10 Things You Didn't Know About SeaWorld. 1. Their Sunburns Are Covered Up With Black Zinc Oxide Orcas at SeaWorld spend most of their time floating listlessly at the surface of the water with little to no shade from the hot blistering sun. In the wild, orcas spend up to 95 percent of their time submerged and would find shade in the depths of the ocean, but at SeaWorld their tanks are far too shallow. Their deepest tank is 40 feet deep—not nearly deep enough to give them a reprieve from the harsh elements. Because of this, orcas have perpetual sunburns, which are shielded from the public eye with the help of black zinc oxide, which matches their skin. 2. Five orcas currently at SeaWorld were kidnapped from their ocean homes, as were others who have since died. 3. In 1965, the first-ever orca show at SeaWorld was performed by a female orca named Shamu at SeaWorld San Diego. 4.
In nature, orcas choose their own mates. 5. 6. 7. 8. Contrary to popular belief, trainers often have no formal education in marine biology. 9. 10. Save The Whales - Action Alert. Ask United Nations To Help Save Vaquita 18 December 2011 Please print off the letter and distribute among friends, school environmental clubs, church groups. Be sure to date the letter and sign it at the bottom and include your full address before sending it. Amy Fraenkel North America Regional Director United Nations Environment Programme 900 17th Street, NW Suite 506 Washington, D.C. 20006 Dear Ms. I am very concerned to learn that the vaquita porpoise is on the brink of extinction, and I respectfully ask for the United Nations’ help in saving these unique and beautiful animals. As you may know, vaquitas are now considered to be the world’s most endangered marine mammal, and they live right here in North America - in Mexico’s Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez).
The major threat to vaquitas is entanglement and drowning in gillnets used by small-scale fishermen in their habitat. Thank you, Whaling – A View from Norway by David Welsh, NOAH - for animal rights A Seafaring People How You Can Help. Anti-whaling. Protest against whaling in Tokyo by Greenpeace activists Anti-whaling refers to actions taken by those who seek to end whaling in various forms, whether locally or globally in the pursuit of marine conservation.[1][2] Such activism is often a response to specific conflicts with pro-whaling countries and organizations that practice commercial whaling and/or research whaling, as well as with indigenous groups engaged in subsistence whaling.
Some anti-whaling factions have received criticism and legal action for extreme methods including violent direct action.[3][4] The term anti-whaling may also be used to describe beliefs and activities related to these actions. History[edit] Anti-whaling activism has a short history compared to other forms of activism and environmental awareness. Early members of environmental organizations began protesting whale hunts around the world in the 20th century. Whaling regulation[edit] National protection[edit] Save the Whales[edit] Direct action: Russia[edit] Whales. The madness of the whaling – hunting species after species to the verge of extinction – is the same model now being used in modern fishing today.
Protecting the whales – not just from hunting but the many other daily threats they face - would be a signal that governments are serious about all ocean protection. “Save the Whales” is the famous shout out that brought millions of people together and produced a worldwide ban on commercial whaling in 1986. Whales were and still are the most extreme example of the shocking exploitation and lack of protection of ocean life. It was claimed that there used to be so many Right whales in Cape Cod Bay on the east coast of the USA, that locals could walk across their backs from one side of the bay to the other – a distance of 40km. Not only do whales continue to be hunted by Japan, Norway and Iceland, they are also increasingly falling victim to ship strikes and being caught in nets as bycatch. And even these estimates may not be reliable. Anti-whaling.
Which countries are still whaling? Despite the 1986 IWC ban on commercial whaling, some countries refuse to end their whaling operations. Japan Almost immediately after the 1986 whaling ban came into effect, Japan launched its scientific whaling programme, widely recognised as a cover for its ongoing commercial whaling operation. Meat from these whales — supposedly killed for science — is then sold in food markets or given away free or at low costs to schools and hospitals in marketing drives to encourage the consumption of whale meat . The Japanese whaling fleet departs twice a year. Norway Norway only respected the IWC's whaling ban until 1993.
Norway sets its own quota for the number of whales its whalers are permitted to kill for commercial reasons. Norway is now hunting a higher proportion of breeding females which could put the long-term survival of minke whales in the North Atlantic in severe danger. Iceland Like Japan, Iceland initially conducted a 'scientific' whaling programme. IFAW's "Meet Us Don't Eat Us! " Whaling: Good or Bad?
Commercial Whaling. The IWC is responsible for setting catch limits for commercial whaling. It does this by adjusting the numerical limits as laid out in the Schedule to the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (1946). In 1982 the IWC decided that there should be a pause in commercial whaling on all stocks from the 1985/1986 season onwards. This pause is often referred to as the commercial whaling moratorium, and it is still in place today. The paragraph in the Schedule to the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling that establishes the moratorium can be seen here. Norway and Iceland take whales commercially at present, either under objection to the moratorium decision or under reservation to it.
These countries establish their own catch limits but must provide information on those catches and associated scientific data to the Commission. The Russian Federation has also registered an objection to the moratorium decision but does not exercise it. Why Do the Japanese Hunt Whales? Whale Wars | Whale Wars.
