Posts by Erich Hoyt
The dolphin and porpoise casualties of the war in Ukraine
Rare, threatened subspecies of dolphins and porpoises live in the Black Sea along Ukraine’s coast. They are also victims of war, along with the researchers who study them. Last year, I worked closely with 20 scientists including both Ukrainian and Russian colleagues to identify dolphin and porpoise habitats in the Black Sea. Following our five-day…
Read MoreOne world ocean – why we need to think globally and act locally
On World Ocean(s) Day let’s remember that there is only one ocean on our world. All the water flows through one connected system and this was illustrated to me when I was on an expedition in Greenland. Oceanographers were finding chemical fallout from nuclear tests carried out in Russia in the early 1960s. It had…
Read MoreWhales, dolphins, porpoises and healthy seas under lockdown
Anyone watching blue, humpback or sperm whales can clearly see and hear the power-packed spout that comes just before they suck in a deep breath. Are whales and dolphins noticing that the air is cleaner these days since the coronavirus lockdown began? Do they sense there is less ship traffic as economies almost everywhere have…
Read MoreNew baby offers hope for endangered orca community
On the morning of 30 May, off Tofino, British Columbia, Canada, an orca calf, complete with fresh foetal folds and typical orange (instead of white) patches, surfaced between two mature females from the critically endangered Southern Resident orca community. We all felt such joy when this new baby was seen swimming with two adult females…
Read MoreHow to protect the whales and other marine mammals of the Antarctic’s Southern Ocean
I’ve just returned from France where a friendly group of scientists from 11 countries were gathered to put our heads together to help protect the whales, dolphins and other marine mammals who live in the Antarctic’s vast Southern Ocean. Can’t believe how much I learned during the week: One scientist talked about seeing a sea…
Read MoreWhere do whales, dolphins and other marine mammals live?
It’s a big ocean out there. We’re learning a lot about whales these days in nearshore waters but good information on where exactly they live in most of the ocean is in short supply. At the same time, a quarter of the 90 whale, dolphin and porpoise species are threatened and half are not well…
Read MoreWhales in a Changing Ocean Conference Marks Year of the Whale Celebrations in the Pacific
The preliminary results from the second Important Marine Mammal Area (IMMA) workshop in Samoa (27-31 March), have been presented at the “Whales in a Changing Ocean” conference held in Tonga (4-6 April). The IMMA workshop is part of a series of workshops co-sponsored by WDC, Tethys Research Institute and the IUCN Marine Mammal Protected Areas…
Read MoreIMMA workshop for the South Pacific held in Samoa
From the 27-31 March 2017, in Apia, Samoa, the IUCN Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force invited 23 marine mammal researchers and other experts from 14 Pacific countries for the second Important Marine Mammal Area (IMMA) workshop. This follows the successful first IMMA workshop in the Mediterranean in Oct. 2016 sponsored by the MAVA Foundation.…
Read MoreConference on Marine Mammal Protected Areas (ICMMPA4) begins in Mexico
Nov. 14, 2016. The fourth International Conference on Marine Mammal Protected Areas (ICMMPA 4), which begins today in Puerto Vallarta, México, will focus on “Forging Partnerships and Planning for Protection”. The primary goal of ICMMPA 4 (Nov. 13-17, 2016) is to provide a forum for sharing information on successful and not so successful approaches to…
Read More41 candidate important marine mammal areas (IMMAs) identified in the Med
The first ever workshop to define Important Marine Mammal Areas — IMMAs — concluded last week in Chania, Greece with the identification of 41 candidate IMMAs (cIMMAs) in the Mediterranean region. They range in size from 50 km2 for species such as the Mediterranean monk seal to over 134,000 km2 across the Ligurian Sea and Northwest Mediterranean for…
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