Posts by Erich Hoyt
Ross Sea receives long awaited protection
Shout it from the highest mountain in Antarctica: The Ross Sea, at last, has received protection. The nations of CCAMLR (the Commission on the Conservation of Antarctic Living Resources) have finally after years of discussion and negotiation agreed on a 1.55 million sq km core area of the Ross Sea to be protected. Some 1.12…
Read MoreWorkshop puts marine mammal habitats on the map with a new tool co-developed by WDC
Next week, from October 24-28, the first workshop to implement a new tool for conservation — Important Marine Mammal Areas, or IMMAs — convenes in Chania, Greece. The workshop, sponsored by the MAVA Foundation, has been organized by the IUCN WCPA-SSC Marine Mammal Protected Areas (MMPAs) Task Force, who have devised this new tool. It…
Read MoreThe return of Iceberg, the all-white killer whale
Last week, I reported that after five years, Iceberg, the big all white male killer whale has been resighted by WDC’s Far East Russia Orca Project (FEROP) team. Iceberg is still travelling with his family of fish-eating orcas – 12 or 13 orcas in his pod, all except him normal looking. He’s now at least…
Read MoreUnlocking the secrets of whale and dolphin societies
Arguably more than anything else, photo-identification, or “photo-ID,” opened the door to our appreciation of whales and dolphins as individuals. WDC researchers and close collaborators have had a key role in the development and use of photo-ID, and it’s still the fundamental tool that we use in our work with North Atlantic right whales off…
Read MoreMore orcas captured in the Okhotsk Sea, Russia—When will it stop?
Three orcas (killer whales) have been captured in the Okhotsk Sea in the Russian Far East, according to sources at the Far East Russia Orca Project (FEROP). The first one, captured in early July, was moved through Sakhalinsky Bay on July 15, 2015. Since then, two more have been captured, also thought to have been caught in…
Read MoreSaving North Atlantic right whale habitats means saving the whales – Part 2
With only about 500 individuals the North Atlantic right whale remains on the endangered species list, even though there has been no whaling of this species since the mid-1900s. This was the first whale to be caught commercially, initially by the Basques beginning in the 11th Century. At least 5,500 right whales, and possibly twice…
Read MoreSaving North Atlantic right whale habitats means saving the whales
PART 2 With only about 500 individuals, the North Atlantic right whale remains on the endangered species list, even though there has been no whaling of this species since the mid-1900s. This was the first whale to be caught commercially, initially by the Basques beginning in the 11th Century. At least 5,500 right whales, and…
Read MoreSaving North Atlantic right whale habitats means saving the whales
PART 1 Over the years, I have watched North Atlantic right whales skim along the surface feeding on copepods, nudge each other in what seemed like play, and charge toward an inverted female attempting to mate. All of these things happen in relatively predictable places and times of year. Right whale habitats. I’ll never forget…
Read MoreLocation and size vital for whale and dolphin protection areas
WDC, together with more than 100 delegates from over 20 countries around the globe have been attending an international conference looking at protected sea areas for marine mammals like whales and dolphins. Around the globe, whale and dolphin populations are under threat and need places where they are protected. ‘Safe havens’ – effective marine protected areas…
Read MoreAntarctic whales and their ecosystems lose out again
In what is becoming a sad state of affairs, China and Russia have again blocked the protection of important areas for whales and other marine mammals, seabirds and fish in the Antarctic/ Southern Ocean region at the annual CCAMLR meeting in Hobart, Australia. Up for protection was the great Ross Sea as well as the…
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