Worlds rarest whale washed up in New Zealand

Spade-toothed beaked whales were first discovered in 1872 when bone fragments were found on a remote Pacific island, but until now the species has remained entirely hidden from human view.

In the 140 years since they were first discovered, the only sign that the creatures' continued existence lay in two partial skulls found in New Zealand in the 1950s and Chile in 1986.

Now scientists have reported a complete description of the whales, which are thought to spend most of their lives in the deep waters of the Pacific Ocean, only rarely coming to the surface.

The Mother and her male calf were stranded on Opape Beach at the northern tip of New Zealand in December 2010 but were initially thought to be of a much more common species known as Gray's beaked whales.

It was only after routine DNA analysis that experts realised their true identity.

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Dr Rochelle Constantine of the University of Auckland said: "This is the first time this species — a whale over five meters in length — has ever been seen as a complete specimen, and we were lucky enough to find two of them.
"Up until now, all we have known about the spade-toothed beaked whale was from three partial skulls collected from New Zealand and Chile over a 140-year period. It is remarkable that we know almost nothing about such a large mammal."
Because the animals had never been seen very little is known about their behaviour, but writing in the Current Biology journal, the researchers suggested they were likely to be "exceptionally deep divers, foraging for squid and small fish and spending little time at the surface."
Dr Constantine said it was unclear why the species has been so elusive, but added: "It may be that they are simply an offshore species that lives and dies in the deep ocean waters and only rarely wash ashore. New Zealand is surrounded by massive oceans. There is a lot of marine life that remains unknown to us."

Scientists report whale making human voice sounds

By Agence France-Presse
Monday, October 22, 2012 18:59 EDT

 

Topics: National Marine Mammal Foundation ♦ Sam Ridgway ♦ white whale

 

WASHINGTON — US marine biologists puzzled by human-like sounds coming from the whale and dolphin tank of an aquarium concluded they were actually coming from a whale.
Anecdotal reports of whales sounding like people are not new. But in this case in San Diego, California, scientists for the first time recorded the utterances, did an acoustic analysis and were surprised to find a rhythm similar to that of human speech, Sam Ridgway of the National Marine Mammal Foundation reported Monday.
The sounds marked quite a feat: whales make sounds via their nasal tract, unlike people, who use their larynx. So this particular white whale had to make some tricky muscular and blowhole adjustments.
“Such obvious effort suggests motivation for contact,” said Ridgway, the main author of a study featured in the journal Current Biology. “The sounds we heard were clearly an example of vocal learning by the white whale.”
The whale, named NOC, died five years ago.
Ridgway says that back in 1984, he and others started hearing sounds near the whale and dolphin enclosure that recalled two people speaking in the distance, too far away to be understood.
The sounds were later traced to one particular white whale when a diver in its tank came to the surface because he thought he heard colleagues tell him to do so.
NOC had lived among dolphins and other white whales and had often been in the presence of humans.
The whale made human-like sounds for around four years until it reached the age of sexual maturity, Ridgway said.

Moray Firth sealife mystery

Tracks emerging from the Moray Firth spark a sealife mystery

Beach mystery: Lee and Kate Sansum discovered the tracks early on Tuesday morning.© stv

Markings on sandy Moray beach spark a mystery over what could have caused them - and what happened to the culprits.

Mystery surrounds three sets of tracks spotted on a Moray beach in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
The tracks, first thought to have been created by turtles, were noted on Lossiemouth's east beach by Kate and Lee Sansum while out for an early morning walk along the sands.
Kate said: "There are three distinct sets of tracks coming up from the water almost to the dunes, each around several yards apart. They all appear to be going in one direction with no signs of return tracks and our guess was that they were caused by turtles.
"We have called the Scottish Dolphin Centre to ask if they were aware and while they had no recent reports they did say that turtles had been seen along the Moray Firth."
While it is rare for turtles to venture so far north, sightings of leatherback turtles have been reported along the Moray Firth with one said to be around 2.5metres long seen north of Hopeman in 2000.
If the tracks on the Lossie beach were in fact turtles, however, the mystery is where the reptiles went after making their way up the beach, with Kate having her own suspicions: "There were no human footprints on the beach when we first spotted the tracks except one set at the top where the tracks ended.
"It looked to us as if someone had perhaps lifted the turtles, or whatever caused the tracks, and removed them from the beach. We searched around the dunes but could find no signs at all, it is very strange but I suppose it will remain a mystery."
A more recent turtle sighting on the Moray Firth happened two years ago by crew members working on a survey ship. James Spencer from Nafferton in Yorkshire reported seeing a leatherback close to the Beatrice oil field.
He said: "It was floating around 200metres from the boat but even more remarkable is there were possibly two more further from the boat but we could not confirm that as we were busy working."
Mrs Sansum had informed Grampian Police of her concerns and they arranged for a wildlife expert to look at the tracks. As a result she received a call saying that it was felt they may have been caused by grey seals. She said: "I would be quite content to just accept that it was seals but that does not really explain why there are no tracks going in the other direction.
"I've seen tracks left by common grey seals, and they tend to leave a distinct groove in the sand and that was not present this time. I guess it will remain a mystery but I would like to know more and would ask people in the area to keep their eyes peeled for more of these tracks."

Octopus V Dolphin

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A dolphin caught in the process of eating an octopus in Jervis Bay. Picture: Greg Maloney, Dolphin Watch Cruises Source: Supplied

BEING the world's smartest mollusc wasn't enough to save this octopus from the jaws of a dolphin.

The mature bottlenose dolphin found its brainy but unlucky lunch while hunting in reefs near Huskisson on Jervis Bay on the NSW south coast.
"We'd been watching a group of between 20 and 30 dolphins when this one surfaced with the occy in its mouth,'' Dolphin Watch Cruises skipper Greg Maloney said.
"It was bashing it on the surface of the water for a good 10 minutes trying to stun the occy so it could start eating.
"Dolphins have great gripping teeth, but the teeth are not very good at tearing up their food so they need to stun the occy before starting to eat it or the occy can get away.
"Sometimes the octopus does win, and escape, but this one didn't.''
Octopus's large complex brains are seen as compensating for losing the hard shell that protects other mollusks like snails and clams.
It's just that dolphins are smarter. When Animal Planet listed the top ten smartest animals on the planet, dolphins were at Number 2 (behind chimps) and octopuses came in at Number 9.
Mr Maloney took the photo about two weeks ago and said dolphins were a common sight in and around Jervis Bay.

