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Orca Lulu's body contained PCB levels 100x above the safe limit. Image: SMASS

Toxic tides, troubled whales: the toll of chemical pollution

In last week's blog, we examined the challenges whales and dolphins face as they travel...
Group of orcas at surface

Breaking barriers for whales and dolphins at the Convention of Migratory Species

Many species of whales, dolphins and porpoises undertake long journeys, encountering human-made obstacles along the...
Tokyo

WDC in Japan – Part 1: Finding allies in Tokyo

At the end of May, I embarked on an incredible journey to Japan on behalf...
Amazon river dolphins leaping

The state of river dolphin conservation

At Whale and Dolphin Conservation, we partner with conservationists and communities fighting to save river...
Researchers in Southeast Alaska studying whale poo

We’re funding crucial research on whale poo to combat the climate crisis

The ocean is one of the lungs of our planet, and whales help it to...
Narwhal surfacing

The unicorns of the sea must be protected – CITES

The narwhal, is under threat. Often referred to as the unicorns of the sea, narwhals,...
Sperm whales

We’re pushing governments for action for our climate heroes – whales

The climate crisis is the greatest threat to all life on Earth. But there is...
Dolphins captured for captivity in Taiji. Image: Hans Peter Roth

Loved and killed – whales and dolphins in Japan

Protests and criticism from outside Japan in response to the slaughter of whales and dolphins...

Summer Fun

For the past two years Plymouth Chamber of Commerce has hosted the Plymouth Maritime Day and we have participated and watched it grow in success. Prior to Maritime Day, summer was still celebrated in Plymouth with a Blessing of the Fleet. (one of my favorite years was when the Plymouth Harbor Masters agreed to sit in the dunking booth as a fundraiser for us). Maritime Day however, combines the Blessing of the Fleet with a number of other Plymouth traditions. So needless to say this past weekend, was busy and filled with fun.

Maritime Day was started off with Boston Police Gaelic Column of Pipes & Drums, who were amazing and included one of our own harbor masters playing the bagpipes (sorry I was too slow in getting a photo). And in booth after booth organizations and vendors were educating the community about their services and missions. We auctioned off three whale adoptions – two regular and one deluxe, as well as had a number of different educational activities for kids. My favorite was having children write how they are helping the marine environment and whales on the back of a humpback fluke photos and string them up for everyone to see. I also had probably more fun then i should admit to walking around with an inflatable dolphin strapped to myself – to raise awareness of course.

I even took the dolphin onto the Blessing of the Fleet which is an old tradition from Mediterranean fishing communities where vessels were blessed by a priest to ensure a safe and bountiful season. Today the blessing varies from port to port and has changed a bit over the years – so much so that the minister blessed us, our ship and our inflatable dolphin….all very cool. At 7:00 we broke down our table and displays and hustled over to Easterly which was already decorated for the Parade of Lights, a very fun event when the boats in the harbor compete for best lit decorations. Last year we won the Harbor Master’s Cup so the pressure was on, but this year we were beat by a flame throwing volcano. However we had a great time representing whales and dolphins and had an amazing, one-of-a-kind lit whale and dolphins rigged up to the boat. And of course to have a winning team everyone has to participate……We were also very pleased to have Pine Dubios director of Jones River Landing and Meg Sheehen from Cape Cod Bay Watch with us for the Boat Parade. We recently have been working with both organizations and submitted comments asking NOAA to consider impacts to critically endangered NA right whales from the operation of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant. The plant was re-licensed in-spite of our comments, but we are committed to continuing to monitor the effects the plant has on the Cape Cod Bay which has been designated critical habitat for critically endangered right whales and is important for many other endanger cetacean species.