Whales: Why Are Many Whales Endangered?: Commercial Whaling A woman's corset made with whale bone. The initial decline of whale populations was brought about by commercial whaling—hunting whales to make a profit from selling whale parts. Whale hunting, which started in the 1700s, was a very big business until about 60 years ago. Sperm Whale Unregulated whaling continued for centuries and over the years the industry was strengthened with new technologies. Definition: A convention is an agreement made by a group of people to behave in a certain way. Despite the international ban, or moratorium, on commercial whaling, many whale populations have not recovered and are still endangered due to other threats including entanglements with fishing gear, degradation of habitat and collisions with ships. Fast Fact : The North Atlantic right whale is the most endangered large whale in the world, with fewer than 350 surviving today.
ScienceDaily: News, Videos & Articles in Science, Health, Technology & Environment Tadpole (baby frog) Whaling Wars in the Antarctic Seas - National Geographic Adventure Magazine What woke me at 3 a.m. on Christmas morning was the bow of the ship plunging off a steep wave and smashing into the trough. The hull shuddered like a living animal, and when the next roller lifted the stern, I could hear the prop pitching out of the water, beating the air with a juddering moan that shivered the ribs of the 180-foot (55-meter) converted North Sea trawler. We were 200 miles (322 kilometers) off the Adélie Coast, Antarctica, in a force 8 gale. The storm had been building since the previous morning. I lay in the dark and breathed. Something was different. I dressed quickly, grabbed a dry suit and a life jacket, and ran up three lurching flights of narrow stairs to the bridge. "Good timing," Cornelissen said to me with the tightening of his mouth that is his smile. "Probably the Nisshin Maru and the Esperanza," Watson said. I stared at the green blips on the main radar screen. Continue reading on page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 Next >>
The seven deadly sins of health and science reporting Benjamin Franklin said two things are certain in life: death and taxes. Another one we could add to this list is that on any given news website and in almost all print media there will be articles about health and nutrition that are complete garbage. Some articles that run under the health and nutrition “news” heading are thought provoking, well researched and unbiased, but unfortunately not all. If you spot any of these clichés in an article, we humbly suggest that you switch to reading LOLCats, which will be more entertaining and maybe more informative too. 1. Why? Details: Sometimes it is possible to disprove something confidently, but that mainly works in domains like physics. Health and nutrition is even worse because it deals with how we interact with our equally messy environment. Takeaway: Discount the findings of any health or nutrition article with “scientists prove that…” by 80%. 2. Why? Sometimes it’s the dose that makes the poison. 3. Why? 4. Why? 5. Why? 6. Why? 7. Why?
WHALING - CON & PRO (This is the text, slightly revised and updated, of a brochure that was distributed to the media at the 1994 annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Puerto Vallarta.) 1.1 Ecological Arguments The whales are becoming extinct One cannot talk about the whales. Rather one must distinguish between more than 75 different species. Not a single whale species has become extinct because of whaling. Commercial whaling will always endanger the stocks/species Plainly wrong! Whaling cannot be controlled Yes it can! The Blue Box (Control Box) of the Automated Electronic Monitoring System developed for monitoring the minke whale hunting in Norway. 1.2 Ethical/Animal Welfare Arguments Whales cannot be killed humanely a) Whales are wild animals and are killed "unawares" after a life of freedom. b) The modern penthrite grenade explodes with such a vibration force and frequency that unconsciousness - and usually death - result instantaneously. c) 1.3 Economic Arguments 1.4 Legal Arguments
Scientific Argumentation SCIENTIFIC ARGUMENTATION The Science Teacher, Summer 2013 vol. 80 no. 5 Excerpts of Six Articles ENSI Lessons for Argumentation Click Here for PDF Copy of This Page What is Scientific Argumentation? During the processes of scientific inquiry, scientists will make claims, based on observable evidence, and will clarify with justification of the evidence as relevant to the claims. Other scientists often make rebuttal claims, pointing to other evidence that counters the evidence for the previous claim. The key points are that any scientific claims coming from an investigation must be based on observable (empirical) evidence, and that evidence must be justified as connected with the claims. It's important to know that scientific argumentation is quite different from typical arguing that goes on between people, which is seldom based on tangible evidence, and typically involves opinions, beliefs and emotion. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. ENSI Lessons that are Suitable for Scientific Argumentation
U.S. Leads Bid to Phase Out Whale Hunting The compromise deal, which has generated intense controversy within the 88-nation International Whaling Commission and among antiwhaling activists, would allow the three whaling countries to continue hunting whales for the next 10 years, although in reduced numbers. In exchange, the whaling nations — which have long exploited loopholes in an international treaty that aims to preserve the marine mammals — would agree to stricter monitoring of their operations, including the placing of tracking devices and international monitors on all whaling ships and participation in a whale DNA registry to track global trade in whale products. Officials involved in the negotiations expressed tentative hope that they could reach an agreement in coming weeks. But ratification by the overall group remains uncertain. “This is one of the toughest negotiations I’ve been involved in in 38 years,” said Cristián Maquieira, the veteran Chilean diplomat who is the chairman of the commission.