CETACEAN ACOUSTICS: HOW TO DO WHALES AND WAVELETS

CETACEAN ACOUSTICS: HOW TO DO WHALES AND WAVELETS
Mark Fischer
If you want to know the science, you kind of need to begin with basic Calculus and introductory physics, especially the physics of waves. For a good online introduction to acoustics in the ocean, check out Acoustic Ecology's page here.
Second, to explore the world of cetacean sound, it helps to understand the physics of sound in the ocean. There are significant differences between sound in the ocean and the sounds we hear in the air. For example, the ocean conducts sound at 5 times the speed it travels in air, and has a beautiful 'lensing' property that is a function of depth and temperature [specifically, sound travels faster at the top and bottom of the ocean, slower in the middle], thus creating what is known as the 'deep sound channel'. To study up on these things I would recommend "Marine Mammals and Noise" as a good place to start. From ATOC and HIFT (also described in MM&N) we know that a sound as loud as a Blue whalewww.whalesongart.com makes can span half the world's oceans, which means two (well, probably three as noisy as the oceans are today ) whales could send a signal around the globe in just over 7 hours. Like, you know, if they wanted to.
Third, you have to consider the science of wavelets. My best recommendation for a place to start is Ms. Amara Graps' page, here.
To actually perform the analysis you need to know a little programming. This could be done in C/C++, or you could use a variety of mathematical software tools, such as Mathematica or Matlab.
So, what we do is to take a sound clip, transform it using wavelets, then display the product of this operation using some algorithm that maps the resulting matrix to a range of colors to make a kind of 'paint by numbers' picture; exactly as children would fill in a coloring book. What you are seeing is a picture of how well a particular sound correlates to a particular base function- that is, how much one shape looks like another. That's kind of all there is to it.

Mark Fischer (USA) is a cetacean acoustics specialist. 1961 born, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
1979-1983 US Army, stationed in Amberg, Germany;
1983-1987 Earned BS in electronics and computer engineering from George Mason University
1988-1998 Software development in defense and telecommunications
1999-2002 Walkabout, Baja California
Since then - independent research in cetacean acoustics using wavelets, exploring both the science and the art of the way they use sound.
http://aguasonic.com

South Korea announces plans to hunt minke whales

Jul 5, 2012

South Korea has announced plans to begin hunting minke whales for scientific purposes at the annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC).
WSPA, along with governments from around the world, condemned the announcement.
Claire Bass, Oceans Campaign Leader for WSPA said: “This is extremely bad news. We believe there's absolutely no need to kill whales in the name of science and that all we need to find out about whales can be done using non lethal means. This is a big step backwards for the IWC that another country has decided to start doing this wholly unnecessary and cruel practice.”
WSPA has been at the forefront of efforts to promote the protection of whales from the cruel, unnecessary and outdated practice of hunting.

A step backwards

This bad news follows the recent announcement that a move to create a South Atlantic whale sanctuary had been rejected by the IWC.
Despite 65% of member countries voting in favour of creating a sanctuary, the move needed the backing of 75% of members in order to pass. The sanctuary was put forward by a group of Latin American countries, but was strongly opposed by pro-whaling nations including Japan and Norway.
Currently there are two whale sanctuaries created under the IWC: the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean. Japan disregards the Southern Ocean Sanctuary and conducts a so-called ‘scientific’ whale hunt there, with the meat sold commercially.
Claire Bass added: “The opposition to this sanctuary from three commercial whaling countries and their allies is outrageous and unjustified. The rejection of the proposal for this sanctuary denies protection for the 54 species of cetaceans in this region.”
WSPA will continue to report back from its work at this year’s IWC meeting in Panama City.

Antigua To Support Japanese Whaling Again

photo - indosurflife.com

Antigua St John's - Antigua and Barbuda will again be voting in favor of what has become known as the most controversial form of slaughter and animal cruelty of the century – whaling. Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer has signaled his administration’s intention to again support Japan’s bid to continue the killing of cetaceans as part of its approach to marine preservation.



And according to reports from the online medium ‘Examiner’, Antigua & Barbuda may have been a part of an alleged bribery operation undertaken by the Japanese government to gain the support of small nations that find it rewarding to favor of Japanese whaling.

“The Japanese government is allegedly bribing small countries like the Solomon Islands and Antigua & Barbuda to vote against the proposal,” says an article by Phil Kline, Greenpeace Oceans Campaigner.

To counter the alleged bribery, Greenpeace had begun an email fundraising drive of its own within the International Whaling Commission (IWC).

The group accuses Japan of bribing small countries to vote against the interests of the whales and against their vision of the broader environmental benefits of whale protection.

Prime Minister Spencer has reportedly said that the move to support Japan is part of his government’s belief that such action does not affect marine life and is subject to change based on the government’s perception of its impact on marine activity.

His comments come as yet another slap in the face for sister OECS nation Dominica, which markets its tourism product on the shoulders of whale watching and natural preservation.

Local environmentalist Eli Fuller says Antigua is supporting the move because it is being allegedly bribed to do so; plain and simple. He told Caribarena that the country has no business supporting Japan to kill whales, since the country is not given any assistance to protect any marine life in any way, especially by Japan.

Fuller noted that when he heard that the minister responsible for marine resources talking about “sustainable use” and saying that whaling is “sustainable use”, his reaction was: “They were given blood money. There is zero evidence of any initiative for sustainable use of our marine resources. It’s very hypocritical for them to be talking about sustainable use when none of the money given from Japan is put towards sustaining our marine resources,” he said.

Over the years, there have been several attempts by conservationists locally to persuade the government to vote differently, but these have all gone unheeded.

Fuller suggested that if the government is so bent on taking the Japanese money, it should at least use it to build the local fisheries industry and allow the Japanese government to assist in the supply of the relevant resources to help manage the industry.

According to the Antigua and Barbuda Independent Tourism Promotion Corporation’s Martha Gilkes, her organization has taken a formal stance against whaling for years and continues to do so today.

“ABITPC still takes a stance that Antigua should not be voting pro-whaling for a number of reasons including that it is very bad for tourism,” Gilkes said, adding that several anti-Antigua forums were found online because of the nation’s stance.

She too, questioned the use of the Japanese funding received over the years for fisheries enhancement.

