting
accidentally caught in nets were a major factor in strandings. An
emphatic "yes" was the answer. The programme was picked
up by other European fishing nations with the same results.
The
next step was to establish what was happening underwater, out of
view of the observers. Out of this was created the T-pod, which
has revealed some interesting facets of cetacean life.
For
instance, porpoises forage around fishermen's nets without getting
caught far more than was realised. During wind farm construction
when piles are being driven by huge hammers, porpoises distance
themselves some 12km from the noise, but within three hours of the
hammering ending they are back.
"We
did a lot of work with Newlyn fishermen using the T-pods,"
says Nick. "The results suggest that porpoises get entangled
when they are going around with their sonar off.
"To
use the sonar costs them energy. They have to blow internal raspberries
all the time to make the sounds and then they listen to the echoes
coming back. So they are using effort to make these sounds. Also
it advertises their presence to prey, potential predators (if they
are small dolphins or porpoises) and the competition. So they might
have good reasons for staying silent sometimes," he says.
This
winter, Defra is proposing to place its pingers on all nets. But
Nick said: "Pingers don't alert dolphins or porpoises to fishing
nets. They just scare the hell out of the animal so that it clears
off and never knows the net is there.
"People
are worried about this because it means that it excludes porpoises
from parts of their habitat and in places with deeply indented coastlines
you only have to have a few pingers near the entrance and porpoises
are either trapped inside or prevented from getting out."
[ Nick Tregenzas Home Page can be found at this link : http://www.chelonia.demon.co.uk/
]
( source : www.westernmorningnews.co.uk )
have
fallen dramatically in the last 150 years. However, the search for
knowledge goes on.
would
make it an older whale, he said. 
beach.
Moments later the dolphin began to become a lot more active and
started thrashing about. The four medics who were supporting it
in the water continued to do so, so that it didn’t injure
itself on the rocks nearby. After a few moments the dolphin became
completely still and closed its eyes. The vet checked it, and pronounced
the animal dead at about 1:30pm.