Why Whales Are Endangered — SEEtheWILD Wildlife Conservation Travel. Reasons Why Whales Are Endangered Entanglement Whales are susceptible to entanglement in commercial fishing gear. This can slow whales down, weakening them, and can prohibit them from feeding leading to eventual starvation and death. In some areas, networks are set up to disentangle whales that are reported to be in trouble. Commercial Whaling Commercial whaling began in the 1800's and nearly drove some whale species to extinction.
In the Southern Ocean, despite being a whale sanctuary, some nations are still hunting there, killing more than 1,000 whales each year despite it being illegal. Ship Strikes Whale habitat and migration corridors overlap with areas of heavy ship traffic. Climate Change Climate change has a multitude of effects on the oceans which can have adverse impacts on marine mammals. As ocean temperatures rise from climate change, prey populations can be affected. Contact us to learn more about why whales are endangered. Who is trying to stop whaling. OCEANS: Sea Shepherd takes fight against Japanese whalers to Supreme Court.
February 12, 2013 Laura Petersen, E&E reporter An environmental group known for confronting whaling ships at sea asked the Supreme Court today to lift an injunction barring it from maneuvers that harass Japanese whalers. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society filed an appeal of a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals order in December requiring the nonprofit to stay at least 500 feet away from Japanese whaling ships. Charles Moore, the attorney representing Sea Shepherd, said at a National Press Club briefing that the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit's three-sentence injunction surprised the group because it was issued without warning or a chance to argue in front of the judges and without being requested by Japan's Institute for Cetacean Research. The court issued the preliminary injunction sua sponte, or "of its own accord.
" Moore described the move as "highly unusual," while Robert Kennedy Jr., participating by phone, called it "very, very dubious and strange and unique. " Whaling | Encyclopedia Britannica. Whaling, the hunting of whales for food and oil. Whaling was once conducted around the world by seafaring nations in pursuit of the giant animals that seemed as limitless as the oceans in which they swam. However, since the mid-20th century, when whale populations began to drop catastrophically, whaling has been conducted on a very limited scale.
It is now the subject of great scrutiny, both by formal regulatory bodies and by nongovernmental organizations. Whaling has been documented in many sources—from Neolithic cave art to present-day annual reports of the International Whaling Commission—but there is no firm proof as to ... (100 of 3,519 words) <ul><li><a href="/EBchecked/media/67473/Japanese-factory-ship-hauling-a-minke-whale-through-a-slipway?
Japanese activists fight against the tide to save whales and dolphins. It’s tough being a Japanese activist — especially if you are campaigning against whaling or dolphin hunting. Just ask Takayo Yamaguchi, subjected to online abuse, death threats and hacking attacks since she pioneered “tweetstorm” dolphin defense campaigns on social media in Japan six months ago. Or veteran conservationist Sakae Hemmi, cofounder of ELSA Nature Conservancy in 1976, who has been questioned several times by police since she first became involved in activism against the dolphin hunts in Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture.
Or Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki, two Greenpeace Japan activists convicted of trespass and theft in 2010 after seizing a parcel of whale meat illicitly posted by a Japan scientific whaling employee, which they presented as evidence to prove allegations of embezzlement within the scientific whaling program. Often unaware of these activists’ work, foreign opponents of Japan’s whaling and dolphin hunting wonder why there are so few Japanese critics. Whaling. Whaling Information and Whale Hunting Facts - WDC, Whale and Dolphin Conservation. Whaling is cruel, the demand for whale meat is falling and we can’t be certain that whale populations can survive large scale hunting as well as the other daily threats they face.
But, despite bans on commercial whaling and the trade in whale products, Japan, Norway and Iceland still kill 2000 whales between them each year and also continue trade in whale products – it has to STOP. Once it became apparent that the numbers of whales being killed were putting whale populations under threat, a ban on commercial whaling (hunting for commercial profit) was introduced in 1986 by the body that regulates whaling – the International Whaling Commission. However, over 30,000 whales have been killed since the ban came into effect because of loopholes that have allowed some countries to carry on whaling. The Whaling Commission currently allows Norway to hunt under an ‘objection’ to the ban, and Japan uses a loophole which allows countries to hunt whales for ‘research purposes’. Japan Whaling Assoc. -Q&A- In Article VIII of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW), the Contracting Parties have an unrestricted right to take whales for scientific research.
Japan is a signatory to this Convention. When the commercial whaling moratorium was introduced in 1982, the main reason the anti-whaling nations gave for its introduction was the uncertainty surrounding the scientific data then available. In other words, they argued that safe management of whales was not possible because knowledge of the number of whales, age composition, sex ratio, and natural mortality rate was ambiguous. The research catch by Japan was launched to answer such questions and resolve the uncertainties. Many members of the IWC Scientific Committee recognize the importance of the research, and value highly their results. Anti-whaling proponents have tried to label the research catch as commercial whaling in disguise, but this is a tactic to discredit the research effort.