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Japan's appetite for whale meat wanes

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Fried whale meat at a restaurant in the Japanese capital, Tokyo. Photograph: Yuriko Nakao/Reuters

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Thursday 14 June 2012

Three-quarters of the meat from whales caught last summer was unsold, report reveals

Japan's failing appetite for whale meat left three-quarters of meat from whales caught in the north-west Pacific last summer unsold, according to a report.
Junko Sakuma, a freelance journalist, said the body responsible for selling meat from Japan's controversial "scientific" whaling programme had failed to sell 908 tonnes of the 1,211-tonne catch, despite holding 13 public auctions since last October.
The report, published on the website of the Tokyo-based Dolphin and Whale Action Network, said the Institute of Cetacean Research, a quasi-governmental body that oversees the hunts, had hoped to use sales from the meat to cover the costs of the whaling fleet's expeditions.
The failure of the auctions to pique consumer interest in meat from minke, Bryde's and sei whales has forced the institute to revert to private sales through Kyodo Senpaku, the for-profit firm that collects, processes and sells the meat on behalf of the institute.
Sakuma said the oversupply of whale meat, despite pockets of demand for the highest quality produce, had made Japan's lethal research programme unsustainable.
The Institute of Cetacean Research blamed low demand on the complicated auction procedure and reluctance among food suppliers to attract criticism from anti-whaling groups such as Sea Shepherd.
"We could not achieve the results we had anticipated," an institute official told Kyodo.
Although the International Whaling Commission (IWC) banned commercial whaling in 1986, Japan is allowed to conduct so-called "scientific" hunts in the north-west Pacific and the Antarctic. The IWC stipulates the meat must be processed and sold on the open market.
But campaigns to revive the tradition of eating whale meat – which was largely confined to a few coastal towns – have failed to capture the public's imagination.
A 2006 survey by the Nippon Research Centre found that 95% of Japanese people never or rarely eat whale meat. Consumption of whale meat rose after the second world war as it provided a much-needed source of protein.
Sakuma's report will come as another blow to Japan's beleaguered whaling industry.
Campaigners claimed a major victory when the Antarctic whaling fleet returned to port in March with just 30% of its planned catch of more than 900 whales. The fisheries agency blamed the poor catch on bad weather and "sabotage" by Sea Shepherd.
Late last year, it was revealed the government used 2.28bn yen (£18.5m) from the 11 March earthquake recovery fund, on top of its existing $6m (£3.87m) annual subsidy, to pay for the most recent Antarctic hunt.
The fisheries agency said the use of the fund was justified because one of the towns destroyed by the tsunami was a whaling port.

Whale encounter for this lucky diver

Stunning  encounter for this lucky diver.

Brian Skerry story with Right Whales - ''It was amazing. I mean, I have to tell you there were days when I was at the bottom at 70 feet, and here comes this bus swimming down. I’m standing on the bottom, and as it comes down, I get on my knees, lean over backwards—my scuba tank is now digging into the sand. And of course their eyes are on the side of their heads, so it had to turn and look at me. It came within inches. Here’s this softball-size whale eye looking at me. But then it stops—stops on a dime. It’s just hovering there, and literally one flick of its tail, and it would have crushed me like a bug. But it doesn’t. It was just highly curious.
They were all highly curious. They would come within inches of me—not every day and not every whale. One dive I was swimming alongside this huge whale, kicking as hard as I can to keep up—it doesn’t appear to be moving very fast, but it’s still hard to maintain that speed as a human being. So I’m kicking and kicking and breathing like a freight train. I’m thinking, Nobody’s going to believe this—I’ve got to get this picture! I tried to keep up with it as long as I could, but I had to take a break, so I stopped and kneeled down on the bottom. Instead of continuing, the whale stops and turns and waits for me. It was like a dog that was following me around. After a while it would get bored and go back up to the surface, so I would ascend to kind of remind it that I was still around. It would see me, and I’d go back down—and sure enough, the whale would follow me. It was like swimming around with a friend. ♥
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/10/right-whales/skerry-field-notes

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Australian problem for Humpback whales.

A humpback whale on its migration north from Antarctica. Photo: Dallas Kilponen

THERE are two booms under way in Australia, and scientists warn they are on a collision course. Soaring mineral exports threaten to run into increasing whale populations.
The first clear evidence of where east Australian humpbacks breed has found they favour waters off rapidly expanding Queensland ports.
With whale numbers climbing at about 10 per cent each year, scientists predict increased ship strikes as more mothers and calves move inshore.

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And the federal government is expected to release today new offshore oil and gas exploration areas in key blue whale habitat, sparking a contest over these marine giants as well.
Despite becoming a common sight off Australia's east coast, humpbacks have remained largely hidden from view in critical breeding grounds off the Great Barrier Reef.
Using Coastwatch aerial sightings data and global humpback habitat as models, the University of Queensland's Joshua Smith found two hot spots: east of Mackay, and in the Capricorn and Bunker island groups off Gladstone. Both ports are among at least seven on the Queensland coast slated for expansion.
Dredging at Gladstone Harbour for a major gas terminal on Curtis Island has drawn the attention of UNESCO's World Heritage Committee. It will decide in weeks whether urban and industrial expansion endangers World Heritage status.
''There is likely to be a greater reliance on the coastal waters of Mackay and Gladstone as the season progresses, and mothers with newborn calves utilise these areas more,'' he said in the journal Marine Ecology.

Fin whale's asymetrical colouring !

Great photo of a fin whale’s asymmetrical jaw coloring

by Carolyn Kraft on 05/08/2012

Photo credit: NOAA

This is an aerial shot of a fin whale, the second largest baleen whale and the fastest. It’s a great photo because it shows the asymmetrical coloring of the fin whale’s lower jaw.
Take a close look on the left (your left, the whale’s right) and you can see the white coloring all along the right side of the fin whale’s lower jaw under the ocean’s surface. Then take a close look on the right (your right, the whale’s left) and you’ll see just a dark gray that’s much harder to see compared to the bright white on the other side.
This is one whale trait I find fascinating. Why does a fin whale have a lower jaw that’s two different colors? Theories abound, but no one really knows for sure. I discuss several possibilities in the post “Fin whales: cheetahs of the sea,” but at the time I didn’t realize there was such an excellent photo showing the entire lower jaw in the public domain.

French fishermen eat dolphins?

French fishermen accused by marine experts of eating dolphins illegally caught in Channel

French fishermen are dining on "large fillets" cut from the bodies of dolphins illegally caught in nets off Cornwall, conservationists claim.

A spokesman for Cornwall Wildlife Trust added: "Cornwall Wildlife Trust is encouraged that some inshore fishermen are showing an interest in using the acoustic pingers that are known to greatly reduce the accidental capture of these animals" Photo: Alamy

8:00AM BST 04 May 2012

The practice is becoming increasingly common in waters off the Souh West where concern is mounting over the number of dolphins and porpoises caught in fishing nets this year.

Since the beginning of January, Cornwall Wildlife Trust's Marine Strandings Network has examined and recorded 50 dead dolphins and porpoises so far. Just under half, 23, show signs of having died in fishing gear.

One common dolphin examined on the beach at Mousehole in early April showed the mark of a large mesh, mid-water trawl net from which it tried to escape.

A spokesman for Cornwall Wildlife Trust said: " A large fillet of flesh had been removed from the back - presumably for eating.

"This is a known practice on French boats and French pair trawlers were working close to the south coast at the time.

"The dolphin's tail had been cut off in the course of cutting the animal free from a winch strop which was used to lift it over the side of the boat.
"Local people were very upset to see what had been done to this beautiful animal and to hear that this was just one of many."
Cetacean researcher, Nick Tregenza, added: "UK mid-water trawlers have been pushed outside the 12 mile limit by national fishery regulations but French vessels are allowed to come in closer.
"Some research is underway by the Sea Mammal Research Unit at St. Andrew's University in Scotland they're hopeful of finding an acoustic deterrent to keep animals out of the nets but there's no EU requirement on fisheries to use such a device.
"In the present situation we believe that EU mid-water trawlers should be subject to video monitoring to assess the size of the bycatch offshore of these animals that are so highly valued by people here and across the world."
Dolphins that died in gill nets were also recorded by the network and four porpoises that had been caught almost certainly by local boats also stranded.
Nick Tregenza added: "Many people are unaware that porpoises were a common sight quite close to shore in the recent past but they suffered a major decline that was almost certainly caused by pesticide pollution of the sea from agricultural run-off on land.
"That problem has diminished substantially and if pingers were widely adopted, we could expect to see porpoises along the coast and in our estuaries again.
"In the 1800's they were commercially hunted in the Fal estuary and it would be great to see them back.
"However the data from the Trust's Marine Strandings Network indicates that accidental capture in fisheries for other species may be doubling their natural death rate and we're concerned for their welfare."
A spokesman for Cornwall Wildlife Trust added: "Cornwall Wildlife Trust is encouraged that some inshore fishermen are showing an interest in using the acoustic pingers that are known to greatly reduce the accidental capture of these animals.
"Cornwall Wildlife Trust is grateful to the public for contacting them about the strandings.

Noise threatens whale populations.

The Big Idea

Graphic: Stefan Fichtel. Sources: C. W. Clark, Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Brandon Southall
, University of California, Santa Cruz; Kathleen Vigness-Raposa , Marine Acoustics, Inc.

Drifting in Static

A rising tide of man-made noise is disrupting the lives of marine animals.

The deep is dark, but not silent; it’s alive with sounds. Whales and other marine mammals, fish, and even some invertebrates depend on sound, which travels much farther in water than light does. The animals use sound to find food and mates, to avoid predators, and to communicate. They face a growing problem: Man-made noise is drowning them out. “For many of these animals it’s as if they live in cities,” says marine scientist Brandon Southall, former director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) ocean acoustics program.
Two years ago the problem made it to the U.S. Supreme Court, in a case that might have been called U.S. Navy v. Whales. The Court’s decision protected the right of naval vessels to test submarine-hunting sonar systems, whose intense sound pulses have been linked to several mass whale strandings. But the Navy is not the lone villain. Oil company ships towing arrays of air guns fire round-the-clock fusillades loud enough to locate oil buried under the seafloor—and also to be heard hundreds of miles away. Undersea construction operations drive piles into the seafloor and blast holes in it with explosives.
And most of the rising tide of noise—a hundred­fold increase since 1960, in many areas—is created simply by the dramatic growth in shipping traffic. “Shipping noise is always there,” Southall says. “It doesn’t have to be lethal to be problematic over time.” The problem is getting steadily worse for another reason. As we’re making more noise, we’re also making the ocean better at transmitting it. Seawater is absorbing less sound as carbon dioxide from fossil-fuel burning seeps into the ocean and acidifies it. The Big Idea Graphic: Stefan Fichtel. Sources: C. W. Clark, Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Brandon Southall , University of California, Santa Cruz; Kathleen Vigness-Raposa , Marine Acoustics, Inc. Drifting in Static A rising tide of man-made noise is disrupting the lives of marine animals. The deep is dark, but not silent; it’s alive with sounds. Whales and other marine mammals, fish, and even some invertebrates depend on sound, which travels much farther in water than light does. The animals use sound to find food and mates, to avoid predators, and to communicate. They face a growing problem: Man-made noise is drowning them out. “For many of these animals it’s as if they live in cities,” says marine scientist Brandon Southall, former director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) ocean acoustics program. Two years ago the problem made it to the U.S. Supreme Court, in a case that might have been called U.S. Navy v. Whales. The Court’s decision protected the right of naval vessels to test submarine-hunting sonar systems, whose intense sound pulses have been linked to several mass whale strandings. But the Navy is not the lone villain. Oil company ships towing arrays of air guns fire round-the-clock fusillades loud enough to locate oil buried under the seafloor—and also to be heard hundreds of miles away. Undersea construction operations drive piles into the seafloor and blast holes in it with explosives. And most of the rising tide of noise—a hundred­fold increase since 1960, in many areas—is created simply by the dramatic growth in shipping traffic. “Shipping noise is always there,” Southall says. “It doesn’t have to be lethal to be problematic over time.” The problem is getting steadily worse for another reason. As we’re making more noise, we’re also making the ocean better at transmitting it. Seawater is absorbing less sound as carbon dioxide from fossil-fuel burning seeps into the ocean and acidifies it.

Cause of 3,000 Dolphin Deaths in Peru Likely to Remain a Mystery

By Bob Petz, April 19, 2012

Since mid-January, an estimated 3,000 dolphins have been found dead along the shores of northern Peru, in what has become one of the largest marine mammal mortality events ever reported.
Thus far, no cause has been determined, although evidence of middle- and inner-ear damage, lung lesions and bubbles in the blood are consistent with acoustic impact and decompression syndrome, leading to speculation that oil exploration in the region may be to blame.
In a statement released earlier this month, BPZ Energy confirmed that it was conducting acoustical, seismic studies in the area, but that the dolphin deaths began more than 2 weeks before exploratory activity commenced.
In the majority of large marine mammal strandings, no definitive cause is found – in part, because multiple factors are frequently at work. Toxic pollutants, for example, might weaken an animal’s immune system, making it more vulnerable to bacterial or viral infection. Persistent organic pollutants that accumulate in organisms further down the food web also tend to become more concentrated in top predators such as dolphins.

A severe lack of resources makes it even less likely that a cause or even the full extent of the Peruvian event will ever be known.
Much of the information about the current stranding comes from an investigation conducted by Dr. Carlos Yaipen Llanos, from the marine mammal rescue team ORCA Peru, and Hardy Jones of BlueVoice. Traveling 135 km along the coast of northern Peru in late March, they encountered more than 600 stranded dolphins — males, females, pregnant females, calves and newborns.
Roughly 90 percent of the animals Llanos and Hardy found were long-beaked, common dolphins, which tend to swim close to the ocean surface. The remainder were Burmeister’s porpoises, which feed in deep water but approach the surface when giving birth. All of the Burmeisters were pregnant, nursing or newborn calves.
BlueVoice has posted a video produced by Hardy, which contains imagery that some may find disturbing.

Can whales predict tsunamis?

Can whales predict tsunamis?

Observers have watched whales vanish after an undersea earthquake. Photograph: Andrew Sutton

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Sunday 15 April 2012

A British photographer witnessed a school of whales vanishing during an underwater earthquake. Could they serve as 'canaries' for humans?

Do whales hear earthquakes long before humans? As tsunami warnings hit the Indonesian and Sri Lankan coasts last week, observers at sea watched as every species of cetacean – from massive blue whales to diminutive spinner dolphins – disappeared within five minutes. British photographer and film-maker Andrew Sutton, who took this remarkable shot last Wednesday off the southern tip of Sri Lanka, reports that he and his crew were mystified as the whales they were watching vanished in the space of a few minutes. The humans on the boat were unaware that the quake had happened, but the animals had evidently sensed the subsea seismic shocks, and fled.
Could cetaceans act as canaries in the sea, as advance alarms of potentially dangerous seismic activity? Both the Japan and New Zealand earthquakes of last year were preceded by mass cetacean strandings on beaches in these respective islands. And a recent scientific report from Mexico appears to prove that a fin whale accelerated sharply away from the site of an underwater earthquake.
But having already exploited whales for centuries, perhaps we should not be so quick to enlist their services. Back in 1964, another erstwhile resident of Sri Lanka, the science-fiction writer, Arthur C Clarke, predicted that by the year 2000, "we will not be the only intelligent creatures. One of the coming techniques will be what we might call bioengineering – the development of intelligent and useful servants among the other animals on this planet, particularly the great apes and, in the oceans, the dolphins and whales".
Clarke thought it a scandal that man had neglected to domesticate any new animals since the Stone Age. But he also foresaw other issues, too: "Of course [they] would soon start forming trades unions and we'd be right back where we started."info@whalesongart.com

How Navy Sonar Kills Whales and Dolphins

The following excerpts were taken from a letter written by the Biodiversity Legal Foundation, which does an excellent job of explaining how sound kills whales and other forms of marine life:
“Sound penetrates an animal’s body when immersed in water. Essentially all of acoustic energy goes into a body immersed in water. This effect, which can cause tissue rupture and hemorrhage, has not been adequately addressed in the Navy’s [environmental impact statement]. The implications (of the effect of sound penetration) for marine life are very serious, as described next.”
“The first lethal mechanism involves moderate level sound waves activating the growth of microscopic bubbles in the supersaturated blood and tissue of cetaceans. These bubbles then grow and can cause embolisms, hemorrhaging and localized pressure on the nervous system. Significant oxygen deprivation by blood vessel blockage can kill brain cells and produce stroke. For supersaturated gasses dissolved in cells rather than the blood, activation of bubble formation can rupture the cell walls.”
“The second mechanism for lethal injury involves hemorrhaging caused by acoustic resonance of the LFA [Low Frequency Active] sonar signal in cranial and other airspaces such as lungs and swim bladders. Specifically, the rapid change in pressure (from very high to very low several times per second for the duration of the one-minute LFA sonar blast) can rupture the delicate membranes enclosing the airspace.”
“Animals with air filled lungs and swim bladders are especially vulnerable because of the large difference in impedance between air in the lungs or swim bladders and their body tissues or seawater. Submerged animals exposed to explosions at short range showed hemorrhage in the lungs and ulceration of the gastro-intestinal tract.”
“The killing is largely due to resonance phenomena in the whales’ cranial airspaces that are tearing apart delicate tissues around the brains and ears.”
The Navy is accepting public comments on this sonar program until April 27th, 2012, voice your opinion here. You can copy and paste this or write your own comment: “In addition to its impacts on marine mammals and endangered species, I believe that the Navy and NMFS have a responsibility to consider the full extent of the “collateral damage” that will occur with deployment of LFA sonar, and that you must consider the cumulative effects on all forms of marine life that will be adversely affected over areas totaling thousands of square miles. Therefore, the testing and use of this must cease immediately.”

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Hong Kong Airlines bans live dolphin flights.

Hong Kong Airlines has agreed to stop transporting live dolphins after more than 6,500 people signed an online petition demanding a ban.

The airline, which launches all business class flights from the UK next month, had come under sustained public pressure from dolphin lovers, after an internal memo was leaked stating that it had earned £69,000 from transporting five live dolphins from Japan to Vietnam on Jan 16th.

The dolphins are thought to have been from the Japanese town of Taiji, scene of the annual dolphin slaughter depicted in the Oscar-winning documentary The Cove.

This seasons slaughter of dolphins at Taiji is finally over and the Sea Shepherd protestors have done a fantastic job of disrupting things and bringing more world awareness to the problems cetaceans face in the area and the country. The dolphin flesh has been proven to be high in toxins and a danger for any humans to consume.

Over in the US recent dolphin strandings have alarmed researchers who think that a rise in sea temperatures may be to blame. Stranded dolphins, who are most obviously in distress as the weight of their bodies is no longer supported by the ocean , can be senn to calm down appreciably when they are moved close to other dolphins whilst awaiting rescue. Proof once again that these are family groups of sensient beings.

Max

Understanding the sources of ocean noise pollution

The three most significant sources of ocean noise pollution are ship noise, oil and gas exploration and military sonar.

Ship noise
Large international cargo vessels, supertankers and cruise ships are constantly in motion, producing noises from their engines, propellers, generators and bearings.

The problem with this noise is that it dominates the frequency ranges of 20-300Hz, the same range used by many species of whale. This makes it hard for them to communicate and, more dangerously, to distinguish ship noise from natural sounds. The consequence of this is accidental collisions, one of the leading causes of death for right whales around the world.

Ship noise, particularly where it becomes too constant, may also be a cause of some whales abandoning their habitats. The problem is greatest in coastal areas and around busy ports.

Noise from Oil and Gas Exploration and Mining
The oil and gas industry generates loud and continuous sounds through seismic-survey operations, pipeline and platform construction and removal and drilling. This problem is especially bad in the Gulf of Mexico, off the California coast, the Persian Gulf, the North Sea and off the coast of Brazil.

• Exploration noise

So-called ‘airgun arrays’ used to detect oil or natural gas beneath the seafloor use incredibly loud sound pulses directed at geological structures. These are some of the loudest man-made noises in the oceans. Blasted every 10-60 seconds for days or months at a time, these extreme bursts of sound can drive whales away from the area.

• Noise from drilling and extraction

The noise generated by drilling and extraction may not be as loud as the ‘airgun arrays’, but they last much longer. Over time, exposure to these noises can cause whales and other marine species to abandon their habitats.

• Military Sonar

In order to detect submarines over long distances, military sonar systems transmit some of the most powerful underwater noises.

High-energy acoustic pulses are emitted and their echo recaptured as a part of weapon and counterweapon targeting. These high frequency systems (over 10kHz) can transmit pulses of sound for thousands of metres.

So powerful are these noises that whole groups of whales and dolphins can beach themselves to escape the auditory assault. They can also disrupt communication and feeding behaviours and cause temporary hearing loss and permanent tissue damage. As a result, marine mammals are often forced to abandon their preferred habitats.

Cold War-era sonar systems were less dangerous, because they primarily focused on deep-water environments. But today’s sonar systems not only employ new, more powerful technologies but are frequently tested in shallow coastal waters, the same environments that are home to many endangered whales and marine creatures.

Fishery Noisemakers
Not all manmade underwater noises are a bad thing.

To help prevent whales, dolphins and porpoises becoming tangled in fishing gear, some fisheries use underwater noisemakers, known as pingers, to warn of the location of fishing gear.

This new technique has already had some remarkable successes. For example, pingers have significantly reduced the number of harbour porpoise entanglements in the Gulf of Maine.
But while pingers are one source of underwater noise that is meant to be good for whales, we must carefully monitor their use, and be sure they never harm whales or drive them away from their critical habitats.
 

Eureka! The Whaling Fleet Has Been Found and Shut Down!

March 5, 2012

Captain Paul Watson received a Sat phone call from Captain Peter Hammarstedt, on the Bob Barker, at 2200 Hours (AEST) on March 5^th.
“Eureka, Paul, we have the Nisshin Maru in our sights!”
The Nisshin Maru and her three deadly harpoon boats were found at 64 Degrees 59 Minutes South and 130 Degrees 51 Minutes East at Commonwealth Bay, sixty miles off the Antarctic Coast, inside the Australian Economic Exclusion Zone.
The Yushin Maru No. 3 had just arrived from tailing the Steve Irwin. Despite the three harpoon vessels deployed to intercept the Bob Barker, Captain Hammarstedt slipped through their web and gained a visual identification on the primary target.
Two of the harpoon vessels were in pursuit of whales. All whaling activity stopped as the Nisshin Maru began running but the Bob Barker is faster and is gaining steadily on the hated factory ship.
“We have her in our sights and she will not be able to outrun us,” said Bob Barker third mate, Vincent Burke, of Melbourne.
“We have kept them running for two months and that has disrupted their operations considerably but now with the Bob Barker on their stern slipway, whaling is effectively shut down for 2012,” said Captain Hammarstedt (27) from Sweden.
The Japanese security ship, Shonan Maru No. 2, is still tailing the Steve Irwin presently one day from the Bass Strait and is now 1600 nautical miles away from the whaling fleet. The Steve Irwin successfully led the Shonan Maru No. 2 and the Yushin Maru No. 3 away from the Bob Barker to allow the Bob Barker to lose a tailing vessel. The key to finding the Nisshin Maru was losing the tailing ship, and it worked.
“This has been a long and tough campaign, with the worst weather and ice conditions that we have experienced in the entire eight seasons we have ventured into the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary,” said Captain Paul Watson. “But despite the temporary loss of our scout ship, the Brigitte Bardot, and our constant dogged pursuit of the Nisshin Maru, we have kept them on the run, taken two of their three harpoon vessels off the hunt for two months, severely crippled their killing capabilities and now once again we have shut them down 100%. Operation Divine Wind has been enormously successful.”

The Bob Barker spots the whaling fleet's factory ship
The Nisshin Maru Photo: Carolina A. Castro

Dolphins are multilingual! Scientists record mammals talking 'whale'... in their sleep

Before we know it they'll be speaking French.

Dolphins are so intelligent they can learn to speak a second language- in their sleep.

Captive dolphins in in Port-Saint-Père, France have been recorded sleep talking, scientists have found.

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Intelligent life: Captive dolphins in in Port-Saint-Père, France have been recorded sleep talking, scientists have found (stock image)

But bizarrely, as they rest at night, the aquatic mammals are not making dolphin sounds but whale-like noises.

Péos, Mininos, Cécil, Teha, and Amtan, who were born in captivity, have only ever heard whale sounds as recordings, Science magazine reported.

If the sounds are confirmed to be ‘whale’, it would be the first known instance of dolphins remembering a particular noise and repeating it 'later', researchers say.

The dolphins have only ever heard a whale sing on the soundtrack to their daily shows at the French aquatic park Planète Sauvage.

 

The 21-minute tape to which they perform features several minutes of whale song among other marine noises.

The dolphins have not been known to mimic the whale song during or after performances, according to Science.

But a nine days and eight nights study between November 2008 and May 2009, revealed  25 occasions of never-heard-before dolphin sounds.
Researchers at the University of Rennes hung underwater microphones in the performing dolphins' tank overnight, Discovery reported.

Paying attention: The dolphins have only ever heard a whale sing on the soundtrack to their daily shows at the French aquatic park Planète Sauvage

 A DOLPHIN'S LIFE

• Dolphins are mammals not fish. They are warm-blooded and feed their young milk
• Swimming in circles while they sleep with the eye on the outside of the circle open allows dolphins to keep watch for predators
• They can dive up to 260m deep and stay under for up to 15 minutes
• They use echolocation in the same way as a radar, to find food and navigate
• Each dolphin has a signature whistle that helps individual dolphins recognise each other and collaborate
• Some researchers have said that dolphins should be treated as non-human persons as they are so intelligent

The unusual noises -which make up just one percent of all the sounds recorded - strongly resemble whale song and occur only during ‘rest periods,’ mainly between midnight and 3 am.
Researchers recruited 20 volunteers to compare dolphin whistles and whale songs and found that the dophin's 'whale' is so good, listeners mistook it for real whale song 72 percent of the time.
The noises suggest that the dolphins could be practising their daily shows in their minds at night.
Martine Hausberger of the University of Rennes 1 told Science: 'The shows are a really special time in the day,' because the dolphins are rewarded for their performance. 'There are lots of things they could mimic but don't. ... It's really remarkable the only mimicry [we] found was this one.'
The recordings are ‘the first report of mimicries of sounds heard during special events produced by dolphins in a resting/sleeping context,’ the researchers wrote in the journal Frontiers in Comparative Psychology December 29, 2011. ‘This finding opens very large perspectives for future investigations on dolphin learning processes and 'mental representations.'

This is of interest to all researchers but maybe just a big sign that dolphins in captivity are having anxiety dreams whilst they sleep and re-living a very bad groundhog day!

Killer Whales go silent for the 'kill'

Once orcas catch their prey, the noise begins again

Orcas avoid being overheard by their prey by hunting in "stealth mode", according to researchers.

The scientists wanted to know how orcas, commonly known as killer whales, communicate when hunting mammals, which can hear their distinctive calls.
The researchers thought the predators might switch to very high frequency whistles to co-ordinate the hunt.
But the orcas actually go completely silent and are somehow still able to form organised hunting groups.

Volker Deecke from the University of St Andrews in Scotland and Rüdiger Riesch from North Carolina State University in Raleigh, US, carried out the study, which was published in the journal Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology.
They used hydrophones - underwater microphones - to listen to and record orcas communicating with each other. The team could even hear crunching sounds when the animals were eating their prey.

They communicate while they eat then gradually wander off and go quiet again Volker Deecke St Andrews University

The researchers focused on transient orcas, in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Canada and Alaska. These tend to live in smaller social groups and to move around more than resident orcas.
Some scientists believe that the two are distinct sub-species.
"The most striking difference between the two is their diet," explained Dr Deecke.
Residents eat fish, whereas transients hunt and eat marine mammals, including seals and porpoises.
Dr Deecke added: "In the 40 years that these animals have been studied, scientists have never seen a resident eat a mammal and never seen a transient eat a fish."
Hunting trip
Resident orcas hunt for salmon using echolocation. The orcas click, producing waves of sound that travel through the water and bounce off the fish, allowing the predator to sense its location.
"But all marine mammals have excellent underwater hearing," explained Dr Deecke.
"If if a killer whale swam along clicking like mad, all the seals and porpoises would think - here comes a predators, let's get away."
But the transient orcas' solution surprised the researchers.
"They go into stealth mode - completely silent," said Dr Deecke. "This raises the question: how are they communicating?"
It seems that orcas can carry out complex, co-ordinated mammal-hunting trips without "talking to each other" at all.

SOURCES Read the paper in Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology More on killer whales from BBC Wildlife Finder

"To cover a wider area, they fan out occasionally - travelling hundreds of metres, even kilometres apart, and they come back together again," said Dr Deecke.
Only once they catch their prey, does the noise - whistling and pulsing calls - begin.
"It's a bit like us at a dinner party," said Dr Deecke. "They communicate while they eat then gradually wander off and go quiet again."
The orcas are unlikely to be able to see each other from these distances. Glaciers that descend into the sea on the Alaskan coast give the ocean the consistency of milk.
Dr Deecke thinks that the orcas might "rehearse" their hunting routines, to learn the position of each group member.
"They tend to be very predictable," he said. "I often know exactly where they are going to surface."
How they manage this level of co-ordination is not clear. And the scientists plan to continue their research by fitting sound recording and satellite tracking tags to individual orcas to follow their behaviour much more closely.
Dr Deecke said: "It seems like there's no way for them to communicate without their prey being able to eavesdrop."

Dolphins deserve same rights as humans, say scientists

Recognising the rights of dolphins would end whaling and their captivity

Dolphins should be treated as non-human "persons", with their rights to life and liberty respected, scientists meeting in Canada have been told.

Experts in philosophy, conservation and animal behaviour want support for a Declaration of Rights for Cetaceans.
They believe dolphins and whales are sufficiently intelligent to justify the same ethical considerations as humans.
Recognising their rights would mean an end to whaling and their captivity, or their use in entertainment.

Science has shown that individuality - consciousness, self-awareness - is no longer a unique human property. That poses all kinds of challenges.”

Ethics Professor Tom White Loyola Marymount University of Los Angeles

The move was made at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Vancouver, Canada, the world's biggest science conference.

It is based on years of research that has shown dolphins and whales have large, complex brains and a human-like level of self-awareness.
This has led the experts to conclude that although non-human, dolphins and whales are "people" in a philosophical sense, which has far-reaching implications.
'Self-aware' Ethics expert Prof Tom White, from Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, author of In Defence of Dolphins: The New Moral Frontier, said dolphins were "non-human persons".
"A person needs to be an individual. If individuals count, then the deliberate killing of individuals of this sort is ethically the equivalent of deliberately killing a human being.

Continue reading the main story

Intelligent cetacean behaviour

• A member of a group of orcas, or killer whales, in Patagonia had a damaged jaw and could not feed. The elderly whale was fed and kept alive by its companions.
• Dolphins taking part in an experiment had to press one of two levers to distinguish between sounds, some of which were very similar. By pressing a third lever, they were able to tell the researchers they wanted to "pass" on a particular test because it was too hard. "When you place dolphins in a situation like that they respond in exactly the same way humans do," said Dr Lori Marino. "They are accessing their own minds and thinking their own thoughts."
• A number of captive dolphins were rewarded with fish in return for tidying up their tank. One of them ripped up a large paper bag, hid away the pieces, and presented them one at a time to get multiple rewards.
• In Iceland, killer whales and fishermen have been known to work together. The whales show the fishermen where to lay their nets, and in return are allowed to feed on part of the catch. Then they lead the fleet to the next fishing ground.

"We're saying the science has shown that individuality - consciousness, self-awareness - is no longer a unique human property. That poses all kinds of challenges."

They can look in a mirror and say, 'Hey, that's me'”

Dr Lori Marino Psychologist

The declaration, originally agreed in May 2010, contains the statements "every individual cetacean has the right to life", "no cetacean should be held in captivity or servitude, be subject to cruel treatment, or be removed from their natural environment", and "no cetacean is the property of any state, corporation, human group or individual".

It adds: "The rights, freedoms and norms set forth in this declaration should be protected under international and domestic law."
Psychologist Dr Lori Marino, from Emory University in Atlanta, told how scientific advances had changed the view of the cetacean brain.
She said: "We went from seeing the dolphin/whale brain as being a giant amorphous blob that doesn't carry a lot of intelligence and complexity to not only being an enormous brain but an enormous brain with an enormous amount of complexity, and a complexity that rivals our own."
Dolphins had a sense of self which could be tested by the way they recognise themselves in mirrors, she added.
"When you get up in the morning and look in the mirror and know that's you, you have a sense of 'you'," said Dr Marino.
"They have a similar sense. They can look in a mirror and say, 'Hey, that's me'."

Scuba dive blogger jackie Hutchings Q and A .

7 Questions – Paul ‘Max’ Lomax, Founder of Whalesong Art

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Twitter is a great place to meet people and it’s where I met Max, @whalesongartwww.whalesongart.com who sells t-shirts with images created  from whale and dolphin song.  The t-shirts are beautiful (I know because I’ve got one). However, they’re not your average mass produced, printed t-shirt.  The fabric is organic, made using only wind and solar power and have a 90% reduced carbon footprint.  Oh, and a percentage of profits go directly to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS). Nice.
As well as being a business (let’s face it, we all have to make a living), Max is using these images, not just on t-shirts but also on canvasses and prints, to highlight the plight of cetaceans globally through conversation about the art.  Neat idea.  Worldwide delivery is available and FREE in the UK (a rare service these days).

1. Where did the idea for Whalesong Art come from?

I found it in The Daily Telegraph. A sonic engineer in San Francisco called Mark Fischer of Aguasonic Acoustics and commercialised it.

2. How do you turn the sounds into images?

Mark uses a known mathematical technique for creating complicated intricate structures from sound known as Wavelets.

3. What is your vision for the company?

The existing products (canvasses, prints and t-shirts) are great quality and I am working on multiple images for wallpaper, surfboard art and fabrics. I want to start people on the journey of awareness about cetacean causes through conversation about the art.

4. I love the fact that the t-shirts are made from organic cotton. Where do you source your fabric?

It is a multiple award winning brand of organic t-shirts called Earth Positive.  100% cotton (nothing man made added).  They fit like a dream and wash well – no shrinkage and the seems don’t skew.  Perfect!

5. Tell me a bit about your printing methods.

The canvasses, in particular, use a sublimation method which prints into the fabric and is super-durable. (This basically means that the image is fused INTO the fabric, not ONTO it).

6. I see you give a share of your profits to WDCS – out of all the charities you could have chosen, why them?

They were really quick to respond and Mark liked their work.  We aim, and have already agreed, to give more as the company grows.

7. It’s 5 years time, how has Whalesong Art developed?

We have been active for cetacean causes, globally developed new and funky products and had a good time with my daughter Mimi.

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Whalesong Art is stunning ocean art made from hydrophonic recordings of individual whale and dolphin song.

Cornwall Today Magazine feature- March issue

Headline: For the love of whales (and dolphins)

Standfirst: With Whalesong Art, surfer Paul ‘Max’ Lomax is onto a winner

Words by Alex Wade, photographs by Mike Newman/www.ocean-image.com

There’s an old saying in surfing, one which expressly privileges riding waves above just about everything: “Only a surfer knows the feeling.” To talk to Paul ‘Max’ Lomax, the remarkably healthy-looking founder of Whalesong Art, is to get an insight into one of the key reasons for this sentiment.

“I’ve surfed for 30 years or so,” says Lomax. “Surfing itself is a magical experience but it’s at its best when you surf with dolphins. It’s just wonderful – the feeling of joy never leaves you.”

Lomax’s antennae – orientated so fulsomely to surfing and cetaceans after a lifetime of catching waves – made him sit up and pay attention when he read a Daily Telegraph article in 2009 about Californian artist Mark Fischer. “I can remember seeing the piece as if it were yesterday,” says Lomax, from the home overlooking the sea at the north Cornwall village of Porthcothan. “It was accompanied by this wonderful splash of colour, which turned out to be a hydrophonic recording of a humpback whale song taken by Fischer in the waters off Hawaii. I was mesmerised and immediately set about finding out more.”

Lomax’s research soon put him touch directly with Fischer, a former sonar engineer for the US Navy. A field trip to Baja California with whale researchers had proved serendipitous for Fischer: he changed his career, opting to merge art and science. Utilising what he had learnt about acoustics while working for the navy, Fischer began creating visual art from wavelets – a technique for processing digital signals. “The maths is complicated,” chuckles Lomax, “but in practice what happens is that microphones are placed deep in the ocean to capture the haunting songs of whales and dolphins. In effect, wavelets is a branch of maths which then enables the sounds to be converted into extraordinarily beautiful, colourful and intricate structures.”

Wavelets are deployed in applications as diverse as JPEG image compression, high definition television and earthquake research, but Lomax at once saw a business opportunity in their use in Fischer’s arresting art. “As a surfer I found Mark’s artwork stunning. I felt that I just had to bring his images to the world market, because so many people are rightly concerned about the plight of cetaceans. I want to help make sure that they’re here for future generations to enjoy. If people walk into a room and see a canvas of a minkewhale’s song, they’ll start talking about it, about how the art was made, where it came from, what’s happening to whales and dolphins.” 

Fischer – also a surfer and windsurfer – was impressed by Lomax’s vision. Soon enough, he had granted Lomax exclusive merchandise rights outside the United States, enabling him to design a new, dedicated website and to set about creating a range of products which include original canvases, framed prints and T-shirts and even run to gift bags, coasters and wallpaper. Better yet, all Lomax’s suppliers are Cornwall-based, from The Print Environment in St Columb to The Little Red Octopus in Wadebridge. As Lomax proudly says: “It’s a world first. This kind of artwork is unique and I’m thrilled both to have been given the opportunity to bring it to people and to use Cornish businesses to do so.” 

 Lomax launched Whalesong Art in September last year. He says that business has been good, despite the recession: “Trading conditions are tough, yes, and the art market relies on disposable income when there’s not a lot of it around at the moment, but orders have been steadily rising. The main thing now is to make the products the best they can be and to try and disseminate them and the message as widely as possible.” He’s been successful in these aims already: the canvases look gorgeous, and they’re to be found in any number of places, from boutique hotels and spas to an estate agency and eco lodges as well as many family homes. He also forged links with key groups such as Greenpeace, the Whale and Dolphin Conversation Society and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. 

Doubtless Lomax’s career in retail and distribution will help him develop Whalesong Art yet further. Now 51, Lomax took a business studies degree at Plymouth Polytechnic before becoming a regional manager with warranty underwriters for Honda/Volkswagon. He then joined Sola Wetsuits in late 1980s, working as a sales manager and attending all manner of European tradeshows in the surfing industry, which was then enjoying a boom. Wanderlust took Lomax – who was once featured on the cover of Surf Scene, one of Britain’s first surfing magazines - to Australia, but this was not just a surf trip: he returned home with the exclusive distribution rights for Finch bikinis. Further distribution deals with Antipodean companies followed, among them contracts with Liive sunglasses and Earth Nymph, which makes children’s apparel. Lomax has also worked with Sanuk, the Californian flip-flop company, and Hawaii-based windsurfing business Simmer.

His has been a wide-ranging and diverse career, but throughout it there has been one constant: surfing. “As soon as my mates and I turned 17 we’d head off from Taunton, where we lived then, to Croyde and Saunton in north Devon. It was a rite of passage, inspired first by watching the brilliant surf film The Endless Summer. Since then I’ve been on surf trips all over the world but the best have been to France, Indonesia and Australia. I still surf as often as I can.” Not only that, but Lomax’s daughter, Mimi, is also a surfer. “She’s nine but stood up and rode her first wave aged three,” he says, with a broad smile. 

Whalesong Art makes for a breath of fresh air in the Cornish art scene, something new and different. Its founder would appear to have the conviction and drive to make it work. Why, though, is he known as ‘Max’?

“It’s a rugby thing,” replies Lomax. “While I was in Plymouth I played rugby for Saltash and Cornwall juniors before joining Plymouth Albion. I loved those days, playing as a full-back against many Cornish sides as well as playing Bath when they were in their pomp. But ‘Lomax’ is difficult to say when you’ve got a mouthguard in, so the lads just called me ‘Max’.”

No wonder Paul ‘Max’ Lomax looks so fit: he’s a former rugby player as well as a lifelong surfer. His eclectic career and passion for cetaceans, allied with the steel in his character that comes of playing rugby at a high level, means that Whalesong Art could well be onto a winner.

Ends/

For more information, visit www.whalesongart.com or call 01841 520840.